Indian Dress Styles

[Husky]

Addendum to these 3 earlier posts:

1. [quote name='Bharatvarsh' date='18 September 2007 - 09:01 PM' timestamp='1190129029' post='73305']

Is the nosestud a native thing or a later influence after Muslims came.



I found this:



http://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/09/18/if-...ilak-was-funny/



This is also there in TN and South which did not have as much Muslim influence, anyone has a clue?

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2.[quote name='Husky' date='19 September 2007 - 03:25 PM' timestamp='1190195230' post='73338']Among S Indian Hindus it is a highly religious thing, together with toe rings.

I heard my older aunts and grandmother talking to my sister about these things in the period leading up to, and just after, her wedding. (But she has not got her nose pierced so far, don't know if she will.) Ear studs also had some significance to do with marriage, but can't remember.

Also, all the Goddesses in TN and Karnatakan temples I have been to have always worn nosestuds - I think both sides (like my mum, all my aunts and grandmothers have). Same goes for all the temple vigraha paintings of Goddesses that I have seen. According to my dad, it is a must to draw them in if anyone is thinking of painting a genuine Goddess as she is in the Indian temple in the traditional way. (Just like one must include all 5 of Mahavishnu's implements if one were to draw him, and the correct items in Lakshmi's or Saraswati's hands, and the like.)

I don't know any more than that myself.



With the exception of muslim women of the Indian subcontinent, I have never seen islamis with nosestuds. For instance, I've never seen Tunisian women wear it (I've seen a video of Tunisian homelife) nor the few Iraqi and Afghan women I've seen here. Don't know about real-life Iranian muslim women, but can't recall as the ones I've seen on TV programs had any nosestuds.

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3.[quote name='sankara' date='19 September 2007 - 08:37 PM' timestamp='1190213976' post='73345']

I have never seen any Arab woman or women from the middle-east in general wear a nose-ring. Among muslims, the nose-ring seems to be common only among those from the Indian subcontinent. Again, there are regional variations within India in propensity to wear a nose-ring: a tamilian muslim woman is more likely to wear a nose-ring than a muslim from the north. Unlike for hindus, the nose-ring is not seen as mandatory for Indian muslims. Hence, the inter-religious influence, if any, of the nose-ring must be from hinduism to islam after the mughal invasions. In the south, particularly TN, nose-rings are seen as mandatory for married Hindu women, especially both nostrils. For unmarried girls, the nose-ring is worn only on one side (I forget which side denotes unmarried status), and after marriage, it is typically worn on both sides.



In fact, one of the muslim websites - I forget which one - had a debate not long ago about whether it is acceptable for muslim women to wear a nose-ring. This debate in that muslim website was started I presume because there are many young muslim women living in the West, who would like to wear a nose-ring for ornamental purpose, or do other types of body-piercing, just like their western counterparts, but are not sure how islam treates body-piercing. Based on the discussion, it seemed like many muslims of Arab origin frown upon body piercing and call it unislamic, whereas those from the Indian subcontinent think its OK. Thus, this lends me to believe that any influence has to be from hinduism to Islam than the other way around.

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More proof that nose-rings India-wide are not due to any "islamic" influence either, but are religious Hindu practice (just as they remain in the south of the country):



In a simile in his Shyamala Dandakam, Kalidasa also tells us how Goddess Uma wears a nose ornament. Notice how it's not me saying (or translating) it:

स्वेद बिन्दूल्लसत् फाल लावण्य निष्यन्द सन्दोह सन्देह कृन्नासिका मौक्तिके!

(The sweat drops on your [Shyamala=Uma's] forehead which make your forehead beautiful

Look like the reflection of the pearls in your nose ornament!)

Kalidasa predates islamism in India and is not from the southern parts of Bharatam.

That the Hindu Goddesses' wear nose ornaments was well-known all over ancient India. Here, Kalidasa himself - who knows his Mother Kali well - tells us so.





- Hindus: women wear nose studs, nose rings etc (nose ornaments) in religious imitation of their Goddesses. It has remained very important among traditional Hindu women in the South.

- Islamic nations that don't have Hindu ancestry such as those in the ME: no nose ornaments.

- Hindu converts to islamania within the bounds of ancient Bharatam: any who still wear nose ornaments have merely kept up this very Hindu religio-tradition of their Hindu ancestors, wearing nose jewellery just like their ancestral Mother Goddesses. They have simply forgotten why they are doing it. In reality, any such muslimahs who still wear them continue to honour their ancestral Hindu Goddesses.