History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.141

v2.c34.141

Weaving and woven cloth are frequently referred to in the Veda, generally in a metaphorical sense or in similes. *Vide* Ṛg. I. 115. 4, II. 3. 6, V. 29. 15, X. 106. 1. In Ṛg. VI. 9. 2-3, both warp (*tantu*) and woof (*otu*) are mentioned. The words used for garment are 'vāsas' or 'vastra'. In the Tai. S. (VI. 1. 1. 3) it is said that *kṣauma* (linen) cloth is worn when a person takes the *dīkṣā* (initiatory rite) for a Vedic sacrifice. In the Kāṭhaka Saṁ. XV. 1 *kṣauma* cloth is said to be the fee in a certain rite. In the Atharvaveda VIII. 2. 16 we have the two words '*vāsaḥ*' (outer garment) and '*nīvi*' (under garment)¹⁵⁹² used with reference to the same man. In the Ṛg. the word '*adhivāsa*' is also used with reference to a garment which must have been some-what like a mantle or toga (Ṛg. I. 162. 16). In the Tai. S. II. 4. 9. 2. the skin of the black deer is mentioned. In the Śat. Br. V. 2. 1. 8 it is said that when the Neṣṭṛ¹⁵⁹³ priest is about to lead up the sacrificer's wife he makes her put on a *kuśa* upper garment (*vāsas*) or a *kuśa* skirt next to the cloth that one who is initiated for the sacrifice wears. In the Bṛ. Up. II. 3. 6. there ¹⁵⁹⁴ is a reference to cloth dyed red with safflower or woollen cloth that is whitish in colour. Ṛg. IV. 22. 2 and Ṛg. V. 52. 9 are interpreted by Western scholars as referring to wool on the Paruṣṇī river being the best, but the sense is rather obscure. It appears from the above that cloth was either woollen or linen, that silken (or kuśa) cloth was worn on very solemn occasions, that deer-skin was also employed as covering and that cloth was also dyed red. Whether cotton cloth was known in the earliest Vedic period is not certain. It is clear that in the sūtras (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 71. 15 and 63. 24) and in Manu (8. 326 and 12. 64) cotton cloth is known and so its use must have reached several centuries before the times of the sūtras. Arrian (tr. by MacCrindle) says that Indian dress was made of cotton (p. 219).