[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v2.c4.s7.1465 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s7.1465 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s7.1465 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c4.s7.1465](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.1465) The locality in which the Vrātyas lived cannot be stated with certainty, but their nomad life¹² suggests the western tribes beyond the Sarasvatī. But they may equally well have been in the east: this possibility is so far supported by the fact that the Sūtras make the Brahmin receiving the gift of the Vrātya’s outfit an inhabitant of Magadha. The Atharvaveda¹³ does not help, for it treats the Vrātya in so mystical a way that he is represented as being in all the quarters. Indeed, Roth¹⁴ believed that it was here not a case of the Vrātya of the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa at all, but of a glorification of the Vrātya as the type of the pious vagrant or wandering religious mendicant (Parivrājaka). This view is clearly wrong, as the occurrence of the words uṣṇīṣa, vipatha, and pratoda shows. It is probable that the 15th Book of the Atharvaveda, which deals with the Vrātya, and is of a mystical character, exalts the converted Vrātya as a type of the perfect Brahmacārin, and, in so far, of the divinity.¹⁵ - [Previous: v2.c4.s7.1464](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.1464) - [Next: v2.c4.s7.1466](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.1466) - [Up: v2.c4.s7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.1465](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s7.1465) · Pramāṇa