Posted on 21/10/2012 by Anu M

I am a little hesitant to club these three writers together as representative of subcontinental Muslim women writers in the early part of the 20th century.  However, though as writers they are quite different, for the purposes of today’s post on the changes in the attire of Muslim women in Bengal and North India, I am going to post on  Attia Hosain, Rokeya Begum and Rashid Jahan.

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Brooch – 2

Posted on 19/10/2012 by Anu M

Brooch 2:

I have seen a few 40s Indian movies where the brooch was used to fasten the saree at the waist. However, this photograph is the only one I have found with said brooch.

Also rare to find a puffed sleeve saree blouse of Anne Shirley proportions! I think Anne might go for a bit more volume though 🙂

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Brooch – 1

Posted on 19/10/2012 by Anu M

Brooch 1:

An unusual placement of the brooch on the saree blouse.  The blouse itself seems to be the square neck kind of style of the 40s.

The photograph is of HH Maharani Krishna Kumar (the basis for Rekha’s character in Zubeidaa).

[X]

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Girls in Finery – 2

Posted on 17/10/2012 by Anu M

Princess Shashi Raje of Dewas in an embroidered ghaghra-choli looking poised and a little enigmatic in a studio photo.  The choli is almost completely hidden by jewellery and yet it doesn’t feel excessive.

Arm bracelets seem to have been very popular in the 1920s/1930s.

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Girls in Finery -1

Posted on 17/10/2012 by Anu M

A pretty cap sleeve blouse which allows for arm bracelets (bazuband). Pic taken in the 1930s.

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Posted on 15/10/2012 by Anu M

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Navaratri starts on October 16th. From L to R, the three forms of the Devi worshipped during the 9 days – Parvati/Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati  – in differing attire.  The three painting styles are Kalighat, Raja Ravi Varma and Kalamkari respectively. … Continue reading →

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The Epic Post – Shakuntala

Posted on 13/10/2012 by Anu M

byeloriszanianka:

July, 1957 issue of the China Pictorial (Ren Min Hua Bao) shows a still of China’s National Youth Theatre’s performance of dramatist Kalidasa’s Shakuntala to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the founding of the China-India Friendship Association. Shakuntala is played by Bai Shan. 

Just a little more on Abhijnanasakuntalam, this time in a Chinese interpretation. This picture has Shakuntala in full dance costume perhaps because the scene is set in Dushyant’s court.

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The Epic Post – Shakuntala

Posted on 13/10/2012 by Anu M

And last an interesting peek into the making of the dress of ancient heroines, including  Shakuntala, in the Amar Chitra Katha comics.

No doubt a Shakuntala of the 21st century would again be quite different (though we can perhaps skip this soap opera version – and catch Shyam Benegal’s take here).

However Shakuntala is dressed, the epic endures.  Now to give it a complete read because I am a little in love with Shakuntala & Dushyant 🙂

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The Epic Post – Shakunatala

Posted on 13/10/2012 by Anu M

Shakuntala has also been filmed a fair bit. Surprisingly MS Subbulakshmi dispensed with a blouse in the Tamil movie Sakunthalai (directed by the American, Ellis R Dungan).  Other film depictions like V Shantaram’s also discard the blouse. All employ a number of flower garlands but none of course use the bark of Kalidasa’s opus.

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The Epic Post – Shakuntala

Posted on 13/10/2012 by Anu M

 

Sacontala says goodbye to Madhavi. Illustration for La Civilizacion by Don Pelegrin Casabo Y Pages (Mir, Tarradas, Comas, 1881-82).

Shakuntala first appeared in the West in a William Jones translation and its not surprising the German romantics loved the drama. Subsequently Theophile Gautier wrote a drama, there was a ballet and in this illustration she looks like something out of Greek myth.

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