It is one India\u2019s most ubiquitous garments, with origins in the grand Mughal courts and Rajasthani kingdoms of times past, and still widely favoured by sharply dressed grooms at wedding receptions.<\/p>\n
But this week, the distinctive high-collared bandhgala jacket \u2013 known to many as the \u201cprincely jacket\u201d in a nod to its royal origins \u2013 found itself at the centre of a lively debate after it was denounced by the Indian railways minister as a symbol of a \u201ccolonial mindset\u201d.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to \u201cbanish\u201d such colonial hangovers, Ashwini Vaishnaw has declared that the bandhgala will be immediately removed as part of the formal uniform of Indian Railways staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to get rid of all colonial mindset,\u201d Vaishnaw said. \u201cWe need to find each of them and remove them, whether it\u2019s in our working style or dressing style.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while the tailored jacket became part of the Indian Railways uniform in the late 19th century, during the time of the British Raj, it has been denied that the coat itself is a colonial relic.<\/p>\n
Raghavendra Rathore, an Indian menswear designer and descendent of the royal family of Jodhpur in Rajasthan who pioneered the jacket\u2019s design centuries ago, called the garment \u201cIndia\u2019s most refined expression of royal tailoring\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s unfair to say this jacket is not part of our own history or it\u2019s the costume of another culture,\u201d Rathore said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has developed and evolved over four centuries, going back to the Mughal courts and the Rajasthan princely states. This jacket was here before the British arrived in Calcutta and it\u2019s gone through a very fluid evolution since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Narendra Modi\u2019s government has pledged to free India from the legacy of more than 100 years of Britain\u2019s colonial rule. Photograph: Altaf Hussain\/Reuters<\/p>\n
For Rathore, whose fashion label has focused on the traditional cultures and craft of the bandhgala, it remains a distinctively Indian garment that encompasses layers of history.<\/p>\n
The now-ubiquitous closed neckline, the fitted and tailored torso and shaped shoulders of the jacket first emerged in the courts of Mughal emperor Akbar in the 16th century.<\/p>\n
As the design evolved into a waist-length fitted jacket, it was then adopted in the courts of the Rajput warrior rulers and maharajas of Jodhpur, in what is now Rajasthan state, where it underwent further transformation and adaptation. The high neck was seen as particularly favourable for the chilly conditions of north India during the winter.<\/p>\n
By the 19th century, the jacket had been further modified by the Jodhpur royal family to make it suitable as an outfit for riding horses and playing polo, to be matched with tight breeches now known more commonly as jodhpurs. It was as a polo uniform that the bandhgala jacket became popularised in the west by the early 20th century.<\/p>\n
Far from being a western imposition, the adoption of the bandhgala jacket by Indian Railways in the late 19th century saw it replace more European-style frocks and tunics.<\/p>\n
Rathore acknowledged there was some colonial influence on the evolution of the jacket during the time of the Raj. Elements were copied from British military uniform jackets, such as certain trims and tailoring, and other paraphernalia that were added to the designs. But \u201cthe jacket itself always remained Indian\u201d, he emphasised.<\/p>\n