Dress, D iet and Amusements

As is true o f other spheres o f life, the contacts with Sakas, Parthians and Kushans brought about
profound changes in K ashm ir’s costumes, coiffures, cosmetics, ornaments, food, drinks,
amusements and recreations. Kushan culture, as we know, is an amalgam o f many civilizations -
Greek, Roman, Iranian, Parthian, Central Asian, Chinese, Indian and many more, which radiated into
Bactria - its seat o f powerlocated as it was at the cross roads o f various civilizations. Therefore, their
dress, diet and amusements are also the product o f various cross cultural influences. A nd being the
ruling class and therefore the ‘reference group’, their life style became a comparative frame o f
reference for the people to claim a respectable position in the society. So much was the enduring
impact o f this culture upon the Kashmiri society that many o f its elements have survived even upto
our own times. Dress About the dress o f the period some significant information is provided by the
tiles recovered from many Kushan sites. Before we see what light these figurative tiles throw on the
dress o f the period, it is perhaps necessary to mention that the basic change w hich followed the
contacts with Central Asia from the period o f Scythians to Kushanas, was that they were the first to
introduce tailored garm ents in Indian 179 subcontinent including K ashm ir.1 Before them the
customary dress was dhoti as lower garment, and uttariya as upper garm ent.2 To be sure, the
Scythians, Parthians and Kushans introduces stitched, tidy and tight fitting costume shaped in
accordance with the form o f body

M en’s Dress

The male dress o f the Kushans generally com prised o f trousers, tunic, double breast jacket and
long coat. Their head was often covered with a cap and feet protected with leather boots.3 The tiles
and the coins so far found in Kashm ir reveal two types of upper garments. First and the most prom
inent is a long tunic extending almost below the knees with wide bottom and tight waist. The typical
example o f this dress is depicted on Hutmur, H oinar and Ahan tiles (p is.18, fig.35; p i.19, fig.41; pi.
20, fig.39). The figure drawn on them wears a long tunic which flares to the knees. It has wide
bottom and tight waist. Evidently it was designed and cut almost like the m odem full sleeved skirt.
This garment is also often encountered in Kushan coins. The other type o f upper garment was what
is called in ancient Indian literature as Kanacuka.4 It was triangle collared and full-sleeved long tunic
extending slightly beneath the knees w ith pointed ends (pi. 11, fig.l 1). Significantly in the extant
Harwan tiles we come across only this style o f upper garm ent to the complete exclusion o f the
other type of tunic which we invariably find on the tiles found at Hutmur, Hoinar and 1 Thapliyal,
U.P., Foreign Elements in Ancient Indian Society, p. 43. 2 Ibid 3 Often on their coins and portrait
statues Kushan kings and nobles were seen wearing this kind o f dress. See plate 12, fig.b; pi. 13, fig.
15-18, coin plate 123. 4 Thapliyal, op. cit., p. 59 180 Ahan. It is really intriguing. Perhaps it was
basically a Parthian dress. A long kancuk like argument was also in use in Dura Europos in the first
century A .D .5 Indeed before becoming popular in India itself the fashion had lived in north-west
India for sometime and exactly similar coat patterns are met w ith at Gandhara in the second and 3
rd centuries o f the Christian era6. Kanacuka, in terms o f length, was o f two types: one slightly
longer than knees, and the other ending at the ankles.7

Besides introducing the above upper garments, Kushans also prom oted wearing o f trousers which
was first introduced in the Indian Q sub-continent by the Scythians and Parthians. O riginally trousers
had developed in Central Asia as a matter o f necessity. M c.G ovem reasons out the innovation o f
trousers by the Central Asian nom ads and its subsequent diffusion among others, “By reason o f
their domestication o f horse and adoptions o f horseback riding, the inhabits o f Central Asia were
forced to discard the loose skirt-like costume and to develop that ingenious piece o f clothing that
we call trousers. W ith the popularity o f horse riding it spread to other parts o f the globe”9 As
expected, trousers first came into vogue in G andhara10 and subsequently spread to the rest parts o
f the Indian subcontinent. The trousers used by men were o f different types. However two were
most common. One was tight-fitting all along its full-length; and the other was ,5 Ghirshman, R; Iran:
Parthians and Sassanians, PI. LIX 6 Thapliyal U.P., op. cit., p. 60; Ghirshman, R, op. cit., pi. V. 7
Yazdani, G., Ajanta, pi. xxix; Sirramamurti, C., Amaravati. 8 Marshal, J., Taxila, p. 443. 9 Me Govern,
Early Empire o f Central Asia, p. 2. 10 Marshall, J., Taxila, p. 443. 181 baggy in the middle and tight at
the hem .n In Kashm ir we mainly come across the former type- tight-fitting, full-length trousers, (pi.
11, fig. 12) The Kushans, like their immediate predecessors - Scythians and Parthians - popularized
many cap types. Before the 1st century A.D, it should be mentioned, pagri like wear was the only
head dress indigenous 1*5 to India.

The m ost typical Kushan head dress was a conical cap, worn by kings, soldiers house-holders.13 This
is known as kulah in Sanskrit, Persian and Hindi. Caps with domical shape and knobbed tops formed
other types o f kulah caps.14 In one o f the H arwan tiles we find the mounted hunter wearing a
conical cap with flaps coming down over the ears (pi. 13, fig. 16) . The fashion o f wearing fillet (Sk.
Pattikam; Kmr. Pathka) around the head was basically a Persian dress,15 influencing equally the
Scythians, Parthians and Kushans. It is important to note that the fashion first came into vogue in
Kashm ir where we find a m ounted w arrior wearing fillet, (pi. 13, fig-17) Y et it should be
remembered that all men did not necessarily wear a head dress. In the tiles there are many figures w
ithout any head-dress. Instead, a little portion o f the m ale’s fore-head is shaven, and the 11 Mani,
B.R., The Kushan civilization, pp. 76-78. 12 Thapliyal U.P., op. cit., p. 55 13 Ingholt, G., GandharaArt in
Pakistan, pp. 287, 574; .Marshall, Taxila, Vol. 3, pi. 139; Rosenfield, op. cit., Pis. 10, 11 (Coins
ofVasudeva) 14 Marshall, The Buddhist Art o f Gandhara, pi. 17. fig. 16. 15 Rawlinson, G, Five Great
Monarchies o f the Ancient East, pp. 155, 160, 162; Also see Sykes, History o f Persia, I P. 365. 182
rem ainder is grown long and combed curly falling on ears and neck, (pi. 10). Kushans also
popularized leather boots and leather leggings.16 Before we close this discussion it would be germ
ane to say that the dress m entioned above was the dress o f the rich. The poor ju st wore a loin
cloth as depicted in one o f the H arwan tiles. The right register depicts an upper class lady in costly
clothes, and on the left is a water carrier probably a slave, almost naked except wearing a loin cloth
(plate 9, fig. 8).