On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s5.12

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.