Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/169

Rh the princes of Eastern Hindustan; and of pure linen [muslin], the gift of the people of Gangam, the Carnatic and Mysore. Weaving and dyeing are continually mentioned in the Code of Manu; and in other ancient works black cloth is appropriated to the Indian Saturn, yellow to Venus, and red to Mars. In the ancient sculptures the women are represented both in richly embroidered brocaded robes, and in muslin so fine as to fully expose their form, the lines of its folds, or of its silk and gold edging, traced across their bodies, being the only evidence that they are clothed. On the Ajanta Cave paintings the women’s robes are blue, which still is a favorite colour with Indian women. The Hindu poets are very eloquent on the charming effect of a fair [sienna complexioned] woman dressed in blue, likening it to that of a dark cloud lighted up by the radiant fire of beauty. It is, however, considered indecent for a woman of the twice-born castes to wear a blue dress unless it be of silk, excepting in the case of a Brahmini woman at night, a Kshatriya woman while a bride, or at a feast, and a Vaisya woman when performing sraddha. But they all take off any blue cotton dress they may be wearing during meals. One of the most ancient epithets of Vishnu is pitambara, "clothed in yellow garments." The Indian hermits, in the oldest mention of them, are required to wear clothes of yellow ochre colour, all others being free to wear any colour of vesture they please. When the Greeks with Alexander arrived in India, they noticed that the garments worn by the people were made of "tree wool," or "wool produced in nuts;" and Megasthenes [Strabo, xv, 1, 53-56 and 69], adds, "their robes are worked in gold, and ornamented with various stones, and they wear also flowered garments of the finest muslin." No conventional ornament is probably more ancient than the colored stripes and patterns we find on Indian cotton cloths, and the cotton carpets called satrangis. In the kincobs, or silk brocades, the ornamental designs betray conflicting influences. It is very difficult to say when silk weaving passed from China into