Ancient Indian Costume c7.s3.3

c7.s3.3

Brahmin hermits or ascetics continued to wear garments made of bark leaves, or animal skins, and live austere lives in forests or other isolated places. The clothes of the *bhikshu* continued to be yellow or red in colour and consisted of the same *antaravasaka*, *uttarasanga*, *samghati*, and *kushalaka* as before, along with a buckled belt or *samkaksika*. Only now the cloth of their garments was most probably donated to the monastery by wealthy merchants, and was not made of rags. The sign of physical and spiritual perfection in the Buddha figures is the protuberance or *ushnisa* on the head which evolved from the top knot worn by Brahmins. Another symbol is the *urna* or tuft of hair between the eye-brows, representing the third eye. The elongated ear lobes are yet another sign of perfection.