sharm o Hayaa aurat kaa zevar hai aur is zevar ke baGhair aurat nangii nazar aatii hai. meraa ek sheār thaa:
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Husn paakeezgii-e-dil se jhukaaye nazreN
isko ham nek_sifat sharm_o_Hayaa kahte haiN!**
Every society has its own norms w.r.t modesty. Unfortunately many desis tend to be small minded and tend to judge another culture using the yard stick of their own culture.
How can we judge someone else sharmo haya? They way they appear? Or they treat us others? Desi or non desi you will always see sharmo haya and non sharmo haya every where,also there are some people who appear like a symbol of sharmo haya but somewhere in their life they will treat others like crap.
Why hindu and muslim, even between hindus there is a different concept of modesty. I remember as a kid who had watched many a bollywood movie, I had once taken my dupatta and tried to cover my head with it before going to the temple. My great grand mother and grand parents who were accompanying me scolded me soundly. I still remember them blaming me for picking up an ugly habit from god knows where and telling me never cover your head unless u r protecting yourself from the sun, it is wrong. Another taboo was going abound with unbound hair even if said hair was only shoulder length . So what was a sign of modesty in one culture was a ābad practiceā in another.
It is a practice common in north not south so my grand parents and great grand mother who have never watched bollywod movies would not know that :D.South Indian enter temples with head uncovered.
for me and most Muslims, the religions reigns supreme.those mUslims who give culture more weight are Burger families for me and i do NOT care for them.
Not sure how it started in the north. It is a social custom that crept in some time I suppose. There is no religious sanction in the vedas that one has to cover head as a mark of respect. In the south it is considered inauspicious since in older days (we r talking pre-independence and beyond), widows used to get their head tonsured as a mark of grief and only they used to pull their sarees above their head to cover it. Otherwise it was just not done.
Hair as long as it is bound is not associated with modesty in my culture I suppose.
But it is difficult to ascertain what is being followed is a religious practice or a cultural aspect in societies where various religions and cultures exist.
Some people also say that religious practices (in Muslims) are influenced by Arab culture (including many traditions followed in Pre-Islamic Arabia)