Page:Costume, fanciful, historical, and theatrical (1906).djvu/212

168 divided in the centre and hanging down behind, is crowned by a little circular cap of black velvet covered with gold and silver embroidery and studded with seed pearls, while on the feet are gaily-embroidered slippers. Etiquette decrees that before her wedding the Parsee woman must submit to having her head shaved, a martyrdom which is responsible for the nun-like band of white material drawn low on the forehead. She continues to wear the trousers, but exchanges the decorative sadra for an even more superb sari. This voluminous drapery is of gold- bordered muslin in warm weather, at other seasons a long, straight piece of silk or satin wondrously coloured and exquisitely embroidered. It is wound round and round the body, outlining it tightly at the back, and hanging in straight folds in front, each evolution being accomplished in pleats, to attain sufficient fulness; and finally the end is drawn over the head, concealing one ear and leaving the other exposed, a practice which explains the single ear-ring worn by Parsee women. In warm weather the sari is of muslin and boasts a wide gold border.

The principal item in the wardrobe of the Hindu woman is likewise the sari, which she arranges as the Parsee does hers. The texture varies according to the means of the wearer. The poor employ cotton, but they invariably endeavour to have an ornamental border of some kind. The simply-made skirt reaches to the ankles, and the chuli, a short-sleeved jacket of diminutive proportions, terminates immediately below the bust, leaving the middle of the figure uncovered excepting for the sari. The hair is twisted in a