Manava Dharmashastra 6.25

6.25

vitāne bhavā vaitānāḥ śrautāḥ | tānsamāropayedbhasmapānādividhānena | ātmani samāropaṇavidhiśca śravaṇākādavagantavyaḥ | cirakālaṃ yadā tapaścaritaṃ bhavati, samastyavasthāṃ vayaḥ prāptaṃ, tadā vānaprastha eva san'anagniraniketaḥ' parṇakuṭīṃ nivāsārthāṃ jahyāt | kva tarhyāsīta | upariṣṭādvakṣyati “vṛkṣamūlaniketana” iti ( 6 | 26 ) | 'muniḥ' 'syāditi' saṃbadhyate | tenāyamartha ukto bhavati--vāṅniyamaṃ kuryāditi | maunavratadhārī niyatavāgucyate loke | mūlaphalāśanaḥ | anyānnanivṛttyarthametat | nīvārādīnyāraṇyānyapi nāśnīyāt |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Vaitāna’—Śrauta.

These fires he shall reposit within himself, by swallowing their ashes and perfoming such other rites as have been laid down in connection with it. The exact procedure of this repositting should be learnt from the Śravanaka (?).

When austerities have been performed for a long time, and the man has reached seventy years of age, then, still remaining a hermit, he shall be ‘without fires and without a house’; i.e., he shall give up his thatched dwelling-house.

“Where then should be live?”

He shall dwell ‘at the roots of trees’,—as is going to be said in the next verse.

‘He shall be a silent hermit’.—The construction is ‘muniḥ syāt’, ‘he shall be a muni’; which means that he shall keep his speech under control; the man who has his speech under control is called ‘a keeper of the vow of silence’.

‘Living upon roots and fruits’.— This serves to exclude all other kinds of food; he shall not eat even Nīvarā and the other wild grains.—(25).