On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c18.s2.75

v2.c18.s2.75

In the Buddha's time the young Licchavis of the city were a free, wild, set, very handsome and full of life, and Buddha compared them to the gods in Indra's Heaven. They dressed well, were good archers, and drove fast carriages, but they were wanton, insolent, and utterly irreligious. These dashing young fellows, with their gay attire and brilliant equipages and saucy manners, must have presented in Vaiśālī a marked contrast to the great Teacher and his reverend sombre-clothed disciples. The young Licchavis drove along the streets and roads in carriages with trappings of blue, yellow, red, or white, and they were dressed or adorned in colours to match.¹ On the other hand the Brethren were to be seen any morning grave and self-collected, bare-headed and bare-foot, in dark patchwork robes, their alms-bowls in their hands, begging their day's food through the streets. Or they might be met walking solemnly to the bathing-tank, or going to attend a discourse from the Teacher, or to meditate under a shady tree in a cool quiet retreat.