COTTON. 



171 



was held ; for it is said that the sacrificial thread of a 

 Brahmin must be made of cotton^ so as to put on over his 

 head^ in three strings ; that of a Cshatriya^ of sana (sun- 

 hemp) only ; that of a Yaisya^ of woollen thread/^ These 

 were probably three orders of Priests — the Brahmins, 

 Cshatriyas, and Vaisyas. In Book viii. p. 197 we have 

 evidence of the minute attention paid by the Hindoos to 

 the mechanical arts, and of the antiquity of the process of 

 starching ; for it is directed, — ^ Let a weaver who has re- 

 ceived ten palas of cotton-thread, give them back increased 

 by eleven of the rice-water, and the like used in weaving ; 

 he who does otherwise shall pay a fine of twelve panas/ 



Another passage given by Dr. Eoyle, upon the authority 

 of Professor Wilson, would seem to imply that cotton, and 

 the process of starching it, were known at a very much 

 earlier period than that already alluded to ; it occurs in the 

 first book of the ^Eigveda,^ Hymn 105, v. 8, written pro- 

 bably fifteen centuries before the Christian era : Cares 

 consume me, Satakratu, although thy worshiper, as a rat 

 gnaws the weaver^s threads.'''' It is suggested by the emi- 

 nent Sanscrit scholar that the threads of the weaver were 

 of starched cotton, and that the rats were tempted by the 

 starch with wliich the fibres were dressed. 



