Editing Modesty (section)

===Hinduism===
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 | footer = Dressing norms and concepts of modesty have widely varied among Hindus before the 20th century. Above is a topless Balinese (Indonesian) Hindu woman at a temple complex in 1922, during Dutch colonial rule of Indonesia. In the background, in the center left, one can see other topless women, as well as a woman who is fully covered in European dress. The colored image is typical dress observed in modern day Bali temples.
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The premise and concepts of modesty have evolved under Hinduism. During Vedic times,<ref name=Tarlo1996>{{cite book|first=Emma|last=Tarlo|year=1996|title=Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226789767}}</ref>{{rp|28–30}} both women and men wore at least two pieces of draped dress that was largely undifferentiated, voluntary and flexible. Stitched clothes such as skirts and bodices were also common in the Vedic period. However, modesty was not determined by the precepts of religion, but by local traditions, social codes, profession, circumstances and occasion. The multiple pieces of draped dress for women evolved into a single length of draped cloth among Indian Hindus, now called a [[sari]];{{r|Tarlo1996|p=28–30}} but it remained two or more pieces for Southeast Asian Hindus. For men, the draped dress reduced to one piece, now called by various names such as [[dhoti]], ''lungi'', ''pancha'', ''laacha'' and other names among Indian Hindus, and ''kamben'' among Balinese Hindu.

The Hindu belief, suggests [[Christopher Bayly]],<ref>[[Christopher Bayly|C. A. Bayly]], D.H.A. Kolff, ''Two Colonial Empires: Comparative Essays on the History of India and Indonesia in the Nineteenth Century'', Springer, {{ISBN|978-9024732746}}</ref> is that modesty through appropriate dress has the energy to transmit spirit and substance in a social discourse. Dress serves as a means of expression or celebration, with some dressing elements such as saffron threads or white dress worn by men as moral, transformative and a means to identify and communicate one's social role in a gathering, or one's state of life such as mourning in days or weeks after the passing away of a loved one.

The canons of modesty for Hindus in South Asia underwent significant changes with the arrival of Islam in the 12th century. The Islamic rulers imposed a dress code in public places for Hindu [[dhimmis]], per their Islamic mores of modesty.{{r|Tarlo1996|p=28–30}} The ''sari'' worn by Hindu women extended to provide a veil, as well as a complete cover of her navel and legs. In the early 18th century, [[Tryambakayajvan]]—a court official in south central India—issued an edict called ''[[Stridharmapaddhati]]''. The ruling outlined a required dress code for orthodox Hindus in that region.<ref>Lesile, J. (Editor) (1992), ''Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women'', Motilal Banarsidass Publications</ref> ''Stridharmapaddhati'' laced social trends with Hindu religion to place new rules on modesty for women, but gave much freedom to men.

The concept of modesty evolved again during colonial times when the British administration required Indians to wear dresses to help identify and segregate the local native populations. Bernard Cohn<ref>Bernard Cohn (1987), ''An Anthropologist Among the Historians and Other Essays'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195618754}}</ref> and others<ref>Robert Ross, ''Clothing: A Global History'', Cambridge, {{ISBN|978-0-7456-3186-8}}</ref> remark that dress during the colonial era became part of a wider issue in India about respect, honor and modesty, with the dress code intentionally aimed by the administration to reflect the relationship between the British ruler and the Indian ruled. The British colonial empire encouraged and sometimes required Indians to dress in an 'oriental manner', to help define and enforce a sense of modesty and to identify roles and a person's relative social status.{{sfn|Tarlo|1996|p=12–59}}<ref>see Bernard Cohn, "Cloth, Clothes and Colonialism: India in the 19th Century", and Susan Bean, "Gandhi and Khadi: The Fabric of Independence"; both in Weiner and Schneider (editors), ''Cloth and Human Experience'', Smithsonian Institution Press (1989)</ref> Among Indonesian Hindus, the accepted practice of toplessness among teenage Hindu girls changed during the Dutch colonial rule, with women now wearing a blouse or colorful cloth.

====Temples====
[[File:South Indian Temple Tamil1.jpg|thumb|Women dressed in ''saris'', heading into a South Indian Hindu Temple]]
Inside most Hindu temples, there is an expectation of modesty rather than sexual allurement. Men and women typically wear traditional dress during religious ceremonies and rituals in a temple, with women wearing ''saris'' or regional Indian dress.<ref>Nye, M. (1995). ''A Place for Our Gods: The Construction of an Edinburgh Hindu Temple Community'' (Vol. 8). Psychology Press</ref> In Indonesia and Cambodia, Hindu temple visitors are often requested to wrap their waist with a traditional single piece cloth called ''kamben'', ''wastra'' or ''sarung'', with or without ''saput''.<ref>Rubinstein and Connor (1999), ''Staying Local in the Global Village: Bali in the Twentieth Century'', University of Hawaii Press, {{ISBN|978-0824821173}}</ref>

====Current trends====
Hindus have diverse views on modesty, with significant regional and local variations. Among orthodox Hindu populations, sexually revealing dress or any sexual behaviour in public or before strangers is considered immodest, particularly in rural areas. In contrast, the dress of deities and other symbolism in Hindu temples,<ref>Gupta, M. (1994). "Sexuality in the Indian subcontinent". ''Sexual and Marital Therapy'', 9(1), pp 57–69</ref> the discussion of dress and eroticism in ancient Hindu literature,<ref>McConnachie, J. (2008), ''The Book of Love: The Story of the Kamasutra'', Macmillan</ref><ref>Dwyer, R. (2000). "The erotics of the wet sari in Hindi films". South Asia: ''Journal of South Asian Studies'', 23(2), pp 143–160</ref> and art works of Hinduism<ref>Ichaporia, N. (1983). "Tourism at Khajuraho an Indian enigma?" ''Annals of Tourism Research'', 10(1), 75–92</ref> can be explicit, celebrating eroticism and human sexuality.

In general, a disregard of modesty can be confusing or distressing, in particular to traditional Hindu women. Even in a health care context, some Hindu women may express reluctance to undress for examination. If undressing is necessary, the patient may prefer to be treated by a doctor or nurse of the same sex.<ref>[http://www.omi.wa.gov.au/resources/publications/cr_diversity/hinduism.pdf Culture and Religion Information Sheet: Hinduism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221071351/http://omi.wa.gov.au/resources/publications/cr_diversity/Hinduism.pdf |date=2017-02-21 }} Government of Western Australia (July 2012), page 7</ref>