This is a complicated subject but I will do my best to simplify it for those who are curious about this pracrice and Hinduism.

Veiling for women is the idea of wearing some type of head scarf/covering. For Hinduism, the reason can vary, but it is NOT required for Hindu women to cover their hair.

Some more “old school” traditional temples will ask women to cover their hair. Some will do it to show “purity” or “protect the hair and keep it clean” (to protect it from ‘impurities’ touching the hair). Some will use it to show they are newly married.

One common name (there’s a few for it) is “ghoonghat”. Veiling for Hindu women when thining about India is more common in the North than it is in the south. Some find it very offensive, given the controversial natura of how Muslims came into India and in some parts of history, forced women to cover their hair.

Colors for the ghoonghat tend to be on the warmer side (yellows, reds, oranges, red is a very populat color). Some wear it as a point of pride of being a Hindu. There are some populations that live in India OR are from India (like the Romani) who have adopted a similar practice (for the Romani just to give a specific example, many of the young women will wear what they call a ‘dikhlo’, the Romani are said to be from the ‘untouchable’ caste, which in plain English means “bottom of the totem pole”).