The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Keeping the dress custom alive

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 31, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Keeping the dress custom alive

S. Harpal Singh

Women of Adilabad district preserve the traditional dress customs with vivid ethnic jewellery

Traditional fare: A young woman from Kadem mandal in Adilabad district sporting different kinds of ornaments in her ear.

ADILABAD: Women of the Godavari hinterland in Adilabad district have quite remarkably preserved the local dress customs despite the influence prosperity-induced modernity. The most visible example of this is their wearing of multiple ornaments in the ears that sometimes give the impression of being extra hard on that sensitive part.

It is believed that ornamentation changes with change in the way of dressing. This contention holds good in the area along the Godavari river on the district’s borders with Nizamabad and Karimnagar where women, especially those in agriculture still dress in the traditional style. In consonance, they still sport many ornaments in their ears based on traditional designs.

“Tradition prescribes different types of ornamentation based on the age of the individual woman. A girl wears pogulu (rings) before attaining puberty, gunnalu (hanging pendants) after post puberty, kammalu (tops) after marriage and padigelu (thick ear rings) as she goes grey in the hair,” says writer B. Muralidhar, who has studied the local ornamentation styles.

There were also different types of ornaments for different parts of the ear. For example, guttulu used to hang from the lobe of the ear, mateelu were used to vertically join the top of the ear with its centre etc. All these are still worn by women in the area. These ornaments are made of gold or silver depending on the economic status of the individual.

Guruji Ravinder Sharma of Adilabad’s Kala Ashram pointed out the alternate use of piercing ears. “If the ear of an eight month old baby boy or girl that was pierced did not develop any sepsis, it was believed that the child is immune to diseases like polio. Local physicians started treatment of such disease in case the child was infected. The piercing also protected the individual from arthritis. Piercing of the ears in women was believed to relieve women of many pains associated with gynaecological problems,” he narrated.

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