Non- violent silk in Vedic times?

(Continued from the previous post

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/02/silk-in-indian-tradition_03.html )

There are little traces of 'silk making' as an industry in Indian until recently.

Sericulture was introduced only 400 years ago.

However, words denoting silk are found in Sanskrit and Tamil texts.

At many places in Valmiki Ramayana, silk is mentioned as 'Kausheya'.

Sita wore Kausheyam.

Here are a few verses on kausheyam, from Valmiki Ramayana.

Sita was sighted by Ravana as wearing a silk sari.

(from Aranya khanda)

sa taam padma palaasha akSiim piita kausheya vaasiniim |
abhyagacChata vaidehiim hR^iSTa cetaa nishaa caraH || 3-46-13

Here, 'piita kausheya vaasiniim' means "ochry, silks, wearing".

Sita was wearing Kausheya at the time of abduction.

“tapta aabharaNa varNa angii piita kausheya vaasanii |
raraaja raaja putrii tu vidyut saudaamanii yathaa ||” ( 3-52-14)

piita kausheya vaasanii= ocherish, in silks, dressed;

(meaning :-.That princess Seetha scintillated like the oblique flashes of lightning in a cloud, owing to her golden coloured body which is muffled up with jewellery of pure gold, and added with a golden coloured ocherish silky dress, while traversing in the sky.)

In Kishkindha khandam,

Sampathi describes to the vanaras the abduction of Sita.

He mentions that Sita was wearing superior kausheyam.

“suurya prabhaa iva shaila agre tasyaaH kausheyam uttamam |
asite raakSase bhaati yathaa vaa taDit a.mbude ||” ( 4-58-17)

tasyaaH uttamam kausheyam= her, best, ochry silk sari;

(meaning :- Upper fringe of Seetha's silk sari with golden glitter is upheaved in the sky, and with the reddish hue of sun in red heat of midday it beamed forth like a reddish cloud. )

Sits dropped the jewels wrapped in her upper garment of kasuheyam while she was being abducted.

“teSaam madhye vishaalaakSii kausheyam kanaka prabham |
uttariiyam varaarohaa shubhaani aabharaNaani ca || 3-54-2
mumoca yadi raamaaya sha.mseyuH iti bhaaminii |”

(meaning :- 2, 3a. vishaalaakSii= broad-eyed one; varaarohaa= curvaceous lady; bhaaminii= lady with resentment; kanaka prabham kausheyam uttariiyam= golden, in hue, silk sari, upper cloth; shubhaani aabharaNaani ca= auspicious, ornaments, also; raamaaya= to Rama; shamseyuH yadi= they indicate, if [they may]; iti= thus [on thinking]; teSaam madhye mumoca= their, amid, released - dropped.

That broad-eyed and curvaceous lady with resentment Seetha, inwrapping her auspicious ornaments in the upper-fringe of her sari, dropped in the midmost of those five Vanara-s with a thinking that 'these creatures may perhaps indicate them to Rama.' [3-54-2, 3a])

We find in Valmiki Ramayana a valuable information on silk of another kind.

This is about a silk-cotton tree. In the same chapter on abduction, Sita curses Ravana that he will be doomed to hell for abducting her. There is 'asi patra vana' in the hell, having silk-cotton trees with throny iron projections. Ravana will be doomed to embrace that tree in hell.

Here the term 'kausheya' is not used to indicate the silk

But the tree is mentioned as "shaalmali" - which is the term in sankrit for silk-cotton tree.

tapta kaa.ncana puSpaam ca vaiduurya pravara cChadaam || 3-53-20
drakSyase shaalmaliim tiikSNaam aayasaiH kaNTakaiH citaam |

(meaning:- 20b, 21a. tapta kaancana [tapta] puSpaam ca= molten, gold, [melting] flowered, also; [tapta] vaiduurya pravara cChadaam= [melting] lapis gemlike, best, shrouded [by lapis like leaves]; aayasaiH kaNTakaiH citaam= with iron, thorns, encrusted; tiikSNaam shaalmaliim= sharp, silk-cotton tress; drakSyase= you will see.

"You will see silk-cotton trees flowered with molten gold, shrouded with lapis gemlike melting leaves, and enshrouded with sharp irony thorns in hell. [3-53-20b, 21a])

In this way it can be seen that Kausheya was used in specific places to indicate a specific meaning. And there was in existence silk-cotton trees too from which silk was made.

The root of kausheya is kosha or kausha. It means – among other ones – the sheath covering the silk worm. This is nothing but the 'pupa'. The pupa is called kausha or kOsha.

The derived meaning of the term kausheya is 'cloth made from the cocoon shell'.

Some of the meanings of kOsha are given here:-

kṓśa— 'bucket', 'case, cover', 'sheath', 'storeroom' , 'seed-vessel', 'inner part of breadfruit'

kōsa— 'box, sheath, storeroom, cocoon, praeputium';

kosa 'seed vessel of jackfruit', 'silkworm cocoon';

G. kuśeṭɔ, °śīṭɔ m. 'silkworm cocoon';

kośeṭā m., °ṭī f. 'fine pellicle round the stone of a fruit';

koslā m. 'cocoon'; — M. kośerā 'dry scab of a wound, cocoon'.

An interesting correlation can be found in Tamil lexicon.

There is a word in Tamil, "kOsigam" which means silk.

Kosigam is that which is derived from kOsakaaram.
kOsakaaram is an ancient Tamil word for silk moth. Since kausheyam is the silk worm's pupa stage in Sanskrit, it is understood that kOsigam is derived from the Sanskrit word. It is also known as kausigam in Tamil.

In spite of the prevalence of these words related to silkmoth in Vedic and Tamil culture, we hardly come across any trace of sericulture in ancient texts.

For example we find a spate of professions and terms related to various jobs done by ancient Tamils in Purananuru. But there is absolutely no mention of domesticating silkmoths and cultivating cocoons for drawing silk threads.

Since we come to know from texts that silk clothes were used, we must look at other ways of making silk.

One such method is collecting the cocoons in the wild.

This is a high probability, because anything of some value that is found in the forests was collected and taken to the treasury. This explains why only the Kings had worn silk dresses in those days.

The cocoons of the wild moth variety comes under the category of 'dravyam' or riches of the forest. In Tamil, a separate term exists for that – 'kaadu-padu diraviyam'

In Ramayana times too, such a practice had existed.

When Sita wanted to own the golden deer, she rationalized the hunting of it on two grounds. One was that she wanted to have the rare animal to be her plaything in the forest.

On the other hand, if the golden deer could not be taken alive, its skin could be taken to their Treasury in Ayodhya. She said that its skin was a precious looking one. Such precious and rare looking objects must belong to the Royal treasury. If the deer could not be caught alive, its skin could be taken to their kingdom when they returned.

So the practice could have existed of collecting the discarded (or even live) cocoons in the wild and making silk out of them.

From the interesting discussion that is currently taking place in http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/Indo-Eurasian_research/

it is possible to assume that the silk strands found in Harappan sites were of non-violent or ahimsic variety – that is, taken out, after the moth had left.

Silk making from such a source would be laborious and such products must belong to the Royal family only. That perhaps explains why Ramayana makes a specific mention of kausheya – how the cloth was made – whenever it describes the cloths of the Royal persons.

Since specific mention is made of 'kausheya', it can be assumed that silk from other sources (plant) also could have existed.

More on them in the next post.

(to be continued)

********************************************

From

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/message/12004

Re: Indus silk

First, the earliest Chinese evidence is unfortunately fraught with uncertainty,
ambiguity and controversy. I hope in the near future to have an
opportunity to clarify at least some of the evidence. I must confess
that we can only assume Bombyx mori was domesticated in China, though
its wild ancestor certainly did have a range that included the
northern part of south Asia. It is indeed the only case of a
domesticated insect, as by definition it cannot survive without human
intervention. The B. mori is unable to fly. Yes, the Indian silks so
far found are of other species, wild, one of which can be reeled
rather than spun without harming the insect, as it has a built-in hole
for the moth to escape, so the cocoon is not ruined after
metamorphosis.

The use of this type so early was a significant
surprise to me, as it really does seem to hint at a sort of conceptual
understanding of silk that is related to Chinese sericulture, and
specifically addresses (later Vedic) taboo issues.

On the other hand,
it may well be that they would specifically be harvested (by walking
through the forest, and picking them up from tree branches, or the
ground) to use as very fine strong thread for beads (microbeads,
actually) as a special type of fiber for this purpose. The reeled silk
usually means silk taken from cocoons that did require killing the
moth; and my evidence for reeling is indeed from the thread structure,
not any found cocoons.

There is virtually no spin angle on the threads
in the Chanhu-daro example. I had lots of thread to look at. There are
no found cocoons that I am aware of in the archaeology of third or
second millennium BC south Asia.. I absolutely agree with you that
this is a fine skill mastered by the Chinese (I do remember the
'drawing silk' exercise in my qigong class!) and that reeling, if it
was truly practiced in early south Asia, it was most likely on a small
scale, and probably specifically for tiny applications such as
necklaces made of microbeads. Incidently, I don't see that it was
necessarily a luxury item in this context.

Of course, all archaeological knowledge is cumulative. If or when new
evidence comes to light to show us they were using silk for cloth as
well at such an early date, we will know. Until then, I don't assume so.


Best wishes,

Irene

From

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/message/12033

Re: Indus silk

Dear Per,

As a related question, the etymology of silk more generally is a
fascinating tale in and of itself. Here is a short draft extract from
a current paper I am writing:

"Early documents in Vedic, Avestan, Middle Persian and Classical
Sanskrit each contain hints of early knowledge of silk in India, Iran
and Central Asia from prior to the Han trade in the late third century
BC. The ancient Hindu Laws of Manu, for example, prescribe the
treatment and wearing of certain silks (Manu v. 120; Kane 1941). These
instructions indicate knowledge of boiling cocoons. These laws were
recorded in the later first millennium BC, still several hundred years
before the 'secret' supposedly leaked out of China. The 'mukta' silks
were used by Jains and Hindus to avoid contact with de-gummed silk
from stifled cocoons. The Gautama Dharmasutra, which may date as early
as the 5th century BC (Olivelle 1999), explicitly rules against the
sale of silk.

This very important delineation may lead us to understand the
beginnings of silk use, and of knowledge of what are traditionally
considered to be Chinese methods of degumming (and reeling) silk.
Furthermore, the etymology of all words relating to silk and silkworms
in these early texts is of a non-Chinese signifying etymology (i.e.
not sere-) (Balkrishna 1925; McGregor 1993). Although no specific term
'silk' has yet been discovered in the Gathas or the Younger Avestan
texts, there are several investigative avenues to follow for
ascertaining the Old Iranian derivation for silk, which is also non-
Chinese (Bailey 1931, 1979; Mayrhofer 1996; Hassandoust 1964). For
example, there is a Middle Persian term 'kirm-i abreshom' for
silkworm. This is an early indication of Iranian knowledge of silk's
source. These various sources hint at early knowledge of silk outside
of China." [this was written recently and acknowledgement has been
given to Michael Witzel, Oktor Skjaervo and Asko Parpola on this
matter].

Anyone on the list is welcome to add to this- as I have mentioned in
previous posts I draw the line at comparative linguistics in my
domain of expertise !

Irene