India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s8.14

c8.s8.14

*BṚIHATIKĀ*—It is referred to in *sūtra Bṛihatyā āchchhādane*, V.4.6. The upper garment which was thrown on shoulders covering either one or both of them and falling down to the waist or knees seems to have been the *bṛihatikā* dress. The *Amarakosha* understands it as a kind of *prāvāra*, a big all-covering mantle. As remarked by the Greeks about the dress of the Indians: "They have a tunic of tree-linen down to the middle of their shins" (*C.H.I.*, p. 412). This long tunic may have been the *bṛihatikā* conforming to a real etymology of that word. Patañjali mentions *bṛihatikā* as a current dress (1.2.69). It seems to have been a fine wrapper 24' by 12' in size, mentioned as *bāhitikā* in the *Majjhima Nikāya* (*Sutta* 88).