Cotton

This word does not appear in most English translations of the OT, only in RSV and NRS at Est 1:6, where it translates the only occurence of the Hebrew word karpas. There are four known species of the cotton plant (Gossypium sp.), three of which are native to the subtropical regions of the Old World, and the fibres are naturally white. The fabric referenced in Est 1:6 probably indicated cotton from Gossypium arboreum, a tree native to India and Pakistan where it had been cultivated for thousands of years. It is also interesting that Esther is also the only book in the Bible to refer to 'India' (1:1; 8:9).