Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c8.194

v1.c8.194

The wives of *maṇḍalikas* or appointed governors of small provinces should wear their hair done in the form of a knot which is technically known as *dhammilla*. But the women who carry torches before a king and the wives of the king’s sword-bearers and shield-bearers, had to wear their hair in a knot called *aḷaka-chūḍaka*. The different kinds of knots of hair as described above seem to have been bound by wreaths of flowers called *puṣpa-paṭṭa* or by strings of leaves like those of the cocoanut palm called *patra-paṭṭa*, or by a jewelled golden band called *ratna-paṭṭa*.