The Mauryan Polity c11.s2.t11.1

c11.s2.t11.1

It must be remembered that the order of *Sannyāsa* either of the orthodox or the heterodox type, did not begin with the Buddha or even Mahāvīra. It was a very ancient institution. The *dhyāna yoga* attributed to the Buddha finds a mention in the *Upaniṣad* and the epics. In fact it is much earlier than we would ordinarily believe. We have archæological evidence to show that this institution of yoga can be traced as far back as to the prehistoric culture of the Indus Valley.¹ At Mohen-jodāro a group of stone statuettes are found though in a mutilated condition. But the bust which is in a good state of preservation is characterised by the stiff erect posture of the head, the neck, and the chest, and the half-shut eyes looking fixedly at the tip of the nose, in conformity with the description in the *Bhagavad Gītā*.² It is undoubtedly the posture of the *yogin*.³ Rāmaprasād Chanda recognises in these statuettes the images of the *yatis*, first friends and then foes of Indra, as seen from some hymns of the *Ṛg Veda*; and those *yatis* were probably the forerunners of the *vrātyas*.⁴ Von Schroeder interprets the expression *yati* as a *shamana* or a diviner, sorcerer.⁵ What do these things bear testimony to? They indicate clearly that *yoga* and asceticism were not peculiar to the Mauryan epoch or even to the few centuries before it. But it goes far back into the prehistoric times and it is not possible to determine when exactly such speculation in regard to religion and philosophy commenced.