South Indian Inscriptions

SOCIETY

across their forehead, which Bāṇa also has noticed.¹ In the scene in Cave XVII representing the Buddha preaching to a congregation, a person of high social status who is sitting near king Bimbisāra among the audience is shown as wearing such a white silken band, under which his curling hair appears in small clusters.² Foreigners like the Śakas and Kushāṇas are shown with a conical head-dress or with a low round skull-cap.³ The Brāhmaṇas were marked by a tied tuft of hair on the crown of their head.⁴ In the school-scene in Cave XVI some of Sidhārtha’s companions have a similar tuft of hair.⁵ Boys generally had clusters of hair called kākapakshakas above their ears.⁶ In some sculptures, Purṇabhadra. Pañchika and such other semi-divine beings are shown with a wig-like coiffure.⁷ Buddhist monks shaved their heads clean, but they do not appear in this manner in Ajaṇṭā frescoes. In the scene representing the miracle at Śrāvastī the naked Kshapaṇakas are, however, shown with clean shaven heads,⁸ whereas the Buddha, as sages, wear matted hair,

... Women dressed their hair in a variety of ways. The Ajaṇṭā frescoes exhibit a great many exquisite styles of coiffures. It is, however, noteworthy that nowhere in the frescoes in Caves XVI and XVII is any lady shown to have covered her head with the hem of her upper garment as Marāṭhā ladies of noble birth do at present. Male and female servants of foreign descent are in some places shown to have worn a conical cap. See, for instance, the picture of such a maid servant with rough features who attends on a royal pair in a scene of the Viśvantara-Jātaka in Cave XVII. She has worn a green jacket and a conical cap with a tuft at the top.⁹ Again, we do not see women of the age using a veil. Only in one picture has Mr. Yazdani noticed what appears like a veil. In the scene which represents the Buddha preaching to his mother in the Tushita heaven, one of the dēvīs appears to have worn ‘an embroidered head-dress to which is attached a veil of white gauze such as is worn by brides in European countries.’¹⁰ Everywhere else women appear without a veil as in Mahārāshṭra at present.

... It is, however, noteworthy that women of Vidarbha did not apply a tilaka to their forehead in the Vākāṭaka age as they do at present¹¹. That this custom was, however, prevalent in some places is clear from Kālidāsa’s description in the Raghuvaṁśa, XVIII, 44.

... Men and women were very fond of jewellery in the Vākāṭaka age. Merchants, middle class people and servants generally appear without jewellery on their person, but kings, princes, high officers, queens and wives of rich people as also their maids are represented with a variety of ornaments. As stated before, kings used to wear a high jewelled diadem. They also put on jewelled ear-ornaments (kuṇḍalas,) and necklaces of pearls or gems. Their arms were adorned with jewelled armlets (aṅgadas), with strings of pearls hanging from them¹². In his description of the svayaṁvara of Indumatī, Kālidāsa describes how one of the princes who
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¹ Cf. धोतबुकूलपाटिकापरिवेष्टितमौलि in the Harshacharita.
² Ajanta, Part IV, Pl. XXXIX.
³ Loc, cit. ⁴Ibid., Part IV, Pl. XXIII.
⁵ Ibid., Part III, Pl. LXIII.
⁶ In the Uttararamacharita, Bhavabhūti describes Lava as having five chūḍās of this type.
⁷ Ajanta, Part IV, Pl. LXXV(a).
⁸ Ibid., Part IV, Pl. XLIII (b).
⁹ Ibid., Part III, Pl. LXVI.
¹⁰ Ibid., Part IV, p. 67, Pl. XI, (a).
¹¹ In the paintings of the earlier caves at Ajaṇṭā, however, such a tilaka is noticed on the forehead of women. See Ajanta, Part III, Pl. XXIV.
¹² Ibid., Part IV, Pl. XXXIX.