History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c9.2

v1.c9.2

How Hiuen Tsang's description is accurate to the last detail is borne out by the following description by Bāṇa of Harsha when he started on his digvijaya or expedition for universal conquest; "परिधाय राजहंसमिथुनलक्ष्मणी सदृशे दुकूले, परमेश्वरचिह्नभूतां शशिकलामिव कल्पयित्वा सितकुसुममुण्डमालिकाम्" H. C. page 274. "Harsha wore two like Dukūlas or fine cloth pieces marked with pairs of swans and wore round the top of his head, like the moon cresent on the head of Śiva, a garland of white flowers indicative of the sovereignty of the world." If two white fine garments marked with pairs of swans and a white garland on his head formed the auspicious dress of even a king aspiring to be an emperor, the dress of ordinary men in ordinary times could not have been anything else but two white cloth pieces, now-a-days called Dhotis (called so probably because they are daily washed). The custom of wearing garlands on the head like a crown has now ceased entirely, and the turban has been substituted for it. A turban, however, (Ushṇisha) is spoken of in the Harsha Charita also and even in the Mahābhārata, but the description recorded by Megasthenes serves to indicate that the upper garment and the turban often formed one piece of cloth. It is probable, therefore, that no third cloth was ordinarily used for covering the head. The difference between the great and the low, the dress being the same two pieces of cloth, consisted in the fineness of its texture and the whiteness of its colour. Hiuen Tsang speaks of different fine cloths of wool, silk and cotton as follows; "Kausheya being of silk, Kshauma a kind of linen, Kambala a texture of fine wool and Holala (or Horala?) made from the wool of a wild animal," and I suppose cloth made of cotton. The art of making fine cloth of silk, wool and cotton had then reached perfection and it may be believed that cloth finer than that woven even now in England was then produced, as even now in cities of India like Dacca. This advance or perfection in the art of weaving is to be gathered from a description by Bāṇa of pieces of cloths collected for the marriage of Rājyashrī. "क्षौमैश्च बादरैश्च दुकूलैश्च लालातन्तुजैरांशु कैश्च नैत्रैश्च निर्मोक-निभैर्निभ्वासहार्यैः स्पर्शानुमेयैः वासोभिस्सर्वतः स्फुरादिन्द्रायुधसहस्रैरिव संच्छादितम् H. C. 202-3. "The palace was strewn with Kshauma (silk) Bādara (cotton) Dukūla (linen) Lālātantuja (?) Anśuka (?) Naitra (?) cloths glistening like serpant's skin, fit to be blown even by a breath and inferrable only by touch, of all colours of the rain-bow." Some of these materials of cloth cannot now be ascertained, but that the cloth was of the finest texture need not be doubted. The white was the colour esteemed by men but probably women liked different colours and different designs of patches of ornamentation such as pairs of swan mentioned above. Plain, borderless white cloth was, then as now, not liked by women for it appears that this sort of cloth was distinctive of widows.* Of course Buddhist monks and nuns wore simple cloth coloured red, though in this colour there must have been different shades in the different schools as Hiuen Tsang says that the size and colour of the plaits vary in different schools ( Watters I page 150. ) Jain recluses affected cloth coloured yellow and Hindu recluses or Sanyāsis used cloth coloured soiled red. These colours these three religions probably chose of purpose to distinguish themselves from one another. Plain white clothing of widows is noticed even in the Mahābhārata ( Āsramavāsi Parva ) when describing the widowed daughters-in-law of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. This distinctive colour of widow's clothing has now been thrown into shade by the red colour perhaps taken in imitation of Buddhist runs among the women of the south and by indigo colour by women in the north and west. Strangely enough white cloth is affected by and is distinctive of public women at the present day.