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TILAKAMANJARI OF DHANAPĀLA
or later years of their lives for the sake of earning merit or leading a life of peace and equanimity. This fact is corroborated by Dhanapala himself who says
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"अहो पूर्वजन्मान्तरसंचितैरशुभकर्मभिरायोजिताः सुनिपुणमपि निरूपितोपायैर्मनीषिभिरनीषत्कराः परिहर्तुमुपतापा: '
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that the 'manīsis' or the thoughtful persons take to renunciation under the pressing fiats of Destiny bringing forth certain sins as a result of which they are forced to undergo this way of life.
All this makes it manifest that Vanaprastha and Samnyasa had nothing to do with the stipulated periods of the age of 50 to 75 and to 100 years. It was Brahmacarya till the completion of education and initiation into the life of a householder that could last up to the age of 25 to the maximum and after that a person could lead the life of a householder till his final exit enjoying all the privileges of seeing the faces of sons, grandsons, great grand sons etc. In accordance with the dicta of Hindu Law (Dharmasastra) a man could enter the life of a householder at the age of sixteen, which was normally the last stage of acquisition of education in the relevant period in case of princes in particular. Persons in royal service acting emissaries as apostate monks, wandering mendicants etc. could take to the life of Vanaprasthins or Samnyasins at the raw age of flushing youth etc.
2. SACRAMENTS OR SAMSKĀRAS
Dhanapala has described the pre-natal, post-natal or samskāras of childhood, the educational, the marital and funeral samskāras all in accordance with the exigency of the situation required to be depicted.
Garbhadhāna or conception is the pre-natal sacrament described and illustrated with full background marking its urgency and inevitability of performance.
According to Dr. Raj Bali Pandeya,
"The rite through which a man placed his seed in a woman was called Garbhādhāna. It must have taken a very long period for the evolution of this samskāra. In the beginning procreation was a natural act. A human pair copulated, whenever there was a physical demand for it, without any anticipation of progeny, though it was a usual consequence. The Garbhādhāna Samskara, however, presupposed a well-established home, a regular marriage, a desire of possessing children and a religious idea that beneficent gods helped men in begetting children'.2
1. TM Vol. III p. 659.
2. Hindu Samskaras p. 48.
