5. Clothes as Gift

The custom of presenting clothes is as old as the Vedas. Clothes were given as gift to Brahmins on certain occasions like sacrifice, child birth, marriage ceremony and Śrāddha. No ritual was considered complete without presenting clothes as gift. Clothes were presented as dowry and were made as offerings. They were made as rewards or as a mark of pleasure to the servants by kings. Since clothes were considered one of the primary needs, maid servants were often rewarded with costly clothes for their work. Clothes were sent as gift articles along with the messengers going to other countries.

Ṛgveda^[1] mentions physicians rewarded with fine clothes. In Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa^[2], we have reference to clothes bestowed upon Brāhmaṇas by the king Nariṣyanta, on the occasion of a sacrifice. In another context, king Karandhama is described as presenting clothes to Brāhmaṇas on his grandson’s birth. Skandapurāṇa^[3] refers to the custom of presenting cotton Kañcuka in the moth of Māgha to Brahmins. Similarly ascetics were presented with Kaupīna. In Vālmīki-rāmāyaṇa^[4] it is described that sage Vasiṣṭha sent some messengers with costly garments to the country of Kekaya to fetch Bharata and Śatrughna, while Kekayarāja in reciprocation send carpets, blankets, garments and several kinds of skins. In another place, we read of the dowry given by Janaka to Sītā, which includes excellent blankets, skins and silk clothes^[5]. We also come across Rāma distributing clothes to his dependents, when set out on exile^[6]. Bāṇa has alluded to the use of clothes as offerings. In Harṣacarita^[7], he mentions a Mukhakośa worn by Śiva.