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Tradition and modernity

Fashions change, and all over the world new fashions are emerging. In the West men have started wearing bands and using perfume and cosmetics. Women wear trousers and shirts, and the latest trend is to wear clothes which are interchangeable between the sexes!  In some cases transparent material is used, and the clothes produce a distinctive effect. The change of fashions in the West affects fashions in our country and we see in our college a marked increase in the proportion of men wearing tight trousers, and women wearing western dress and the modern version of salwar and kameez. Very often this kind of change is looked down upon by many who say that this change is contrary to our heritage and tradition.

What is our tradition? What was the practice in the Pallava period? About 1200 years ago in this Pallava country men and women wore the same kind of ear-ornaments, arm-bands and bangles. Very often the ornaments on the two ears were of two different shapes!  In some sculptures one ear is decked with a circular ornament but the other is left bare. Today circular earrings of all sizes seem to be in fashion, but no one seems to have thought of wearing the ring on one ear only!  We have an ancient culture, and so we assume that there has been very little change in the traditional mode of dress, and there is considerable ignorance about the dress and ornaments worn during the different periods. Since fashions change with every important period of history, a careful observation of changes will prove very useful in dating sculpture and painting. Scholars from abroad who study our ancient monuments are often handicapped by their lack of intimate knowledge of our languages and literature. The Tamil works contemporaneous with early Pallava period are mainly devotional songs, but there are a few secular works of the late Pallava period, viz., Nandikalambakam and Jeevakachinthaamani which we shall be using in our study along with a few Sanskrit works.

Mahabalipuram, or Kadalmallai as it was called in Tamil, contains the earliest and largest collection of sculpture in Tamil Nadu. Except for a few additions all the monuments belong to the seventh and early eighth centuries A. D., and were all once painted over in brilliant colour. A number of deities in various forms are represented in stone but what is more interesting is the depiction of human beings. King Mahendra and his two queens, other royal figures with crowns, and warriors offering their own heads¹ as human sacrifice, are depicted in Mahabalipuram. Common people tending cattle, carrying children, ascetics standing on one leg, and holy men with beards are also shown. In the sculpture of this period very little difference is seen between the deities and human beings in the types of dress and ornaments but in many cases deities are provided with more than one pair of hands.² The guardian deities (dwarapalakas) and the short fat attendant deities (ganas) look very human. Gods and goddesses are represented in idealized human form except for the large number of hands.

The Five Rathas

Gift Siromoney

Dwarapalika

Indian sculpture                                                                                                     

One of the characteristic features of Indian sculpture is flexion. Men and women, gods and goddesses are shown standing with body slightly bent at the hip and neck. If the legs are tilted to the left, the torso to the right and the neck to the left, the stance is called the tribhanga. If the figure is straight and erect the stance is called samabhanga. The sculptors depicted what they saw in life around them and even today we find our women stand in the delightful tribhanga pose in spite of the training given in schools to make them stand erect!

Weapons and other emblems are held gracefully, and in early Pallava sculpture the emblems are placed just above the hands. Each hand is depicted in a particular gesture or mudra. There is a gesture for giving,³ one for teaching, and one for holding weapons. Every common pose has a name. Compared to the Greek and Roman sculptures Indian sculpture does not show muscles rippling all over the body. Hands are treated smoothly and often gracefully. Unlike the Gandhara school in the north, in Tamilian sculpture dress is not depicted with heavy folds. Very often just a line is shown to indicate the edge of a dress and the presence of dress has to be confirmed by the ends shown on the sides.

Sari and veshti

 Even though there are scores of sculptures of female figures in Mahabalipuram not one is shown with a sari.⁴  It is hard to believe that the sculptors would have depicted the queen and milkmaids in other costumes if the sari was the common costume. Their majesties are shown bare above the waist, but soldier women are shown with a belt-like breast-band, showing that the bands were used as a functional necessity. In Jeevakacinthaamani, we get a description of women waiting on the roadside to see a procession.⁵ Some are described as wearing a breast-band and others without it. One may be tempted to say that this is poetic imagination or a sculptor's fantasy. However, Marco Polo⁶ the Italian traveller of the 13th century, makes the observation that men and women of Tamil Nadu went about bare above the waist. According to Jeevakacinthaamani, when a woman entered a nunnery she had her tresses shorn off and her breasts were covered with cloth.⁷ The traditional Indian concept⁸ of nakedness is different from that of the West; for example when a child wears a string around the waist it is not supposed to be naked! At Mahabalipuram women are shown with necklaces and other ornaments, and from the contemporary literature we find that both men and women used to paint their bodies with sandalwood paste (yellow), kunkum (red) and chunnam (white).

Even though the sari is not found, the veshti is shown on many male figures as a piece of cloth (silk or cotton) wound round the waist and going down almost to the ankle. Mahendra's queen and another female figure in Krishna mandapa are shown with a garment from waist to feet, whereas the king himself wears a piece of cloth which stops just below the knee. The veshti worn up to the knee and tied at the back (a common working costume of our villagers) is shown on a dwarapalika (female guardian deity) with a bow. 'Shorts' very much like the western shorts are depicted on both the male and female figures and the Tamil words soorai and vattudai refer to some such costume. In Krishna mandapa a man and a woman are shown holding hands and dancing the kuravai; the woman wearing a narrow piece of waist-cloth, the two ends of which are tied together in the front at the waist. A variation of this garment can be seen on a male deity at Dharmaraja ratha. A long piece of cloth folded to a width of a few inches is shown hanging down in front from the waist to the feet on the giant Mahishasura in a battle scene. This kind of dress is not shown on any female figure in contrast to the earlier Amaravati sculptures of Andhra Pradesh.

 Other costumes                                                                                              

  Nandikalambakam refers to women wearing the uthariya⁹ (made of silk) which corresponds to the present day angavastra, a long folded piece of cloth thrown over the shoulder. At Mahabalipuram ascetics with pointed beards and clean shaven men are shown with the uthariya going over the left shoulder. King Mahendra as well as the ganas are shown wearing this garment tied over the stomach with the ends falling in front. This kind of lowering the uthariya is a common practice when one enters a temple today. In some cases men and women are shown wearing a double band of cloth round the waist with a semicircular loop hanging down in front. The sash was about 8 cubits long -- it was wound round the waist once and then once more, forming the large loop. It was knotted at the side with the loose ends hanging down almost to the ankle. There is quite a lot of variation in which this garment is depicted and some of the figures are shown wearing it much lower than the others. At the Shore Temple and Koneri mandapa a similar garment is shown with the looped portion pulled to the back, and with a couple of garter-like bands on the thighs. In a few cases the sash is wound once or twice round the waist without a loop in front, a common practice now among the wandering gypsy tribe of kuruvikaaran. This garment is shown as worn over other garments by both men and women.

An interesting garment shown mainly on women is a panty-like piece. It is one of the most common forms of garment in Mahabalipuram in contrast to the later day sculptures. This characteristic Pallava garment must have been a Y-shaped piece of cloth about 6 ins. broad and worn tightly round the waist with the three ends tied tightly at the back. The ends were let down from the back a couple of feet. In the bathing scene with Lakshmi sitting on a lotus, the maids-in-waiting and Lakshmi herself are shown wearing just this single piece of garment, which is shown diaphanous to indicate wet garments. A similar garment is shown on the male kinnaras (half man half bird) but the loin cloth (kovana aadai) is the most common undergarment for men.¹⁰

Crowns, garlands and gundala

Gods and goddesses are often represented with crowns (makuta). Vishnu is usually decked with a tall cylindrical crown called the krita makuta.¹¹ A most common headgear for both men and women is the karanda makuta which looks like an arrangement of inverted chattis (earthenware vessels) in the form of a cone with tassels and other decorations. Siva is often shown with jata makuta which is a distinctive hair-style resembling the crown. The krita makuta on King Mahendra and the maids-in-waiting (in Adivaraha cave) is quite short compared to the one worn by Vishnu and the one worn by a royal figure on Dharmaraja ratha. The delightful figures of men and women on Arjuna ratha with karanda makuta represent royalty. Warriors have their hair tied up on top, and others (in Arjuna's penance) are shown with a gem-studded ribbon-like ornament to tie up their hair.¹²  A few men are represented with shaven heads and a tuft, at the top of Dharmaraja ratha. Warriors have moustaches, rishis pointed beards, but kings and gods are clean-shaven.

Early Tamil dictionaries (nigandus), which contain an elaborate list of ornaments, refer to 5 parts of a crown (mudi), but it is difficult to identify them on sculpture except the garland (thaamam). The aathondai flower (Capparis zeylanica, common on the campus) was used by the Pallava kings for garlands; Nandikalambakam refers to the garlands worn on the crown.¹³ In Mahabalipuram, garlands are shown on the crowns in two styles as a short crescent on one side of the karanda makuta and worn just above the forehead. The flowers are not clearly depicted, but from the later Chola sculpture, where flowers are clearly shown, one can confirm that flowers were worn over the crown. Some of the crowns in Mahabalipuram are fitted with side plaques, a feature not found in later day sculpture. The crown was made secure on the head by a diadem called the pattam.

The nose is left bare in the sculptures, and wearing of nose-ornaments came into fashion many years later during the Vijayanagar period. On the other hand, ear-ornaments were a must for the Pallavas. We do come across a few unpierced ears like those of the minstrel (paanan) in Dharmaraja ratha but the fashionable men and women preferred the long ear-lobes. In the ears they wore makara kundala (makara kuzhai in Tamil) shaped like a fish or a crocodile, and patra kundala (thodu or olai in Tamil) a circular ornament which was inserted in the lobes. Precious stones and gold were used to make the ear-ornaments, but it was also common to use palm leaf, clay and shell for making the different kinds of patra kundala. Women appear with the makara kundala on the left ear and patra kundala on the right and vice versa. This practice of wearing different kinds of ornaments on different ears is confirmed by Jeevakacinthaamani. In some figures the left ear-lobe appears bare. A third kind of ear-ornament, peculiar to Mahabalipuram, pulling the ear-lobe down to the shoulder, is shown on the right ear where the left ear is depicted with the circular patra kundala. The Tamil word kuzhai for kundala, denotes leaves, and the milkmaids in Krishna mandapa seem to be wearing leaves. A small pot-like ornament is shown on Siva in Dharmaraja ratha. In many cases ears that appear bare at first sight reveal small ornaments on closer inspection. Some of these are small rings worn high up on the lobes and ear in addition to the kundalas. These small rings are also seen with another tiny ornament (which we shall tentatively identify as kadipinai) which binds the ear-lobes at the middle. Classical Tamil dictionaries list a large number of ear-ornaments but it is difficult to identify many of them on sculpture.

Necklaces and garlands

Different kinds of necklaces are depicted in a simple fashion and they are fewer in number compared to those in later day sculpture. Necklaces were of gold and precious stones and often worn without pendants by both men and women. Pendants (thooku) are shown on a few female figures. Unlike the Chola period we seldom see short necklaces fitted high up on the neck. On the female figures (exceptionParvati in the Somaskanda panels in the Shore Temple and in the  Mahishasuramardini cave) we do not see the ornament poon, worn from the left shoulder to the right side of the waist like the sacred thread, and quite common in the Chola and the Vijayanagar sculptures. However pearl-strings which go over both shoulders and are tied in the middle, forming an    ' X ' in the front and back, are shown on a few figures. These are often called sanna vira, veera sangili or swarnakshaka. Some of the female figures show another ornament which goes just above and below the breasts and is tied at the centre. This is not found on the Chola bronzes. Globular beads are also shown on necklaces and sanna vira. The sacred thread is not commonly shown as such, but where it is shown (as on Siva in the Shore Temple) it is represented as a triple strand, flat as a ribbon and wound close to the body and going over the left shoulder. Flower garlands -- though the flowers are not marked as clearly as in Chola sculpture -- are shown on guardian deities (dwarapalakas) and others, going over the left shoulder and then over the right hand in the typical Pallava fashion. The word maalai was used to denote the necklaces, garlands and similar ornaments. Similarly the word yagnopavita also denotes a variety of ornaments which are worn over the left shoulder. Yagnopavita of different kinds with clasps, long ones going down to the leg, double and triple strands meeting at the clasp (at the Shore Temple) are found in Mahabalipuram. 

An ornamental belt worn by men called the udhara bhanda is shown just above the stomach. It appears plain in most cases but in a few cases patterns are worked on it. The corresponding belt worn by women across the breasts is called kachu, vambu, or vaar in Tamil, and is shown without the shoulder straps.¹⁴ At the waist a narrow belt (arai naan or kati sutra) knotted in front with a bow can be seen on both men and women. In some cases a gem-set buckle is visible at the knot and in one place two short chains with pendants suspended from the belt. This buckle evolved into an elaborate lion-faced clasp during the Chola period. A princely figure in Arjuna ratha is seen with a dagger and a loose belt. In Dharmaraja ratha Siva is depicted with a thick chain on the right side only and Vishnu with three small loops hanging from the belt. Women are shown with a simple girdle¹⁵ (pattikai) or mekala worn over the panty-like garment in contrast to the elaborate mekala of the Chola period. A bearded figure in Arjuna's penance wears a belt with a gem-set buckle over the veshti to hold it up. Some of these figures perhaps represent men who lived in the forest after renouncing city life. Such men who lived in the forest with their wives without practising abstinence are strongly criticized in Jeevakacinthaamani.¹⁶

Arm-bands and bangles

In contrast to later day sculptures there are no ornaments on the shoulders. However, many varieties of arm-bands are depicted on the upper arm. The simplest is a circular band which may be called thol valai. The Tamil word thol denoted the upper arm, and poets sang of the long smooth arms of damsels. The second kind is a cork-screw-shaped ornament which goes round the arm twice or thrice and is the most common arm-band in Mahabalipuram. In the Chola period this simple ornament evolved into ananda or paampusurul with a cobra head at the upper end. The third is an elaborate ornament called the keyura which is set with gems, and some of these keyuras have extraordinary cross-like pattern around a circle.¹⁷ In Tambararn we come across women students wearing an arm-band on one arm only; a practice quite familiar to Mahabalipuram sculptors! Both men and women wear bracelets and we do not come across female figures with bare wrists in Mahabalipuram. The stainless steel band from the Punjab has come to stay in Tambaram as an ornament worn by both men and women. In the Pallava period the bangles were made not only in gold (thodi) but also from sea-shells¹⁸ (valai). When a woman entered a nunnery her bangles were broken.¹⁹ One of the symptoms of love-lorn lasses of those days was that bangles would slip down and fall off the hand, a hazard women of today avoid by wearing wrist watches with tight straps! In the Ardhanareeswara figure (female on the left half and male on the right) on Dharmaraja ratha a left hand is decked with as many as nine bangles whereas a right hand is shown with two. A princess (on Arjuna ratha) is shown with six bangles, three worn together near the wrist and the other three worn tight near the elbow. Men have one to four bangles on each hand, and in the case of Varaha two bracelets of spheres strung together (probably soodagam).²⁰

Rings on fingers or toes are not depicted in Mahabalipuram and neither are any ornaments on thighs. Nandikalambakam mentions the kazhal, a leg ornament worn by king Nandivarman but no such ornament is found in Mahabalipuram. In the Chola bronzes kazhal is often shown as a band on one leg just above the ankle.

Anklets

Only women are shown wearing anklets, whereas in the Chola period both men and women wore a variety of anklets. Exceptions to this rule are the dwarapalakas in Koneri mandapa who are shown with kinkini, an anklet with globular bells. This ornament is found on Bhumi devi in the Varaha cave. Hollow anklets (silambu) worn by women were made of gold with loose pearls inside to produce a characteristic sound. Wearing of silambu as well as kinkini -- so common in the Kailasanatha temple, Kanchipuram can be seen on Parvathi in the Mahishasuramardini cave. A common name for bangle-like ornaments worn on the ankles is paadagam, derived from paada (feet) and kadagam (bangle). In most cases women are shown with just one pair of anklets but in the Shore Temple Parvati appears with four pairs. Men and women are depicted bare-foot except in one place where a pair of wooden sandals (paatha kuradu) is shown.

Fashionable folk

A fashionable lady of the Pallava period wore a crown with garland, two different kinds of ear-ornaments on the long lobes, one or two necklaces of precious stones, bands on arms and hands, and a pair of large anklets on legs. Her body was painted attractively in three colours with sandal-wood paste, chunnam and red kunkum, and her eye-lids with anjanam. She often wore a narrow breast-band for outdoor activities, a panty-like garment at the waist and a narrow girdle.

A fashionable young man was clean-shaven and he wore a crown with garlands, ear-ornaments similar to those worn by women, a necklace or two of precious stones, arm-bands and bangles. An ornamental band on the lower chest, a simple narrow belt on the waist and occasionally a dagger from a special belt were worn. A thick string or garment was worn over the left shoulder and another round the waist. These were worn over a brief undergarment.

We have deliberately avoided dividing the monuments of Mahabalipuram in a chronological order since chronology and style are closely interrelated and there is still a certain amount of controversy about the dates of the individual monuments. However, quite a bit of difference in style and quality can be seen between the sculptures of the rathas on the one hand and those at the Shore Temple on the other, and it is difficult to accept them as works of the same sculptors. One hopes that a more detailed study would be undertaken covering all the Pallava sculptures and paintings. Then we shall have a more complete and satisfactory picture of the dress and ornaments of the entire Pallava period.