Costume, Coiffure And Ornaments In The Temple Sculpture Of Northern Andra

An attempt has been made in this book to study the evolution of Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments in the temple sculptures of India and in particular, Andhra Pradesh, with the aim of giving an artistic and aesthetic finish to history. A survey has been made right from the Indus Valley times to that of Medieval times to trace out the details of Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments by comparing observations with the available literature of the contemporary period.

The book mainly focuses its attention on the medieval temple sculptures of North-Eastern Andhra with the aid of first-hand information. Making it as a base, a correlative study has been done with the available contemporary literature of the region. A thorough comparison has also been made with the sculptures of various periods, throughout India.

The peculiarities and similarities of this region have been presented after exhaustive discussion. At the end the influences of various dynasties and the change of fashions in the delineation of Costumes, Coiffure and Ornaments in the sculptures of North Eastern Andhra have been discussed.

DR. BATHULA SREE PADMA (b. 1957) is an upcoming and brilliant scholar in the field of Historical Research. After completing her M.A. in Ancient History and Archaeology in 1984, standing first in the university, she did her M.A. in History and 1985 and her Ph.D. in 1989, from the Andhra University. She has presented about a dozen papers at conferences and seminars. Half-a-dozen of her papers have been published in various journals. She is at present actively involved with various research projects in the field of history.

The history of any region will be very much wanting in its totality, if the aesthetic part pertaining to the thought, culture and way of life of the people, is not comprehended along with the succession of dynasties, kings, their achievements, exploits and their influence on society. The study of the theme and evolution of Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments, as a separate entity of the region, in detail, will not only supplement, but also be complementary to infuse the element of life into the scenario to give an artistic and aesthetic finish to the history of a region.

Northern Andhra, more precisely the northeastern region, a part of coastal Andhra, comprising the four districts of East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam was earlier studied comprehensively, regarding the political, socioeconomic conditions, architecture, iconography, etc. The temples of the medieval times of this region have been covered in detail, being taken as a basic criterion for the above studies. These studies, but for a few casual remarks do not carry the details of delineation of Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments, depicted in the sculpture of these temples.

The necessity of filling up this void has been the motive behind this humble attempt, to go into the details of the Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments, in the sculpture of the temples of this region, of medieval times. The further ambition of this study has been to demarcate the influence of various forms of art and cultures, especially the famous Chalukyas and the Eastern Gangas who ruled the region for a substantial period. The Costume or the dress (Vastradharana), the coiffure consisting of the embellishment of the head including hair dressing (Kesälankarana) and personal ornamentation (bhushanadharana), all put together described as "Subhagamkaranam' in Sanskrit, as revealed in the sculpture in the temples of the medieval period (A.D. 800 to 1300), in the region of Northeastern Andhra, constitute, the specific theme of the present study.

Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments of a person, are basic criteria in the evaluation of the evolvement of human culture. The history of personal attire, naturally should be as old as the human race itself. It should be considered a misfortune, that this part of the story has never been given due importance, not only in this country but also in tracing history in many parts of the globe.

Many published works including articles, are available separately on the costume and the ornaments, that evolved in India. However, the two books on dress, the Indian Costume' by G.S. Ghurye and the Prachina Bharatiya Veśabhuṣa' (Hindi) by Moti Chandra; are the pioneering works in this field. Similarly the two prominent works The Indian Jewellery, Ornaments and Decorative Designs' by Jamila Brij Bhusan and the 'Studies in the Development of Ornaments and Jewellery in Proto-Historic India," also covering the pre-historic period, by Rai Govind Chandra; are invaluable contributions in this arena. The above and the other most noteworthy works like the 'Hair styles in Ancient Indian Art' by K.Krishnamurty, have given a commendable coverage of Indian Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments. The subject, the period and the area of coverage are so vast, being more so in the case of the works of Ghurye and Jamila Brij Bhusan, that the constraints of the authors for want of details of every region, reflect very much in their comprehensions. The corroboration of the literary accounts and the archaeological evidence is very much essential to give a fine delineation of the subject, making it more elaborate. It is probably for this reason, that a comprehensive report covering all the aspects of the Costume, Coiffure and Ornaments of the country as a whole, has not been attempted so far by anybody.