Note On Class Of Ascetics Called Unmajjaka

Author(s): A Wezler
Publisher: A Wezler

Page 13

The class of ascetics called unmajjaka
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why was it developed? Did the udavāsa practice have this seasonal character' right from the beginning, or are not at least some of the Mbh. passages examined above (§ 3) clear evidence that udavāsa was practised by some vānaprasthas through the whole year, even continuously for a number of years?
But one should not, of course, for this reason jump to the conclusion that the 'seasonal conception' cannot but be of later origin. For it is immediately plausible that e.g. the 'five-fire-tapas' is, and hence was most probably also in fact considered to be, most effective (as regards "drying up the body", śarīraśoşana) when the sun sends out heat at its strongest, i.e. in summer; and it is equally clear that practising this kind of tapas at this time of the year was accordingly expected to give the best, i.e. quantitatively largest, result in the shape of accumulated prabhāva/tejas (etc.) substance. Hence it cannot be denied that the connection between certain forms of tapas and certain seasons is indeed a natural one, i.e. suggests itself to anyone who wishes to achieve a maximum by mortifying his flesh in the extreme. It is then not less natural for an ascetic to bring his self-mortification in line with the sequence of the seasons and to make an optimal use of what they offer him.
A further point has also be taken into consideration in connection with the 'seasonal conception of tapas. The testimony of the Epics, at least of their narrative parts, in contradistinction to that of the normative and — in the case of BaudhDhS 3.3.1ff. only too evident - systematic character of Dharmaśāstra texts", clearly points in the direction that at least certain vānaprasthas did not, as the BaudhDhs would seem to suggest, practise just one form of tapas only for whatever period they decided to mortify themselves and to accumulate prabhāva/tejas, etc., but rather followed various practices one after the other, sometimes perhaps in accordance with the rotation of seasons and/or even intensifying their tapas in one way or other.
76. S.A. Srinivasan rightly regards BaudhDhS 3.3. even "to have a certain artificiality about it" (o.c. (see note 8], p. 63).
77. That is to say, that in spite of doctrinal' agreements between the Mbh, and Dharmaśāstra texts I am less reluctant than Sprockhoff stems to be (I.c. (see note 11), p. 23ff.) to assign to the Epic, i.e., of course, its narrative parts, an independent testimonial value, in principle capable of supplementing and correcting the information of the normative and often also systematic Dharmasūtras and -smrtis. In passing only I should like to mention here that Jäjali who among other ascetic practices performs that of udavāsa, too, (sce above $ 3) is said at Mbh. 12.253.40 to have taken a bath tarpayitva hutāśanam.
78. In that it distinguishes between different types of ascetics (and not different kinds of ascetic practices).