The Indus Civilization c7: IV. Dress and Personal Ornaments
The Indus Civilization c7
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IV. Dress and Personal Ornaments
c7.2
IF, as seems likely, it is permissible to take the costume worn by the clay figurines of the Mother Goddess as representative of the normal attire of the feminine population of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, then there is little to describe, for, with the exception of much jewellery, these figures are bare to the waist, and otherwise wear only a very scanty skirt which terminates well above the knee (Pl. I, 1). As much the same costume is worn by many of the women of Southern India, the view may be provisionally accepted that the dress of the figurines was the usual attire of the Indus Valley people, especially as there is strong reason to believe that the climate of North-west India has altered considerably since the middle of the third millennium B.C. A very similar skirt is worn by the female deities on the seal-amulets, though it appears to be considerably shorter in front than behind (Pl. M, 8).
c7.3
The skirt of the female figurines is represented as held by a girdle, that seems in some cases to be strings of beads (Pl. L) and in others would appear to be bands of woven material secured in front by a brooch or fastening of some kind. A badly mutilated female figure of unusual size wears a girdle fastened in front by a very elaborate bow of some woven stuff, and on other figures the skirt is ornamented with a series of large bosses of unknown material. One figure at least wears a cloak wrapped about the upper part of the body. This cloak, which conceals the arms but shows the breasts, does not extend below the hem of the skirt, and was probably worn as extra protection in the cool of the day.
c7.4
The exact material which composed the fan-shaped head-dresses so often worn by the female figurines, and sometimes even by the male, is not known, though it may have been a stiffened cotton cloth supported by a framework. Neither is it possible to say what material formed the curious pannier-like erections present in many instances on each side of the head; but the fact that these were sometimes supported from the top of the head seems to show that they must have been heavy (Pl. I, 1). The cumbersome nature of this head-gear may seem surprising; but even to-day the women of certain Mongolian tribes wear a head-dress not at all unlike that of the figurines, while equally complex ones are worn by women of other countries.
c7.5
A very curious, very tight collar which gives an appearance of greater length to the neck is worn by a few of the figurines. It is difficult to say definitely in every case of what this ornament could have been composed, but in one instance it seems to consist of a number of metal rings fastened together by vertical supports. This custom of wearing stiff neck ornaments still exists in some parts of Africa and in Eastern India.
c7.6
Of the total number of female figurines discovered, only one shows any malformation, and only two are nude. The former, which is made of clay, is unusually well finished, but the waist appears to have been unnecessarily constricted. This figure is headless and wears the usual short skirt, necklace, and other jewellery, including many bangles on the fore and upper arms. There is no reason to doubt that this figurine represents the Mother Goddess.
c7.7
The nude figures are of bronze, and represent dancing-girls. It is quite possible that, as in ancient Egypt, followers of this profession appeared without clothing in certain dances.
c7.8
It is difficult to deduce anything of the costume worn by men from the male figurines or from the heroes and deities portrayed on the seal-amulets; the former are invariably nude (Pl. I, 2), while the latter wear only a thin band round the loins. From the few statues which have been found, none of which is perfect, it seems that a robe, with or without embroidery, was worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm (Pl. H, 2). One statue wears such a garment extending well below the knees, and another, that of a seated figure, is dressed in a long skirt secured round the waist by a running cord. The figure of a man on a sherd found at Harappa might be wearing breeches or, alternatively, a close-clinging dhoti. No footwear is shown on any of the figures discovered, nor has any survived.
c7.9
Before leaving the subject of dress it should be mentioned that, though there is proof that cotton fabrics were used at Mohenjo-daro, there is at present no evidence of the use of linen or wool. The existence of linen cloth in Elam at about the same date seems to indicate that it was also known at Mohenjo-daro, and, if not actually manufactured in the Indus valley or elsewhere in India, it may well have been imported, like so many other things, from Elam or Sumer. It is uncertain whether wool was used, though sheep and goats could have provided an ample supply of raw material. Possibly there were also other fibres, such as different kinds of basts, suitable for woven cloth; but the writer has no doubt that, considering their very advanced state of civilization, the people of the Indus valley must have been quite as well provided with various stuffs suitable for clothing and ornamental purposes as any of their contemporaries in other countries.
c7.10
With regard to methods of doing the hair, more is known of the styles favoured by the men than of those in vogue among the women, for the head-dresses worn by the female figurines prevent the hair from being seen. A piece of statuary exists, however, in which a woman’s curly hair hangs down in a mass at the back of the head, and a badly damaged head of a small steatite figure has exactly the same arrangement. The figures of goddesses on the amulets sometimes have a plait tied with a bow at the end, and as this is a favourite way of dressing the hair in modern India, it is unlikely that plaits were reserved exclusively for divinities.
c7.11
Men had varied styles of hair-dressing. The steatite statue of a deity wears his hair parted in the middle, and the short locks at the back of the head are kept tidy by a woven fillet (Pl. H, 2). Other statues show it closely gathered up in a bun, after the fashion of ancient Sumer, certain folds in the bun suggesting that the hair was first plaited (Pl. H, 1 b). Several clay figures have the hair coiled in a ring on the top of the head and in similar rings concealing the ears; the latter arrangement is also found in Sumerian statuary. Yet another fashion is a plaited lock carried outwards from the back of the head in a large loop which turned in again and was secured by a fillet. A clay figure of a crawling infant with curly hair has been found at Mohenjo-daro, and it is quite probable that some of the people, at any rate, had curly or wavy hair.
c7.12
Methods of trimming the beard were almost as varied. A short beard with a shaven upper lip is shown on two figures (Pl. H), and a stiff, flat beard projecting outwards on others (Pl. I, 2). Another clay figurine has the end of the beard coiled inwards, in direct contrast to the false beards worn in ancient Egypt; and in yet another case the beard consists merely of a slight tuft left beneath the chin, the rest of the face being shaved. Most of, if not all, the male figurines, however, represent deities, but the evidence afforded by the statues goes to show that the ordinary man always wore a short beard, sometimes even a cropped one. Beards were never as long as they were in Sumer; possibly because long, full beards were not desirable in the more humid climate of India.
c7.13
A description of the jewellery worn by the people of the Indus Civilization naturally follows an account of their dress and general appearance, and it should be explained that our knowledge of their ornaments is derived chiefly from the various hoards which have been unearthed at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. This jewellery had been placed for safety in vessels of silver, copper, and bronze, and in most cases was found buried beneath the pavements of the houses. Perhaps the most interesting discovery was made by Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni, who unearthed at Mohenjo-daro a number of necklaces and fine hard stone beads, some of which were contained in a silver jar and others lying loose in the soil. It was possible to see, moreover, that this jar had once been wrapped up in a cotton cloth, for the patina that formed on it had preserved some of the material. Mr. Dikshit also unearthed at Mohenjo-daro a small silver vase containing some very fine necklaces, various silver and gold objects, including fillets, and fragments of scrap metal. At another place a very elaborate girdle was found in a large copper bowl, on top of which a copper dish had been placed to serve as a cover (Pl. L). At Harappa, Mr. Vats made a notable find of ornaments, some resembling the jewellery of Mohenjo-daro, and others quite unlike it in design. This last hoard was discovered in a bed of hard earth.
c7.14
The metal ornaments of the Indus Valley people were made of gold, electrum, silver, copper, and bronze. Both the gold and silver were probably found in India, and though silver is now scarce in that country, much of the ancient supplies of this metal could have been obtained from argentiferous lead brought from Afghanistan. Electrum, a mixture of silver with gold, exists in several places in India, but it is unlikely that the silver content was ever extracted in ancient times, as this process, unlike that of extracting silver from lead, would have been extremely difficult without modern appliances. Silver, however, cannot be classed as a rare metal, though it was not so common at Mohenjo-daro as gold, copper, or bronze.
c7.15
The fine girdle mentioned above deserves a detailed description. It consists of six rows of barrel-cylinder, translucent, red carnelian beads, each bead being about five inches long and separated from the one following by spherical bronze beads and a bronze spacer pierced with six holes for the strings. The girdle, which is about three feet four inches long, has at each end a flattened hemispherical terminal of bronze, originally gilded, and through these terminals the strings were carried and fastened (Pl. L.). Some of the female figurines wear girdles of this type, the beads and spacers being represented by strips of clay. The holes in the carnelian beads are as well polished as the outer surface, and it must have required great skill to bore such hard stones. Each bead had been drilled from both ends, in many cases with such accuracy that the holes meet exactly in the centre. It is difficult to say what apparatus was used for this boring, but the drill was probably of copper, and a very fine emery must have been used as an abrasive. The care taken to polish the interior of each bead so that no white marks should mar the semi-transparent stone marks a very high stage of craftsmanship.
c7.16
A necklace of peculiar beauty consists of a single row of barrel-shaped, translucent, green jadeite beads, each separated from the next by a disc-shaped bead of gold formed of two slightly domed pieces of metal soldered together round the edge. Seven pendants of agate and jasper hang from the centre of this exceptional necklace, and the whole effect is very fine. The jadeite probably came from North Burma, but supplies of it are also said to exist in Tibet.
c7.17
Other necklaces are made of minute, gold, cylindrical and globular beads interspaced with small beads of steatite, some of which still show their original blue glazing. Another interesting example is made up of gold disc beads, each bead consisting of two round plates of gold which had been grooved to form a channel for the cord before being soldered together. Exactly similar beads are known to have existed in Babylonia, Egypt, and Troy.
c7.18
A very fine bracelet from Mohenjo-daro consists of six strings of globular gold beads separated at intervals by flat gold spacers, and it has a hemispherical terminal of gold at each end. Its simplicity and accuracy of construction make this bracelet an admirable piece of work; it seems to have been a favourite pattern, for several specimens like it have been found at Harappa.
c7.19
Another very striking ornament (Pl. J, 3) is a pectoral of light yellow steatite, measuring 2·7 inches in length and 2·5 inches in width. This probably had some religious use, for carved upon it in relief is the ear-shaped symbol, together with the figure of an animal resembling the urus-bull, which so frequently appears on the seal-amulets. The recessed edge of this pectoral suggests that it was originally cased in metal, probably gold, to which rings were attached to suspend it. Parts of the animal and the motif above it were recessed for the accommodation of a coloured paste.
c7.20
Carnelian, jadeite, and steatite beads have already been mentioned in describing the girdle and necklaces, but beads have also been discovered in a variety of other materials. These include riband-jasper, red, yellow, and blue jasper, agate, moss-agate, onyx, amazon-stone, heliotrope, plasma, lapis-lazuli, tachylite, chalcedony, nepheline-sodalite, shell, pottery, faience, vitreous paste, quartz, breccia, serpentine, turquoise (very rare), and hæmatite (very rare); all the stones in this list, with the exception of turquoise, could have been obtained in various parts of India, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan.
c7.21
When the nature of the stone permitted, the bead was first flaked longitudinally into shape and subsequently rubbed smooth with an abrasive. The final shaping may have been done on some instrument as a lathe, but, though it might be supposed that the presence of the hole would have facilitated this process, the actual boring was, as a matter of fact, done last of all. Unfinished beads of later date found in other parts of India also show that the boring was left until the end.
c7.22
By cementing two or more different stones together, beads were sometimes made up to simulate well-marked, or perhaps more valuable specimens. A barrel-shaped bead of this nature, although only 0·49 inch long, was made up of no less than five alternate segments of red carnelian and white or blue chalcedony; it was so carefully constructed that its compound character might never have been detected if it had not fallen to pieces in the copper canister in which it was found. Another bead, made to imitate an onyx, had two faces, one of shell and the other of pink limestone. This was not so successful a piece of work, if it be assumed that such compound beads were designed to deceive buyers who regarded regularly veined stones as being more precious than if irregularly veined.
c7.23
What was probably considered a bead of special value was constructed of carnelian, with a pattern painted upon it in white which was subsequently fired (Pl. K, 5). This is technically known as “ etched carnelian,” and is not common at either Mohenjo-daro or Harappa, although several specimens have been discovered at the former site of the same shape and with the same painted pattern as beads found by Dr. Woolley in the Royal Tombs at Ur. It is not known whether these beads were made in India, Sumer, or a third country, but their presence at Mohenjo-daro is important as a means of dating that city. Etched carnelian beads were sometimes copied in a soft stone, such as steatite, by painting lines of burnished red on a smooth red ground; but as the finished product had not the translucency of the real stone, it doubtless deceived but few.
c7.24
A number of beads of beautiful workmanship were found loose in the ground among one of the hoards of jewellery. These beads are in a variety of materials and, though not unusual in shape, are in polish and regularity quite equal to anything that has been found at any ancient site. Great care had been taken when cutting them to get their natural veinings in as regular a position as possible, a task which calls for considerable skill on the part of the lapidary. To enhance the beauty of some of these variegated stones, especially of those with natural veinings, they were sometimes capped at each end with gold, a custom which also prevailed in Sumer.
c7.25
Several statues unearthed at Mohenjo-daro show, as we have seen, that, as in Sumer, fillets or head-bands were worn round the forehead (Pl. H). Quite a number of these have been found with the other jewellery, coiled into rolls to save space, and in many cases still retaining their flexibility. These fillets are usually thin ribbons of gold, a little under half an inch in width, and sometimes as much as sixteen inches long. The ends are rounded and pierced with a small hole to enable them to be tied together. As a rule, the fillets are severely plain, but specimens are known with holes bored along one edge to enable ornaments to be suspended from them, and in one case a device was indented at both ends of the band. Fillets ornamented in a similar way, either be assumed that such compound beads were designed to deceive buyers who regarded regularly veined stones as being more precious than if irregularly veined.
c7.26
What was probably considered a bead of special value was constructed of carnelian, with a pattern painted upon it in white which was subsequently fired (Pl. K, 5). This is technically known as " etched carnelian," and is not common at either Mohenjo-daro or Harappa, although several specimens have been discovered at the former site of the same shape and with the same painted pattern as beads found by Dr. Woolley in the Royal Tombs at Ur. It is not known whether these beads were made in India, Sumer, or a third country, but their presence at Mohenjo-daro is important as a means of dating that city. Etched carnelian beads were sometimes copied in a soft stone, such as steatite, by painting lines of burnished red on a smooth red ground; but as the finished product had not the translucency of the real stone, it doubtless deceived but few.
c7.27
A number of beads of beautiful workmanship were found loose in the ground among one of the hoards of jewellery. These beads are in a variety of materials and, though not unusual in shape, are in polish and regularity quite equal to anything that has been found at any ancient site. Great care had been taken when cutting them to get their natural veinings in as regular a position as possible, a task which calls for considerable skill on the part of the lapidary. To enhance the beauty of some of these variegated stones, especially of those with natural veinings, they were sometimes capped at each end with gold, a custom which also prevailed in Sumer.
c7.28
Several statues unearthed at Mohenjo-daro show, as we have seen, that, as in Sumer, fillets or head-bands were worn round the forehead (Pl. H). Quite a number of these have been found with the other jewellery, coiled into rolls to save space, and in many cases still retaining their flexibility. These fillets are usually thin ribbons of gold, a little under half an inch in width, and sometimes as much as sixteen inches long. The ends are rounded and pierced with a small hole to enable them to be tied together. As a rule, the fillets are severely plain, but specimens are known with holes bored along one edge to enable ornaments to be suspended from them, and in one case a device was indented at both ends of the band. Fillets ornamented in a similar way, either with a row of dots or with figures of animals, are well known in early times in Sumer.
c7.29
Small metal cones are worn to-day on the top of the head by women in the Punjab, and ornaments of this kind have been found among the hoards of jewellery unearthed at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. These cones, which average 2·45 inches in height and two inches in diameter, are of gold, silver, copper, and faience, and have a loop soldered inside the tip, through which a lock of hair must have been passed to keep the ornament in place. Certain hollow hemispherical or cone-shaped objects, made of two, three, or even four pieces of shell carefully fitted together, seem to have served the same purpose. Several of the female figurines wear similar head ornaments.
c7.30
The presence of earrings on some of the figurines shows that they were sometimes worn, but actual specimens are very rare, owing, perhaps, to the fact that a ring which pierces the ear-lobe is of all ornaments the most difficult to lose. In addition, the rings themselves are sometimes hard to distinguish from finger-rings, for they often consist of simple coils of gold, silver, or copper wire. One more elaborate pair, however, is composed of studs of gold, each 1·2 inches in diameter and having a slightly domed face with a cable pattern round the edge. Soldered inside each stud is a short tube designed to pass through the ear and fit into a smaller stud at the back of the lobe.
c7.31
Nose ornaments are very common, and are usually blue faience or a blue vitreous paste with a projecting, headed stud to hold them in position in the bored wing of the nostril. As a rule, these nose-plugs are ornamented with a device derived from the intersecting circle design (Pl. O, 4), and they were probably valued also as amulets. Ornaments of a very similar shape are much worn in many parts of India to-day.
c7.32
Finger-rings are plentiful, some simple bands of rounded or flat wire, others consisting of coils, sometimes as many as seven in number. All the rings of this type are of copper or bronze, for no gold rings have been found, and the only silver one discovered is of unusual design. This ring consists of a flat, square bezel, incised with a multiple cross pattern and attached to a flat silver band to go round the finger.
c7.33
Bangles and bracelets were commonly worn, for statues of ordinary mortals as well as of deities have both arms ornamented in this way. The materials used were gold, silver, copper, bronze, faience, shell, and even pottery. The gold and silver specimens are penannular in shape and have hollow interiors filled in with either a fibrous or a lac core. Those of copper and bronze are rounded wire slightly flattened on the inside, with the ends sometimes touching or overlapping, while the shell bracelets are usually in the form of broad bands joined together in two or three pieces with cords, or else segments from the walls of very large shells. Faience bracelets are rare, but the specimens range in width from simple rings to wide bands. Pottery would seem a curious material for bracelets, but such ornaments have been found and appear to have been made in a mould and burnt to an excessive hardness. The writer is inclined to think that these bracelets were either made of sacred clay, or intended for a class of people which were not allowed metal ornaments. These pottery bangles are not beautiful, but they are extremely well made, and, in the case of the better preserved ones, are carefully inscribed with one or two minute pictographs, a fact which seems to indicate that they were valued by their owners. With the exception of those made of faience, which are sometimes fluted, or incised with a chevron pattern, these bracelets, save the gold one already referred to, are severely plain.
c7.34
Anklets are difficult to distinguish from bracelets, but their presence on some of the clay figurines proves that they also were worn. The foot of a little bronze statue has an anklet of much the same pattern as that worn by the hill-women round Simla to-day, and, what is still more interesting, this same type of curved anklet appears on a figure in a fresco at Knossos in Crete.
c7.35
The statues, as we have seen, prove that long hair was worn by men and women alike, often gathered up in a knot, or bun, at the back of the head and partly secured from falling by a fillet which passed round the forehead. One of the male heads distinctly shows, in addition, a hair-pin in the bun; and the fact that numerous hair-pins of various makes have been found indicates that they were popular. What must have been a very fine specimen, of bronze, 4·4 inches long, is surmounted by two heads of black buck placed back to back, each head having the characteristic spiral horns. Another bronze pin has a coiled head, and in this respect resembles pins found in Sumer, Egypt, the Caucasus, and Central Europe, while other perfect, or nearly perfect, pins are of ivory or bone, sparsely ornamented. Various pin-heads have been unearthed whose stems appear to have been made of wood which has perished. One such head, a little over half an inch high, represents a charming group of three monkeys in a ring with their arms round each other’s shoulders; and another very similar group, in the same soft steatite, shows two monkeys huddled together as if for warmth. Other pin-heads of glaze represent the seed-vessels of the lotus, while numerous examples occur of pin-heads decorated with various ornamental patterns.
c7.36
Combs were sometimes worn in the hair, a custom which still prevails among Indians of both sexes. A fine, double-toothed comb of ivory, decorated on both faces with a series of incised, concentric circles, was found close by the skull of a young girl (Pl. K, 1), and another comb V-shaped in design seems to have been made for combing long hair, although its exceptionally fine and closely set teeth would imply that it also had other uses.
c7.37
Round buttons of copper, bronze, steatite, or faience are common, but it is uncertain whether they were merely decorative or utilitarian. The most usual variety resembles ancient buttons found in Malta, Portugal, Southern France, and many other countries, and has a plain face with two converging holes in the back for the thread. The metal specimens are frequently dome-shaped, with two holes at the top to sew them to the garment; and certain small hemispherical buttons either have slight cavities at the base bridged across with a strip, or they are hollow with loops inside like the cone-shaped head-ornaments.
c7.38
Three mirrors, one of small size for a child, are of bronze and severely plain in style, though the wooden handles, which have not survived, may have been ornamented; a raised edge round one face of these mirrors served to protect the polished face from scratches (Pl. N, 3). Mirrors were probably quite common, for without them the various cosmetics discovered could not have been satisfactorily applied.
c7.39
Kohl-pots and sticks prove that the women, and perhaps the men, used this, or some similar black substance, for the eyes; and an interesting find of rouge contained in cockle-shells provides a link with contemporary Sumer, for the same type of shell, used to hold face-paints, has been taken from graves at Kish and Ur. Carbonate of lead has also been discovered at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, where it was possibly employed to whiten the face, a practice known in ancient Greece and also in China. On the other hand, it may have served as an eye-ointment or a hair-wash. Cinnabar, too, was used at Mohenjo-daro, probably as a cosmetic; and the finding of lumps of a green substance, identified as *terre verte*, tempt the writer to believe that this material was, like kohl, used for the eyes, as was malachite in ancient Egypt. As this substance, however, forms the green colouring on some of the polychrome pottery, it may well have been employed solely for that purpose.
c7.40
Both sexes seem to have used minute razors for depilatory purposes, as these have been found in large numbers.