Preface

Dress and drapery of the people of any country is an indispensable factor in the cultural studies of that country. It plays an important role in differentiating the various vocations in a society, the classes, the various moods in the life of a person and economic status. Even though it is difficult to pinpoint the exact epoch in the history of humankind in which human beings began to use dress, it can be safely assumed that their necessity must have been recognized even in the prehistoric period. There are several opinions and discoveries regarding the circumstances that led men to the use of clothes; the important among them being man’s desire to cover his nudity and thereby the desire for cultural progress. It gradually grew and came to reflect his sense of beauty, artistic sense, social and economic state etc. It should have been this sense of beauty itself that induced man to use ornaments and cosmetics also. Above all these, some religious beliefs have contributed to the wearing of some special dress and ornaments. They have also been worn as a symbol of certain ideas.

Gender differences are not a hindrance to sense of beauty; but cosmetics, dress and ornaments were always an object of attraction of women. Even though according to Kālidāsa—[...], (“What is not an adornment to beautiful form”—Abhijñānaśākuntala, I.18), still costumes and ornaments are considered as enhancing beauty.

As mentioned earlier, man’s artistic sense also developed parallel to this sense of beauty. It is evident from the changes in the pattern and mode of wearing of dress and ornaments in accordance with time, region, climate and gender differences. All these changes might have been formed either naturally or as a result of external and internal influences.

In short, the cultural study of a region excluding costumes and ornaments of that region is incomplete.

This thesis is a study of the cosmetics, costumes and ornaments of ancient India based on Sanskrit sources. The pictures, paintings and sculptures of corresponding periods are visual evidences of establishing this subject; but literary works are also rich in the description of these. It is expected that this thesis will be welcomed by those who are interested in Indian culture.

Each chapter of this thesis mainly consists of four subsections–materials, types, preparation and trade. In addition to these, certain additional descriptions have also been added according to the context. Whenever possible, examples have been cited to illustrate the subjects being discussed. Moreover, English words corresponding to the Sanskrit technical words have been given as far as possible. To avoid the boredom of repetition, some terms have been used in Sanskrit and English alternately—e.g. veil—avaguṇṭhana. Five types of fonts are used in the thesis–English words-Times New Roman, Sanskrit words–Sanskrit 99, transliterated words-URW Palladio IT, name of texts–italic, abbreviations–italic. Since it is impossible to make a study of all the literary works of every period, i have conducted this study based on selected representative texts of different periods.

It is my proud privilege to express my deep sense of gratitude and heartfelt thanks to my supervisor and esteemed teacher Dr.N.V.P. Unithiri.

Thanks are also due to Dr.P.Narayanan Namboodiri, Head of the Department of Sanskrit, other teachers, non-teaching staff, research scholars and friends for their encouragement and help in the preparation of this thesis.

I also acknowledge my gratitude to the teachers in the department of Sanskrit, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady and Sree Krishna College, Guruvayur, for their help, encouragement and valuable suggestions.

It will be a great fault, if i don’t express my gratitude to the librarians of the Department of History, University of Calicut, Ayurveda College, Kottakkal and University of Kerala, for helping me in collecting materials for preparing this thesis. I express my sincere gratitude to them in this occasion.

I am also greatly indebted to my family members without whose support and encouragement, i am sure i will not be able to complete this work successfully.