History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.37

v3.c46.37

In many works ascetics are divided into four classes. The Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana 141. 89) says that ascetics are of four sorts, kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, haṁsa and paramahaṁsa, each later one being superior to each preceding one. Vaik. VIII. 9, Laghu-Viṣṇu IV. 14-23, Sūtasaṁhitā (Mānayogakhaṇḍa chap. 6), Bhikṣukopaniṣad, Prajāpati (quoted by Aparārka p. 952) define these four. They do not all agree. The kuṭīcaka, as the name itself implies, is one who resorts to sannyāsa in his own house or in a hut erected by his sons, begs food of his sons and relatives, wears the top-knot, the sacred thread, has the three staffs, carries a water-jar and stays in the same hut. The description of these four contained in Vaik.,²¹⁵³ being probably among the oldest available, is set out here. The kuṭīcakas stay in the hermitages of sages like Gautama, Bharadvāja, Yājñavalkya and Hārīta, take eight morsels of food every day, know the essence of the path of Yoga and hanker only after mokṣa (release). The bahūdakas have three staffs, the water-jar and wear garments dyed with ochre, beg for food at seven houses of sage-like brāhmaṇas or other well-conducted men but avoid taking flesh, salt and stale food. The haṁsas stay not more than one night in a village and not more than five nights in a town for alms or subsist on cow's urine or dung, or fast for a month or always perform the cāndrāyaṇa penance. Pitāmaha quoted in Sm. M. (varṇāśrama p. 184) states that the haṁsas carry only one daṇḍa, enter a village only for alms and otherwise stay under a tree or in a cave or on a river bank.