vratya

vratya, wandering ascetic, member of either an ethnic group or a sect, located principally in the Magadha (Bihar) region of ancient India. The vratyas lived outside the fold of the dominant Vedic society and practiced their own forms of austerity and esoteric rites. The Rigveda uses the term vratya fewer than a dozen times, usually in reference to a breakaway group or an inimical horde of men living in temporary settlements. The Atharvaveda (see Veda) speaks of the “mystical fellowship” of the vratyas. The Brahmanas, which associate the god Rudra with the vratyas, depict them as ascetics roaming about in an intoxicated state but also describe a purification ritual called a vratya-stoma (“vratya chant”) and speak of the vratyas as physicians and as guardians of truth. Some scholars conjecture that the vratyas might have been a source of non-Vedic beliefs and practices introduced into the Vedic religion.