Term Saree in vedic literature

By Hari Prasad das, 14.5 2015

Where is the Term 'saree' to be Found in the Vedic Literature?

Srila Prabhupada opened the doors of Krishna Bhakti for all fortunate souls around the world, especially in the West. In doing so, he also made available the culture of an eternal spiritual world for all aspiring souls.

In many ways, Srila Prabhupada encouraged devotees to preach, insisting on substance and not on form. A number of times, he said that the external dress did not matter and what was important was the Krishna bhakti that one has. Yet Srila Prabhupada also introduced cultural elements in his society in the form of dhotīs and sarees, and he personally liked to always wear his sannyāsa dress.

"Before me, so many swamijis went there. They did not give, but they took something and came here and advertised themselves as foreign-returned sannyāsī and exploited the people. They lost even their original dress. Everyone knows, I have never changed my dress. Rather, I have given the dress to the foreigners, and they have taken it. The Ramakrishna mission people came to request me that I dress myself in coat, pant, hat. Because they are doing. Their so-called swamis, they are dressed in coat, pant, hat.

So this is a culture. This culture is meant for the human society. Fortunately this culture developed on this land of Bhāratavarṣa. Unfortunately, people are so much bewildered that they are giving up this culture. That is the most regrettable portion of, of our movement."

(Lecture on Śrīmad-bhāgavatam 1.9.48, 14 June 1973, Mayapur, emphasis added)

On other occasions, he allowed many of his disciples to dress according to the local customs if it was beneficial for preaching.

"The real principle is to spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and if one has to change into regular Western dress for this purpose, there should be no objection." 
(Caitanya caritāmṛta Madhya 14.5 Purport)

Both these quotes can be harmonized easily. If devotees find a western dress to be more effective for preaching, that should not be a problem. However, what is really awkward and also saddening at the same time is that among devotees, some have started raising doubts about Vedic Culture in order to justify their adherence to Western Culture.

It's one thing to say that dressing oneself according to the local customs is necessary for preaching. However, it's a completely different thing to say that "There is no such thing as Vedic Culture and therefore we will follow our local culture." Unfortunately, this disturbing trend of promoting oneself and one's culture by stepping on Vedic Culture is trying to present itself as Krishna Consciousness in our society. Recently I found the following statement on a website:

"The word dhoti does not occur in the scriptures. No scripture, nor Indian history, indicates that dhoti and sari were, at any historical time, 'Vaishnava dress.'"

In this article, I attempt to show that the saree is a dress mentioned in Vedic literature and that its use in the Vedic literature points to the fact that it has been a dress not only among the vaiṣṇavas but also among all non-vaiṣṇava Indians.

Previously, I had written an article on where the term 'dhotī' can be found in the Vedas (Part 1 and Part 2). The same doubt that was raised on the term 'dhotī' has also been raised on the term saree. For dispelling such doubts, I write this article by the strength of the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and the vaiṣṇavas.

Note: The purpose of this article is not to oppose any preaching attempts, but only to very humbly point out that such preaching attempts need not be done at the cost of creating confusions about Vedic culture.

The actual Hindi term is 'sāḍī' (with an elongated 'a' and 'i'). This is the term which is still in use in India. I am surprised that those who made the claim that the sāḍī is not an eternal dress did not research properly into their claim.

The Hindi language has derived itself from the more traditional Prākṛta languages, which in turn have derived themselves from the Sanskrit language. Now in the Sanskrit language, the original term is śāṭī. This term can be found in the most glorious ripened fruit of the Vedic Literature named 'Śrīmad-bhāgavatam'. In the Bhāgavatam 9.9.7, we find the exact term,

viśvaṁ śāṭī iva tantuṣu

Translation: "Lord Śiva is pervading in the universe exactly as a śāṭī is pervading in its individual threads."

Before we derive the term sāḍī (saree) from śāṭī, we will first etymologically derive the original Sanskrit term śāṭī.

The original term comes from the Verbal root śaṭ found in Pāṇini's collection of verbal roots named dhātupāṭha. In this collection, he says that this root is used in various contexts, such as in contexts of disease, in contexts of splitting, in contexts of flow and movement, and in contexts of dejection.

For śāṭī, the appropriate context is the context of 'flow and movement'. Śāṭī is the cloth which flows with the wind.

Etymological Derivation:

śaṭ + ghañ (From Pāṇini's rule 3.3.18 — )

The gh and ñ of the suffix are eliminated to give:

śaṭ + a

The first a in śaṭ becomes elongated by the rule ata upadhāyāḥ (Pāṇini 7.2.116) to give:

śāṭ + a

= śāṭa (A cloth which flows with the wind)

From here, a feminine suffix (ṅīṣ) is added to give,

śāṭī (A cloth which flows)

The Amara-kośa, which is a standard lexicon quoted by all previous ācāryas of our sampradāya, also states this term as follows:

yaṣṭiḥ śāṭī kaṭī kuṭī (Amara-kośa 3.5.38)

Translation: Yaśṭi (stick), Śāṭī (saree), kaṭī (mats), kuṭī (thatched hut) are names related to house-hold terms.

Now, this same term changes to sāḍī in the Prākṛta languages as follows:

First, the ṭ changes to ḍ according to the following rule,

ṭo ḍaḥ (Prākṛta-prakāśa of Vararuci, 1.20)

and next, the ś changes to s according to the following rule,

śaṣo saḥ (Prākṛta-prakāśa of Vararuci, 2.43)

to give the final term 'sāḍī'. This is the term that is used today by millions. The same original term śāṭī is also found in the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjalī on Pāṇini's sūtra (2.2.6) where he says "śuklā śāṭī" (a dark colored saree).

In this way, confusions regarding Vedic Culture and its clothing can be put to rest. The term is mentioned in the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam, and other literatures belonging to the Vedic canon, and it is sufficient reason for concluding that it has been a common dress in Vedic Culture. And since vaiṣṇavas were a part of Vedic Culture, it is not difficult to understand that they followed the same customs, unless there is some evidence to the contrary.

Once again I would like to say that this article is not about discouraging anyone from any sort of preaching attempts. The article is only to state very humbly yet firmly that any such preaching need not be done by casting doubts about Vedic Culture.