The Role of Veilcloths Among the Rabaris of Kutch, Gujarat, Western India

Author: Edwards, Eiluned

Source: Costume, Volume 43, Number 1, 2009 , pp. 19-37(19)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

This article gives a brief introduction to the Rabaris of Kutch district, Gujarat, in western India. It then follows the biographical strands of the veilcloth worn by Rabari women (who are known as Rabaran) through its making, use and circulation, exploring the basis of their values and beliefs. Analysis of its trajectory reveals the impact of change on the Rabaris' way of life following the development of agricultural industries in Kutch in the past three to four decades. Previously secure in the pious nature of their vocation as herders, the decline of their form of animal husbandry in the post-colonial era has compelled Rabaris to review their calling; as they renegotiate their identity at individual and group level, in common with the nationalists of the early twentieth century, dress has become a site in which that identity is contested and reconfigured.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/174963009X419700

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