question_answer 5)

These two quotations (Sources E and F), from about the same period are from two different regions of India, Kerala and Bengal. What do they tell you about the very different notions of shame regarding women's attire?   

Source E Some people supported the attempt to change women's clothing, others opposed it. 'Any civilised nation is against the kind of clothing in use in the present time among women of our country. Indeed it is a sign of shamelessness. Educated men have been greatly agitated about it, almost everyone wishes for another kind of civilised clothing.. there is a custom here of women wearing fine and transparent clothing which reveals the whole body. Such shameless attire in no way allows one to frequent cilvilsed company... such clothes can stand in the way of our moral improvement.' Soudamini Khastagiri, Striloker Paricchad (1872)

 

Source F C Kesavan's autobiography Jeevita Samaram recalls his mother-in-law's first encounter with a blouse gifted by her sister-in-law in the late 19th century: 'It looked good, but I felt ticklish wearing it. It took it off, folded it carefully and brimming with enthusiasm, showed it to my mother. She gave me a stern look and said "Where are you going to gallivant in this? Fold it and keep it in the box."...... I was scared of my mother. She could kill me. At night I wore the blouse and showed it to my husband. He said it looked good... [the next morning] I came out wearing the blouse... I didn't notice my mother coming. Suddenly I heard her break a piece from a coconut branch. When I turned round, she was behind me fierce and furious... she said "Take it off... you want to walk around in shirts like Muslim women?"

   

Answer:

Source E is giving the views in Bengal whereas Source F is from Kerala. We see that in Bengal, a woman's exposure of the body by wearing transparent clothing was considered shameful. It was not acceptable to society. However, in Kerala, the upper parts of women's bodies were normally not covered with any clothes. If some women covered the upper part of the body, they were considered not traditional; although the current generation accepted it (her husband liked it). So, these sources tell us that the nations of shame in two different regions of India were totally different.