She sits in the ASI museum at Hemavathi ( AP) , a picture of regal splendour . Though lightly clothed , she does wear choice jewelry : Nupura , mekhala , kankana , keyura , kundala , hara ....and ...nothing on her well chiseled nose .
Wait a minute ! What is a nosepin called in the devabhasha ? Nasika bhooshana ? But thats a description. Not a proper name like those above ....
A quick look around the museum hall revelas the fact that sculpted ladies of No
Nolamba vintage were not fond of ornamenting their noses !
What of others ? ....
Checked furiously . No nosepin at all ! The shilabalikas and darpanasundaris seemed to fear that that ine little nose pin would prove to be the last straw and break their bejwelled backs ....
Urely , the classy ladies down south would have beautified noses ? Else , from where could the southie maamis have taken inspiration for their Ettukkal Besaris and Bullakkus ?
Checked out the Pallava and Chozha gentlewomen in stone and bronze .....what do you know ! No mookkutthis ! Ckean, neat, unpierced noses , all.
What of the Pabdya , Vijayanagara , chera , Nayaka lasses' noses then ?
Madurai ...Krishnapuram ...nope . Nothing . Why , even the warrior queen Meenakshi is shown plain nosed on her wedding day ! Clearly Nosepins were a no-no or unknown .
Morechecking across the land ....must have seen these images hundreds of times before , without realising they never wore nosepins !
The large nose rings have a long tradition in Gharwal too.
They must have worn it in medieval times too . But no sculptures were made of them ....
The nosepin ( laung, mookutthi, moogbottu ) , the nosering ( nath ) and nose pendent ( bullak ) are now considered traditional indian ornamentation and a lot of hocuspocus has been built around it being a symbol of marital bliss and auspiciousness . Pseudo scientific theories about the accupressure effect nosepins have on reproductive health are also zealously propagated.
Yet not a whisper about its glories can be found in any local ancient literature. Or in ancient icons conjugal beatitude.
Nose ornaments start showing up in murals only from Nayaka times , very pronounced during Marahtta rule in Thanjavur.
In
By the time kumpeni art blossomed , noses of wom en got fairy buried under masses of jewels. Going the whole hog, with a vengeance . Early photographs bear testimony to the newfound fondness . 
In Mughal and Pahari paintings the very early ones do not have nosepins, but later ones show the septum drops and naths .
The single gemmed simple nosescrew seems to have appeared on the scene only very late in the day , closer to modern times.
Today , can we even imagine a utsava devi or the Bangla Durga without the great gem studded nise ornament ? When did it appear ?
What a contrast between the Devi of yore and Devi of now !
Fascinating how "traditions" begin !
After much searching and researching among available literature and community lores , it transpires that the Nose ornament is an idea that spread from outside the land , notably Persian . Its impossible to find a reference to it in local art before 9 th -10th CE , by which time , travel to and from the middle east had become easy and frequent .
" Ancient Indian Costume " by Roshen Alkazi lists all articles of personal wear used from Mauryan to Gupta period , but has no mention of the nosepin.
Though Lalitha Sahasranamam does mention a nose ornament , the hymn in the present form , dates only from about 9 th cent .
In some parts like Bengal , for instance , wearing a nose ornament was looked down upon by purebred hindus even upto early 29th century , as it was seen as a fashion of " outsiders" .
By the way , when did Krishna take a liking to the nose ornament ?
Wonde why our men did not see it fit to keep up that fashion !
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