BA2 CLASS READING - TEXTILES IN SOCIETY - GANDHI AND KHADI CLOTH GROUP SEMINAR PRESENTATION - this reading is extracts (...) from the set text.

GANDHI AND 'KHADI', THE FABRIC  OF INDIAN INDEPENDENCE. SUSAN S. BEAN 1989.

Cloth was central to the Indian struggle for national self-government - cloth as an economic product and cloth as a medium of communication. Cloth was officially incorporated into the nationalist program in 1921 when the Indian National Congress resolved to campaign for the boycott of foreign cloth, to require its officers and workers to spin cotton yarn and wear hand-spun, hand-woven cloth (khaki), and to adopt a flag with the spinning wheel in the centre. Mahatma Gandhi was the force behind the adoption of these resolutions, but they were successful because Gandhi had achieved an understanding of the role of cloth in Indian life, the culmination of decades of experimentation with cloth as a medium of communication and means of livelihood.

Gandhi's changing sociopolitical identity can be traced through his costume changes as well as through his speeches, writings, and activities. As he came to appreciate the semiotic properties of cloth, he learned to use it to communicate his most important messages to followers and opponents and to manipulate social events. Once he had appreciated the economic importance of cloth in India, he made it the centrepiece of his program for independence and self-government. ...


When Mohandas K. Gandhi disembarked at Southampton in 1888, he was wearing white flannels given to him by a friend and saved especially for the occasion, ... Later he replaced his Bombay-style clothing, which he thought 'unsuitable for English society' (Gandhi 1957:50), with an evening suit from Bond Street, patent leather shoes with spats, and a high silk hat ... Gandhi was sensitive to the connection between costume and social status, and perceived that changes in social position required changes in costume. ...


In 1891 when Ghandi returned home to Rajkot, a barrister, he promoted the westernisation of his household, begun for him by his brother, by adding items of European dress (Gandhi 1957:92). Gandhi believed his success was dependent on westernisation. ...


Soon the prospect began to fade that one could be an Indian and a full citizen of the British empire by wearing Indian headgear with an English suit. For one thing, it had become clear that the colour of one's skin was as much a part of one's costume as a frock coat, ... he began to admire Indian dress. ...


By 1908 he had come to believe that Indians could not be Englishmen and that India should be ruled for the benefit of India by Indians. He set forth these views in 'Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)' (1908), ... By 1908 he no longer believed that European garments were an index of civilisation and Indian ones of its lack. ...


By 1921, 'khadi' (homespun cloth) had become central to his politics. The intervening years were full of experiments with costume and with the production of handmade cloth.

Gandhi's campaign for 'khadi' was a product of economic nationalism. Gandhi's views on cloth and clothing were unique, but the elements of which they were composed were not. According to the economic nationalists, India's decline was due largely to British destruction of Indian manufactures beginning in the late eighteenth century. Cotton textiles had been India's premier industry. ...


Indians could fight the destructive power of the English government by using Indian products in preference to foreign ones. The ideology and practice of 'swadeshi' grew among nationalists ...

English cloth had become the most potent symbol of English political domination and economic exploitation. As cloth is used mainly in clothing, the results of English exploitation - the demise of indigenous industry - were constantly there for all to see, on the backs of Indians who wore Manchester cloth made into British-style garments. 'Swadeshi'', an attempt to revive and promote Indian industry, required that each person be counted as a patriot-nationalist or a supporter of English domination and exploitation. An individual's political views, encoded in his or her costume, were exposed to public view. ...

Gandhi's final costume change took place in 1921 when he began his national program for the revival of handmade cloth. Khadi (homespun) was scarce and expensive, so he urged his followers to wear as little cloth as possible:


'I know that many will find it difficult to replace their foreign cloth all at once. ... Let them be satisfied with a mere loin cloth. ... I  propose to discard at least up to the 31st of October my 'topi' (cap) and vest, and to content myself with only a loin cloth, and a 'chaddar' (shawl) whenever found necessary for the protection of the body.' ... (29 September 1921, quoted in Jaju 1951:98). ...


He used his appearance to communicate his most important messages in a form comprehensible to all Indians. Engaged in the simple labour of spinning, dressed as one of the poor in loincloth and 'chaddar', this important and powerful man communicated the dignity of poverty, the dignity of labour, the equality of all Indians, and the greatness of Indian civilisation, as well as his own saintliness. The communicative power of costume transcended the limitations of language in multilingual and illiterate India. The image transcended cultural boundaries as well. His impact on the West was enhanced by his resemblance, in his simplicity of dress and his saintly manner, to Christ on the Cross.' (Bean in Hemmings, 2012, pp.234-242).

REFERENCE

Bean, S. in Hemmings, J. (ed.) (2012) The textile reader. London: Berg.