Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c11.13

c11.13

§ 55. *The forest-hermit and the mendicant.* At the beginning of old age when one sees his skin becoming wrinkled and the hair turn gray and sees the son of his son, the Gṛhastha should enter the stage of the forest-dweller (*vānaprastha*) (M. 6, 2 etc.). His wife shall either accompany him to the forest or remain behind with his sons. According to the Vaikh. sū., in the former case he is called Sapatnīka and as such is either Audumbara, Vairiñca, Vālakhilya or Phenapa; without the wife he is called Apatnīka and as such belongs to one of the numerous varieties such as Kālasika, Uddaṇḍaka, Aśmakuṭṭa, Dantolukhalika, Uñchavṛttika, Bailvāśin, Pañcāgnimadhyaśāyin, etc. Their names are based on the various kinds of self-mortification which the Vānaprasthas inflict on themselves. All of them shall clothe themselves in barks of trees or skin, let their hair and nails grow, live on fruits, plants and the roots of the forest, morning and evening offer sacrifice in the Śrāmaṇaka fire kindled on special ceremonies, generally perform the five Mahāyajñas as before, observe chastity, bathe three-times a day and sleep on earth (Vi. 94; Gaut. 3, 26—36; Baudh. 2, 11, 15 etc.). As special self-mortifications they shall expose themselves in summer to the heat of the sun enhanced by four fires, in the rainy season sleep on earth, in winter wear wet clothes, roll about on earth, stand all day long on the toes or sit down and stand up alternately, stand with hands stretched upwards or with a stick raised high, shall gaze steadfastly at the sun or keep the face turned to the earth, remain under water for a long time, would not speak, fast for a whole month, etc. (M. 6, 22—32; Vi. 95; Vaikh. Dharmasū. 1, 7—11). Ṛṣi Vikhanas is said to have been the founder of the order of forest-dwellers, after whom they are also called Vaikhānasas (Baudh. 2, 11, 14); an apparently later shoot of his teachings is the Vaikhānasasūtra (§3). Perhaps this order was never universally recognised.¹ The class of the forest-dwellers belongs to the institutions obsolete in the present age (kalivarjya) and even Gaut. and Āp. mention the mendicant before the forest-dweller, and according to Baudh. 2, 17, 2—5, Y. 3, 56 etc., one may directly enter the state of the Bhikṣu from the stage of the Gṛhastha or the Brahmacārin.