In modern India, women are often criticized for adopting western fashion trends and losing touch with Indian culture and identity. However, what is frequently overlooked is that the image of the "Ideal modest Indian woman” or the “Adarsh Nari” we hold today was in fact painted by Britishers during the colonial rule.
Our concept of modesty has been distorted to mean “being covered or not showing too much skin” which is not actually our indigenous culture but is something that became ingrained in the minds of Indians because of Victorian morality. Victorian Morality refers to the strict code of conduct followed during the reign of Queen Victoria which strongly emphasized on traditional gender roles, conservative social norms, family values, modesty, and dress codes. This morality dictated that women should dress modestly by covering their bodies. Their bodies- especially the chest area by wearing clothes like full sleeve blouses. As per biblical moral codes, nudity was a sign of sin and people who wore revealing clothes were considered as uncivilized and uncultured.
However, in contradiction, the purpose of clothing in pre-colonial India was not to cover or hide the body but to adorn it. Historical proofs from Indus Valley and Harappan Civilization or sculptures on the walls of ancient temples and monuments, show both men and women wearing minimal clothing and often being bare chested; the clothing then was not necessarily gender specific but was dependent on numerous factors like availability of materials, climate conditions and cultural identities. Wearing a blouse or petticoat under a saree was an alien concept for women in most parts of ancient India.
In the 1800s, it was common for women in Bengal and the Southern part of India to wear nothing beneath a saree, in fact in Premodern Kerala, elders forbade Hindu women from wearing a blouse underneath a saree because they were associated more with Muslim and Christian women for whom wearing blouses were necessary. In Ancient India, women didn't cover their breasts.
Having said that, it is not completely fair to say that the concept of blouses came to India solely during colonial rule, we can see the evidence of precursors of blouses in various Indian civilizations and cultures as well. There are mentions of “stanapatta” or breastbands in ancient Sanskrit texts and women of the Chola dynasty used to tie an unstitched cloth around their breasts, but it was not until the British rule came to India that being bare chested or not wearing clothes that fully cover the body became a sign of vulgarity and shame. A significant example of this influence can be seen in the story of Naganandini Devi, an elite Bengali woman, and the wife of Satyendra Nath Tagore- the brother of Rabindranath Tagore who was forbidden to enter British clubs without a blouse. This led her to popularize a jacket style blouse in India.
The British influence strengthened over time with shirts being worn under a saree as a part of high fashion or ruffled blouses making their way into Indian wardrobes. In the post-independence era, the entertainment industry further grew the popularity of blouses by giving the audience a wide variety of iconic styles to copy.
However, this addition of Blouses in Indian womens' wardrobe is not the negative aspect of colonization. The real problem lies in the misinterpretation of this colonial influence as the “Indian” standard of modesty and decency. Reducing a woman's worth based on how much of her body is covered violates the freedom and autonomy that fashion should provide. The issue is not in clothing itself but the way it has been used to judge women rather than allowing them the freedom to define modesty in their own terms.
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