The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c15.s1.26

c15.s1.26

It must be, however, admitted that this explanation of the dress being shown partly in carving and partly in colouring does not hold good of many schools of sculptures in ancient India. Such is particularly the case with the sculptures at Bharhut and Sanchi in Central India. Here, unlike at Amraoti, the whole of the *sari* covering the waist, the thighs and the legs is shown in carving; the method of its wearing also shows that no part of it was intended to be taken over the shoulders so as to cover the bust (See Pls. III, A and B). It is therefore not possible to argue that the breasts of women in the sculptures at these places were intended to be subsequently covered by a garment that was to be shown partly in plastering and partly in colouring. This process would have been also a costly one, for the sculptures at these places were intended to be exposed to rain and sunshine throughout the year. Replastering and recolouring would have become frequently necessary and the monks at these monasteries would not have found it always easy to get generous donors to defray the recurring expenditure. Are we then to conclude from the evidence of the plastic art that the women in Central India used to move about with their breasts uncovered in the early centuries of the Christian era ?