India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s8.11

c8.s8.11

In the *Sthūlādi-gaṇa* (V.4.3) there is a reference to the *gomūtrikā* cloth, which appears to have been so called from the *gomūtrikā* design woven into its texture at one end. The *gomūtrikā* pattern was known in the fourth century B.C. as mentioned in the *Arthaśāstra* in connection with the formation of battle-arrays (*Arth.* Text, X.6). We may note in this connection that the *paṭali* or front folds of the *dhoti* on the Yaksha statues aforesaid are arranged zig-zag in the form of the *gomūtrikā* motif.