nakedness of female ascetics

Allen W Thrasher athr at LOC.GOV
Mon Jan 12 16:56:44 UTC 2009


I believe that old Hindu women have a reputation for getting extreme about ritual purity, which sometimes leads to doing housework stark naked, which sometimes can be glimpsed through the door or gate.  I've noticed what seemed to be cases of this myself, but I can't remember which cities or years.

To judge from occasional comments in advice columns through the years, some American women, presumably neither very old nor mad, find it more comfortable to do the housework naked.

Allen

Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.
Senior Reference Librarian
Team Coordinator
South Asia Team, Asian Division
Library of Congress, Jefferson Building 150
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4810
tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr at loc.gov
The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.





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