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KAMLI  COAT

This is the Kamli Coat which Meher Baba wore during the early part of his ministry.

Meher Baba once stated that the coat is spiritually connected with India and should never leave the country. It is preserved and currently on display at the Museum at Upper Meherabad, India.

The black kamli wool coat may have served as a link to keep Yeshwant Rao and the other disciples of Upasni Maharaj in Meher Baba's contact. Although Yeshwant Rao stayed permanently at Sakori and did not live at Baba's ashram, he maintained personal contact with Baba until he died.

Late 1921 

One day Perfect Master Upasni Maharaj's disciple Yeshwant Rao presented Meher Baba with a long, black woollen coat made out of rough blanket-cloth called kamli. Baba was to wear this woolen coat for years and years. When the coat was torn, he would insist that it be patched; he never accepted any other as his favorite coat.

( see images above of the coat )

1922

Baba would shave daily, but in 1922 he started letting his hair grow long and would not have it cut. Normally, he would wear only a cotton shirt, pants and the kamli coat, with a kerchief wrapped around his head. When going out in public, he would sometimes wear a Turkish fez.

During March, Gulmai presented Baba with a pair of sandals specially stitched by a cobbler in Ahmednagar named Kanhoba Rao Gadekar. Baba accepted them with deep appreciation, immediately putting them on. From that day on, he wore no other sandals for years. If any repairs were needed he would call Kanhoba to do them. These chappals along with Yeshwant Rao's kamli coat were the two chief articles of Baba's attire. He would not stop using them despite the mandali's efforts to persuade him to accept new ones. He would care for them as if they were the most precious items in his possession.

Mid-March 1924

The train later left Karachi for Hyderabad ( Sind ), then changed trains for Jaipur and onto Lucknow. Here, Baba went to the bazaar looking for sandals, but was disappointed with what was being offered. Baba was still wearing the woollen Kamli coat that Yeshwant Rao had given him and the sandals that Kanhoba Rao made back in India prior to travelling.

Masaji did all the cooking for the group including the teas.

RD p.301

1927

Sitting beside the dhuni the next day, Adi K. Irani repeated his question and requested that Baba produce rain. Baba immediately took off his woolen kamli coat (which he had not done for a very long time, ( having worn it even at the height of summer in May). Baba remarked, "All the heat has been taken out; there will be cold now," meaning it would rain. As soon as Baba did this, clouds began gathering in the sky, and a heavy rain fell which continued throughout the night.

Baba put the coat on again the next morning and, though still cloudy, it did not rain that day. Baba remarked to the mandali, "You won't be able to understand the significance of the taking off and putting on of this coat."

Late March 1928

Baba, too, had to suffer during this period because of the boys. Besides spending hours trying to calm and placate them with explanations, he had to tolerate their rough antics. Once in their excitement the boys tore his kamli coat in several places. The coat, which Baba had been wearing for almost six years, was his favorite, so he insisted that it be patched instead of discarded. The boys became so wild in their enthusiasm that, one day when they were pulling Baba in the rickshaw, they went so fast that the rickshaw overturned on the rough dirt road; Baba received numerous cuts and scrapes to his hands and legs.

15th September, 1928

Baba directed eight of the boys to pull the rickshaw around the ashram, carrying his kamli coat in it.

26th June 1929

Up until then, Baba was still wearing his kamli coat, which Yeshwant Rao of Sakori had given him eight years before, and he would not hear of any suggestion for a change. But on 29 June, the mandali again beseeched Baba to have another coat made for his upcoming journey, and this time he agreed. Ramjoo soon left for Poona to buy some nice material, while Vishnu went to Ahmednagar in search of a skilled tailor.

21st July, 1929

Meher Baba said :

Likewise, mark my mode and taste for dressing. I wore that black [kamli] coat with a hundred patches for years. I also wore the chappals [made by Kanhoba Rao Gadekar] until the last moment when their original material had been totally replaced. And now you see that I have had a new coat sewn and wear it with new shoes and stockings, keeping myself well-dressed, spruce, and tip-top — quite the reverse of what I had been doing. And who knows, perhaps I may one day give up all these clothes and remain only in a langoti, or even stark naked!

3rd August, 1929

When they arrived at Harvan, Baba climbed up the hill to inspect the work and returned after an hour. Looking down at the valley, observing the poor villagers, Baba remarked, "For years on end, these Kashmiris don't take a bath. If you people miss a bath for just four days, you begin complaining. The same applies to your food and clothing. It all depends on habit. You are getting habituated to putting up with troubles and difficulties in small matters. Now that I am going to retire up the hill in seclusion, one trouble after another will arise, but I will deal with them."

Baba then again put on his patched kamli coat, and from the mandali's cottage, he climbed the hill with Raosaheb, Chanji, Buasaheb, Ramjoo, Chhota Baba, Aga Ali, and Ali Akbar. Returning, all spent a freezing night in the cottages below. Baba gave his carpet to Aga Ali to sleep on.

12th August, 1929

The next day, while the bus was moving, Baba informed the mandali that he wanted to eat and ordered them to cook dal, which was difficult to do in the jolting back compartment. Though it was very awkward, Ramjoo and Vishnu lit the kerosene stove and fresh dal was cooked. Their hands were scorched while cooking, but Baba's remark consoled them, "By burning your fingers today in preparing dal for me, you have obliged me to make you into something one day."

They stopped near a stream where Baba had the dal with bread. It was becoming warm and Baba took off his kamli coat. The connection this coat had with Baba's work in Kashmir was deeply significant — but Baba never explained what it was.

29th July, 1931

Baba met with the men mandali at the same dak bungalow at Pimpalgaon Baswant on 29 July. When they saw him, they were also taken aback by his appearance. Baba was wearing his old kamli coat which had become very shabby and dirty, and cotton pants that were frayed and stained. His hair was unkempt and tangled, black patches like bruises were seen on his cheeks and dark circles were under his eyes. He looked haggard and wore a sad expression.

Finding him in this condition, Rustom and Adi burst out weeping. Baba consoled them, "This is my condition now — I die every moment! I don't know what is ahead. I have much work to do in the future, but my body has grown weak. Now if you wish to stay with me, do so; otherwise, you may leave me. I cannot maintain anyone now; our money is finished. How can I see to others when I myself am in such dire straits?"

9th September, 1931 sailing on the S.S. Rajputana to England

Baba stated to Gandhi : 

Now I wish to clarify the subject of khadi. As you say, everything has two sides — one material and the other spiritual. There are two main things about the material aspect: one is that it should be cheap, and the other is that it should conform to one's nationality. I always dress in clean, simple clothing. For several years, I wore a coat made from a rough woolen blanket [kamli]. It was full of patches, and I only changed coats after seven years because my mandali insisted. Therefore, my dress is plain, cheap and clean, and it conforms to my nationality as I am a Persian subject.

9th December, 1936

When Baba visited his American lovers, he was wearing his old patched kamli wool coat. His pockets were stuffed with letters and telegrams, and Baba smilingly pulled out some, and quipped, "This is my post office!"

16th September, 1954

Fruit juice was served, and afterwards Meheru brought Baba's old, patched kamli coat which he had worn continuously for eight years from 1921. "This is the most sacred of my possessions," Baba told them. "What it has in it will be revealed after I drop my body. Then, thousands and thousands of men and women will come to worship it."

7th June, 1958

Baba remarked that he "always felt at home" at Meher House, and he seemed relaxed and comfortable. Baba chatted informally, pointing to photos on the walls and saying how they reminded him of his early years (one was of Baba in the kamli coat). He instructed the mandali to send a cable to Mehera to inform her he was well and would be returning to India. Robert Rouse went to dispatch the cable and also to purchase lunch, coming back with fish, cheese and bread. Baba watched as Francis and Bill cooked, and then he served the meal. Baba himself cut the cheese for each plate. Bill recalled the Biblical feel of this occasion.