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Social Conditions
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austerities, and a harmless life, In Sannyāsa, he may succeed in realizing the supreme goal of Moksha in this very life or he may have to continue to rise in spiritual height until after several births and deaths the goal is in view.
This Āśrama system was related to the theory of the three debts--Rishisiņa, Pitsisiņa, and Devasina-and through this tripartite system, an attempt was made to pay them off. The debt to the Rishis was paid off by studying their works at the stage of Brahmacharya, the debt to parents by procreating sons and educating them at the stage of Grihasta, and the debt to gods by performing sacrifices at the stage of Vānaprastha.
It is difficult to accept the theory propounded by RHYS DAVIDS) to the effect that the four orders of life were of PostBuddhistic origin and that the Brahmanical class unable to cope with the progress of new ideas formulated the theory of Aśramas according to which no one could become either a hermit or a wanderer without having first many years as a student in the Brahmanical school. The theory of Aśrama was formulated long before the advent of Buddhism. It is possible that the separation of the last two orders, and particularly the development of the last one, may be due to the development of ascetic ideas stemming from the risc of Jainism and Buddhism.
No attempt was ever made to make the four stages obligatory except the first stage. It was not compulsory for an individual to enter into other stages. This system was never imposed arbitrarily with state legislation, ex-communication, perpetual banishment, or execution. The hold of the Āśrama dharma on the life of the people was rather loose. Had it been strictly imposed on the whole population, the conscquences would have been disastrous. It seems that it was confined only to the superior communities like the Brāhmaṇas without any binding obligation. FAMILY LIFE
Throughout this period the system most in vogue was the joint-family system, and it included father, wise, children, 1. RBI. p. 113.
