Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c5.s2.t6.28

c5.s2.t6.28

The *āśrama* system is a completely new invention; the very term *āśrama* is absent in the early vocabulary. The system was created probably around the fifth century B.C.E. A careful reading of the early *Dharma-sūtras* shows that the authors of the system were Brahmins who were supporters of or sympathetic toward the ideals of celibacy and renunciation. The openness and the liberal attitude of the authors, demonstrated by the freedom of choice, which is a central element of the system, suggests that they belonged to the urban elite. The system envisages the *āśramas* as voluntary institutions. People are free to choose what they want to be as adults. The same principle was the basis of other voluntary organizations, such as the Buddhist and Jain monastic orders. It is difficult to see how the individual freedom inherent in this bold theological innovation could have arisen within a village context.