The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.92.3

v1.c10.92.3

It is worthy of note that in some instances, women wear a large thick band of cloth round the waist, but it never reaches so low as the hip joint. The so-called Dasyus too are everywhere represented as poor and degraded, but they are invariably dressed, decently enough for the position they occupy; but the women of the proud Aryans who despise them, and take the lead on every occasion, though richly jewelled, are generally devoid of all clothing. At Bhuvaneśvara the same scenes are by no means wanting; stuffed cushions shewing traces of buttons or tufting, which held the stuffing in its position, and large thick pillows (*tākiās*), such as are now held in requisition by men of rank and position, are repeatedly delineated, but the people who use them are mostly nudes. It must be observed also that in Sāñci and Amarāvati perfectly nude males have been carefully avoided, and at Bhuvaneśvara are comparatively few, whereas the female figure is very largely exhibited in all the three places in a state of nature, without any artificial covering. Had the nudity and spare clothing been due to race peculiarities, or tribal customs, they could not have been so markedly different among the two sexes. The habits and customs of the wild races now extant in different parts of the earth do not shew that where men and children have been clothed, the female sex has been left entirely without any garment.