Note 16 — INDEX (continued 2)

The Egyptians Romans and Parthians are the three chief wig-wearers. Some of the Parthian kings (b.c. 250–a.d. 240) had elaborate hair like peruques and frizzled beards. In Trajan’s time (a.d. 133), fashions changed so quickly that Roman statues were hairless and provided with wigs. Gobineau Histoire Des Perses, II. 530. Compare Wagner’s Manners, 69. The number of wigs in the Elephanta sculptures, probably of the sixth or early seventh century, is notable. In the panel of Śiva and Párvati in Kailas are several figures with curly wigs. Burgess’ Elephanta, page 33; in the marriage panel one figure has his hair curled like a barrister’s wig, Ditto 31; in the Ardhanarishwara compartment Garuḍa and two other figures have wigs, Ditto 22; the dwarf demon on which one of the guardians of the Trimurti leans has a wig, Ditto 14–15; finally in the west wing wigged figures uphold the throne, Ditto 47. Gandharvas in the Bráhmanic Rávan cave at Elura probably of the seventh century have curly wigs: Fergusson and Burgess, 435. Wigged images also occur in some of the Elura Buddhist caves of the sixth or seventh centuries: Ditto, 370–371. In Ajanta caves I. II. and XXXIV. of the sixth and seventh centuries are cherubs and grotesques with large wigs. Among the Bágh carvings and paintings of the sixth or seventh century are a king with baggy hair if not a wig and small human heads with full wigs: MS. Notes. Finally at the Chandi Sewa temple in Java of about the seventh century the janitor and other figures have large full-bottomed wigs curled all over. Indian Ant. for Aug. 1876, 240–241. On the other hand except the curly haired or Astrakan-capped music boys in Sánchi no trace of wigs seems to occur in the Bhilsa Sánchi or Bhárut sculptures between the third century after and the third century before the Christian era. Compare Cunningham’s Bharut and Bhilsa; Massey’s Sánchi; Fergusson’s Tree and Serpent Worship. ↑