The Grace of Four Moons

"In this illustrated study, Pravina Shukla documents the clothing decisions made by ordinary people in their everyday lives. Drawing on fieldwork in Banaras, India, she describes the full process of body art, from the preparation of raw materials and manufacture of objects, through their sale and the interactions between merchants and consumers, to the consumer's use of objects in the assemblage of personal decoration. She investigates the male realms of production and commerce, and considers the individual woman's adornment and its evaluation by others in the context of her life history, personality, and physical and social environments. Shukla conceptualizes and realizes a total model for the study of body art - understood as all aesthetic modifications and supplementations to the body - and applies it in a modern, urban setting, revealing the aesthetic complexity and social dynamics of dress and adornment in contemporary India."--Jacket.