GHOONGHAT:
Recently many people i saw are of the opinion that #Ghoonghat is an ιslαmic practice got entwined in our culture with the advent of Islαm n wasn't there in our practice before.

Here in this #thread i will put together what i found in my studies.

People often misunderstand the term 'Ghoonghat' with Ιslαmic practice of 'Purdah'.But how true is that? Let us see the etymology from where this two words come from. If u equate ghoonghat with Purdah the former has to be derived from the latter or atleast the later's root word.

Purdah comes from the Persian word Parda پرده, which translates to curtain.
Ghoonghat comes from the sanskrit word Avagunthana(a pre Islαmic term)which means veil.
Thereby we can conclude that atleast the term definitely existed in our society before the advent of Islαm.

Now let us see how far was it in practice. Though Sanatan Dharma is eternal but we can take the liberty to say Hindu practices that are known today starts from Vedic Era. General dress code of both men & women consisted of a head dress.

Source: Socio-economic life of Northern India by Sukla Das

This book shows Śuśruta recommended a head dress to protect our head from Sun, air, dust, rain etc.

Though it goes on to say that Kuşāņa Period saw a decline of the ellaborate head covers, but the author himself dismisses the total abandonment of it citing references of Ajanta.

It intrigued me to check out the frescoes myself. Here is what i found. Ajanta Cave paintings dates from 1st century BC to 480 AD way before Islαm. Infact they are known to be the oldest surviving paintings in India.
The below painting you will find in UNESCO heritage site.

Please note : there were other women in the painting (and some other paintings) without head covering which also shows it wasn't a compulsory practice. But my point is the very existence of the practice cannot be denied or attributed only to Islαm. It was a practice of free will.

Attempts were made by Bombay school of art to make copies of the paintings inside Ajanta Cave Temple. Below is one of them. Griffith in his description of the painting has particularly referred to the head covering.

NOTE: IMO the head cover seems more like a fashion statement than modesty unlike Purdah.

Ramayana was written much before Islαm was even born to have it's influence in India.Let us observe a few instances
1. Rama asks Sita to take off her veil(avagunthana) to show her face which means her face was covered at that time.
2. Widows of dasharath was veiled

Another example from Ramayana again - Queen Mandodari laments on the corpse of Ravana asking him why does he not get angry seeing his queens without ghoonghat. Clearly shows their usual practice was of putting ghoonghat.

Now kindly don't say they were using veil for Islαmic invaders. Even women in Arabia were not using Hijab at that time.
Note: Ghoonghat was very much a normal practice as seen above but the instances shows it wasn't completely prohibited for a woman to show her face to others.

Some more examples:
1. Princess Rajyasri wearing red veil during wedding
2. Patralekha when presented to Chandrapida had her face covered with veil
3. Terracotta figurines unearthed at Kumrahar excavation.
4. Goddess Earth in veil during Varaha Avatar.

Source:
1.Socio-economic life of Northern India by Sukla Das
2.Indian Costume by govind sadashiva ghurye

All these above references are before Islαm was even born. While I didn't find Ghoonghat pratha as a religious practice or a forceful imposition it was indeed a culture practiced in Sanatan society as a beautiful adornment & a symbol of modesty.

DISCLAIMER:This thread is to debunk the myth that ghoonghat was introduced in our society only because of the influence of Islαm.I do not advocate it as a forceful compulsion but i do not find it suitable to connect this beautiful ornament with Purdah system.