The Mauryan Polity c11.s1.t2.24

c11.s1.t2.24

4. Regard for Brahmans and Śramaṇas⁶ (*saṃpratipatti*). The term Śramaṇa means ascetic in the broad sense. It does not mean, as has been taken by almost all scholars, heretical sects of ascetics. Śramaṇa in Sanskrit literature of the period of our study is an equivalent and synonym for the *parivrājaka*, whatever might have been its meaning in later times. This *parivrājaka* is the Hindu Sannyāsin of the orthodox type. The term has been unfortunately taken to mean Buddhist and Jaina monks. But more of this later on.