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Khadi Curtains and Swadeshi Bed Covers: Textiles and the changing possibilities of home in western India, 1900–1960*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2015

ABIGAIL McGOWAN
ABIGAIL McGOWAN*
Affiliation:
University of Vermont, United States of America Email: amcgowan@uvm.edu
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Abstract

In examining the remarkable expansion of India's textile production in the late colonial period, many scholars have identified consumption trends as shaping the relative success of mills as opposed to handlooms. That scholarship, however, has focused on only one component of consumption: clothing. This article explores another important area of cloth consumption in western India: non-clothing textiles. Across classes, urban dwellers used curtains and furnishing fabrics to try to improve comfort and create privacy—two qualities in short supply in cities like Bombay and Ahmedabad, where the pressures of rapidly growing populations came into conflict with new sanitary demands to open up houses to light and air. More broadly, non-clothing textiles helped to negotiate the novel conditions of urban life, where people moved regularly, homes were increasingly open to non-kin visitors, men and women shared space in new ways, and elite women were aesthetic arbiters of domestic space. While clothing choices in the late colonial period have often been studied in the context of nationalism, this article argues that nationalism was only one factor among many that shaped the use of household furnishing fabrics; equally, or more importantly, new ideas of ‘home’ led to and were expressed in expanded fabric use in urban western India.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. 518 - 563
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

*

Acknowledgements: Earlier versions of this article were presented at the 2010 American Historical Association Annual Meeting and at the 2012 conference ‘Textile Trades and Consumption in the Indian Ocean World’ held at McGill University; I am grateful to the audiences at both venues for their comments. Thanks especially to Lakshmi Subramanian, Prasannan Parthasarathi, and Beverly Lemire for their comments, and to the two anonymous reviewers for Modern Asian Studies for their very helpful suggestions that have guided the revision of this article.

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31 Report of the Rent Enquiry Committee (1939) (Bombay: Government Central Press), pp. 114, 116; Government of India, Census of India 1961: Special Report on Ahmedabad City, p. 101.

32 ‘While we Provide Art and Comfort to the Rich, Let us not Forget City's Slums’, (1937), Bombay Chronicle, 4 November, p. 8.

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49 Sixty Designs for Your New Home (1946) (Bombay: Cement Marketing Co. of India), pp. 22, 36.

50 Deshpande, Modern Ideal Homes for India, p. 267. For similar concerns about the environmental evils of cities, and the need to build homes outside of town for health reasons, see Mehta, Virendraray Chandrashankar (1937), Grihvidhan (Bhavnagar: Bhavnagar State), p. 7Google Scholar.

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52 Deshpande, Modern Ideal Homes for India, p. 268. Indeed, Rao argues that it is the movement of the toilet into the flat that was crucial to the creation of middle class, flat-based living culture in Bombay. See Rao, House, But No Garden, pp. 97–136.

53 For one of the many complaints about the lives of the poor spilling out into public spaces, see Burnett-Hurst, Labour and Housing in Bombay, pp. 26–27.

54 Pradhan, Untouchable Workers of Bombay City, p. 116.

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58 ‘Equipping the Kitchen: Need for Space and Light’ (1936), Times of India, 8 June, p. 16; ‘New Decorative Schemes: Styles and Colourings’, ibid.

59 For further discussion of this advice literature from the 1920s, see McGowan, Abigail (2014), ‘Domestic Modern: Redecorating Homes in Bombay in the 1930s’. Paper presented at the conference ‘The Long Indian Century: Historical Transitions and Social Transformations’, Yale University, April.

60 ‘The Cult of Beauty: Introducing a New Feature’ (1934), Times of India, 5 March, p. 9.

61 Padfield, Joseph Edwin (1908), The Hindu at Home, Being Sketches of Hindu Daily Life (Madras: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), p. 2Google Scholar.

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63 Deshpande, Modern Ideal Homes for India, p. 80.

64 A Young Bachelor (1934), ‘Brighter Homes’, Times of India, 3 September, p. 12.

65 ‘In Tune with the Times: Furniture That Fits the Age’ (1937), Times of India, 22 February, p. 16. Another 1935 Times of India article noted that, ‘the up-to-date woman . . . being a creature of movement, of sudden hospitalities and of nerve-wearing activities, she must have soothing spaciousness at home. She must have freedom of movement, air and light, but devoid of pomposity and affectation.’ ‘An “Expanding” Home’ (1935), Times of India, 14 October, p. 17.

66 Government of Bombay (1901), Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Vol. IX, Part I: Gujarat Population―Hindus (Bombay: Government Central Press), p. xvii; Government of Bombay, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Vol. IX, Part II: Gujarat Population―Musalmans and Parsis, p. 93.

67 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, pp. 66–68.

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70 Quoted in Burnett-Hurst, Labour and Housing in Bombay, p. 28.

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74 Tilak, I Follow After, p. 192.

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78 See, for example, H., L. (1934), ‘“Unit” Furniture—A New Idea’, Times of India, 13 August, p. 13; ‘Furnishing Wisdom for Smaller Homes: The Art of Elimination’ (1935), Times of India, 6 May, p. 26.

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81 Times of India Annual (1937) (Bombay: Times of India Press), n.p. (Emphasis added.)

82 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, pp. 66–67.

83 Ibid., p. 67.

84 Ibid., p. 335.

85 Deighton, Mrs Catherine F. (1912), Domestic Economy (Madras: Higginbotham and Co.), pp. 24Google Scholar, 122.

86 Parsons, Homecraft and Mothercraft in India, pp. 22, 28. A telling example of this fear of bugs in upholstery is visible in a 1956 advertisement for Royal Carpets and Cane Furniture of Bombay; the advertisement copy touts the durability and affordability of cane furniture, but closes with the line: it is ‘always completely free from bugs, etc.’ ‘Advertisement: Royal Carpets and Cane Furniture’ (1956), Illustrated Weekly of India, 15 July, p. 78.

87 Parsons, Homecraft and Mothercraft in India, p. 20.

88 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, p. 278.

89 Ibid., p. 97.

90 For repeated injunctions to wash furnishing fabrics, see Parsons, Homecraft and Mothercraft in India, pp. 19, 30, 33, 36.

91 C., M.C. (1934), ‘What Good Taste Means: Our Ideas Must Be Adapted to Our Dwellings’, Times of India, 6 August, p. 13; ‘Is Your Room Too Large or Too Small? How to Camouflage its Size’ (1934), Times of India, 3 September, p. 13; ‘“Furnishing” with Trunks’ (1935), Times of India, 11 February, p. 14.

92 ‘Wedding the Old With the New: Heighten the Beauty of Both’ (1934), Times of India, 26 November, p. 14.

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96 ‘How to Improve Your Bathroom: No Need for Big Expense’ (1934), Times of India, 27 August, p. 12; ‘Something New in Table Linen’ (1934), Times of India, 22 October, p. 12; ‘The Joy of Artistic Creation: Rug Making at Home’ (1934), Times of India, 3 December, p. 13.

97 For just a few examples from the 1950s, see Narayan, Bedri (1955), ‘Applique Motifs’, Illustrated Weekly of India, 21 August, pp. 52–53; Bhattacharjee, Surovi (1956), ‘Doll Motifs for Embroidery’, Illustrated Weekly of India, 18 March, p. 53; Bhattacharjee, Surovi (1956), ‘Gunny for Decoration’, Illustrated Weekly of India, 5 August, p. 53; Neogi, Monica (1956), ‘The Village Maid Motif’, Illustrated Weekly of India, 26 August, p. 53.

98 Pradhan, Untouchable Workers of Bombay City, pp. 12, 31.

99 Ibid., pp. 70–71.

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101 Times of India Annual (1921), n.p.

102 ‘Furnishing Fabrics from the Indian Mills: Designs and Texture Greatly Improved’ (1934), Times of India, 26 November, p. 14.

103 X., X. (1934), ‘Indian Furnishings: Their Appropriate Use’, Times of India, 3 September, p. 12.

104 ‘The Indian General Stores’ (1911), The Indian Review, January, advertising section, p. viii.

105 Classified List of Manufacturers of Swadeshi Goods and Their Agents and Dealers, pp. 24, 80, 58, 84, 56, 60.

106 Ibid., p. 110.

107 Ibid., p. 50.

108 Ibid., p. 74.

109 ‘Progress of Swadeshi’ (1920), Young India 2(22) (9 June): p. 2.

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115 Alida (1937), ‘The Indian Element in Modern Interior Decorating’, Times of India, 3 November, p. 18.

116 B., M.B. (1939), ‘Colour in the Home: Wide Range of Choice’, Times of India, 24 May, p. 17.

117 Report of the Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, 1938–39 (1939) (Bombay: Government Central Press), p. 6.

118 Bayly, ‘The Origins of Swadeshi (Home Industry)’; Bean, ‘Gandhi and Khadi’.

119 Tarlo, Clothing Matters.

120 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, p. 67.

121 Kamath and Kher, The Story of Militant but Non-Violent Trade Unionism, pp. 376, 201.

122 ‘The Progress of Swadeshism’ (1919), Prajabandhu 22(34), p. 2.

123 Kamath and Kher, The Story of Militant but Non-Violent Trade Unionism, p. 61.

124 Ibid., pp. 376, 387–388.

125 Steel, Flora Annie and Gardiner, Grace (1898), The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, 4th edition (London: William Heinemann)Google Scholar, pp. vii, 9; A Sojourner in England (1902), ‘English Homes’, The Indian Ladies’ Magazine 2(5): pp. 134–138.

126 George, Rosemary Marangoly (1998), ‘Homes in the Empire, Empires in the Home’, in George, Rosemary Marangoly (ed.), Burning Down the House (Boulder: Westview Press), p. 58Google Scholar; see also Blunt, Alison (1999), ‘Imperial Geographies of Home: British Domesticity in India, 1886–1925’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (New Series) 24 (4): pp. 421–440CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

127 Ikramullah, From Purdah to Parliament, p. 17. For a similarly Anglicized home from the same era, see Sorabji, Cornelia (2001), India Calling: The Memories of Cornelia Sorabji, India's First Woman Barrister (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 15–16Google Scholar.

128 Ikramullah, From Purdah to Parliament, p. 18.

129 Ranade, Ranade, p. 100.

130 Mehta, Ved (1972), Daddyji (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), p. 15Google Scholar.

131 Chatterjee, Partha (1993), The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories (Delhi: Oxford University Press), pp. 117–148Google Scholar; Sarkar, Tanika (1992), ‘The Hindu Wife and the Hindu Nation: Domesticity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Bengal’, Studies in History 8 (2): pp. 213–235CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

132 Chakrabarty, Dipesh (1993), ‘The Difference-Deferral of (A) Colonial Modernity: Public Debates on Domesticity in British Bengal’, History Workshop 36: pp. 6–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

133 For example, Thanvi, Ashraf ‘Ali (1990), Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf ʻAli Thanawi's Bihishti Zewar: A Partial Translation with Commentary, trans. Metcalf, Barbara (Berkeley: University of Chicago Press)Google Scholar; Walsh, Judith E. (2004), Domesticity in Colonial India: What Women Learned When Men Gave Them Advice (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers)Google Scholar.

134 Alida, ‘The Indian Element in Modern Interior Decorating’. See also: Deshpande, Modern Ideal Homes for India, pp. 81–82; ‘Furnishing in Modern Flats: Simplicity Is the Keynote’ (1938), Times of India, 27 June, p. 5.

135 Alida (1937), ‘Modern Decoration in the Indian Manner’, Illustrated Weekly of India, 3 October, p. 61.

136 ‘Boycotting Cheroots’ (1930), The Hindi Punch, 19 January, p. 2.

137 Hancock, ‘Home Science and the Nationalization of Domesticity in Colonial India’, p. 881.

138 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, p. ix.

139 Ibid., p. 53.

140 Ibid., p. 66.

141 ‘A Bedroom with Character’ (1934), Times of India, 2 April, p. 8. See also a 10 September 1934 advertisement in The Times of India for a new advice column called ‘Good Taste’ which read as follows: ‘Your Home Reflects Your Taste. It isn't how much you can afford to spend, it's how you spend that counts. Or how you arrange what you already have. The curtains you choose, the way you group a table and chair, how you serve a dinner—all mark you as a woman whose taste is flawless—or otherwise.’ ‘Advertisement for “Good Taste” Column by Francine Markel’ (1934), Times of India, 10 September, p. 13.

142 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, p. 53.

143 To give but one example, an early advertisement promoting the Beautiful Homes pages in the Times of India noted that women needed to talk their husbands into agreeing to major interior decoration work. ‘To-day you can read about the furniture you want and even go and see it in the dealers’ showrooms; and to-morrow you can tell him your plans for a beautiful home. Now is the time to refurnish; and now is the time to get your husband to say “Yes” to your plans.’ Italics added. ‘Advertisement for the Beautiful Homes Pages: Personal—to a Lady’ (1934), Times of India, 11 June, p. 13.

144 For women's roles in consumption decisions, see McGowan, Abigail (2006), ‘An All-Consuming Subject? Women and Consumption in Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century Western India’, Journal of Women's History 18 (4): pp. 31–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

145 Needham and Strong, Domestic Science for High Schools in India, pp. 250–350.

146 ‘Advertisement: DCM Fabric’ (1955), Illustrated Weekly of India, 25 September, p. 20.

147 ‘Advertisement: All-Indian Handloom Board, “For That Modern Indian Look—What Fabrics Will You Choose?”’(1956), Illustrated Weekly of India, 5 August, p. 3; ‘Advertisement: All-Indian Handloom Board, “To a Homemaker Elegant Décor Matters”’ (1957), Illustrated Weekly of India, 5 May, p. 4.