2.12. Dress of Ascetics, Monks and Hermits

Dharmasūtras and Smṛtis insist on the dressing of monks, ascetics and hermits. Vedas and Purāṇas also inform us about their dressing. Usually barks and skins were worn by these detached persons.

The earliest reference to sages wearing skin is in Ṛgveda^[1]. According to Dharmasūtras, a monk should wear clothes only for covering his nakedness. Āpastamba-dharmasūtra^[2] recommends Valkala for a Bhikṣu. As per the information given in some other texts, a monk may use the old rags after cleansing. However in the later period, we come across monks wearing yellow or ochre coloured dress instead of Valkala and these garments are generally termed as Kāṣāyavastra or simply Kāṣāya. For a hermit, Manusmṛti^[3] suggests skin texture. The monks are also suggested to throw away their old rags in the month of Āśvina. But in the later texts,we have reference to hermits clothed in barks also. Purāṇas mention both barks and skins as clothes of ascetics. In Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa^[4] and Skandapurāṇa^[5], sages are mentioned as wearing Uttarīya made of black antelope skin. In another place, king Hariścandra is asked by Viśvāmitra to observe Vānaprastha as clad in bark.

Even though barks and skins were worn by monks in the period of Sūtras, we have reference to Brahmin monks clothed in barks in Buddhacarita^[6], which follows the Dharmaśāstra rules, even at a later period. There is even reference to mendicants living naked in the forests, which also agrees with the view of some, as quoted in Āpastamba-dharmasūtra^[7].