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| Sunday, 16 February 2003 |
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Sel Lipi : Dress code Swasthi Shree! Thus says his sacred Majesty, the gracious Great King, glorious Chakravarthi, King of the Kings of Maya, Pihiti and Ruhuna, Mahoora of the Vanniala-aeththo and ruler of all lands from Yapapatuna to Sampanthota: It has come to the notice of the Maha Vasala that in many Paatashaalas of this great and glorious dhammadweepa, others of children attending functions at these places of learning have been told to wear sarees. This apparently does not include parents taking their children to and from these institutions of education. However, when parents are invited inside the premises in order to meet the gurus or for other such activities, the dhoratu-paalakas at the gates refuse entry to women coming in short skirts or sleeveless or cut-away kanchukayas, blouses. Troublesome, belligerent women have been complaining about this, preferring to wear Parangi dresses, skirts or long saruwaalayas, ousers. Some of these harridans state that sarees increase discrimination, since rich mothers come dressed in expensive, beautiful sarees while poor mothers come in old and drab ones. Some have intimated that the gurus are selling sarees during office hours, as had been revealed in a paatashaala in Anuradhapura not long ago, and that the gurus merely wanted to increase their opportunities for business. Now, according to the nilames of impartation of learning, every paatashaala, for the safety and the moral well-being of its inmates, has the right to its own vasthra sangrahaya, a statement of modesty and propriety in clothing for outsiders. After all, even the leader of the striped descendants of the Chola warriors, Velupillai Pirapaharan is reported to have imposed a dress code: married women must wear sarees and unmarried ones should be attired in saruwaalayas and kanchukayas. According to these erudite and reasonable nilames, the foundation of the vasthra sangrahaya is decency and decorum. Unnecessary problems can be created among students because of the revealing garments of visitors, which can distract, defile, corrupt and pollute the minds of pubescent students. However, some of the aforementioned combatative and noisy women complain that this vasthra sangrahaya does not encompass males, who can enter paatashaalas in short saruwaalayas, in tight, revealing saruwaalayas of Nimes canvas, sweat vasthra and muscle vasthras. They want male gurus and fathers to come to the paatashaalas in sarongs or, if Tamil, in vesthis. They might have a point there. According to the nilames of learning, the attire of parents in the premises of paatashaalas must be appropriate to the country's ethical and cultural values; offensive and inappropriate clothing should be abjured. Therefore, all educational establishments should have a dress code which bars the wearing of foreign clothes which are inimical to our culture of 2500 years. Of course, women should not be allowed to wear dresses or short skirts, let alone saruwaalayas. However, sarees should also be banned: they are an import from India and have no part in the cultural heritage of this resplendent isle. Indeed, all mothers should attend functions dressed in the traditional attire of the women of this country before they came under the influence of evil foreign trends. The vasthra of all women was the cloth, without the kanchukaya, as shown in the frescoes at Sigiriya. And the inequality of the sexes certainly should be eliminated. Western or even North Indian saruwaalayas should not be permitted. Fathers should attend these functions in the traditional dress of the farmer, the amude or loin cloth. After all, the Parangi Knox stated that there was no shame in the highest in the land being seen in this modest attire. Swasthi Shree! This rock edict is made on this day of Ravi of the month of Navam of the Year of the Saka Era 1929. - Gothabhaya |
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