What
made Gandhiji wear only Loincloth or Dhoti
S. Balakrishnan *
Ninety-five years ago on 22nd September 1921, Gandhi made a
momentous decision to change his attire. From the elaborate Gujarati attire, he
decided on a simple dhoti and shawl. This epoch-making decision was taken by
Gandhiji in Madurai after he decided that he has to work for and with the with
the poor people of India and how can he identify with them if he wears
different clothes from them. He stuck to this dress code even on his trip
abroad and until his very last moment! And he never regretted his decision as
he writes:
“All
the alterations I have made in my course of life have been effected by
momentous occasions; and they have been made after such a deep deliberation
that I have hardly had to regret them. And I did them, as I could not help
doing them. Such a radical alteration — in my dress, — I effected in Madura.”
Gandhiji’s desire to identify himself with the
poor masses was not a momentary decision. He had been contemplating about it
for a long time. On two earlier occasions, he had thought of donning the common
man’s clothes but it was ultimately in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) where he finally
took the plunge of adopting the attire of a poor peasant. He
remarked later that it was Madurai that gave him the necessary strength to take
a decision on his clothing though, on a couple of occasions earlier, he came
closer but could not fully adopt this attire. The Mahatma said Madurai gave
him necessary strength to shed his traditional attire for ‘loincloth’ at last.
Gandhi describes the incident that forced him to shed his formal attire: “On
the way (from Madras – now Chennai - to Madurai by train) I saw in our
compartment crowds that were wholly unconcerned with what had happened. Almost
without exception they were bedecked in foreign fineries. I entered into
conversation with some of them and pleaded for Khadi. …. They shook their heads
as they said, 'We are too poor to buy Khadi and it is so dear.' I realized the
substratum of truth behind the remark. I had my vest, cap and full dhoti on.
When these uttered only partial truth, the millions of compulsorily naked men,
save for their langoti four inches wide and nearly as many
feet long, gave through their limbs the naked truth. What effective answer
could I give them, if it was not to divest myself of every inch of clothing I
decently could and thus to a still greater extent bring myself in line with
ill-clad masses? And this I did the very next morning after the Madura
meeting."
This thought travelled along with him during his train journey down to Madurai
where, on 22nd September 1921, Gandhi once for all decided upon a
simple dhoti and a shawl. He was staying in the upstairs portion of a
follower’s house (Door No. 251) on
West Masi Street in Madurai. That was his second visit to that city; later, he
visited it thrice. As he came out on that morning to proceed to Ramand
(Ramanathapuram) and further down to Tirunelveli, he appeared in a new avatar
with a telling fashion statement, if one can call it so! Fittingly, the same
house is now occupied by the Khadi Emporium!
As he proceeded on his travel itinerary from
Madurai, he was forced to stop en route to accept
peoples’ greetings. And the place where he appeared first in public in his new
loincloth attire is now called ‘Gandhi Pottal (open ground). A humble statue of
Gandhi stands there just across Alankar Theatre on Kamarajar Road in Madurai.
However, Gandhiji did not want everyone to follow his simplistic dress style.
He wrote in Navajivan: “I do not want either my co-workers or
readers to adopt the loincloth. But I do wish that they should thoroughly
realise the meaning of the boycott of foreign cloth and put forth their best
effort to get it boycotted, and to get khadi manufactured. I do wish that they
may understand that swadeshi means everything.”
This kind of drastic change in attire brought him both bouquets and brickbats
and also some raised eye-brows. An interesting anecdote is the reluctant invite
to afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace by King George V to Gandhi and all Indian
delegates to the Round Table Conference; reluctant, because Gandhi’s poor man’s
dress was simply against the court etiquette. But Gandhi was also equally
adamant by pre-announcing that he would not re-clothe even to meet the
King. His stand was simple that the Indian poor were still naked because of
Britain. Later, when asked if he was not wearing enough clothes to meet the
King, Gandhiji is reported to have famously remarked, “The king had enough
on for both of us”. There could not have been a better riposte.
Gandhi’s
message on loin cloth
‘Only
a few days are left for us to complete the boycott of foreign cloth enjoined by
the All-India Congress Committee. …… Millions are too poor to buy enough
khaddar to replace the discarded cloth. To them I repeat my advice given on the
Madras Beach. Let them be satisfied with a mere loin-cloth. In our
climate we hardly need more to protect our bodies during the warm months of the
year. Let there be no prudery about dress. India has never insisted on full
covering of the body for the males as a test of culture. I give the advice
under a full sense of my responsibility. In order therefore to set the example
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. I adopt the change because I
have always hesitated to advise anything I may not myself be prepared to
follow, also because am anxious by leading the way to make it easy for those
who cannot afford to change on discarding their foreign garments. I consider
the renunciation to be also necessary for me as a sign of mourning and a bare
head and a bare body is such a sign in my part of the country. That we are in
mourning is more and more being borne home to me as the end of the year is
approaching and we are still without Swaraj. I wish to state clearly
that I do not expect co-workers to renounce the use of vest and topi unless
they find it necessary to do so for their own work. ‘
Indeed, the Mahatma followed what he preached! That is the reason his life – an
open book – is by itself a message.
Gandhiji in Madras in full Gujarati attire after
his return from South Africa.
Gandhiji in Madurai after adopting the loincloth
dress code
Statue of Gandhiji in Madurai, where he first
appeared in public with loin cloth attire
Postal Department’s tribute
to Gandhiji - Postal stamp issued in 2003 on the occasion of KoodalPex
-2003 - Madurai Philatelic Expo; Madurai’s historical name is Koodal.
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*Independent
journalist based in Chennai. The views
expressed in the Article are his personal.