Cultural Kalediscope

Ghoonghat, ghunghta or ghomta originates from the sanksrit word “Avagunthana” that has multiple meanings as veil, cover, cloak etc. Early Sanskrit literature has a wide vocabulary of terms for the veils used by women. Thus while avagunthana meant cloak-veil; mukha-pata and sirovas-tra stood for face-veil and head-veil respectively. Prevalence of such terminologies signifies the relevance of ghoonghat in the life of a woman that had direct bearing on her status. The tradition continued across centuries and in India among married Hindu, Jain, Sikh women ghoonghat carries a symbolic significance. Though facial veiling by Hindu women is now mostly confined to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it’s still customary for a new bride to cover her head with a ghoonghat during marriage and also later in the presence of her in-law’s as a mark of protecting her sexuality.While rural Rajasthan and a considerable part of the Hindi heartland expect a woman to cover her head and facewith a long ghoonghat, among Bengalis it is customary to cover only the forehead and not the face with the ghōmta. Usually read as a patriarchal symbol, the ghōmta was used very differently by 19^th century Bengali aristocratic women as it gave them the liberty to express emotions through facial expressions without revealing those in public that ranged from smile, tease, and grimace to suppressing a tear.