A ghoonghat (ghunghat, ghunghta, ghomta, orhni, odani, laaj, chunari, jhund, kundh) is a headcovering or headscarf, worn primarily in the Indian subcontinent, by some married Hindu, Jain, and Sikh women to cover their heads, and often their faces.[1][2] Generally aanchal or pallu, the loose end of a sari is pulled over the head and face to act as a ghoonghat. A dupatta (long scarf) is also commonly used as a ghoongat.[3]
Since the ancient period of India, certain veiling practices (what became known as ghoonghat) has been partially practiced among a section of women.[4][5] However, it is notable that some section of society from the 1st century B.C. advocated the use of the veil for married women. There is no proof that a large section of society observed strict veiling until the medieval period.[6] This process mostly established in the current form after the arrival of Islam in the subcontinent.[7] Today, facial veiling by Hindu women as part of everyday attire is now mostly limited to the Hindi Belt region of India,[8][9] particularly Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar and some parts of Sindh and Punjab.[3]
It has been both romanticized and criticized in religious and folk literature.[10]
- ^ Gupta, Kamala (2003). Women In Hindu Social System (1206–1707 A.D.). Inter-India Publications. ISBN 9788121004145.
Hindu ladies covered their head with a kind of veil known as Ghoonghat.
- ^ Gupta, Kamala (1987). Social Status of Hindu Women in Northern India, 1206-1707 A.D. Inter-India Publications. p. 131. ISBN 978-81-210-0179-3.
The Hindu ladies covered their heads with a kind of veil known as ghoonghat.
- ^ a b Spurgeon, Andrew B. (14 August 2016). Twin Cultures Separated by Centuries: An Indian Reading of 1 Corinthians. Langham Publishing. p. 196. ISBN 978-1-78368-139-6.
Ghoonghat (also ghunghat or jhund) is the Hindi word used for a veil or a scarf that a woman in northern India wears to cover her head or face (in states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam). Sometimes the end of a sari or dupatta (a long scarf) is pulled over the head or face to function as a ghoonghat.
- ^ Srivastava, Ashok Kumar (1967). India as Described by the Arab Travellers. Sahitya Sansar Prakashan.
...there was partial exclusion of women in Ancient India and women observed a curtain or 'Veil,' the so called 'Ghoonghat' of the modern times.
- ^ Kant, Anjani (2003). Women and the Law. APH Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-81-7648-456-5.
...even in ancient India there was a partial exclusion of women and they observed a curtain veil (or what even now goes under the name of ghoonghat).
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Walsh, Judith E. (2006). A Brief History of India. Infobase Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 9781438108254.
Ancient Indian society had also developed practices that restricted women's social mobility and behavior, particularly in the early centuries A.D. Over the centuries in which Muslims ruled many sections of India, Muslim conventions intensified these Hindu practices, and by the 19th century purdah was the customary practice of high-caste Hindu and elite communities throughout India.
- ^ Raj Mohini Sethi (2011) "Socio-economic Profile of Rural India (series II).", p.111
- ^ IHDS 2004–5 data "Gender and Family Dynamics.", p.153
- ^ Anant Sadashiv Altekar (1959) "The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization.", p.171
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