The origins of Indian fashion: Dāśana-Vāsana-Aṅgarāgaḥ as a cultural and cosmetic art in Indian knowledge system

In ancient Bhārata, the aesthetics of personal grooming transcended the superficial to become an integral part of lived knowledge and cultural refinement. This paper explores Dāśana-vāsana-āṅgarāgaḥ, a nuanced triad within the Catuḥṣaṣṭi Kalāḥ, encompassing the arts of beautifying the teeth (Daśanarāgaḥ), garments (Vāsanarāgaḥ), and the body (Aṅgarāgaḥ). Drawing from classical Sanskrit sources such as the Nāṭyaśāstra, Kāmasūtra, and Bhāgavata Purāṇa as well as the grammatical insights of Pāṇini, the study demonstrates how these artistic expressions were embedded in the Bhāratīya Jñāna Paramparā (Indian Knowledge systems). These practices merged sensory experience with scientific awareness, through herbal pharmacology, textile chemistry, and Ayurvedic wellness, forming a holistic ecosystem where beauty was both embodied and elevated. By reinterpreting these kalā through the IKS lens, the article highlights their cultural, medicinal, and philosophical significance, reaffirming that in Bhārata, aesthetics was not adornment alone, but a mode of knowing and being.