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170
A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
mony was performed and this cloth ( bhoyada ) was replaced by another cloth ( padaya ). This bhoyada of Mahārāştra was known as kaccha in the Lāța country.1 Curiously enough, in his play Viddhašalabhañjika Rajasekhara, describing the dress of the girls of Mahārāştra of his time, states that the dress of the ladies after their marriage was one which appeared charming owing to the arrangement of the knot-nivibhangaviseșa.a On its basis Ghurye has concluded that "the chief distinction between the dress of the unmarried female and married one was that whereas the former wore a skirt (coloka) which did not require the arranging of a knot as her lower garment, the latter put on a garment which was held in its place by a knot which enhanced the charm of their dress.* The above mentioned statement of the NC, also seems to be indicating towards the same difference between the dress of a married and unmarried female of Mahārāşçra. Besides this lower garment, the bodice (coli) and the other upper garment would also have been worn by the ladies of this time.
Miscellaneous Clothes Besides those described above, there were clothes used for purposes other than wearing. The bedsheets were variously known as atthurana, prastarana or pracchada. There were also the mattresses stuffed with cotton, especially with the cotton of swallow-wart-a plant called Aka in Hindi-(tali), the pillows for head ( uvahana ), pillows or cushions to be kept under the cheeks or knees (ganduvadhāniga and alimigini), round cushions made with leather-skin and stuffed with cotton ( masüraga ), the housings for elephants ( palhui ), fluffy blankets ( koyava ), mantles (pavaraka), woollen sheets ( navaya ), sheets as white as the row of teeth (dadhiyali) and also the clothes woven with double yarn ( viralt ). Five
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1. NC. 1, p. 52. 2. Vide-Ghurye, op. cit., p. 243. 3. Ibid. 4. NO. 3, pp. 68-69. 3. NC. 3, p. 321; Bih. Bhã. 3823-24.
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