A Study on Traditional Costumes of Bohra Community of Udaipur
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Date
2014
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Publisher
MPUAT, Udaipur
Abstract
Clothing is a representation of cultures and beliefs. They portray an identity and
conform to a social group. The styles uphold varies from castes to tribes and religions.
Dawoodi Bohra, a sub sect to Shia Islam which hailed from Yemen centuries ago is a
trader community and resides majorly in western India. Their distinct way of dressing
differentiates them from the other Muslim communities in the country. Thus in order
to explore their traditional costumes, coiffures and accessories, Udaipur, the city
which homes a considerable population of Bohras was chosen for the study. The
research was conducted on 180 respondents in the age group of 13 to 40 years,
selected randomly from the densely populated areas.
The major findings revealed that the traditional costume of Dawoodi Bohra female is
‘Jodi’ which consisted of Blouse as upper garment, Lehenga as lower and Dupatta as
coiffure. The young girls wear Jabla (knee length tunic) and Izar (trousers) as
traditional attire and scarves and caps as coiffure. The females wear a colourful two
piece hijab called ‘Rida’ as an outer garment. The traditional costume of males is
‘Libaas-ul-anwar’ which consists of Jubba (tunic) and Izar (trouser) as upper and
lower garment respectively and Saya as an outer garment. They put on a white and
golden skull cap as coiffure.
Among the accessories it was found that Bohra women prefer wearing jewelleries
made of gold and silver or the ones golden in colour. These are- chains and necklace
on neck, chudi, kade and bracelets on wrists and rings on fingers, tops, bali, jhumke,
latkan and bunde on ears. Tika on forehead and Baajuband on arms are worn only by
the bride; no ornament is worn on waist, legs and feet. Men are not allowed to wear
any jewellery except for a silver ring of Ruby for daily use and a gold necklace only
for the day of their wedding.
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For namaz, men replace Jubba with a loose garment called Peheran while women put
on Jodi when at home and Rida when visiting mosques.
The attire for the bride is Lehenga, Choli and Odhani while for the groom it consists
of Sherwani or Rajasthani Angrakhi with Churidaar Pyjama and golden Pheta as
coiffure. Accessories worn by the groom are Kamarband, Sehera, Baajuband and
Dushala.
Furthermore, during festivals and occassions, men wear the golden cap and special
headgears like Pagri, Safa and Pheta and women dress in decorated Ridas and Jodis.
During Moharram, people follow simple clothing, men wear only white caps and
women wear less embellished attire. The two major taboos prevail are – prohibition of
wearing black colour by the community members and use of only white clothes for
four months and twenty days by woman after her husband’s death.
Moreover, it was found that most of the family members or relatives of respondents,
who reside abroad, follow their religious dress codes everywhere except for the
workplace.
Description
A Study on Traditional Costumes of Bohra Community of Udaipur
Keywords
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Citation
Rawat and Babel, 2014