The Caps of Pakistan

Mast Qalandar (MQ)

Pakistan is a country of several ethnic groups and cultures. This is apparent not only in the looks of the people but also in their language, traditions, food and dress.

One thing a newcomer would notice is the variety of caps and turbans Pakistanis wear. Even though with increased travel, TV, and urbanization the caps worn in one part of the country have also been adopted by people in other parts but, still, the cap or the turban a Pakistani wears would usually give away his ethnicity and, sometime, even his social status.

North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the so-called Northern Areas probably have the largest variety of caps and turbans. The most common cap that you see in that part of the country, and in parts of Afghanistan, is the Pakol. The name came from Afghanistan where Pakol is a popular headwear among the people of Northern Afghanistan, from where it is believed to have originated. Many of the readers would remember that Ahmad Shah Masud, an icon of the Afghan war, was always seen wearing a Pakol. Because of the coverage of the Afghan war by the Western media and the fact that many Western journalists covering the Afghan war took to wearing the Pakol, it is today generally recognized in the West as an Afghan cap and even sold as such by some online stores to both men and women. But it is as much a cap of the NWFP as it is of Afghanistan.

In the NWFP, Pakol is usually called Chitrali or Gilgiti cap because people of those areas routinely wore this cap for as long as one can remember.

Pakol is round shaped and is made out of a coarse woolen cloth, locally known as ‘Pattoo’. It is initially made in the shape of a long inverted cylinder and the edges of the cylinder are then rolled up to the top. The top is flat and protrudes a little over the rolled edge giving the suggestion of a brim. Otherwise, all caps and turbans in Pakistan are brimless. The reason for not having brimmed caps is that Muslims pray with heads covered, and brimmed caps or Western hats would interfere with the sajdah (the act of prostration). The tiny brim of the Pakol, however, does not present a problem

The Pakol comes in different shades of brown, gray and white colors. When not worn, it is almost flat and looks somewhat like a Frisbee. Actually, if thrown like a Frisbee, it can skim through the air for a short distance.

In Hunza and Skardu, the white color Pakol is more popular and is sometimes worn with a peacock feather stuck in the front or to the side of the cap, like a badge. The deep blue and green colors of the peacock feather set against the white color of the cap makes it look a pretty eye catching headwear.

Some people wear the Pakol pulled down almost to the ears, which gives a sloppy look. But, when worn lightly, at a little angle, it makes a smart looking headwear.

It’s a warm cap and therefore mostly worn in cold weather. It’s also inexpensive, costing anywhere between PKR 200 to 300 (USD 3 to 5) at today’s prices. It has also gained acceptance in other provinces of the country. The folds of the cap are, at times, used as money pouch by working class people. You would see laborers taking out money from the folds of the cap when paying for their purchases at small stores or tandoors.

Personally I like this cap and occasionally wear it, too. The only problem I find with it is, since it is made of coarse woolen cloth, it is very itchy on the forehead. I wish someone would think of lining the rim of the cap with some soft material.

Another cap, which is common in the NWFP, is the round, white, cotton cap with a flat top. It is like an overturned bowl or a cake mold with vertical walls and a flat top. Many of the madrassa students are seen wearing this cap. The use of this cap seems to have increased in the last 2-3 decades and has spread even to some of the Tribal Areas. It is an all-weather cap and is much cheaper than the Pakol. Therefore, it is quite popular in the NWFP. (Incidentally, it is different from the white crocheted skullcap usually worn by city people, all over the country, while going to the mosque).

Yet another cap, which originated from Swat district of NWFP, similar in shape to the cotton cap mentioned earlier but heavily embroidered with ’tila’ (golden thread) is called “tillayee topi” or Swati cap. It’s a colorful cap. It just so happened that the ‘tanga-wallas’ and ‘battair baaz’ (people who keep quails as pets and train them as fighter birds) of Peshawar took to wearing this cap. Their reputation, which was not quite spotless, also rubbed a bit on this otherwise attractive Swati cap, and, therefore, it did not become popular among the gentry of the NWFP.

The other cap that is worn in the NWFP and also originated in that part of the world is the Karakul or Karakuli. While the Pakol and the white cotton caps are worn by young, old, rich and poor alike, the use of the Karakul cap is limited to relatively well-to-do people. A true Karakul cap can be pretty expensive.

Actually, Karakul is the name of a sheep bred in Central Asia, which is known for its soft and curly pelt. The best quality pelt, with short and tight curls, is that of a sheep’s kid when it is still in the mother’s womb. Therefore, the pregnant sheep is slaughtered to get to the fetus and then the fetus is killed to get the pelt. No wonder, the animal right activists are not great enthusiasts of the karakul caps!

The Karakul cap is made in two shapes. The collapsible, boat-shaped, and the hard, elliptical shape. The most prominent Pakistani who wore a boat shaped Karakul cap, in the last few years of his life, was Mr. M. A. Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan. Because of him, it came to be known as Jinnah Cap. That name still holds. Later, Ayub Khan would also wear a Karakul cap, but his was the hard elliptical version and he wore it at a slightly rakish angle, and it sat well on him. During his presidency, when Jacqueline Kennedy came visiting and went to Peshawar, she was presented with a dark colored Karakul cap, which she wore at an angle. By wearing the Karakul cap, Jacky Kennedy not only complemented her hosts but also stood out in the crowd. In fact, she looked quite attractive in that cap.

President Karzai of Afghanistan is always seen wearing a boat-shaped Karakul cap. Wait till the US animal rights people catch up with him!

Punjab is rather a “cap-less” province. One cannot think of any cap that originated in Punjab. It is primarily the land of ‘Pugs’ and ‘Pugrees’ or simple turbans. (More about turbans in a separate post.)

One cap that is occasionally seen in Punjab, however, is the Roomi Topi, the Fez, or Tarboosh. It virtually disappeared in the rest of the country long time ago. It came from Turkey. That is why the name Roomi. Actually, the cap originated in the city of Fez, in Morocco, hence the name Fez. Somewhere in the mid 19th century, the then Ottoman Sultan adopted it and enforced it as a national headwear. Since the Ottoman Empire extended into the Arab lands, the Fez was also adopted in Egypt and Iraq as well. That is where it got the Arabic name Tarboosh.

Since Muslims of the Indo-Pak subcontinent were attracted, among other things Middle Eastern, to the Khilafat or the Caliphate, and Turkey being the home of the Khilafat at the time, they voluntarily adopted this cap. The Khilafat, however, was abolished by Mustafa Kamal in 1924-25 along with the Fez. But it stayed with the Indian Muslims till after the establishment of Pakistan. If one looks at the old pictures of the Pakistan movement, one can see many Fez caps in those pictures. The Bahawalpur rulers wore Fez caps, possibly because of their connections with Baghdad. It seems they even made it mandatory for their staff and soldiers.

The most prominent Pakistani who wore the Fez all his life was Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan.

Sindh has one distinctive cap, which stands out for its colorful embroidery and glasswork; the Sindhi Topi. It is round in shape except that a portion in front is cut out to expose the forehead for the same reasons as explained earlier. It comes in two varieties - hard and soft. The hard variety will keep its shape when not worn but the soft variety can be folded and even put into one’s picket. Most Sindhis, rich or poor, own a Sindhi cap.

Sindh has one distinctive cap, which stands out for its colorful embroidery and glasswork. It is round in shape except that a portion in front is cut out to expose the forehead for eligious reasons, as explained earlier. It comes in two varieties - hard and soft. The hard variety will keep its shape when not worn, but the soft variety can be folded and even put into one’s pocket. Most Sindhis, rich or poor, young or old, wear Sindhi cap at one time or another.

The Sindhi cap is also used in Balochistan, both by the Pushtuns and the Baloch. Balochistan, otherwise, is a land of turbans. And very distinctive turbans, too.