CHAPTER XIV
OF ORIENTAL DRESS (continued)
"And never the twain shall meet," lilts Kipling of the East and the West; and in the province of dress, as everywhere else in the Orient, caste, ruling supreme, writes incontroversial laws of separation.
In India, the article of masculine attire to which most importance attaches is the turban, its shape and general aspect denoting the social and spiritual status of the wearer. Until the founding of the Mogul Empire in 1505, the women of Hindostan were strangers to the tyranny both of the Zenana and of the veil, but from that time onwards traces of Mohammedan influence are plainly visible in the habits and costume of the people.
The utmost magnificence and display characterised the dress of the Mogul Emperors and their Court; and although differing in colour, texture, and certain minute details, the costumes common to the period were identical in broad outline and general design; and Fashion moved so slowly in a
country where tradition was regarded as law, that the sleeve and collar in vogue at the end of a century were very like those obtaining at the beginning.
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