Religion and fashion: factors affecting foreign influences in relation to costumes of the royalty of the Kandyan era of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Fashion can be considered as an active process which earns its survival by influencing others. People are influenced by various fashions. There should be some theories behind in this influencing process. If these theories could be identified in a broad spectrum they could effectively applied in the field of fashion in the context of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to find out how religion affects on influence in fashion of the royalty of the Kandyan Kingdom. Christian religious practices which introduced during 16th Century AD and Theravada Buddhism which was re-established with the help of Siam during the 18th Century AD were selected for the study in the Kandyan Kingdom study setting. The study began with observational study of temple paintings, sculptures, sketchers of the period. Historical details about the Kandyan dress are well documented visually ever than early administrative eras. Original written sources and true pictorial evidences were used for the research. Besides, Kandyan tradition has a living culture as well. Reliability of the data which was incorporated in the research is of much concern. Therefore, pictorial data were cross checked with different literary sources such as temple murals and particular literature, enabled to build a strong logical analysis. Religion played an important role of influencing foreign dress habits among locals. Religion not only introduced the faith but also the culture that bond with that. Royal patronage allowed foreign influences to spread within the Kandyan Kingdom to some extends. Most of influences were modified according to Buddhist culture. Colour was one of the main elements that promoted by foreign influences. Each religious philosophy encouraged people to wear certain colours as a mean of communication.