Ascesi e sistema rituale come istituzioni anticamente solidali: il caso dei Vratya nell'India vedica ed epica

Here many Vedic, late Vedic and Mahabharata occurrences of the noun vratya are surveyed, which can be evaluated as pieces of evidence of a veritable old vratya-context such as has been reconstructed from Heesterman’s contributions onward, in particular through the new details and insights added by Falk 1986, reconsidered in the light both of the late-Vedic fresco recently painted by Bronkhorst 2007. Here the hypothesis of interpreting the Vratya-figure as a kind of a Brahmacarin is retrieved, provided that it constitutes a permanent option meant to renounce the autonomous grhastha-life.