Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c11.15

c11.15

The mendicant or the ascetic (bhikṣu, yati, sannyāsin, parivrājaka, pravrajita), according to the usual conception, is the fourth stage in the life of the Brahmans.² As the bhikṣu can own no property, at the time of entering this state one should perform a smaller sacrifice (iṣṭi) to Prajāpati in which the whole property is given away as the sacrificial fee (Vi. 96, 1 etc.). About other ceremonies on the occasion of this act see Baudh. 2, 17; without home or property (Vas. 10, 6) the monk shall roam about as a beggar, shall stay nowhere for a long time, sleep on earth, wear a loin-cloth as his only dress, shave his head bald, hold in his hand three staffs intertwined with each other and a beggar's bowl and a water-pot, eat only what is given to him voluntarily, yet never any meat or sweets. He shall enter a village only to beg, but only in the evening when the time of taking meal is past; he can beg for alms only in seven houses, but shall not be depressed if he gets nothing, nor exult if he gets something.