India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s8.1

c8.s8.1

WORDS FOR *CLOTHING*—Besides the usual *vastra* and *vasana* denoting clothing in older literature Pāṇini mentions three new post-Vedic words, *viz.* *chīra* (VI.2.127), *chela* (III.4.33) and *chīvara* (III.1.20). In the *sūtra Chele knopeḥ* (III.4.33), *chela* denotes a garment worn on the body. *Chīvara* is frequently used in Buddhist books for a monk's robe. It is conspicuous by absence in the *Brāhmaṇa* and *Āraṇyaka* literature. Its Buddhist association is strengthened by its illustration which occurs both in the *Chāndra-vṛitti* and the *Kāśikā*, *saṁchīvarayate bhikshuḥ*, the monk dons the *chīvara* or 'takes the holy robes.' We do not find the word applied to the garments of laymen, a householder or a Brahmachārin.