Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c5.s2.t2.2

c5.s2.t2.2

All culturally created worlds, however, are intrinsically unstable (Berger 1969, 29). They are constantly challenged by new experiences, by changes in geography, climate, and economics, by social and political upheavals, and by individuals and groups seeking better answers and new meanings. Here I want to examine briefly the momentous social, economic, and political changes that took place along the Ganges valley roughly around the sixth century B.C.E., changes that facilitated the rise of rival worldviews and the ascetic challenge to the Brāhmaṇical definition of the ideal religious life.