प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

II] YAJÑOPAVĪTA, THE SACRED THREAD 295
or svādhyāya.¹ Yajñopavīta denoted the upper
garment when it was worn in the proper manner
prescribed for sacred occasions. Taittirīya Saṁhitā is
explicit on the point; it says that Yajñopavīta means
wearing the garment in a particular manner; when
the garment is passed under the right and over the
left shoulder, it becomes Yajñopavīta according to the
authority of Brāhmaṇa works.² The same garment
was called Prāchīnāvīta when it was worn exactly in
the reverse way, and Nivīta when it was allowed to
hang down like a garland.
**Its prehistoric Form :—**The upper garment that
was thus used was normally a piece of cloth. But
in prehistoric times when the art of spinning and
weaving was not known, it was a piece of deer-skin.
Taittirīya Āraṇyaka states that it should be a piece
of deer-skin, rather than a piece of cloth.³ In the
course of time when clothes became common, the
upper garment also became a cotton product, but
earlier tradition of the deer-skin was in a way
preserved by continuing the use of a small patch of
deer-skin on such occasions. In later times when
Yajñopavīta as a piece of cloth was replaced by
Yajñopavīta in the form of the thread, this piece of
deer-skin was strung into it. This custom still
obtains at the time of Upanayana.

1. उत्तरं वासः कर्तव्यं पञ्चस्वेतेषु कर्मसु ।
   स्वाध्यायोत्सर्गदानेषु भुक्ताचमनयोस्तथा ॥
   Baudhāyana in SCS, p. 299.
2. वासो विन्यासविशेषो यज्ञोपवीतम् ।
   दक्षिणं बाहुमुद्धरतेऽवधत्ते सव्यमिति यज्ञोपवीतमिति ब्राह्मणम् ।
3. अजिनं वासो वा दक्षिणत उपवीय । I. II.