proof for this theory a verse of Manu, VI, 97, as Professor Bühler informs me, was quoted. But not all commentators drew the same inference from that verse. Leaving aside this controverted point, it certainly became, in later times, the custom that a Brahman, as a rule, passed through four, a nobleman through three, a citizen through two, a Sûdra through one of the four Âsramas. [1] From all this it becomes probable that the non-Brahmanic ascetics even in early times were regarded as an order separate and distinguished from the Brahmanic ascetics. We can understand that this position of non-Brahmanic ascetics led to the formation of sects inclining to dissent. That the untrue ascetics had such an origin, may be collected from a remark of Vasishtha. It is known that the performance of religious ceremonies was discontinued by the ascetics, but some went beyond this and discontinued the recitation of the Veda. Against transgressors of this kind Vasishtha [2] has the following quotation: 'Let him discontinue the performance of all religious ceremonies, but let him never discontinue the recitation of the Veda. By neglecting the Veda he becomes a Sûdra; therefore he shall not neglect it.' An inhibition pronounced so emphatically presupposes the real occurrence of the practices forbidden. If therefore some ascetics already had ceased to recite the Veda, we may conclude that others began to disregard it as revelation and the highest authority. That those who were regarded as a sort of inferior ascetics, the non-Brahmanic ascetics, were most likely to make this step, is easy to imagine. We see thus that the germs of dissenting sects like those of the Buddhists and the Gainas were contained in the institute of the fourth Âsrama, and that the latter was the model of the heretical sects; therefore Buddhism and Gainism must be regarded as religions developed out of Brahmanism not by a sudden reformation, but prepared by a religious movement going on for a long time.
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