Shramana Tradition: Origin, Elements, Significance and Influence on Indian Culture

Shramana Tradition: The Vedic religion served as the foundation for the ancient Indian religious movement known as Shramana. It took a new route, distancing itself from Vedic Hindu rituals and the Brahmins’ (the Hindu religion’s ancient priesthood) authority. Shramanas were ascetics who gave up all material possessions in order to lead a strict and selfless life and attain spiritual liberation. They are commonly referred to as monks. The Shramana tradition movement gave rise to both Buddhism and Jainism. 

You will learn about the concept of Shramana in this article, which will help you prepare for the UPSC Civil Service Exam by learning about Indian art and culture.

The Origin of Shramana

Several Sramana movements are known to have existed in India before the sixth century BCE. The origin of Shramana is as follows:

• While Shramana was separate from Vedic Hinduism, it coexisted with it.
• The Shramana disciples, who gave up marriage and a stable home life to pursue an ascetic path of severe self-discipline and abstain from all luxuries, stood in stark contrast to the dominant Vedic ritualism.
• The Shramanas repudiated the Brahmins, who were believed to be the guardians of sacred knowledge contained in the Vedas.
• The Brahmin caste, or social class, in Vedic Hinduism is made up of priests and teachers who act as intermediaries between the gods and their devotees.
• Historically, brahmins have conducted religious ceremonies in temples and led hymns and prayers during milestone events such as marriages.
• Originally from India, the term “shramana” was used to describe any ascetic, hermit, or religious practitioner who abandoned society and the secular world to devote all of their attention to religious truth.
• The Indian tradition of Shramana evolved in two stages: Paccekabuddha, which is the tradition of the lone ascetic or “lone Buddha” who departs from the world, and Savaka, which is the phase of disciples, or those who congregate as a community, like a monastic sect.

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Typical Elements of Shramana Tradition

The main elements of the Shramana tradition are as follows: 

• Nastika Philosophy: These are the philosophical traditions that rejected the Vedic authority. They are referred to as “Heterodox schools” or “Nastika schools of thought” in this context.
• Protest against Brahmanism:These movements started out as a protest against Brahmanical concepts.
• Less Ritualistic: Jainism and Buddhism did not practise ritualism to the same extent in the beginning.
• Open for all: Complex rites were not necessary for Brahmanas to carry out. New philosophical concepts are emerging, such as materialism, the doctrine of niyati (fatalism), karma, etc.

Significance of Shramana

A tradition is a belief or practice that has symbolic meaning and is passed down through the generations within a group or community.

• The Shramana lineages borrowed from established Brahmin notions to build their own views.
• The Shramana traditions are based on a range of concepts, some of which diverge significantly from traditional Hinduism and its six schools of Hindu philosophy.
• There are differences between the belief that every individual has a soul and the denial that souls exist at all.
• Shramana traditions cover a broad range of beliefs, from extreme asceticism that renounces all worldly pleasures to vegetarianism and meat intake, as well as family life and other topics.
• The various Shramana movements originated in ancient India in the same circles that gave rise to Yogic practices, which are based on the Hindu philosophy of union with a supreme being or principle and a path of physical and mental discipline to achieve liberation from the material world.
• The Shramana traditions drove the so-called Hindu synthesis after the Vedic era, spreading across regions of Southeast Asia and southern India.
• As it spread, this new Hinduism incorporated local customs and popular non-Vedic gods, together with the integrated socio-economic divisions of the caste system.
• The Shramana traditions gave rise to other Hindu systems, including Jainism, Buddhism, and yoga.
• They also gave rise to shared concepts about moksha, or escape from the birth-death cycle, and sasra, or the cycle itself, which are found in all major Indian faiths.

Also Read: Samkhya Philosophy

Shramana – Influence on Indian Culture

The Shramana traditions inspired both Hinduism and Indian culture. Let’s see the influence on Indian culture: 

• Some academics think that Shramana or other ascetic traditions are the source of the ideas of birth and death, samsara, and liberation.
• During the Upanishadic era, Brahmanical views are influenced by Sramanic doctrines.
• Though the concepts of Brahman and Atman (Soul, Self) may be traced back to pre-Upanishadic layers of Vedic literature, the eclectic nature of the Upanishads reveals the emergence of new doctrines, most likely from Sramanic movements, through infusions of social and philosophical ideas.
• In Shramana traditions, the two main topics of discussion were karma and samsara. The beliefs of the Shramana had an influence on all schools of Indian philosophy.
• Examples of ideas that might have started in the shramana or renunciation traditions before becoming popular are karma and reincarnation.
• Many theories exist regarding the origins of concepts such as Ahimsa, or nonviolence.
• The first mention of the word “Ahimsa” in the Hindu sense (a rule of conduct) is found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which was composed in the seventh century BCE.
• Because it forbids violence against “all beings” (sarva bhuta), practitioners of ahimsa are thought to be immune to the cycle of metempsychosis.

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