Concept of Beauty in India is changing from Face to Body and Brain

India has an ancient civilization, perhaps the oldest in the world. Women have been part of this civilization since then. In addition the women have had their beauty extolled by poets and philosophers. Many  paintings of that period  give us a vivid picture of the beauty of women in Indian thought from those ages. The advent of Muslim rule led to a certain puritanism creeping into Indian thought and  the purdah and covering of a woman's body became the norm.

Earlier Indian sculptures ( before the invasion of Muslims) show women in their natural beauty. They are shown   nude with large hips and buxom breasts and narrow waists. The poems of that  period( prose was unknown  then ) extol the beauty of women. The criteria of beauty was fairness and lovely slim figure. However great stress was laid on the face and eyes, which formed the subject of innumerable verses. Fairness was one of the greatest virtues of beauty of a woman.

 The  Indian concept of beauty was a little different from the western and Greek concept of beauty. In India the stress of beauty was  always the face. The body was mentioned , but only as a adjunct to the face. Beauty was closely associated with a fairness and the face. The concept of fairness was so deeply ingrained that even the dark Dravidian women aspired to be fair.

The Greek concept of beauty centered on the body and legs. The legs of a woman were given great importance in Greek and western concepts of beauty. Thus the ancient greek sculptors  show nude women with small breasts and lovely long legs. In India the legs did not have the same veneration as in Greek sculptor. One reason for this was the fact that in  India the legs were invariably covered with the type of dress worn here. The Muslim rule established a complete purdah system and if at all anything was extolled it was only the face. this was different from the western concept.

With the passage of time India is also changing and western concepts of beauty are creeping in. Now it is not uncommon for a woman's beauty be related to her overall body and legs. Thus beauty contests incorporate the bikini or the swim wear as part of the contest.  What a change from the past as India now catches up with its counterparts in the west