MANNERS FROM THE PAST


If you were to travel back in time in India before coming of Islam you would possibly be shocked . You were likely to see women walking around with breasts completely exposed . You might see a few women using veils , but those were more as a dressing item than to cover their faces . Do not expect them to shy away or cover their faces seeing you , an unknown man . That is a post islamic trait . What might really amaze you is the wonderful hairdos of women , especially those belonging to nobility . Each of them must have taken hours to finish and adorn !  Expect to see stunning artworks done with sandalwood paste and saffron over the exposed breasts of  the ladies and on foreheads of both the sexes . 
Widespread use of garlands would have been extremely common, both as an ornament to the body and a perfumery . If you at all come across a girl wearing a stiched tunic or upper garment , understand that she is from a lower strata in society , either a public women , dancing girl or servants . Women of repute would never do something as low as to cover their breasts ! 
And how do you possibly identify a girl of noble birth ? By colour of the skin ofcourse . The darker and more tanned she is , expect her to be of a higher birth . You would possibly see men ogling at dark women while fair skinned ones would turn out to be mostly servants and slaves.

The dark princess ... at Ajanta

Common men was likely to be found in short lower clothings and bare bodied .  But both the sexes generously covered in gold jewelry and precious stones , testifying to the immense richness and prosperity of the land . Almost everyone's mouth stained red with chewing of Paan leaves and unabashed spitting everywhere ( as testifed by a persian traveller ) . A rather loud application of kohl 'Kajal' on their eyes might remind you of a parallel culture - Egypt . 

 

A dancer wearing a stiched upper garment with suprisingly

modern looks .. sleeves in different colour !

Balinese women

Balinese women

The buildings would be very different from what you can imagine with modern sensibilities . Small but neat brick houses for commoners . Palaces for the royality would be spread out over a large area with gardens . Gardens would be full of fruiting trees and creepers and flowering plants . They are more likely to resemble a natural forest than organised landscaping what we see today . Organised landscaping , arrangement of plants and fountains was an Islamic import . The construction would have been done largely in wood .. carved with exceptional skills and gilted or painted . Use of stones would be reserved for temples usually . 

If you are walking past big metropolises like Mathura , Pataliputra or Tanjore , it likely that you will spot a cosmopolitan ethnicity . Greeks and Romans in their traditional dress chatting away in street corners . Do not be surprised if you see a white european worshipping Vishnu and speaking in chaste vernacular tongues ! They have had stayed in this land for over three generations now , much like your marwari neighbour . 
African slaves working in streets . Persian traders Bargaining for a good price ...so on and so forth . 
And those who think 'english liquor' is new to India , think again . India traded spices and fabric with the west in return of Roman wines ! So , expect to see finest Mediterranean wines being served out to Indian men and women in banquets !

Surprising ? Not a bit ....

Although we Indians continually sing the glories of continuity of culture in our civilization , we tend to overlook how much we have changed in the last thousand years . So when you piece together a complete image of what ancient Indian society might have been like , you might think it to be rather alien !
The oldest debate was if women kept their breasts uncovered . There have been numerous societies where breasts have been kept uncovered . The numerous paintings and sculptures , flattering descriptions of bosoms , tales of 'shringaar' on them .. all point to exposure of breasts . More solid proof can be gathered from the practices in Kerala and south east Asian countries like Bali and Thailand in the recent past . We know that S.E.Asia was Indian colony and that the culture of the land is still predominantly Indian . Until coming of the British , when it had to be stopped with legislation , the ladies of these places kept their breasts uncovered . In a country of tropics , where temperatures reach upto 45 degrees , it is quite natural that the need or necessity to cover body was not felt . Stiched garments like overcoat was not unknown , but not popular amongst people . They were viewed as a foreign culture and respectable families never resorted to adopting such 'degrading' foreign practices .
The most shocking of all changes must be the perceptions beauty . In ancient India , black was beautiful . We can still see this mentality in the depictions of our beloved gods and goddesses . Krishna is dark .... many of the goddesses are dark . In the ancient murals at Ajanta , the ladies of nobility and beauty are all dark skinned . Fair skin was frowned upon . The modern way of perceiving fair as beautiful is post Islamic and more specifically a product of British rule .

The third great change is in use of jewelry . India traded with west in exchange of Gold and silver . The hunger of Gold was as great as it is now . In a rich nation like India both men and women wore gold . Anklets , waist , heads , ears .... no part of the body was spared ! But in changing times , men seems to have done away with it completely , thanks to british morals . The last of the Indian men to generously don gold was the fabled maharajahs of colonial times . Today it is all a woman's game .

Each invasion and time has left its tell tale mark on our old land . But a thread of continuity has run unbroken all along . So inspite of these changes , we are still the oldest surviving civilization on earth !

They arent greaco roman art . They are Indian ! Gandhara art flourished under a east west synthesis after Alexander's invasion