[INDOLOGY] A few Indian clothing items

[Tieken, H.J.H.]

Apparently, in the Subhāṣitaratnakośa edited and translated by Ingalls the word nīvi occurs only once, namely in 696. But you might also have a look at the note added to this translation on p. 516. There, Ingalls refers to Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra, unfortunately to an edition (the one from Trivandrum) of this text I do not have.

Herman


Herman Tieken
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Van: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> namens Gaia Pintucci via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Verzonden: zondag 22 augustus 2021 14:37:01
Aan: Indology
Onderwerp: [INDOLOGY] A few Indian clothing items


Dear list members,

I have a few questions about (ancient/medieval) Indian clothing items.

My starting point is Amaruśataka 100:

kānte talpam upāgate vigalitā nīvī svayaṃ bandhanād

vāso viślathamekhalāguṇadhṛtaṃ kiṃcinnitambe sthitam |

etāvat sakhi vedmi sampratam ahaṃ tasyāṅgasaṅge punaḥ

ko 'yaṃ kāsmi rataṃ nu vā katham iti svalpāpi me na smṛtiḥ ||

Once the nāyikā's nīvī falls off by itself, her dress (vāsas) hangs a little bit from the “threads” of her mekhalā. So there are (at least) three layers, which, from the innermost to the outermost, are: 1) mekhalā 2) dress 3) nīvī.

A mekhalā should be a belt made of metal, so I guess it has some wires or thin chains (the guṇas of the stanza) that hang and that might be decorated with pearls and the like. This explains how it is that in the stanza the dress is said to hang from the mekhalā: it gets caught on the wires/chains and the decorative items.

But the nīvī is the item I am especially curious about. It is defined in Amarakoṣa 3.3.213 (I follow Oka's 1913 edition with Kṣīrasvāmin's commentary, p. 217) in this way: strīkaṭīvastrabandhe 'pi nīvī [paripaṇe 'pi ca]. An Amaruśataka commentator called Caturbhuja glosses nīvī as vastragranthiḥ. A different commentator, Sūryadāsa, explains the sentence nīvī svayaṃ bandhanād vigalitā with the words nitambasicaye bandhanāt saṃniveśād granthiḥ visrastaḥ. It seems to me that a nīvī should be both a sash that steadies the clothes on the hips and the knot of the sash.

Now, my questions/requests are:

0) Please, kindly let me know if I am on the wrong track with regard to the mekhalā and the nīvī.

1) In one manuscript of Sūryadāsa's commentary the word nīvī is followed by the word dhudhurikā, which might well be a gloss. The scribe was active in Bundi (Rajasthan), is dhudhurikā a Rajasthani word?

2) Can anyone show me a painting or other kind of image of a lady wearing a nīvī?

3) Does anyone know roughly when and where the kind of clothing I described above was in use?

4) As far as I know, in present-day India nivi is the name of one of the sari binding styles. Is this word related to the Sanskrit word nīvī?

Sorry for the long brainstorming and the many questions.

All the best,

Gaia Pintucci


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