India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s3.9

c11.s3.9

*ŚRAMAṆA*—Pāṇini refers to *Śramaṇas* and unmarried female ascetics (*kumārī śramaṇā*, II.1.70). This *sūtra* is connected with another in the *Ashṭādhyāyī*, viz., *Kumāraścha* (VI.2.26) which regulates the accent of the word *kumāra* in such compound words as *kumāra-śramaṇā* and others of this class. This *gaṇa* also mentions *kumāra-pravrajitā*, and *kumāra-tāpasī*, a girl embracing the life of a wanderer, and a girl taking to penance. In the oldest *Śrautasūtra* literature the meaning of *śramaṇa* is an ascetic in general; for example, in Baudhāyana a *muni* is described as *śramaṇa* and asked to offer *puroḍāśa* to Agni standing in knee-deep waters of the Sarasvatī (*Baud. ŚS.*, XVI.30, ASB, edit., p. 276).