In another large picture, full of figures, repre senting the introduction of Buddhism to Ceylon, and its establishment there, all the figures, male and female, are naked to the waist. Sorne have waist-cloths or kilts only, others have scarfs, or probably the ends of the dhoti, thrown over their shoulders. Female figures, in different atti tudes around, are all naked, but have necklaces, ear-rings, and bracelets, and one a girdle of jewels round her loins. .
Some writers have maintained that the ancient Hindus were ignorant of the art of preparing needle-made dresses. It has even been said that there is no word for tailor in the language of the Hindus ; but there are two—one, tunnavaya, which applies to darning, and the sauchika, which ap plies to tailoring in general. The Rig Veda men tions needles and sewing, and the Ramayana and Mahabharata allude to dresses which could not have been made otherwise than with the aid of needles. In the ancient sculptures at Sanchi, Amraoti, and Orissa, several figures arc dressed in tunics which required needles.._Ainongst these garments are discoverable what may be called the ancestors of the modern chapkan and jama. The dress differs so entirely from the chiton, the chlamys, the himation, and such other vestments as the soldiers of Alexander brought to India, that they cannot be accepted as Indian modifica tions of the Grecian dress. In many ancient sculpturea of Buddhist times, queens, princes, and ladies of the highest rank are represented without any garments ; and it has been suggested that there prevailed either a conventional rule of art, such as has made the sculptors of Europe prefer the nude to the draped figure, or a prevailing desire to display the female contour in all its attrac tiveness, or the unskilfulness of early art, or the difficulty of chiselling drapery on such coarse materials as were ordinarily accessible in this country, or that a combination of some or all of those causes exercised a more potent influence on the action of the Indian artist than ethnic or social peculiarities in developing the human form in stone.
Allusion is made to 'saffron-tinted robes ' and to red-dyed garments' in occasional passages of the early writing,s, but even these are compara tively rare as regards inen, and there is little more in respect to women. In the drama of
Vikram and Urvasi, written probably in the reig,n of Vikramaditya, u.e. 56, Puraravas, one of the characters, says of Urvasi, a nymph who has fainted,— ' Soft as tho flower, the timid heart not soon Foregoes its fears. Tho scarf that veils her bosom Hides not its fluttcrings, and the panting breast Seems as it felt the wreath of heavenly blossoms Weigh too oppressively.'—Act i. Sc. 1.
In truth she pleases me : thus chastely robed In modest white, her clusterinff tresses decke4 With sacred flowers alone, herImuglity mien Exchanged for meek devotion. Thus arrayed, She moves with heightened charms.'—Act iii. Sc. 2.
In the drama Mrielichakati, attributed to king Sudraka of Ujjain, who reigned, according to the traditional chronology, in the first century before the Christian era., mid is certainly not later than the 2d century after Christ, Act iv. Sc. 2 says,— ' Maitrenkt. Pray who is that gentleman, dressed in silk raiment, glittering with rich ornaments, and rolling about as if his limbs were out of joint ? ' Attendant. That is my lady's brother.
Maitrena. And pmy who is that lady dressed in flowered muslin goodly person, truly,' eto.
The following passage, taken from the Uttara Rama Charitra, by the same author, affords an idea of the costume of a warrior race. Janaka, the father of Sita, the heroine, in describing the hero Rama, says,— ' You have rightly judged His birth • for see, on either shoulder hangs The martial quiver, and the feathery shafts Blend with his curling locks. Below his breast, Slight tinctured with the sacrificial ashes, The deer-skin wraps his body, with the zone Of Murva bound ; the madder-tinted garb Descending vests his limbs ; the sacred rosary Begirts his wrists ; and in ono hand he bears Tho pipal staff, the other grasps the bow. Arundati, whence comes lie?' The elothinis of the Mahomedan races, who came from the north-west, has been of wool and of cotton, to suit the changing seasons, and the articles of dress were cut out and sewed in forms to fit the body. The Rajput and other martial races have always dressed similarly.