South Indian Inscriptions

SOCIETY

when they were worn, the inside limbs of the body such as the breasts and thighs, ornaments, sandal paste etc. were clearly seen through them. The painters have shown in their pictures what the poets described in their kavyas.

... Some women used to wear a band called payōdhara-paṭa to cover their breasts.¹ In the scene representing dying Sundarī, in Cave XVI, the maid who is fanning the princess has worn such a breast-band.² Again, in the fresco of the Viśvantara-Jātaka where Jujaka is receiving the ransom-money, the queen who is sitting beside the king has also worn a similar payōdhara-paṭa.³ In the Śākuntala, when Śakuntalā complains that Priyaṁvadā had tied her bark-garment tightly and asks Anasūyā to loosen it, Priyaṁvadā retorts, ‘You should rather blame your youth which has developed your breasts’⁴ In this scene also a similar payōdhara-paṭa is evidently referred to. As its knot used to be tied on the back, Śakuntalā had to ask her friend to loosen it. The kañchulikā or half-sleeved bodice, now usually worn by Mahārāshtṛian ladies, though not much in evidence, is noticed in some paintings. For instance, the maid, standing near queen Māyā, as she is relating her dream to her husband, is shown to have worn such a bodice.⁵ Again, the woman with a child on her waist, who appears in the midst of suppliants assembled to receive alms in the fresco representing the Viśvantara-Jātaka, has put on a half-sleeved jacket of the modern type with the floral designs painted on it.⁶ In a scene of the Siṁhvalāvadāna in Cave XVII, a woman is shown to have worn a green bodice of the same type as is worn by Mahārāshṭrian ladies at present.⁷ Women of the Śaka and Kushāṇa descent used to wear a half-sleeved jacket instead of a bodice.⁸

... Boys dressed themselves in the same manner as men. This appears clear from the frescoes representing prince Siddhārtha and his young companions. Some of them have one end of their lower garment dangling at the back, while some others are shown with a scarf on their shoulder, placed like an uttariya.⁹

... After his enlightenment, the Buddha used to wear three garments, (i) the antarāvāsaka (which Yuan Chwang calls nivasana) or lower garment which was tied at the waist with a girdle, (ii) the uttarāsaṅga, also called saṅkakshikā which was worn like an uttarīya and (iii) the saṅghāṭī or long cloak. In the frescoes in the Caves XVI and XVII, the Buddha appears in some places to have worn an uttarāsaṅga¹⁰ and in others a saṅghāṭi.¹¹

... Several modes of hair-dressing and coiffure are noticed in these paintings. In the frescoes in Caves XVI and XVII, men nowhere appear with a turban such as is seen in the earlier frescoes at Ajaṇṭā. The ruling princes are marked by a high jewelled diadem.¹² Sometimes a single golden band worn across the forehead served to distinguish a royal personage. Others such as ministers, royal officers and common men generally wore their hair loose, which fell on their back, neck or chest. Some wore a cotton or silken band
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¹ Priyadarśikā, Act II, v. 7.
² Ajanta, Part III, Pl. LII.
³ Ibid., Part IV, Pl. XXVI.
⁴ Śākuntala, Act I.
⁵ Ajanta Part III, Pl. LXII.
⁶ Ibid., Part III, Pl. LXIV.
⁷ Ibid., Part IV, Pl. LXIV(a).
⁸ Ibid., Part III, Pl. LXVI.
⁹ Ibid., Part III, Pl. LXIII.
¹⁰ Ibid., Part IV, Pl. XXXIX.
¹¹ Ibid., Part III, Pl. LIIII and LXXIV; Part IV, PL. XLI.
¹² Ibid., Part IV, Pl. XV.