The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.60

c20.60

The first question to be answered is whether Sanyāsa became more popular than before as a result of S'ankara's teachings. The answer seems to be in the negative. The negative evidence of the epigraphical records of our period is to some extent significant. The Rāshṭrakūṭas and their feudatories and contemporaries have given a number of grants, but none has been so far discovered made in favour of a Hindu Sanyāsin or his Maṭha. Buddhist and Jain Sanyāsins very often figure in our epigraphical records but Hindu Sanyāsins never. Sulaiman, who had several times visited the ports of western India during our period, no doubt refers to Hindu Sanyasins when he says :—'In India there are persons who in accordance with their profession wander in woods and mountains and rarely communicate with the rest of the mankind. But the presence of these Sanyāsins cannot be attributed to the influence of S'ankara, for the theory of four Ās'ramas, which had been started several centuries before the time of S'ankara, was responsible for their presence. It seems that we have to admit that S'ankara's advocacy of Sanyāsa did not produce in the society an upheaval, comparable to that produced by the Upanishadic, Jain and Buddhist movements. The reason seems to be the association of Sanyāsa with the heterodoxy in the popular mind, produced by the Jain and Buddhist monasteries, that were flourishing for several centuries.