________________
The vikalendriya origin clothes are of five types—(1) pattaj, (2) suvarnaj (mataka), (3) malayaja, (4) anshak, and (5) chinanshuk. ** All these are produced by saliva of worms (mulberry-worms or other
such worms), in other words they are types of silk produced by different species of silk-worms.
The panchendriya origin clothes are of many varieties, such as(1) aurnik (made of sheep or goat wool), (2) aushtrik (made of camel wool), (3) mrigaromaj (made of fur of rabbit, rat like animals or young deer), (4) kitt (made of horse hair), (5) kutap (made of leather or fur of young deer or rat like animals). (Visheshavashyak Bhashya, verse 878 mentions that kutap means made of fur of rat like animals)
2. Bhangik-That which is of linseed origin or is made by pounding the pith of vanshakareel plant (the shoot of a bamboo plant). In the Vinayavastu chapter of Mool Sarvastivad, p. 92 also there is a mention of bhangeya cloth which was made of fibres of bhang plant (hemp). Even today this cloth is in use in the Kumaon region of Uttar Pradesh. It is called bhagela there. (Dr. Motichand; Bharatiya Vidya 1/1/41)
3. Sanik or sanaj—That which is made of fibres produced from the bark of jute, lodh (Symplocos Racemosa) and tirid plants.
4. Potrak—That which is made of a bunch of large leaves like those of palm.
5. Kshaumik—That which is made of cotton.
6. Toolkrit—That which is made of fibres of swallow-wort and other such fibres.
In modern times ascetics use only cotton and woolen clothes. The ancient tradition of a young ascetic wearing only one cloth is almost extinct now.
The code of using four clothes for a female ascetic includes that she should use the two cubits cloth in the place of stay, the three cubits cloth when she goes to collect alms or to relieve herself, and the four cubits cloth when she sits in a religious assembly or other such occasion. (Vrihatkalpa Bhashya Vritti, verses 3661, 3663; Nishith Churni 6/10, 12) aqunt : day 378447
(383)
Vastraishana : Fifth Chapter
TO
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
