The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c15.s2.20

c15.s2.20

At Udayagiri and Bhuvanesvara in Orissa, at Bodhagaya and Patna in Bihar, at Bharhut and Sanchi in Central India, at Mathura in U. P., at Taxila in the Punjab, at Ajanta, Elora and Badami in the Deccan, at Amaravati in Madras presidency, we have found several sculptures and paintings of women who are overloaded with a rich variety of ornaments all over their body. The nose-ring is, however, nowhere to be seen (See Pls. III, and IV). These sculptures and paintings are spread over almost all the centuries of the first millennium of the Christian era. It is therefore clear that the nose-ring was unknown throughout the whole of India during the entire Hindu period. Hindu sculptures of Puri and Rajputana of the post-Muslim period begin to show the nose-ring for the first time. Both the positive and the negative evidence thus shows that the the nose-ring is not a Hindu ornament. It seems to have been clearly borrowed from the Mahomedans. It is indeed a mystery how this ornament of foreign origin should have come to be regarded as the most important insignia of *saubhāgya*.