Pītāmbara — Bhagavān's Golden Raiment
Pītāmbara (Sanskrit: pīta = yellow, golden + ambara = garment, sky, raiment; 'the golden-yellow garment') is one of the most celebrated and recognizable divine attributes of Bhagavān Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa/Kṛṣṇa — the brilliant golden-yellow silk garment worn around His waist and thighs. The term appears in the Bhagavad Gītā (Chapter 11, the Viśvarūpa Darśana) where Arjuna describes the cosmic form adorned with divine ornaments, and throughout the Bhāgavata Purāṇa where it marks every description of Kṛṣṇa's divine form. The pītāmbara is described as having the brilliance of freshly molten gold or the radiance of a thousand suns: it catches the light and throws a golden aura around Bhagavān, heightening the luminosity of His divine form. The compound pītāmbara-dhara ('wearer of the yellow garment') is one of Bhagavān's standard epithets, appearing in the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma and in daily pūjā invocations.
The symbolic significance of the color yellow (pīta) in Viśiṣṭādvaita theology is multifaceted. Yellow is the color of gold (hiraṇya), of the sun (āditya), of fire (agni) — all symbols of jyotis (divine light) in the Upaniṣads. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad and Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad describe Brahman in terms of luminosity — the Self-luminous, the Golden Person (hiraṇmaya puruṣa) in the sun. The pītāmbara thus connects iconography to Upaniṣadic insight: Bhagavān's garment declares His nature as the supreme Light, the jyotir brahman. Additionally, the color yellow is associated with prosperity, auspiciousness (maṅgala), and the quality of sattva (purity, clarity) in Sāṃkhya thought — all befitting Bhagavān who is beyond the three guṇas yet displays their highest form.
In Śrī Vaiṣṇava iconographic tradition, the pītāmbara is the mark that distinguishes Vaiṣṇava deity forms from Śaiva (whose garments tend toward white or ash) and Śākta forms. The offering of yellow silk (pīta-pīṭāmbara) to the deity during special festivals and on Thursday (Bhagavān's day) is an important act of alaṅkāra-kaiṅkarya. The Āzhvārs frequently describe the golden-yellow garment in their pāsurams — Tiruppāṇāzhvār's Amalānadipirān explicitly mentions the golden-hued waist region as one of the glories of the Lord at Śrī Raṅgam, and Nammāzhvār describes Bhagavān as clothed in fire-like radiance (tīṉ-ambara).