Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2.458

v2.c4.s2.458

There is no recognition in Vedic literature of the rule later prevailing by which, after spending part of his life as a Brahmacārin, and part as a householder, the Brahmin became an ascetic¹¹⁷ (later divided into the two stages of Vānaprastha, ‘forest-dweller,’ and Saṃnyāsin, ‘mystic’). Yājñavalkya’s case¹¹⁸ shows that study of the Absolute might empty life of all its content for the sage, and drive him to abandon wife and family. In Buddhist times the same phenomenon is seen¹¹⁹ applying to other than Brahmins. The Buddhist texts are here confirmed in some degree by the Greek authorities.¹²⁰ The practice bears a certain resemblance to the habit of kings, in the Epic tradition,¹²¹ of retiring to the forest when active life is over.