A ghoonghat (ghunghat, ghunghta, ghomta, orhni, odani, laaj, chunari, jhund, kundh) is a headcovering or headscarf, worn primarily in the Indian subcontinent, by some married Hindu, Jain, and Sikh women to cover their heads, and often their faces. Generally aanchal or pallu, the loose end of a sari is pulled over the head and face to act as a ghoonghat. A dupatta (long scarf) is also commonly used as a ghoongat.
Since the ancient period of India, certain veiling practices (what became known as ghoonghat) has been partially practiced among a section of women. However, it is notable that some section of society from the 1st century B.C. advocated the use of the veil for married women. There is no proof that a large section of society observed strict veiling until the medieval period. This process mostly established in the current form after the arrival of Islam in the subcontinent. Today, facial veiling by Hindu women as part of everyday attire is now mostly limited to the Hindi Belt region of India, particularly Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, and some parts of Sindh and Punjab.
It has been both romanticized and criticized in religious and folk literature.
Etymology
The word ghoongat, ghunghat or ghunghta is derived from Avagunthana (Sanskrit: अवगुण्ठन) meaning veil, hiding and cloak and Oguntheti (Prakrit: ओगुन्थेति) to cover, veil over and hide.
History
The ghoongat, ghunghat or ghunghta veil evolved from ancient Avagunthana in (Sanskrit: अवगुण्ठन) veil, hiding and cloak. Early Sanskrit literature has a wide vocabulary of terms for the veils used by women, such as avagunthana meaning cloak-veil, uttariya meaning shoulder-veil, adhikantha pata meaning neck-veil, and sirovas-tra meaning head-veil.
In the post-Gupta period, Śūdraka, the author of Mṛcchakatika mentions that some females wore a veil (avagunthana). However, this female hair-dress was not used by women every day and at every time. It was worn on special occasions like marriage or at the time of going out. Śūdraka notes that a married woman was expected to put on a veil while moving in the public. This may indicate that it was not necessary for unmarried females to put on a veil.
In Mṛcchakatika, courtesan Vasantasena's mother, having received ornaments for her daughter from a wealthy suitor to keep her as his mistress, she sends Vasantasena with her maid, asks her to go in the carriage bedecked with ornaments and to put on her avagunthana veil. This instruction is taken to signify that a courtesan who has accepted a suitor, had to use a veil in public similar to married women. At the end of the play when Vasanthasena is legally wedded, she receives the title "Vadhūśabda" meaning "title of a bride" simultaneously with the veil "vasantasenām avagunthya" meaning "a token of honorable marriage". In the same literature, courtesans' maid servant Madanika marries her lover Sarvilaka, a thief who changes his ways. Her new husband says to her that she has achieved what is difficult to acquire: "Vadhūśabda avagunthanam" meaning "the title and veil of a bride".
In the Pratimānātaka, a play by Bhāsa (3 - 4 CE) describes in context of the Avagunthana cloak-veil that "ladies may be seen without any blame [for the parties concerned] in a religious session, in marriage festivities, during a calamity and in a forest". The same sentiment is more generically expressed in Nāgānanda and Priyadarśikā by Harsha, where maidens were expected to wear no veil; it was donned only after the marriage. Later, the veil was referred to by the same term, avagunthana, in Śiśupālavadha and the Dashakumaracharita. According to commentator Sankara, the ladies of Sthanvisvara used to go about covering their faces with a veil.
In Buddhist Mahayana literature, Lalitavistara Sūtra, young bride Yasodharā objected to observe veiling (oguntheti/oguṇthikā) in front of respected elders. This was taken to be a sign of immodesty and willfulness, as people criticized her and gossiped. When she became aware of this, Yasodharā came before the assembled court and defended herself in a long statement: "Those whose thoughts have no cover, no shame or decorum or any virtue, those who gossip, may cover themselves with a thousand garments, yet they walk the earth naked. But those who veil their minds, control their senses, and have no thought for any other except their husband, why should they veil their faces?" Yasodharā's parents-in-law were delighted with their daughter-in-law's proud statement and gave her two white garments covered with jewels.