What is the most dramatic feature of international tennis champion Sania Mirza? Her nose-ring that has been written about and commented upon endlessly. The other international celebrity that identifies with a sparkling diamond nose-stud is Booker Prize-winning author-activist Arundhati Roy. The nose ring for Sania and the diamond stud for Arundhati have evolved as a personal statement of their identity. Neither of these two women wears her nose ornaments to signify her marital status. These are fashion statements for two women who really do not need such statements. Yet, these seemingly insignificant adornments enhance the beauty of their celebrity status. Film stars in Bollywood sport the nose ring or nose stud only for their screen roles because they have to switch looks for different characters in different films.
Pride of the brides and of courtesans too
Once upon a time, Hindu brides along with other ornate jewellery, wore large nose-rings known as naths with a chain extending to one ear to carry the weight of the ring. In northern parts of India, Muslim brides would get a nose-ring from the bridegroom as a part of the nikaah, the actual wedding ceremony among Muslims. Though nose rings are closely linked to Hindu weddings, there is no evidence of the existence of nose rings in India prior to the 16th Century, and it is believed that it entered India during the Mughal rule. Both the sculptures and murals in the caves of Ajanta and Ellora as well as the excavations at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa or during the Kushan and Gupta periods, show no evidence of the use of nose studs and rings by women.
The earliest nose rings in India were small, flat ornamental patterns following petalled floral designs held in place by a screw that held inside the nostril. The piercing of the nostril itself demanded a ritual supervised and executed by men and women specialised in the skill of piercing the nostrils for the nose-stud or ring. Nose piercing is still popular in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Today, any beauty parlour will do the needful for a reasonable fee. The pain that forms part of this piercing does not affect the demand for nose-rings and studs among young girls and women right across the world.
Interestingly, traditional prostitutes and courtesans also wear the nosering and the nath ceremony of a young virgin’s entry into the trade is preceded by an elaborate ceremony where her first customer ‘buys’ the right to deflower her by putting a nath on her nostril. This marks her official entry into the profession, as she is no longer a virgin. The nath is then replaced with the nose stud or nose ring. Kamal Amrohi’s film Pakeeza demonstrated this practice beautifully. Classical dancers of all Indians styles wear the nose stud or the nath.
How to wear the nose ring – right, left or centre?
Studs, also known as phul (flower), are the most common among nose ornaments. The naths are circular barbells, worn in the septum (the cartilage between the nostrils) by women of some communities. Most tribal women in India invariably sport the septum ring and it does not matter if they wear the nose ring or not. Brides wear it on the nostril with the chain. Commonly, nose rings are worn on either the left or right nostril. Typically the left nostril is favoured because in Ayurvedic medicine, the left nostril is associated with the female reproductive organs, and a piercing in that position is believed to make childbirth easier and reduce menstrual pain as well. The common practice would be to get a young girl’s nose pierced when she had ‘come of age’ which was 16 in those days. The practice is now obsolete. The piercing of the nose for wearing the ring is said to be a sort of tribute paid to Parvati, the Goddess of marriage.
Many married women among South Indian communities, specially the Tamils, would earlier wear diamond nose-studs as a marriage symbol on both nostrils. They would continue to wear it right through their married lives and would remove them only when they were widowed. A joke went around that this ‘filtered’ their ‘polluted’ breath before reaching their husbands! Today, a young Tamil bride often does not wear a nose stud even on one nostril, leave alone both! At the other end, young girls wear nose studs as fashion statements with or without piercing their nostrils. The nose ring therefore, is the most democratic ornament ever worn. Hindu and Muslim women wear it as part of traditional customs, tribal and ‘low-caste’ women wear it as a part of their specific culture, courtesans and prostitutes wear it as it is ritualistic, married and single women wear it as a fashion statement. And in some countries, men wear it too.
Usually, a nose stud is available in gold balls, tiny silver flowers, pearl balls set in gold, platinum or silver and diamond-studded pieces. Some of them are so heavily ornamented with pearls and precious stones that they have to be supported by fine chains attached to the hair. The Bulak, in Madhya Pradesh is a classic example. Nose rings and studs can be of copper, stainless steel, plastic, imitation stones, the works! In the 1960s and 1970s, wearing of
the nose-stud, nose-pin and nose-ring percolated into the Hippie culture. In the 1980s and 1990s, punks and offbeat youths, music bands, etc., began wearing these ornaments. It is now a fashion statement in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Europe and the Carribeans. It is more common among women though some men sport it too.
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Shoma A. Chatterji
The writer is a freelance journalist, film scholar and author. She has authored 17 published titles and won the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema, twice. She won the UNFPA-Laadli Media Award, 2010 for ‘commitment to addressing and analysing gender issues’ among many awards. She is currently Senior Research Fellow, ICSSR, Delhi, researching the politics of presentation of working women in post-colonial Bengali cinema 1950 to 2003.[/column]