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. The Shola-style helmet has 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. See also Aeschynomene aspera References Ghosh, Kundan 2015 Sholapith craft of West Bengal, International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies, Vol.3, No. 1, 54-62 Natural materials Wood products Artistic techniques Culture of West Bengal Hindu art Indian art