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'''Upanah''' ([[Sanskrit]]) is an ancient form of [[footwear]] from [[Ancient India|India]]. The term is used to refer to several types of strapped [[sandal]]s and [[shoe]]s emploed by common people, in contrast to monks and mendicants who would use ''[[paduka]]'' instead.<ref name=Pak>[https://www.pakkapatriot.com/what-is-the-history-of-indian-footwear-like-paduka-juta/ What is the history of Indian footwear like Paduka, Juti?]</ref><ref name=Jut>{{cite book|author=Jutta Jain-Neubauer|title=Feet & Footwear in Indian Culture|date=2000|publisher=Bata Shoe Museum|isbn=978-81-858226-9-3}}</ref> The word comes from the Sansakrit root ''nah'', meaning "to tie", "to bind", to "fasten",<ref name=Jut/> as well as ''pad'', meaning "foot".<ref name=Key>{{cite book|author1=Rukmini Bhaya Nair|author2=Peter Ronald deSouza|title=Keywords for India: A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century|date=1968|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing}}</ref> Combinated words like ''charan-upanah'' might have originated modern words like "chappal".<ref name=Key/>

==History==
''Upanah'' or ''upanat'' are mentioned in ancient [[Vedic]] texts like ''[[Yajurveda]]'' and ''[[Atharvaveda]]''.<ref name=Pak/><ref name=Kum>{{cite book|author=Raj Kumar|title=Encyclopaedia of Untouchables Ancient, Medieval and Modern|date=2008|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-783566-4-8}}</ref> They were the most common type of footwear in ancient India,<ref name=Jut/> even although chronicles also describe Indians as favoring walking [[barefoot]] regardless of social class, at least as late as [[Xuanzang]]'s times.<ref name=Kum/> They were used from members of the lower castes to religious practitioners and ''vratya'' ascetics.<ref name=Jut/><ref name=Kum/>

Texts by [[Patanjali]] make a separation between footwear made of leather (''upanah charma'' or ''cham'') and wood (''upanah dam''). Leather sandals and shoes would be usually made of [[antelope]] or [[boar]]skin, as well as other, more expensive skins that would be a sign of status, while others would be made of wood, wool or ''[[Eleusine indica|balbaja]]'' grass.<ref>{{cite book|author=Baij Nath Puri|title=India in the Time of Patañjali|date=1968|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan}}</ref><ref name=Kum/> Other kinds of similar shoes reflected in the ''[[Mahāvyutpatti]]'' were ''pula'', ''mandapula'' and ''padavestanika'', as well as ''vaturinapada'', [[foot guards]] used by warriors.<ref name=Kum/>

==See also==
*[[Paduka]]
*[[Sandal]]
*[[Chappal]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{footwear}}

[[Category:Indian footwear]]

Upanah - Revision history

imported>Creador de Mundos at 15:37, 17 January 2021