Education in Ancient India c15.8

c15.8

Its prehistoric Form :—The upper garment that was thus used was normally a piece of cloth. But in prehistoric times when the art of spinning and weaving was not known, it was a piece of deer-skin. *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka* states that it should be a piece of deer-skin, rather than a piece of cloth.³ In the course of time when clothes became common, the upper garment also became a cotton product, but earlier tradition of the deer-skin was in a way preserved by continuing the use of a small patch of deer-skin on such occasions. In later times when *Yajñopavīta* as a piece of cloth was replaced by *Yajñopavīta* in the form of the thread, this piece of deer-skin was strung into it. This custom still obtains at the time of *Upanayana*.