Headdress (Perak)

ClassificationsClothing and Adornments-head ornaments-headdresses

Culture Ladakhi

Datelate 20th Century

Made AtJammu and Kashmir Union Territory, India, Asia

Collection SiteJammu and Kashmir Union Territory, India, Asia

MediumCotton, yak hair, turquoise, coral, carnelian and silver

Dimensions54 × 20 × 1 3/4 in. (137.2 × 50.8 × 4.4 cm)

Credit LineAnonymous Gift

Object number2019.7.1

DescriptionThis is a perak or perag headdress from Ladakhi, India. These traditional headdresses are prestige objects still worn by women for festivals, weddings and on other such occasions. Historically, married Buddhist women always wore perak while in public spaces—to not do so was to endanger one’s community. Based on their appearance in Ladakhi paintings, perak date as far back as the 16th Century. The system of inheritance in Ladakhi culture stated that most property was passed down to the eldest son, but the perak was instead passed down from mother to daughter. As such it was a woman’s most valuable possession. Traditionally the number of rows of turquoise was directly associated with the object’s value and indicated the status of the wearer, though modern-day access to turquoise has led recent examples to have more rows. That the perak is shaped like a cobra likely symbolically associates women wearing the headdress to the lu, subterranean guardian deities that rewarded the good and punished the evil.

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