Picturesque Nepal . ttendants, and an object of great reverenceto all. It is a metal dish, partly screened byprofuse decorations of flowers, tinsel, andcrimson cloth, and holding holy water, broughtdirect from the sacred stream of the this come the Court ladies, twoand tw^o, rivalling a chain of butterflieswings in the quaint cut of their costumesand the vividness of the colouring. Theleading couple are clad in a piercing emeraldgreen, their voluminous satin trousers—eachleg of which would have exceeded a crinolineof the forties in itself—draped partiallyby gauze over-jackets
Picturesque Nepal . ttendants, and an object of great reverenceto all. It is a metal dish, partly screened byprofuse decorations of flowers, tinsel, andcrimson cloth, and holding holy water, broughtdirect from the sacred stream of the this come the Court ladies, twoand tw^o, rivalling a chain of butterflieswings in the quaint cut of their costumesand the vividness of the colouring. Theleading couple are clad in a piercing emeraldgreen, their voluminous satin trousers—eachleg of which would have exceeded a crinolineof the forties in itself—draped partiallyby gauze over-jackets flashing with carries a smaller red, long-handledumbrella, but kept furled out of deferenceto the leading lady at the front. These arefollowed by a rainbow of bright colours, paleblue succeeded by vivid carmine, then purewhite, and after this a deep red, with a royalpurple behind, more green—a turquoise—andso the colours ripple up the line—a doublestring of faceted jewels, the sunlight scintil-. o -3 7 I V y. QUAINT HEAD-DRESSES 115 lating on the gems and tinsel, and all aroundthe rich dark brown background of the oldtimbered houses, relieved here and there bysplashes of colour among the buzzing crowdof onlookers. A striking feature of eachcostume in this procession is the head-dress—no veil or sari being carried—but each indi-vidual wears her hair in a low fringe, cutstraight across the forehead, and twisted intotwo small coils in front of each ear. At theback, the coiffure is parted to the nape ofthe neck, and then brought forward into theshape of a coronet over the crown. Poisedabove all is a silver tiara, while here and thereare small wreaths of gaily-coloured flowers,introduced among the plaits. Surmountingfaces liberally powdered and heavily touchedup with rouge and vermilion, the generaleffect of this unique combination may beimagined. One of the last events of the Dassera festivalis that which has been alluded to as Blessingthe Colours, and is
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbrownper, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
