Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c13.s2.t2: Dress

Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c13.s2.t2

Language: English

Dress

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The sovereigns spent large sums of money on their dress. Dēva Rāya II appeared in court clothed in a robe of zaitun (satin).²¹¹ According to Paes, Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya was dressed in certain white clothes embroidered with many roses in gold.²¹² Nuniz also says that the kings wore silk clothes (pachoïs)²¹³ of very fine material and worked with gold which were worth each ten pardaos; they wore at times bajuris of the same sort which were like shirts with a skirt.²¹⁴ When they went to war they wore a quilted dress of cotton over which was put another garment with golden plasters with jewels all round it.²¹⁵

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²¹¹ Elliot, Hist. of Ind., IV, p. 113 and fn.

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²¹² Sewell, op. cit., p. 251.

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²¹³ Silken trappings (Ibid., p. 377).

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²¹⁴ Ibid., p. 283.

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²¹⁵ Varthema, Jones, p. 129.

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The kings wore “a cap of gold brocade two spans long”²¹⁶ which according to Paes was in the fashion of a Galician helmet covered with a piece of fine stuff all of silk.²¹⁷ Nuniz who also saw the cap worn by Acyuta says, that it was worth twenty cruzados and adds that when he lifted it from his head, he never again put it on.²¹⁸

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²¹⁶ Ibid.

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²¹⁷ Sewell, op. cit., pp. 251-2.

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²¹⁸ Ibid., p. 383; Barradas gives an account of the origin of these caps. See Saletore, Pol. and Soc. Life in the Vij. Emp., II, p. 299.

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The common people wore clothes as a girdle below “wound very tightly in many folds and short white shirt of cotton or silk or coarse brocade” which were gathered between the thighs but were open in front. On their heads they carried small turbans while some wore silk or brocade caps.²¹⁹ Caesar Frederick also describes the dress of the people as follows: “The apparell that they use in Bezeneger is Velvet, Satten, Damaske, Scarlet, or white Bumbast cloth, according to the estate of the person, with long Hats on their heads called Colae, made of Velvet, Satten, Damaske, or Scarlet, girding themselves instead of Girdles with some fine Bumbast cloth; they have breeches after the order of the Turkes.”²²⁰

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²¹⁹ Barbosa, I, p. 205.

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²²⁰ Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, p. 99.

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Wool was very little used. Nicolo dei Conti says that the people used to wear a linen cloth round the body; he adds they could not wear more clothing on account of the great heat.²²¹

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²²¹ Major, India, p. 22.

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The people were also accustomed to the use of shoes. Nicolo dei Conti observed that the people wore sandals with purple and golden ties.²²² Barbosa also noted the practice of the people using rough shoes on their feet (without stockings).²²³ Paes describes the shoes thus: “The shoes have pointed ends, in the ancient manner, and there are other shoes that have nothing but soles, but on the top are some straps which help to keep them on the feet. They are made like those which of old the Romans were wont to wear, as you will find on figures in some papers or antiquities which come from Italy.”²²⁴ Caesar Frederick also mentions that the people wore on their feet plain high things called Aspergh.²²⁵ But here too it was only the rich people that wore the shoes for as Paes himself says: “The majority of the people, or almost all, go about the country barefooted.”²²⁶ Nikitin also says that the people of the Deccan went about barefooted.²²⁷

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²²² Ibid.

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²²³ Barbosa, I, p. 205.

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²²⁴ Sewell, op. cit., p. 252.

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²²⁵ Purchas, His Pilgrims, X, p. 99.

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²²⁶ Sewell, op. cit., p. 252.

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²²⁷ Major, India, p. 12.

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Umbrellas also were in use. Barbosa describes vividly how they were held. He says: “They (the lords and the kings) also take another who holds an umbrella (lit. a shade hat with a handle) to shade them and keep off the rain, and of these some are made of finely worked silk with many golden tassels and precious stones and seed pearls. They are also so made as to open and shut and may cost three or four hundred cruzados.”²²⁸ Apparently all this does not refer to the ordinary people, for they lived in “grovelling poverty.” Varthema says that the common people went quite naked with the exception of a piece of cloth about their middle.²²⁹

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²²⁸ Barbosa, I, pp. 206-07; Dames has a note on the umbrellas. He says: “From their elaborate ornamentation and high price they must have been a luxury used only by the most wealthy.” (See ibid., pp. 206-07 fn.).

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²²⁹ Varthema, Jones, p. 129.

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The women, viz., the courtezans and the wives of nobles, also wore very rich dress. Barbosa observes that they wore white garments of very thin cotton or silk of bright colours, five yards long, one part of which was girt round below and the other part thrown over one shoulder and across their breasts in such a way that one arm and shoulder remained uncovered.²³⁰ Pietro della Valle also gives an account of the dress of the women. According to him they were clothed with figured silk from the girdle downwards. As for the upper garment he says: "(They are) from thence upward either naked, or else with very pure linen, either of one colour, or striped and wrought with several, besides a scarf of the same work cast over the shoulder."231 The women appear to have worn two clothes over their body, one a small one, covering the front of the person and the other a bigger one covering the whole body. Nicolo dei Conti says: "Almost all, both men and women, wear a linen cloth bound round the body, so as to cover the front of the person, and descending as low as the knees and over this a garment of linen or silk, which......with the women (descends) to the ankles".²³² The *Āmuktamālyada* also refers almost to this kind of double dress worn by the women when it mentions the *pāvāḍa* and the *paiṭa* (mantle).²³³

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²³⁰ Barbosa, I, p. 207.

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²³² Major, India, p. 22.

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²³³ Canto VI, v. 18.

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Sometimes women appear to have worn a head dress. Paes notes that the women who took part in the *Mahānavami* festival wore high caps (*collaes*) embroidered with flowers made of pearls.²³⁴ But neither Barbosa nor Pietro della Valle mentions this head dress worn by the women. But the former says that their heads were uncovered and the hair was "tightly gathered into a becoming knot on the top of the head."235 The latter also states that their "heads were deck'd with yellow and white flowers formed into a high large diadem, with some striking out like sun beams and others twisted together, and hanging down in several fashions which made a pretty sight.”²³⁶ Thus the head dress seems to have been worn by a few women only on certain ceremonial occasions.

Cites (1)

Āmuktamālyada — Kṛṣṇadevarāya 1515, Telugu