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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
Washing and Dyeing-Rajaga, vatthasohagal and millevagas were the traditional classes of the washermen who were adept in the art of washing (dhovana). The washermen can be seen washing the clothes with pitchers full of water (jalakuda)' on the banks of rivers and ponds. The clothes must have been usually cleaned with the soap-nut (kataka-phala)', although a solution of soda, called kharajóga, was also applied to clean the dirty clothes (ati-pańka). According to the Nayadhammakaha, the clothes were first put into a solution of soda (vatthaṁ sajjiyakhāreņānulimpai), then boiled and finally washed. For the purpose of giving a fine finish, the clothes were calendered after washing, starched and also perfumed."
The clothes were dyed in different colours. Desarăga, as mentioned before, was a fine variety of cloth dyed in the regional process of dyeing.' Various colours like the hariddaraga (colour of tumeric), kusumbharaga (safflower), kaddamarā ga (mud) and kimiraga (a red dye or lac produced by certain insects) were used for dyeing. 10 Vātsyāyana also informs us that blue, orange ( colour of kusumbha flower ) and yellow dye of tumeric were generally used by the people for dyeing purposes. 11 Among these different colours, kimiraga's was
1. NC. 3, p. 270. 2. NC. 4, p. 357. 3. Ibid. 4. TF-FICO, GET NO Fiyat T io Fast foreta--NC. 1, p. 34, also
p. 33. 5. FET afachirurgTI ERFITTI UFAD O Atefa--NC. 4, p. 341. 6. Nāyādhammakahā, II. 60; vide-Motichandra's article on Dress in
JISOA, XII, p. 10. 7. Brh: Vr. 4, p. 1094. 8. NC. 2, p. 327. 9. NC. 2, p. 399. 10. NC. 3, p. 149. 11. Kamasutra, p. 259 (Sü, 12 ). 12. The dye called ktmirāga ( kiramadana ) was imported from Persia.
The Jaina texts contain absurd stories about the preparation of this dye ( seeA. N. Upadhye's Introduction to Brhatkathā Kosa, p. 88 ),
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