Costumes and Ornaments: A Paradigm Shift

Today, every malayali wants change in every minute facet of their life. Be it in life style, perception, attitude etc they welcome change. As such change becomes an inevitable aspect in the daily chores of malayalis.

Accordingly, their style of dressing, selection of ornaments had undergone sea changes. They are clad, in a variety of dresses and designs. How these changes occurred in them? Is it a by-product of adopting a western culture or due to the outcome of globalised induced consumerist culture? A glance though these changes unveil some thought provoking aspects of Kerala culture.

Costumes and ornaments were always a passion for women since ancient times. Down, the ages, Kerala presents an astonishing range of outfits and knick-knacks which was indeed simple and elegant.

In the earlier days, it was very easy to identify a women belonging to different caste/community with their dress codes. Well in that too there were close association in the sense that Hindu, Christian and Muslim women generally preferred white clothes. Christian women wore a long white garment which is folded with a number of fan-like fringes behind and a jacket is worn over the upper part of the body. While Muslim women wear a white garment from waist to ankles and a white jacket with long sleeves. Purdah and burqa-wearing Muslim women were a common scene. While the typical item in the dress of Nair, Kshatriya, Ambalavasi and some other communities of women was the onnaramundu. Over this was worn the upper garment, mundu, and the blouse. While going out, a longer cloth of finer texture, neriatu, is worn over the shoulders. Besides, the traditional outfit of malayali woman was Neriathu’ and ‘Mundu’. Among, young girls and teenagers it was full skirt and blouse’ and ‘half sari’ (full skirt, short blouse and a davani (shawl).

However, if we analyze the conventional costumes, it was purely caste based and there had existed no disparity between rich and poor. Moreover, women in those days were confined to the four walls of the house looking after the household errands so the necessity of diversification of dresses was not felt much intensely.

But, in the contemporary period, it has become extremely hard to identify the caste/community of a woman by her dressing style. Be it a housewife, teenager, employed or the like. These days it was based on the socio-economic status and not caste based that a woman in Kerala is dressed up. Lower the socio-economic status greater would be the tendency to stick on to the conventional modes. This was apparent among Muslim communities. As such the highly affluent Muslim women had the practice of restricting their conventional mores to their house and seem to be most-modern in the limelight. Even though a change has occurred among Muslim women in their dressing pattern, it was not as prevalent as the other two communities.

This revolution in the dress code dates back to the mid 1990s as more and number of women folk entered the workforce. As women became mobile, they slowly switched from saree to salwar-kameez/churidaar because it meant more convenience and comfort than the customary attire. Again with the software boom and IT Industries the dress code has emerged into a corporate culture that includes suit (and its variants) in addition to the usual dresses. Over and above, media had also played a vital role in the dress sense of women in Kerala and as such what was portrayed in the screen became the fondness of younger generation of girls in Kerala. Similarly with the changing socio-economic status and consumerist culture swayed by globalization, irrespective of caste and creed the concept of luxury has changed and it gets replicated in the dress codes, ornaments and other embellishments.

In one way, it could be assumed that the sudden transition in their dressing style was positive. For instance: as the work participation rate of women increases, it is so common to see young girls and women wear ‘Salwar kameez’ popularly known as ‘Churidaars’ in different styles and manners. This north Indain wear has been widely accepted by both younger and elderly due to its uniqueness and convenience. The comfort this dress provides has made it so popular that it is worn on formal and non formal occasions.

The teenagers currently is flooded with ultramodern costumes namely laacha and lehanga choli. Recently, Kurtas have captured the imagination and fashion demands of a large portion of the younger feminine folk. Moreover, lehanga has put back the traditional saree culture among large chunk of the younger generation. At home, it had become a common practice among both maid and mistress to be attired in their night gown/house coat. The unique from of malayali wear, neraithu-mundu had been replaced by set-sari or Kerala sari.

Nonetheless, traditional style is swiftly vanishing among malayali woman and the upscale of western style of dresses is apparent in the nooks and corners of towns and villages. In the place of sarees made of cotton and handloom material with colored border or prints, sarees woven in mechanical looms made of artificial fibres such as nylon, polyster decorated with traditional works, zardosi work, ariwork, luknow work, sequins work, thread work, embroidery work is the trendsetter. Moreover, they wore sarees only on various ceremonies like wedding, engagement and during various festivals in Kerala.

Thus we could presume that among younger generation it was a blind imitation of western culture which in turn would lead to the deterioration of our culture. .

A decade ago, variety of Ornaments with a range of designs that proved the artistic workmanship of thattans/goldsmith reigned the ornamental ideals of womenfolk. These thattans from their boorish implements and after long days of toil and blows created the innovative pieces like pulunakham, palakkamala etc according to the wishes and demands of women in those days. These ornaments irrespective of caste and creed were made by ‘thattans’ or ‘goldsmith’ organized in guilds and it was their exclusive skill passed though generations And the knowledge of making ornaments was endowed with inherited skills of thattans and it was their hereditary profession too. Moreover, in the earlier days, women do not have as much lust or craze for gold as of today.

In the earlier period there had existed different jewellery for different communities that range from the elaborate and exquisite, to the simple and functional. The nagapadam or serpent-hood pendant of Nair women, the cherutali necklace of Namboodri ladies, and the mekka mothiram worn by the Christian women are classical examples of traditional jewellery of Kerala. The oldest ornament of the 'Nair' women for the neck was the serpent's hood, so called after the shape of the pendant. Among other necklaces were 'nalupanti', 'addiyar', 'puthali', 'avil mala', 'patakkam' etc. The ornaments for the nose were 'mukkuthi' and 'nattu'. The 'Namboothiri' women do not wear costly ornaments. The 'Kaasumala' and the 'oddyanam' were the most characteristic of their ornaments. With regard to the Christian community, they bore their ear in several places and wear a heavy gilt brass ring called `mekkamotiram' at the top of each ear. The ornaments common among them were the `patakkamala', `the vala', `elas', `aranjanam', rings on the ten fingers etc. In the case of muslim women, they wore an incredibly large number of ornaments. They had five or six ornaments each on the neck like `puthali', `effakkathali' etc. and for the waist the `arapatta' in addition to ankles, bracelets and bangles. As many as fourteen holes were sometimes bored in each ear lobe and a long string of ornaments was suspended through it.

Nowadays, the conventional thattans or goldsmiths have almost vanished and the contemporary ornaments are more machine cut and not hand made ones. And the traditional patterns had wiped out and the antique pieces viz, palaykka, poothali, elackathali, nagapadom, kasumala, pavithrakettu etc have given way to newer and newer ones such as diamonds, pendants, platinum, white gold, bracelets, studs, gems and pearls.
In spite of its soaring prices, this yellow metal irrespective of religion/caste, rich/poor most women wear and it forms an inevitable part of most religious and social occasions. And it is quite astonishing to note that Kerala topped among other states of India with regard to gold consumption.

This enduring passion of women in Kerala is easily exploited by a group of jewellers who have no claim of deep rooted tradition in this industry. And they began to reign the ornamental ideals of malayalis paving the way for the onset of diamonds, white gold, platinum, gem stones etc. Moreover, they launched an auspicious day known as ‘Akshaya Tritiya’ for buying gold including ornaments made of diamond and other precious stones. They widely propagated the notion that buying gold on that day brings good luck and helps in the accumulation of wealth. Jewellers claim that they do roaring sales on Akshaya Tritiya day. Keralites who consider gold as an auspicious metal make this day even more auspicious by buying gold. Leading jewellery outlets had come out with attractive offers to gain the attention of various sections of customers. They even open pre-booking counters besides launching various schemes and the like on this particular day. When the jewelers and mass media create such hype about Akshaya Tritiya, even people feel that they are obliged to buy gold on that day. Today anywhere you travel in Kerala you could see innumerable number of outlets to buy ornaments. Like-wise fashion has caught on with malayalee in a large way.