(“renunciant”) The
final of the idealized phases of life (ashrama) for a twice-born man, that is,
a man born into the brahmin, kshatriya, or vaishya communities, according to
dharma literature.
Boys born within these communities are eligible for the
"second birth," a teenage religious initiation.
A twice born man should finally renounce all possessions and
all attachments to devote himself exclusively to the search for ultimate truth
after engaging in religious learning as a celibate student (brahmacharin),
marrying and raising a family as a house holder (grhastha), and gradually
detaching himself from the world as a forest dwelling recluse (vanaprastha).
Although the term Sanyasi may (and sometimes does) apply to
any such renunciant, it is most often used to refer to the Dashanami Sanyasis,
an ascetic society claimed to have been created by the great philosopher
Shankaracharya and who are devotees (bhakta) of the deity Shiva.
