Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c11.20

c11.20

To the Vānaprasthas correspond the Ulobioi of Megasthenes (fr. 41) who remain in the forests, live on leaves and fruits of wild trees and wear clothes made of barks of trees. Alberuni describes the Vānaprastha and the Bhiksu as well as the two primary Āśramas just like the Smṛtis but the picture seems to have been taken merely from literature and not from actual life. Penances like those of the Vānaprasthas are mentioned about the "fakirs" of the present day¹. The modern "bhikṣuks" are the spiritual Brahmans as distinct from the worldly Brahmans, the Gṛhasthas². Among the Sannyāsīs there are ascetics of various sects, specially Śaivas. Worldly men now-a-days rarely enter religious orders; on the other hand, the spiritual people of many sects and castes may marry as according to the Smṛtis the Vānaprasthas could have their wives with them. That it was not compulsory to go over to the spiritual life from the Gṛhastha life, is indicated in the Smṛtis in this way that they often call the Gṛhastha class the best without which the other classes could not exist (Gaut. 3, 36; M. 5, 87—90 etc.).