ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth century, many of the urban elites began to wear British clothing, at least for formal wear. However, beginning with the swadeshi campaign, a boycott of British goods, in 1905 and further impelled by Gandhi’s adoption of Indian clothing on his return to India in 1915, the nationalist leaders, almost all of middle-class and elite origins, abandoned the Western dress that had symbolised their social status. While Nehru began to wear the Muslim sherwani-pyjama (a kneelength coat with ‘Nehru’ collar with tight trousers), many of the dominant Congress Party adopted a new uniform of khadi (homespun cloth), which came to represent the ideals of their movement. The meaning of khadi was exemplified in the person of Gandhi, who, leaving his caste and Western dress aside, began to wear only the simplest loin-cloth which he himself had spun, creating a form of clothing available to all. (However, his near nakedness was unacceptable to many who opted for the more generous covering afforded by the kurta-pyjama [long, loose shirt and trousers].) It was largely through his skill in manipulating symbols that Gandhi extended the base of nationalism from the elite to the masses, and clothing was among his principal successes. Fifty years after independence, khadi remains the Congress uniform for men, although it has come to be mocked in Indian cinema, where the khadi-clad politician is usually associated with civic corruption.
