History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.30

v3.c46.30

(17) He should be *tridaṇḍī* (carrying three staffs) according to Yāj. III. 58, while Manu VI. 52 simply says he should be *daṇḍī* (i. e. carrying a staff). The word *daṇḍa* is used in two senses, a staff of bamboo or restraint. Baud. Dh. S. II. 10. 53 gives an option that he may be *ekadaṇḍī* or a *tridaṇḍī* and also says that he should not cause harm to creatures by speech, actions and mind (II. 6. 25). Manu XII. 10, which is the same as Dakṣa (VII. 30), declares that that man is called *tridaṇḍī* who has restraint over his speech, mind and body. Dakṣa makes certain apt remarks 'Even gods who pre-eminently possess the *sattvaguṇa* are carried away by pleasures of sense; what of men? Therefore he who has given up his taste for pleasures should resort to *daṇḍa*; others cannot do it as they will be carried away by pleasures. An ascetic is not called *tridaṇḍī* by carrying bamboo staffs; he is *tridaṇḍī* who has the spiritual *daṇḍa* in him. Many people make their livelihood under the guise of (carrying) three *daṇḍas*' (VII. 27-31, quoted by Aparārka p. 953). Restraint of speech requires that he should observe silence, restraint of action that he should cause injury to no creature and restraint of mind that he should engage in *prāṇāyāma* and other yogic practices. Dakṣa himself says (I. 12-13) that the three staffs are the special outward sign of a *yati* as the girdle, deer-skin and staff are the outward signs of the vedic student or long nails and beard are *indicia* of the forest hermit. Laghu-Viṣṇu IV. 12 says he may be *ekadaṇḍī* or *tridaṇḍī*. The Jīvanamuktiviveka (p. 154)