Purdah and bright sarees...

Purdah or pardeh (from Persian: پرده, meaning "curtain") is the practice of concealing women from men. 

According to one definition, purdah is a curtain which covers the head and neck of a woman, between the community as a whole and the family which is its heart, between the street and the home, the public and the private, just as it sharply separates society and the individual. 

In most of the northern half of India, traditionally dressed women cover the tops of their heads with the end of their saree or dupatta (scarf). (source: Wikipedia). 

This practice also had an impact on the architecture, particularly in Rajasthan where houses and palaces were built in a way that women could circulate inside without being seen by visitors and also see without being seen, through Mashrabiya (Moucharabieh), those mysterious windows intricately carved out of stone or wood. 

The practice of purdah struck me as paradoxical when you consider the bright colors of the sarees that Rajasthani women wear day in and day out. Your eyes can't help but being caught by those beautiful pieces of fabric floating in the air as feminine figures swish by, and yet, you can't see the faces they belong to...


More photos from Rajasthan here.