Hindus: The dress ensemble of the Hindus of Nasik district is a. blending of different items of dress shared in common with people all aver India. At present many of the articles of dress-ware patronised particularly by the educated young urbanites, are items after the western style. However, many items of dress current among the people in general could be said to have been indigenously evolved.

The sewn garment for the baby is balut consisting of a triangular piece of cloth tied round its waist so as to cover the buttocks and the front. This is followed by a topare which is a baby cap covering the ears and kunchi which is a cap and a frock sewn, together. Angi is a general term indicating a sewn garment for the upper, body, in which could be included jhable (frock), banal or peti (jacket) warp by the child. When the child grows two or three years old a round or a folded cap for the head, sadara or pairan (shirt) for the upper part, chaddi or short pants for the lower part are sewn for the use of boys and parkar (petticoat), chaddi (panties), polka (bodice) and jhaga (frock) are sewn for the use of girls.

The ordinary dress of the upper class Hindus for a man indoors is a dhotar (waist-cloth) and a sadara or pairan (shirt). Out of doors, it consists of a head-dress which is a folded cap of cotton, silk or woollen fabric or a freshly folded turban known as rumal, patka or pheta. The pre-formed turban known as pagdi is now to be seen rarely. A waist-coat or a jacket known as bandi which may be used over a shirt or a sadara and a coat, short or long, is worn. A shoulder cloth or uparne woven out of a light muslin cloth about three yards long and a yard broad is thrown round the shoulders but it is fast falling in disuse. Country-made shoes are worn by most people, though amongst urbanites, slippers and shoes after the western style are now coming into increasing use.

 A well-to-do educated urbanite may use all the items of the standard western ensemble including the bush-shirt and the bush-coat of recent origin. Indoors he would be found using a striped or white pyjama and a half shirt or a pairan. His outdoor dress varies between three type: (1) A lenga (loose trousers or slacks) and a long shirt of ‘Nehru’ type or a pair of short pants and a shirt, the flaps of the shirt either being allowed to hang loose on the shorts or tucked inside them. (2) A pair of trousers in combination with a shirt or a half shirt, a bush-shirt or a bush-coat. (3) A full western including trousers, shirt, perhaps a waist-coat and a neck-tie. For ceremonial occasions he may prefer to dress in the Indian style in a spacious looking long coat, called achkan and chudidar pyjama or survar, slightly gathered at the ankle's end. A folded woollen or silk cap and chadhav or pump shoe completes the ensemble. Among the urbanite young men, the use of dhoti has become almost extinct. It is in some evidence among the middle-aged and old. The shendi or the top-knot has disappeared long ago and the hair are cut short like the Westerners. Going about bare-headed has also become the fashion during recent years.

The dress of the ordinary cultivator is most common place and consists of any, a rough dhotar (loin cloth), another cloth thrown over the shoulders and upper part of the body, which but for this is often bare and a third rough cloth wound loosely around the head as a turban. All these are originally white but soon assume a dingy shade. The gala dress may consist of a red pagdi (preformed turban), a coloured or, white coat and a white dhotar with a red silk border if he can afford it. The coat known angarkha reaching, the knee with flaps folding over the chest and tied with strings is now getting out of fashion and short or long coat coming only to the, hips is getting popular.

Artisans who work at home use only a dhotar or a pair of short pants and a vest or a, jacket. When they go out they use the ordinary dress of a common Hindu. Woollen apparel is used by all who can afford it during the cold season.        '

Shoes are usually worn by villagers in the heat and sandals on the streets. Women go bare foot but sometimes wear sandals.    .          

A Hindu woman's dress is the full Maratha sadi of nine yards and a short-sleeved choli covering about half, length of the back and tied in front just beneath the breasts in the middle by a knot made with edges of the two panels. The nine-yard sadi is generally worn by elderly ladies and is known as lugde in Marathi. It is 42 to 45 inches in breadth and it has two length-wise borders known as kanth or kinar and also two breadth-wise borders, padars, at two ends of which one is more decorated than the other. The mode of wearing the lugde by Brahman women and others is with the hind pleats tucked into the waist at the back-centre and the decorated end thrown over the left shoulder. Maratha women allow it to hang from the waist down straight and round like a skirt and draw its end which covers the bosom and back over the head. Sadis of five yards in length have now become fashionable among young ladies, particularly in urban centres. These are worn cylindrically over a parkar or ghagra, also called petticoat. The old-fashioned choli is also discarded by them and the use of brassiers, blouses, polkas and jumpers has become quite common. A reversion to new type of cholis in the form of blouses with low-cut necks and close-fitting sleeves up to the elbows is also noticed among them of late.

Women of the working classes, to allow freedom of movements for both their hands, draw the loose end of the sadi fluttering on the back from the left shoulder, tightly in front from underneath the right arm and tuck it in the wrap of the sadi at the waist. They do not also allow the manifold .pleats to, dangle low at the ankles but tuck them tightly at the back.            .

Ornaments are widely regarded particularly in rural parts, more as means of safe-keeping of money than for decoration or aids to beauty. People do not like to spend much on the gold-smith's labour or skill which fetches no value on the re-conversion of the ornaments into cash. As a result it is noticeable that for the patronage of a few princes of old or rich persons ornaments are but specimens of clumsy form and workmanship. Gold ornaments are simply hammered and punched into shape or rudely engraved and are practically never cast or moulded. They are often made hollow from thin plate or leaf, the interior being filled with lac. So also is the case with silver which is also rarely cast.

Ornaments differ in type as used by men and women and by boys and girls. They are worn on the head, in the ears, in the nose, on the neck, across the shoulders, on the arms, wrists and fingers, on the legs and on the toes. They differ according to caste and community and also as used by men, women, boys and girls.      

With Hindus, gold is a very sacred metal and gold ornaments must not, on this account, be worn below the waist. It would be considered an indignity to the holy material. No Brahman or Maratha woman will wear ornaments except those made of gold on the heads or other limbs up the waist. Gold and silver is also regarded as having a protec­tive effect, like that attributed to charms and amulets. In the making of ornaments, the recent tendency is to substitute gold and silver and precious stones by alloys, cultured pearls and synthetic stones.

Men now rarely wear any ornaments. However, a sawkar may display a bhikbali, a gold ring set with pearls and a pendant emerald, hanging by the upper lobe of his ear. He may also use gold salkadis or a pochi on the wrist and a goph, or chain work with a locket round the neck. If fairly off, a Bania's everyday ornaments may be a silver girdle and a gold armlet worn above the elbow, a pearl ear-ring, a gold or pearl necklace and finger-rings; Well-to-do husbandmen have gold rings in the ear, kadas of solid silver on the wrists or a   dandakade of silver worn above the elbow. A silver chain work girdle known as kargota is used round the waist by many.

Fashions in the ornaments of ladies have considerably changed during the last fifty years, the general tendency being to avoid gold ornaments of heavy weight.          

Head ornaments of any kind which are used by ladies are not much in evidence. However, some hair ornaments such as mud, agraphool, ktetki-kevda, veni, rakhdi, chandra-surya, naggonde and gonde-ful, all made of gold are still to be found in old families. Bindi-bijora and bhang-tika, decorative ornaments for the whole head are to be found among Rajputs and Marvadis. Flower-shaped ornaments such as gulabache phool, chbphe-kali etc., as braid ornaments are not yet extinct.

Ear ornaments such as chaufule and kudi, preferably of pearls and precious stones are in vogue. Bugdya, balya - and kap are used by old women only. Earings of a variety of types are now getting fashionable.

Nose ornaments: Nose-rings such as nath and.besar as, ceremonial ornaments, worn by married women, in the left nostril are current. Nath of the rich is studded with pearls and gems that of the poorjs made of gold. Besar is smaller in size; Other types of nose-rings are  morni,inugvat, phllli kanta and chamki.     

Necklaces such as mangalasutras of vatious types, black beads being strung together by different patterns of gold chain work with gold beads and cups in the middle and used symbolically by married ladies are now-a-days worn by them as an ornament. Other types of necklaces in current use are bakuli har; bormal, chandra har, chapala har, ekdani, jondhali-pota, Kolhapuri saj, mohanmal, putalyanchi-mal and poke-bar, sari, thushi, vajratik are getting scarce. Petya, potu, lappha, Tanmani and pende are made of pearls and used by the rich only.

Hand ornaments such as kankne (bangles) of patterns known as bilor, diamond, double-diamond, hodighat, panchpailu, tin-pailu, as well as Calcutta pattern, Delhi pattern and Madras pattern are current Patlya (wristlets) known as jalichya, minyachya, pailuchya, purnachya and tidichya all made of gold are current. Costlier bangles studded with pearls, diamonds and precious stones are used by the rich only.

Armlets such as bajubands or Vakis of, the types known as hatrichya, modvakya, rudragath, tulabandi made of gold or silver are still in wear.       .

Foot or leg ornaments are made of silver and are worn by lower Classes. They are lode, tordya, sakhlya and vale. Masolya, jodvi, phirvi, salle are silver toe rings and are used by ladies on marriage day and continue to be used always by some classes.

Child ornaments such as bindlya, mangatya, kaditode which are wristlets and goph, hasali, sakhli, taiti which are necklaces are made either of gold or silver. Sakhli and sarpoli are used round the waist and ghungurvale and vale are worn on the ankles.    

Muslims: Poor and ordinary Muhammedans dress like Hindus. But the most distinctive feature of the dress of the well-to-do and rich is that men always wear trousers or pyjamas, usually white. The commonest is the survar or right trousers. The trousers are secured by a string round the waist. A Muslim usually never wears the Hindu dhotar or loin-cloth. He wears a white muslin shirt without a collar the ends of which hang down outside the trousers. Over these, the well-to-do have a waist coat of velvet, brocade, or broadcloth. Those who have imbibed the western habit use underwears. Those who have not imbibed the western influence use shervani and achkan. At home, a Muslim wears a small skull cap and while going out, puts on a turban or loose headcloth or as was the fashion for a time, the small red or crimson fez with a tassel. The removal of the shoes on entering a mosque is not prescribed by Muhammedan law, though it has become customary in imitation of Hindus.

A rich Muhammedan woman wears a long shirt of muslin or net in different colours, embroidered on the neck and shoulders with, gold lace, and draping down to the ankIes. Under it she wears silk pyjamas and over it an angia bodice of broadcloth or of silk, brocade or cloth of gold, bordered with gold or silver lace. On the head she has a shawl or square kerchief bordered with lace. A poor woman has only a bodice and pyjamas with a cloth round the waist to cover their ends. Women as a rule wear shoes, even though they do not go out and they have a profusion of ornaments of much the same character as worn by Hindu women. However, the pronounced tendency is to reject solid gold for pearls and other precious stones. The wearing of heavy ornaments in the nose and ears is becoming less common. The boring of the nose and the cartilage and of the ear-lobes, once held imperative, is looked on now-a-days with disfavour.