Threads of Identity: Exploring Gendered Costume Practices in the Raika Community of Western Rajasthan, India

Traditional costume is intertwined with society’s political, religious, social, and ideological matrices. Costume emphasizes the distinctness and individuality of a community in comparison to neighboring communities. The most intriguing feature of Rajasthan is undeniably its folks. Every community within the geographical boundaries has its customs, homes, jobs, and attire. Communities stand for uniformity in the interactions between the socioeconomic and, indeed, the aesthetic. In Traditional communities, costumes worn by the people take on a highly rigorous meaning as a declaration of identity. One of the major indigenous nomadic pastoralist communities living in Rajasthan’s western areas is the Raikas. They have been herding and guarding camels in Rajasthan for thousands of years. The present study is an attempt to study the costumes of the Raika community of the Sadri region and the area near Kumbhalgarh in the Pali district of Rajasthan, India. The study’s goals were to record the clothes worn by men and women in the Raika community. Data was gathered through personal interviews using the snowball technique. Photographs were taken to support the study.