Reading Information

Bernard S. Cohn, “Chapter Five: Cloth, Clothes, and Colonialism: India in the Nineteenth Century”, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

In the beginning of chapter five, Cohen begins with a background on the value of turbans in relations to obedience. The turban and other Indian articles of clothing are associated with class, more specifically in Indian caste system. The British sought to take away the value of Indian clothing by over Orientalizing their clothes to the point where their clothes became ‘costumes’. The British at the same time, made a conscious effort not to present Indians with gifts that had the same commercial value. This is noted when the “prince of wales presented the [Indian] princes with copies of Max Muller’s English translation of the Rig-Veda. (Cohn, 126)

In later parts of the chapter, Cohn goes in detail the issues and controversy surrounding Indian and European style of dress. For example, the British’s insistence to regulate the wearing of certain garments of certain classes in the caste resulted in lash back from members of other classes. While the British downplayed the significance of Indian clothing, many Indians began to adopt European style of clothing, but at the same time, still maintained certain aspects of their Indian attire.

In the final portion of the chapter, Cohn highlights the shortcomings of the British in India in regards to accommodating themselves to India’s hot environment. Their attempt to accommodate themselves resulted in the Europeans adopting eerily similar clothing as the Indians. One prime example is the solar topi, which is “a cylindrical crown of large dimensions and a very broad brim.”  (Cohn, 157) The description of the topi is similar to a turban, which reinforces Cohn’s implied ideas that the British and the Indian began to swap some of their attires for each other.

This chapter tells readers that the British’s tactic of orientalizing Indian attire and introducing European attire to India resulted in an irreversible adoption of European clothing in India. This reading relates to imperialism because it displays a mother country’s regulations on clothing can have a negative effect on the colony.

Keywords

1. Sikh: “Sikhism was a religious movement that grew out of syncretic tendencies in theology and worship among Hindus and Muslims in north India in the fifteenth century.” (Cohn, 107) In regards to this chapter, Sikhs were known for their warrior capabilities and were sought out by the British army.
2. Sari: A female garment that resembled a dress with drapes covering the side of the body. The drape would be tossed over the shoulder.
3. Turban: A scarf wrapped on top of Sikh men in order to conceal the hair.

Argument

Cohen makes the argument that the relationship between India and Great Britain was strained because of the former’s insistence of controlling the latter’s daily routines such as clothing, has resulted and often antagonistic relationships towards Indians in India and abroad in Great Britain. This relationship continues to the present day in regards to Indians in Great Britain today.

Evidence

Cohn uses a primary source such as the first impressions of a Royal Navy doctor, who has just recently arrived to Calcutta. His flabbergasted response to the lack of clothing depicted by the Bengali boatman illustrates the British’s reaction to subsequent showcases of Indian attire. (Cohn, 130) The British’s flabbergasted response soon turns into a mockery and downplaying of Indian attire. This downplay of attire can be correlated back to the response of Great Britain, when a Sikh man was not allowed to wear his turban to work.

Cohn’s selection of evidence is reliable because in addition to the primary source mentioned above, Cohn makes use of secondary sources that comes from a variety of academic journals in anthropology. In addition, Cohn utilizes sources from the time period in which he is mentioning. For example, Cohn makes a reference to R.W. Falcon, author of the Handbook on the Sikhs for the Use of Regimental Officers. This work was published in 1896. (Cohn, 175) This shows that Cohn used evidence from not only the 20^th century from academic scholars, but from other scholars from the 17^th century.

Historiographical Debate

Cohn explicitly addresses the work of other scholars such as W.H. Russell (Cohn, 122), and N.C. Chaudhuri. (Cohn, 131) However, I am not sure how the author is situating himself in a wider scholarly debate. Cohn uses the works of the two authors in order to showcase the elaborate Indian clothing. It appears that the mentioning of these two scholars does not cause Cohn to situate himself on a side in a debate.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

The assigned text on clothing made me understand that a mother country’s good intentions can often result in bad consequences for the colony. The British were looking out for themselves and their interests and thus created regulations it thought would be beneficial to themselves. However, these regulations back fired when the Indians began incorporating European style of clothing, which caused the Europeans to lose money. In addition, this chapter also made me aware of the power colonial powers have over their colony. The British were able to dictate specific clothing for certain groups of people in India, including princes. This breaking of tradition was essentially accomplished by the snap of the British’s fingers. The failure of the Indians to follow these regulations often resulted in scandal and shame. A prominent example is when the Gaewar of Baroda was criticized by London’s press for failing to follow the exact rules concerned with approaching King George V. (Cohn, 128) In a nutshell, this chapter made me aware of the vast powers of colonial power possessed over its colony.