Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s5.29

c7.s5.29

HAIR-PINS — Both men and women were fond of keeping long hair often gathered in a knot or bun at the back of the head. Fillets, combs and hair-pins helped in the make-up of coiffure styles. The hair-pins, together with handled mirrors and kohl pots and sticks point to a cult of beauty for adornment of the physical body referred to as a special feature (Upanishad) of Asura culture. Several hair-pins are worthy of note, e.g. a fine specimen of bronze surmounted by two heads of black bucks placed back to back each with spiral horns; (ii) another topped by spirals on either side similar to those found in Egypt; (iii) an ivory pin with an ibex; (iv) a pin topped by three monkeys seated in a ring with arms round each other's shoulder; (v) a pin with its top like the seed-vessel of a lotus. [Fig. 22].