Volume 2 / Part 2 — Darzi
Reading edition
List of Paragraphs
1. General notice.
2. Subdivisions.
3. Sewn clothes not formerly worn.
4. Occupation.
5. Religion.
1. General notice.
2. Subdivisions.
3. Sewn clothes not formerly worn.
The substitution of clothes cut and sewn to fit the body for draped clothes is a matter of regret from an artistic or picturesque point of view, as the latter have usually a more graceful appearance. This is shown by the difficulty of reproducing modern clothes in statuary, trousers being usually the despair of the sculptor. But sewn clothes, when once introduced, must always prevail from considerations of comfort. When a Hindu pulls his dhoti or loin-cloth up his legs and tucks it in round his hips in order to run or play a game he presumably performs the act described in the Bible as ‘girding up his loins.’
4. Occupation.
5. Religion.
The Darzi’s occupation, Mr. Crooke remarks, is a poor one and held rather in contempt. The village proverb runs, ‘Darzi ka pūt jab tak jīta tab tak sīta,’ ‘The tailor’s boy will do nothing but sew all his life long.’ Another somewhat more complimentary saying is, ‘Tanak si suiya tak tak kare aur lākh taka ko banj kare,’ or ‘The tiny needle goes tuk tuk, and makes merchandise worth a lakh of rupees.’ The Hindustani version of both proverbs is obviously intended to give the sound of a needle passing through cloth, and it is possible that our word ‘tuck’ has the same origin.