page_title: Sholapith
section_title: Pith helmet
hierarchical_section_title: Sholapith / Pith helmet
caption_attribution_description: English: Indian shola style pith helmet License on Flickr (2011-02-04): CC-BY-2.0 Flickr tags: shola, pith, helmet, helmets
context_page_description: Sholapith or shola pith is a dried milky-white spongey plant matter from Aeschynomene species. It can be pressed and shaped into objects of art.
context_section_description: The shola (sola)-style pith helmet—also known as the sun helmet, topee, shola topee, salacot or topi, is a lightweight helmet made of shola pith, with a cloth cover and a particular design and thickness designed to shade and insulate the wearer’s head from the sun. It was popular among Westerners in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and other tropical and subtropical British colonies until the late 1960s.
  Later this style of hat became associated with colonial oppression and was slowly abandoned by Western visitors, but continues to be used by military units around the world. The Shola-style helmet has, however, recently gained popularity among traffic police in cities such as Chennai during the summer as they insulate the wearer from the heat.
  The Shola-style pith helmet usually has a flattened top and thick brim with either square or rounded edges. It is easily confused with other styles of "pith helmets" that were manufactured outside India and are usually made from cork or other materials. Some shola-style pith helmets feature a crisscross quilt-stitched cloth cover. The latter had more rounded edges at the brim. The cork-style pith helmets, contrary to their misleading name, are not made out of pith; they are much thinner, heavier, and more rounded on the top.
  Both styles of hats feature puggrees, air vents, khaki or white covers and green inner brim liners. Some have chin straps made of leather, in others they are made of cloth. Some Shola-style pith helmets feature a thin leather belt that runs from under the puggaree across the top. The chin strap commonly runs across the front brim. Shola pith helmets are still sold in Indian, Pakistani and Nepali polo-equipment stores, though they are seldom used in matches.
caption: An Indian-made 'Bombay Bowler' shola-style pith helmet from the Second World War era.
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