Ṛṣi in Early India: A Study of Ṛṣis’ Asceticism

Abstract

           This research article aims at clarifying the status and concept of ṛṣis in Early India since the Vedic Era to the time before the Common Era. It studies this term through some major interchangeable names called to ṛṣis found in the Brahmanical and Buddhist texts, and analyses ṛṣis’ status in relation to the nature of “asceticism” understood at that time. The results show that none of the Brahmanical definitions given to ṛṣis expresses them as the renouncing ascetics. ṛṣis’ asceticism is determined by some great ṛṣis’ mental qualities, not by ṛṣis’ ways of life. The term most proper to call a Brahmin ṛṣi  is “tāpasa,” not “munī.” The terms “munī” and “Pabbajita” are reserved to call some particular great ṛṣis who enter the stream of liberation, or live their lives as the renouncers only.