It is my impression that yavanika was the term for the theater's
curtain. The other meaning of the term is a Greek woman, who were
sometimes employed by Indian kings for carrying bows and arrows.

avagunThana is the peculiar intertwining of the fingers in certain
religious ceremonies (Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon), and a vail.

To the best of my knowledge, face-covering is completely absent from
11-12th century Indian iconography. It is not there in Ajanta
paintings.

A 1250-1275 Jain book cover in the Jaisalmer Jain library shows a
woman with a cloth covering the back of her head, possibly using the
end of her sari (just like it is done today), but her face is quite
visible.

It is my guess that the "ghundhat" as it has been common in North-
Western India in the recent centuries, may have been largely unknown
in ancient India.

I think there are some Gandhara sulptures that show women with head
covered. That must be Greek/Roman influence.


Yashwant



--- In IndiaArchaeology@yahoogroups.com, "lsrinivas" <lsrinivas@...>
wrote:
>
> Re Pratibha Patil's remarks, it is interesting to analyze what kind
> of purdah they talk about it in Sanskrit plays. There are two terms
> yavanika, avagunThana which one comes across.
>
> Do the Chakkiyars of Kerala perform it in Koodiyattom (Sanskrit
> theater)? If they do it will be interesting to see how they do
> interpret the two different words:
>
> 1. In Svapnavasavadattam, there is a reference to the removal of
> yavanika. Udayana says 'saMKShipyatAM yavanikA' in Act 6. When that
> is done, he recognizes Vasavadatta and says 'iyam mahAsenaputri' -
> this is Mahasena's daughter i.e., Vasavadatta.
>
> But the strange thing is a moment ago, a maid sees Vasavadatta
while
> her 'yavanika' is still on. She recognizes her and says,"ammo,
> bhartRdArika Vasavadatta' - Oh, My! It's the queen, Vasavadatta!
>
> So what the hell was this yavanika, a veil or more like a doctor's
> screen which you can get around?
>
> 2. There's also this Sanskrit word avagunThana. It probably does
not
> mean a veil for the face but it does cover the body.
>
> 2.1 Consider this from Malavikagnimitram, Act V
>
> The queen asks a maid to bring a washed silk garment
> ('kauzeyapatrorNaM upanaya'). So then she covers Malavika with it.
> The relevant passge is:
>
> devi: (mAlavikAM avagunThanavatIM kRtvA). The man for all seasons,
M
> R Kale translates it as 'Having veiled Malavika with it). There is
> no indication in the script whether her face or body is visible or
> covered after that.
>
> 2.2 SAkuntalam (Act 5)
>
> Here it is quite clear that much of Sakuntala's body is covered.
>
> kA svid avagunThanavatI nAtiparisphuTazarIralAvaNyA| 'Who could
> this veiled woman be, her charms not clearly to be seen?'
>
> So was this avagunThana like a chador which envelopes the body?
>
> This word is used also in modern Indian languages e.g., Bengali as
> in "ebar abagunthana kholo" (take off the veil), a Rabindra Sangeet
> song rendered by Hemanta Kumar. It's probably there in Hindi too.
>
> Puzzled,
>
> LNS
>