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114 1. Śramana, Vol 54, No. 10-12/October-December 2003
Holy Wanderers in Pre-Buddhist Period: This thought was attained by Rhys Davids who points towards the influence of well organized sophistic wanderers as the origin of Śramanism which was gradually taking place of Vedic religion. It is visible in the history of world that this period viz. sixth and fifth century B.C., was a renaissance period which witnessed religious development and changes throughout the world, especially in India, China and Greece, So, the extremism of Brāhmaṇas could not be the whole reason behind Śramanism. Rhys Davids notes, "The intellectual movement before the rise of Buddhism was in a large measure a lay movement, not a priestly one." According to Dutta, if we take the Buddhist Pitakas and the Jain Angas as representating North Indian life of the sixth century B.C., one interesting feature of it stands out in relief. It is the existence of a numerous community of men who are world forsackers and who live outside the organization of society. They are called by various names- Parivrājaka, Bhikku, Śamaṇa, Yati, Samnyasin etc., the last name normally used to designate men of this type in Brahmaṇical literature. They are all professed religious, homeless wanderers without kinship or social bond. It seems that the extremism of Brāhmaṇas was being diluted in the period prior to 6th Cent B.C. As regarding ritualism, saṁnyāsa and the nature of mokṣa, the Upniṣadas may be said to reveal for advanced and changed views than those found in the Vedic period." But there is nothing except the accounts of the speculative intellectual activities of Śramaņas, described in the Buddhist and Jain literature to show that there was any intellectual movement in the immediate Pre- Buddhist age. We have no such evidence which could throw light on the condition of Pre-Buddhist India.
Role of Brahmacārins: According to Spence Hardy and Kem"," Śramanism developed with Brahmacarins as their role model, because the qualities and conducts scheduled for the Brahmacarins were also scheduled for the Śramaņas as wit, celibacy, strict moral, physical discipline and zeal for studies, Rgveda denotes the Brahmacarins were the oldest among all Aśramas.16
But Brahmacarins were very young students seeking for a perfect teacher to consol their thirst for knowledge. They stayed with their 'teachers while studying only a few of them stayed there for their whole
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