On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s5: Dress and Personal Characteristics
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s5
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Dress and Personal Characteristics
v1.c8.s5.1
The inner clothing and outward attire of the people have no tailoring; as to colour a fresh white is esteemed and motley is of no account. The men wind a strip of cloth round the waist and up to the armpits and leave the right shoulder bare. The women wear a long robe which covers both shoulders and falls down loose. The hair on the crown of the head is made into a coil, all the rest of the hair hanging down. Some clip their mustaches or have other fantastic fashions. Garlands are worn on the head and necklaces on the body.
v1.c8.s5.2
The names for their clothing materials are *Kiao-shê-ye* (Kausheya) and muslin (*tieh*) and calico (*pu*), Kausheya being silk from a wild silk-worm; *Ch'ii* (or *Ch'u*)-*mo* (Kshauma), a kind of linen; *Han* (or *Kan*)-*po-lo* (Kambala) a texture of fine wool (sheep's wool or goat's hair), and *Ho-la-li* (Ral?) a texture made from the wool of a wild animal--this wool being fine and soft and easily spun and woven is prized as a material for clothing. In North India where the climate is very cold closely fitting jackets are worn somewhat like those of the Tartars (*Hu*).
v1.c8.s5.3
The garbs of the non-Buddhists (religieux) are varied and extraordinary. Some wear peacocks' tails; some adorn themselves with a necklace of skulls; some are quite naked; some cover the body with grass or boards; some pull out their hair and clip their moustaches; some mat their side-hair and make a top-knot coil. Their clothing is not fixed and the colour varies.
v1.c8.s5.4
In this passage, it will be noticed, the clothing materials used by the lay people of India are arranged in four groups. The first is called by the pilgrim "Kausheya clothing and muslin and cloth" (僑奢耶衣及氈布等). Now kausheya (or kaus'eya) is silk made from the cocoon of the Bombyx Mori, and *tieh-pu* is cotton-cloth or *tieh* and cotton cloth. It is perhaps better to regard *tieh* and *pu* as names of two materials, and in another treatise we find Kausheya, *tieh*, and *ts'ui* (毳) grouped together.¹ This *ts'ui* was apparently a kind of coarse cotton cloth, and we find a *ts'ui-ka-pei* or "rough cotton" used to stuff cushions. The term kausheya was applied not only to silk stuffs but also to mixtures of silk and linen or cotton.¹ Our pilgrim evidently makes one group of "silk clothing" and cottons. This is not to be much wondered at when we reflect that he, like the other Chinese of his time and district, knew nothing of the cotton plant and the cloths derived from it. Moreover we should probably regard this description of the dress of the natives of India as derived from an earlier account.
v1.c8.s5.5
¹ Ta-fang-têng-ta-chi-ching, *ch*. 11 (No. 61 tr. cir. A.D. 400).
v1.c8.s5.6
¹ Sar. Vin. vibhāsha, ch. 5 (No. 1135): Sêng-chi-lü, ch. 9.
v1.c8.s5.7
The second kind of clothing material here mentioned is the Kshauma or Linen. This term also is to be regarded as denoting a class. It comprehends, we must suppose, the fabrics made from the Kshumā or flax, the śanā or jute, and the bhangā or hemp. These three plants are mentioned in Chinese translations from the Sanskrit as yielding stuffs from which clothes were made. This word kshauma denotes not only linen but also silk textures.
v1.c8.s5.8
The third group is the kambala. This word, which denotes "woollen cloth" and "a blanket", is here evidently used in the sense of fine woollen cloth for making clothing. Like the kausheya and the kshauma the kambala clothing was allowed to the Buddhist Brethren.
v1.c8.s5.9
The fourth kind of stuff mentioned as used for clothing material is called by Yuan-chuang Ho-la-li (褐刺納). There does not seem to be any known Sanskrit word with which this can be identified. As Yuan-chuang spells foreign words the three characters may stand for Ral, a Tibetan word meaning "goat's hair", from Ra, a goat. This Ho-la-li or Ral is also probably the Lo-i (羅衣) or "Lo (Ra) clothes" of other Buddhist texts. In Sanskrit also we find rallaka which denotes a wild animal and a stuff made from its hair, and rallaka-kambala which is a fine woollen cloth.
v1.c8.s5.10
Our pilgrim's description proceeds—
v1.c8.s5.11
The clerical costume of the Sha-mên (Śramaṇas) is only the three robes and the Sêng-kio-ki and Ni-p'o-so-na. As to the three robes the Schools adhere to different styles having broad or narrow fringes and small or large folds. The sêng-kio-ki goes over the left shoulder covers the armpits, joined on the right and opening on the left side and in length reaching to below the waist. As to the Ni-p'o-so-na, since no belt is worn when it is put on, it is gathered into plaits and secured by one of these, the size and colour of the plaits vary in the different schools.
v1.c8.s5.12
For the first part of this passage Julien has the following—"Les Cha-men (Çramanas) n'ont que trois sortes de vêtements, savoir le Sêng-kia-tchi (Saṅghāṭi) le Seng-kio-ki (Saṅkakchikā), et le Ni-po-sie-na (Nivāsana). La coupe et la façon de ces trois vêtements varient suivant les écoles. Les uns ont une bordure large ou étroite, les autres ont des pans petits ou grands". Here the translator spoils the description by interpolating the words "savoir le Sêng-kia-tchi (Saṅghāṭi)", leaving out the word "and", and inserting "ces" in the clause "La coupe et la façon de ces trois vêtements". The "Three robes" of the Buddhist monk are quite distinct from the two articles of his dress here mentioned by name. The "three robes" are always given as the Antaravāsaka, the Saṅghāṭi, and the Uttarāsaṅga. Of these we have already met with the second and third in our traveller's account of Balkh, and there we met also with the article of clothing called Seng-kio-ki. This last word is apparently for the original which is Samkachchhika in Pali and Julien's Sanskrit Saṅkakshikā. This is translated in a Chinese note to our text by "covering armpits". Professor Rhys Davids translates the Pali word by "vest", but the description given seems to suit a rude shirt or jacket with one sleeve which was buttoned or looped on the left shoulder. One name for the vestment as worn by monks in China is P'ien-shan (偏衫) or "one-sided jacket".¹ The other article of monk's costume mentioned by name here is the Ni-p'o-so-na or Nivāsana. This is rendered in Chinese by chün (裙) an old native term denoting a "skirt" on the lower part of a robe of ceremony. Nivāsana is a common term for an under-robe or lower garment, but it is here used in its restricted sense as designating the particular kind of skirt or under-robe worn by Buddhist monks. This was, according to regulation, four ells long by one and a half in width, and it reached from the waist to about three finger-breadths above the ankle. As Yuan-chuang here tells us the Schools were distinguished by differences in the wearing of the Nivāsana.¹ Thus, as I-ching tells us, the Sarvāstivādins wore the skirt with a pair of plaits turned out on both sides of it, and the Mahāsanghikas crossed the end of the right side to the top of the left side, tucking it in to keep the skirt in its place. This skirt or Nivāsa had no string or girdle and it was evidently something like the Malay Sarong which, as Colonel Yule tells us, is an old Indian form of dress. This garment also is self-securing, and is not in need of a belt or girdle. The two articles of dress here mentioned and described, viz. the Sañkakshika and the Nivāsana were in addition to the Three Robes which formed originally the full clerical costume of the bhikshu. They are often mentioned in the canonical books, having been allowed apparently as soon as Buddhism began to spread. The mode of wearing the Nivāsana and its colour and fashion caused much discussion and unpleasant feeling in the early church.
v1.c8.s5.13
¹ Shih-shih-yao-lan (釋氏要覽), ch. 1; Vinaya Vol. ii, p. 272 and Vinaya Texts Vol. iii, p. 351; Sêng-chi-lü l. c.
v1.c8.s5.14
¹ Ssŭ-fên-lü, ch. 19; Nan-hai-ch‘i-kuei, ch. 10, 11 and Takakusu; P‘i-ni-mu-ching, ch. 8.
v1.c8.s5.15
The pilgrim's description continues—
v1.c8.s5.16
The Kshatriyas and Brahmins are clean-handed and unostentatious, pure and simple in life and very frugal. The dress and ornaments of the kings and grandees are very extraordinary. Garlands and tiaras with precious stones are their head-adornments; and their bodies are adorned with rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Wealthy mercantile people have only bracelets. Most of the people go barefoot and shoes are rare. They stain their teeth red or black, wear their hair cut even, bore their ears, have long noses and large eyes; such are they in outward appearance.
v1.c8.s5.17
They are pure of themselves and not from compulsion. Before every meal they must have a wash; the fragments and remains are not served up again; the food utensils are not passed on; those utensils which are of pottery or wood must be thrown away after use, and those which are of gold, silver, copper, or iron get another polishing. As soon as a meal is over they chew the tooth-stick and make themselves clean; before they have finished ablutions they do not come into contact with each other; they always wash after urinating; they smear their bodies with scented unguents such as sandal and saffron. When the king goes to his bath there is the music of drums and stringed instruments and song; worship is performed and there are bathing and washing.
v1.c8.s5.18
The last sentence of this passage is in Julien's version—"Quand le roi se dispose à sortir, des musiciens battent le tambour et chantent aux sons de la guitare. Avant d'offrir un sacrifice, ou d'adresser des prières (aux dieux), ils se lavent et se baignent". Here Julien evidently had for the first clause the B reading *chün-wang-chiang-ts'ü*, meaning "when the king is about to go out". But in the A, C, and D texts the reading instead of *ts'ü* is *yii*, meaning "to bathe", and this is evidently the correct reading. Then Julien seems to change the author's meaning by making the second clause a new sentence and introducing the word "avant". The author's meaning seems to be that when the king took his bath there was the performance of certain acts of worship.¹
v1.c8.s5.19
¹ The text is—君王將浴 or 撾鼓奏弦歌祭祀拜訶沐浴盥洗.