4 - A Definition of World Renunciation

Summary

Louis Dumont (1960) has drawn our attention to the unique character of world renunciation in India. Renunciation (saṃnyāsa), it is claimed, is a negative state –as its very name suggests– a denial of all that makes society what it is. Being an anti-structure to the established society, it is defined not by what it is, but by its rejection of the social structures. This is what sets it apart from all other ascetic and religious institutions of the world.

Such a view, attractive as it may seem, is always subject to the criticism that it is an alien interpretation made under the influence of certain anthropological and sociological theories. It is, therefore, helpful to examine how the Indian renouncers themselves understood their condition as renouncers.

In the very extensive literature on renunciation, both orthodox and heterodox, rarely does one come across a formal definition of renunciation. However, a work entitled Yatidharmaprakāśa by Vāsudevāśrama (Ypra; Olivelle 1976–77) begins its discussion of renunciation with just such a definition. I will first give the Sanskrit text and its translation, and then examine how it helps us understand the significance and the essential features of world renunciation in the context of the traditional Indian society and social doctrine.

saṃnyāso nāma vidhito gṛhītānāṃ nityanaimittikakāmyaśrautasmārtakarmaṇāṃ praiṣamantraṃ samuccārya parityāgaḥ ∥