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Dress

I will mention a few reliefs separately. For the most primitive dress of the desafolk 0 34 has very good examples; here we see very distinctly the single loincloth or sarong with a belt. O 111
Series O
Plate XIV 111
879b.JPG
shows a bit of headgear not seen anywhere else; that is if the wide round, pointed object one of the. women is holding is really a sun-hat such as is still used for work in the fields at the present day; of course it might be a basin or a rice dish. Among the poor people in series O we noticed there were some wearing a sort of wreath on their head, the same thing appears continually in places without it being possible to make out what kind of people it really belongs to; there are brahmans (for inst. IBa 71
balustrade
Series IBa
Plate IX 71
1650.JPG
balustrade
IIB 35, 80
Awad-Jatakas
Series IIB
Plate VII 35
3545b.JPG
Awad-Jatakas
Awad-Jatakas
Series IIB
Plate XV 80
3563b.JPG
Awad-Jatakas
but also female servants II 80
De Gandawyuha
Series II
Plate XL 80
3054.JPG
De Gandawyuha
and merchants Ib 67
main wall
Series Ib
Plate XXXIV 67
1191b.JPG
main wall
In the last case foreigners appear in the story and we might think this sort of dress was specially meant to distinguish them; but comparison with the text shews us that though this may hold good for some of the reliefs it is not general.
On Ib 58
main wall
Series Ib
Plate XXIX 58
1186a.JPG
main wall
however the men in this dress who nearly all have beards, andcurious rolled-up earrings, are very foreign-looking, on Ib 59
main wall
Series Ib
Plate XXX 59
1187b.JPG
main wall
the same sort of persons are in attendance on a yaksa. They appear in this series continually, especially as attendants and servants, never as chief persons. It cannot be some special costume for solemn or festive occasions, it is not general enough for that and besides it is wanting just where the text describes feasts and ceremonies. We fail to discover what rules have guided the sculptors in this respect; it is perhaps better not to attach too much importance to what may be only a longing for variety or the fancy of some particular artist.

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