The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.70.1

v1.c10.70.1

The prevailing character of the ordinary female dress is very much like in the three places, and Mr. Fergusson's description of Sāñcī and Amarāvatī, apply eqally to Orissa. "The costume of the women", he says, "is difficult to describe, though this is principally in consequence of its scantiness. Both at Sāñcī and Amarāvatī, the women always wear enormous bangles about the ankles and wrists,⁴³ and generally strings of beads round the neck, but their body clothing is generally limited to a bead belt round the body below the waist. From this belt slips of cloth are sometimes suspended, more generally at the sides or behind than in front, and sometimes also a cloth worn something like the *dhuti* of the male sex is also added, but when that is the case, it is represented in the sculptures generally as absolutely transparent".⁴⁴ It may be questioned, however, as to whether these habits were really the prevailing costumes of the country at the time, or only the conventional modes of representing the female form. Mr. Fergusson, who has devoted his attention for some time to Indian antiquity, is disposed to accept the first branch of the alternative, and it is certainly not easy to question the testimony of authentic graven stones. That testimony, however, is in direct conflict with the evidence of equally authentic written records. The passage from the *Rigveda* quoted above (p.