Mar 30, 2014 — USA (SUN) — On reading the first article, some readers raised a doubt – "the term 'dhauta' is only an adjective and it does not necessarily denote a cloth. Only when it is used with the term 'vastra' does it denote a cloth."
To them, I wish to say what Srila Jiva Goswami says in his commentary to Srimad-bhagavatam (3.33.6). He says that "rūḍhir-yogam-apaharati", or in other words, conventional usage of words overtakes etymological meaning of words.
For example, in the English language, the term 'mobile' actually means 'that which can move around freely'. The term 'mobile' etymologically is derived from the Latin term 'mobilis', which means 'the ability to move around freely'. However, the term is now conventionally used to denote a 'mobile phone'.
Similarly, the term 'dhauta' is an adjective, but it is conventionally used to denote a cloth. If it is said that the term 'dhauta' cannot be used to denote a cloth, then it is as good as saying that the term 'mobile' cannot be used to denote a mobile phone.
Of course, if different words are added to the term 'mobile', it will have different meanings, for example – 'mobile van', 'mobile home' etc. However, the conventional usage of the term 'mobile' alone denotes a mobile phone only.
Similarly, although different terms added to the term 'dhauta' can produce different meanings, the term 'dhauta', and especially the term 'dhautī' became associated with cloth. The Amara-kosh, which is perhaps the most popular Sanskrit lexicon in India, gives the following names for cloth used by men:
patrorṇaṁ dhauta-kauṣeyaṁ bahu-mūlyaṁ mahā-dhanam (Amara-koṣa, ṁanuṣya-varga)
ṭranslation: "patrorṇa, dhauta-kauṣeya etc. are names of cloth to be worn."
Therefore, even the lexicographers before ādi-shankaracharya agree that the term 'dhauta' is used in connection with cloth. In case anyone still thinks that 'dhauta' does not conventionally refer to cloth, they should refer to Srila Jiva Goswami's logic given in Srimad Bhagavatam (3.33.6).
