ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of the British decision, made in 1850, to raise Sikh units for their army was borne out in 1857–58. The Sikhs enthusiastically and effectively participated in the defeat of their hated enemies, the remnants of the Mughals and their despised Hindu neighbors of the Ganges Valley. The significance of the distinctive turban of the Sikhs was constructed out of the colonial context, in which British rulers sought to objectify qualities they thought appropriate to roles that various groups in India were to play. For the Mughal rulers of India, the turban and its associated ornaments had the powerful and mystical qualities that crowns had in medieval Europe. Cloth and clothes received as presents, or commissioned or bought in the open market, were carefully kept and classified by the day of the week and the day in the month on which they arrived at court, as well as by price, color, and weight.
