| Dress and Ornaments
Older fashions in dress and ornaments are still in vogue in rural Bihar
and among Bihari women. The educated higher classes prefer native ornaments
that are of western type.Hindus and Muslims wear
dhotis or pyjamas, kurtas or shirts, their women wear saris and heavy
ornaments especially on joyous occasions. Educated people working in towns
and cities wear trousers, shirts and bush-shirts. On special ceremonial
occasions, Kurtas, Chudidar, Pyjamas and Sherwanis are put on.
Most of
the Hindus, rich and poor perform their ablutions everyday. The Muslims,
Sikhs and Christians use 'attar' and other perfumes. Perfumed oils are
also widely used. As ornaments men usually wear bala or bali in Shahabads,
Kanausi in Patna and Gaya, the Gowalas wore Kundals. These ornaments are
now fast disappearing except malas or bead necklaces. Women in every part
of Bihar prefer aromatic oils. They wear profuse jewellery on special
occasions and take particular care to wash their hair and arrange it in
different styles. Tattooing is a prevalent practice. Married women paint
the parting of the hair with vermilion. Tikli, a silver spot and bindi,
a round one are placed on the forehead between the eyebrows. Many women
pencil their eye with kajal or antimony preparations called surma. Poor
women wear necklaces of silver. Chandrahar, tilri, panchlari, satlari,
sikri are different types of necklaces which women in Bihar wear. They
have various ornaments for arms, wrists and fingers. Rings are in vogue
even among men. Bangles have always been popular among all classes of
women.
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