Jain tradition puts great emphasis on the renunciation. Whether renunciation and monkhood implied the absolute discarding of all attachments including the cloth formed the major point of the divide in the Jain tradition. Variety of versions of the episode has come up. The paper probes into these depictions. The symbolism attached with the cloth in the Jain philosophical and literary heritage has also been explored in the paper. Cloth as an object became platform for expression of the Jain ideals. Jain cloth paintings (vastrapatakas) made their mark in the history of Indian art.