Editing Saffron (section)

=== South Asia ===
[[File:Maitreya Bodhisattva and Monks Singapore.jpeg|thumb|right|Buddhist adepts wearing saffron-coloured robes, pray in the Hundred Dragons Hall, [[Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum]], Singapore.]]

Conflicting theories explain saffron's arrival in South Asia. Kashmiri and Chinese accounts date its arrival anywhere between 2500 and 900 years ago.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lak |first=D. |date=23 November 1998 |title=Gathering Kashmir's Saffron |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/213043.stm |access-date=12 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Fotedar |first=S. |date=1999 |title=Cultural Heritage of India: The Kashmiri Pandit Contribution |periodical=Vitasta |publisher=Kashmir Sabha of Kolkata |volume=32 |issue=1 |page=128 |url=http://vitasta.org/1999/index.html |access-date=15 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929225731/http://vitasta.org/1999/index.html |archive-date=29 September 2011  }}</ref>{{Sfn|Dalby|2002|p=95}} Historians studying ancient Persian records date the arrival to sometime prior to 500 BC,{{Sfn|McGee|2004|p=422}} attributing it to a Persian transplantation of saffron corms to stock new gardens and parks.{{Sfn|Dalby|2003|p=256}} Phoenicians then marketed Kashmiri saffron as a dye and a treatment for melancholy. Its use in foods and dyes subsequently spread throughout South Asia. Buddhist monks wear saffron-coloured robes; however, the robes are not dyed with costly saffron but [[turmeric]], a less expensive dye, or [[jackfruit]].{{Sfn|Finlay|2003|p=224}} Monks' robes are dyed the same colour to show equality with each other, and turmeric or ochre were the cheapest, most readily available dyes. [[Gamboge]] is also used to dye the robes.{{Sfn|Hanelt|2001|p=1352}}{{clear left}}