Probably
it was a derogatory dress for upper class people of the 8th century A.D. and forgotten;
during the period of transition and foreign and English rule, English dress came to
prominence and our local dress was forgotten. Similarly the dress of the ladies was of so
fine a texture and transparency, that it revealed the contours of the body, though the
cloth skirted it in several folds. On close study it can be seen from the border of the
sarees that the figure was not nude, but the finery of the stuff had made it look so. This
goes to show that wonderful varieties of
-fine hand-woven sarees were in use in Tanjore District during 800 A.D.
In this connection, it is worth mentioning that the District of Tanjore is justly famous
as the home of Bharata Natyam, Carnatic
Music and Drama. These arts received great encouragement from successive rulers of
Tanjore. It is recorded that during the time of Raja Raja I the drama called Rajeswara
Nataka used to be enacted in the great temple during the Vaikasi festival. |
