Indian Antiquary Vol 42

SR No.: 032534
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 400
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 209

JULY, 1913.)
BRAHMAN IMMIGRATION INTO SOUTHERN INDIA
197
develops this point of view of the community. Sri-Bhagavata is prized alike by the Srivais hộavas, the Madhvas and the Smarta Bhagavata Sampradayins and Vadamas. That these latter form the latest addition to the Brâhman population in the extreme south of the Peninsula is borne ogt also by a very curious custom. All the Smarta Drâvida Brahman women, together with a few of the left-hand section of the Sudras, tie their sáris in a peculiar fashion. The upper end of the sári is brought under the left shoulder over the right arm round the back and thrown over the left shoulder. This is precisely the manner of the costume of Greek ladies after 450 B. 0. known as the himation. It was also the old mode of dress of the Aryan Brahmaņa before they entered India. It is the mode in use among the Persians and the Muhammadans, Once upon a time it was precisely the way in which the upper garment was worn by the Aryan males also. But there seems to have come a change in the mode of the male dress somewhere about the time when the Aryans settled in India. The yajñopavila which the Brâhman wears is only a symbolic representation of his mode of dress. Much as the yajñopavita, the sacred thread, is prized by the Brahman of nowadays, there seems to be nothing in the ritual or the mantras that are used during the upanayana ceremony to uphold the great value set upon it. That it is nothing but a symbolic representation of the upper garment will be patent to every one who considers the origin of the mode of wearing it as given in the Taittiriya-Brdhmaņa.
भजिनं वासो वा दक्षिणत उपवीय दक्षिणं बाहुमुखरतेऽवधत्ते सव्यमिति यज्ञोपवीतं । एतदेव विपरीत para ll etc.
Skin or cloth worn towards the right, round the body so as to go under the right shoulder and above the left is called Tata, the mode of dress in the service of gods; the opposite mode is called prdchindvita.'
The words उपवीत and प्राचीनावीत indicate in what sense they might have been first used. प्राचीनावीत means the ancient mode of dressing; 394a is the recent mode of dressing, both derived from vye to weave. Later on the sacred thread with a bit of deer skin tied to it has come to symbolize this mode of dress. That prdchindvita means the old mode of dress is borne out by the fact that funeral ceremonies are enjoined to be performed, the performer being dressed in that fashion, agreeably to the primitive notion that the sacrificer must dress himself like the god or the spirit he worships. Yamavaivasvata, being the old ancestor, who is worshipped in funeral ceremonies, the old mode of dressing is recommended. But in other cases the upavita, the new mode. A metaphysical reason is assigned in the Veda itself for the change of dress, vis., that the Devas and the Asuras performed a sacrifice, the Devas dressing in the terre fashion, i.e., in the left to right fashion we have described and the Asuras in the other mode; and the Devas succeeded in gaining heaven while the Asoras were defeated and dispersed on all sides on acconnt of the gra fashion they had adopted. Probably this refers to the Aryan ancestors in their new colonies following nature, where all motion is seen to take place from left to right. For, finding such a mode of dress among the non-Aryan dwellers in the soil, they seem to have adopted it as a part of their scheme of following nature, which included the taking of such of the non-Aryan customs under their patronage as would help them in assimilating them easily and thereby strengthening their stock. While the male population easily adopted the change, the conservative female population perhaps remained averse to it for a long time. It was probably at this stage that the Dravidian Brâhmaņs first migrated to the South. For while their ladies, i.e., those of the Smartas of Tamil land preserve this old habit, the ladies of the later settlers have adopted the new orthodox fashion completely. Here is an evidence of a very curions but convincing kind for the very early settlement of the Tamil land by Brahmaņs, long before perhaps the Telugu country itself was ocoupied by them. For we know that the Karnataka and Telingaņa Brâbman ladies adopt the la mode. The whole subject seems to be very interesting, and is deeply connected with the distinction of right hand and left hand