Re: Ajanta may be a big key....
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on November 11, 1999 at 12:51:37:
In Reply to: Re: Ajanta may be a big key.... posted by Kenzi on November 11, 1999 at 04:21:36:
From what I can tell from botany texts, the henna plant probably
just blew from one place to another on the wind or whatever, and
wherever it went, people picked it up and used it. I don't believe
there is any single origin of useage.
I do, however, believe that the BRIDAL tradition of henna has a single
origin, and that is in Syria, in the 4th millinnium B.C.E., or
possibly Anatolia, 7th millinium B.C.E. The Syrian (Ugaritic) use I
can prove, associated with the worship of Anat, and it was spread
around the Mediterranean basin by 1700 B.C.E., and into North Africa
by these people by 1200 B.C.E. (they founded Carthage, with the
goddess Tanith, nearly identical to Anath... their relatives are now
the Berbers and such, and up to 100 years ago, many of the henna
traditions in the rural areas were still very close to the Ugaritic
roots). That bridal use was incorporated into Islam, and Fatima
replaced Anath (and Tanith, Asherah, Ashtar, Ishtar, Inanna,
......synchronous goddesses, most of whom I've found artifacts
that show evidence of henna use) as the bringer of henna.
At some point Persian contact with India (could have been any time,
pre or post Islam) took that bridal tradition into India. It was
certainly there by c. 1600. India's climate is so tough on artifacts,
that its really hard to track down early dates on henna use.... I
have some hunches that it might have come in with Kali, when she's
first mentioned in literature as a battlefield goddess, c. 600, as
those other synchronous goddesses are battlefield babes.... or maybe
with Durga, much earlier. I've got no way to prove that one though.
There was a lot of cultural slosh between India and Persia......the
art in Ajanta and Ellora has a LOT of Persian, even Roman influence
(Ghandaran style). So, the distinctly NON-BRIDAL, not even primarilly
female hennaes in those caves indicates that early India had a
hennaeing tradition different from the Mediterranean, and changed
later to the tradition as it is now.
All the henna in those Indian miniatures goes back only to c. 1500 or
so....but if you can line them up by decades, you can see how henna
changed steadilly from then as simple dip henna to the patterned henna
that is there now. That's the suprising part to me.....that though
patterned henna was complex and exquisite by 1200 in the
Mediterranean, it didn't get anything like that until 1700 in India.
Also, if you find the earliest miniatures (1500's), you can see the
Persian style black patterned henna on the Persian ladies alongside
the Indian style red dip henna on the Indian ladies in the same harem.