Ancient Indian Costume c4.2

c4.2

This book is a study of the costumes prevalent in four periods—Mauryan–Sunga (321–72 B.C.) Satavahana (200 B.C.–A.D. 250), Kushan (130 B.C.–A.D. 185) and the Gupta period (early fourth–mid-eighth century A.D.) The two main sources from which historical reconstruction of costumes can be made are the literary and archaeological sources. It seems safer to base most of our evidence on archaeological remains, as literary descriptions of clothes can be vague, exaggerated or confusing. Each chapter includes a brief social history of the period, its costumes, headgears and hairstyles, jewellery, and textiles and dyes. Religious and military costumes have also been given some emphasis. As the visual style of the art of each period epitomizes the costume prevailing in that period, a brief note on it has been added.