History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s4.15

v3.c41.s4.15

With regard to dress and ornaments we have to record very little, as we have not come across any special remarks of Al-Beruni on the subject. As stated in Vol. III (p. 187) the dress of the people in Sind, the Panjab and the adjoining parts of the country must have been composite, with tunic and trouser added to the old dress of the Hindus viz. two dhoties. The rage of the Hindus for ornaments remained the same as before and the ornaments of idols mentioned in the Sāsabahu temple record (I. A. XVI) show what ornaments princes and rich men used. But there is an interesting description of the dress of the women of Kanauj in the following verse of Rājaśekhara in his Kāvyamīmānsā : "With ear-rings dancing on the cheeks and with the long necklace moving, down to the navel, the dress of the women of Kanauj deserves to be honoured, their upper cloth going completely round the waist down to the anklet.* This shows that northern women wore two pieces of cloth the upper one covering not only the shoulders but also the lower person down to the feet. It left the head, however, uncovered as otherwise the ear-rings would not be visible and the necklace was put over the uttariya. The women of the south, including Gujarat, at present have no upper cloth; but their one cloth is long enough to serve the purpose of the upper cloth also. The custom of covering the face in the north and in Gujarat seems to be a later custom arisen in Mahomedan times. We may infer that men too all over India wore two pieces of cloth.