adjective

clean, white, prominently applied to the dress as a sign of distinction (white), or special purity at festivities, ablutions & sacrificial functions DN.ii.18 (uṇṇā, of the Buddha), DN.iii.268; AN.iii.239; AN.iv.94, AN.iv.263, AN.iv.306, AN.iv.349; AN.v.62; Dhs.617 = (in enumeration of colours); DN-a.i.219; Vv-a.111. See also ava˚. -kasiṇa meditation on the white (colour) Vism.174 -vaṇṇa of white colour, white MN.ii.14; Dhs.247. -vattha a white dress; adj. wearing a white dress, dressed in white DN.i.7, DN.i.76, DN.i.104; Ja.iii.425 (+ alla-kesa). -vasana dressed in white (of householders or laymen as opposed to the yellow dress of the bhikkhus) DN.i.211; DN.iii.118 DN.iii.124 sq., DN.iii.210; MN.i.491, MN.ii.23; AN.i.73; AN.iii.384; AN.iv.217 [cp. BSk. avadāta-vasana Divy.160]

Derivation unknown. The Sk. is avadāta, ava + dāta, pp. of hypothetical dā⁴ to clean, purify