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A Sramana (Sramati tapasyatiti Sramanah) is one who performs acts of mortification or austerity. According to the definition, a being is himself responsible for his own deeds. Salvation, therefore, can be achieved by anybody irrespective of caste, creed, color or culture. The Cycle of Rebirth to which every individual is subjected is viewed as the cause and substratum of misery. The goal of every person is to evolve a way to escape from the cycle of rebirth, namely by discounting ritual as a means of an emancipation and establishing from the misery of Samsara, through pious religious activities. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... A Shramana (Sanskrit) is a wandering monk in Indians shramana traditions, which include Jainism Buddhism Ajivikas, now extinct Mahavira, the 24th Jina, and Gautam Buddha were leaders of their shramana orders. ...

Etymology

Sramana is derived from "Srama" --- to exert, effort, labor or to perform austerity. It is mixed in with the meaning "Sama" --- equal, evenly distributed, to emancipate from Karma. Sramana is a Sanskrit term. Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म from the root kri, to do, meaning deed) or Kamma (Pali: meaning action, effect, destiny) is a term in several eastern religions that comprises the entire cycle of cause and effect. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम्) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ...

Sramana Movement

Sramana came to mean "strivers" in the 6th century BC. These were people who strived for an alternate path to achieve salvation other than by the means of rituals. (7th century BC - 6th century BCE - 5th century BCE - other centuries) (600s BCE - 590s BCE - 580s BCE - 570s BCE - 560s BCE - 550s BCE - 540s BCE - 530s BCE - 520s BCE - 510s BCE - 500s BCE - other decades) (2nd millennium BCE - 1st millennium BCE - 1st millennium) The 5th and 6th centuries BCE were...

Sramana Teachings and Schools

The two most prominent (and longest lasting) Sramana teachings have become what we know as Buddhism and Jainism. Other examples of Sramana schools are the Ajivakas who believed karma and rebirth to be completely fate based, with nothing in the control of individuals, as well as the Lokayatas who practiced secular hedonism, believing that there is no rebirth or karma and that we should simply fulfill all of our bodily desires as much as humanly possible. A replica of an ancient statue of Gautama Buddha, found from Sarnath, near Varanasi. ... Pre-Kushana Ayagapatta from Mathura Jainism (pronounced in English as //), traditionally known as Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म) , is a religion and philosophy originating in the prehistory of South Asia. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Sramanas in Western litterature

Nicolaus of Damascus (c.10 CE)

Nicolaus of Damascus is famous for his account of an embassy sent by an Indian king "named Pandion (Pandyan kingdom?) or, according to others, Porus" to Caesar Augustus around 13 CE. He met with the embassy at Antioch. The embassy was bearing a diplomatic letter in Greek, and one of its members was a sramana ("Σαρμανο") who burnt himself alive in Athens to demonstrate his faith. The event made a sensation and was quoted by Strabo^[1] and Dio Cassius^[2]. A tomb was made to the sramana, still visible in the time of Plutarch, which bore the mention "ΖΑΡΜΑΝΟΧΗΓΑΣ ΙΝΔΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΒΑΡΓΟΣΗΣ" ("The sramana master from Barygaza in India"). Nicolaus of Damascus (Nikolāos DamaskÄ“nos) was a Greek historical and philosophical writer who lived in the Augustan Age. ... A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ... The Pandyan kingdom was an ancient state at the tip of South India, founded around the 6th century BCE. It was part of the Dravidian cultural area, which also comprised other kingdoms such as that of the Pallava, the Chera, the Chola, the Chalukya and the Vijayanagara. ... For the mythological figures, see Porus (Greek mythology) and Porus (Roman mythology). ... The famous statue of Octavian at the Prima Porta Caesar Augustus (Latin:IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGVSTVS) ¹ (23 September 63 BC–19 August AD 14), known to modern historians as Octavian for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, is considered the first and one of the most... Thirteen can also refer to the cardgame Events Last year (5th) of shijianguo era of the Chinese Xin Dynasty Abgarus of Edessa is reinstalled as king of Osroene Senate passed a senatus consultum restricting the reduced Vigintisexviri to the Ordo Equester Tiberius made his triumphant procession through Rome after siege... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα Athína IPA ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world. ... Strabo (squinty) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. ... Dio Cassius Cocceianus (155–after 229), known in English as Dio Cassius or Cassius Dio, was a noted Roman historian and public servant. ... Plutarch Mestrius Plutarchus (c. ... Bharuch (also known as Broach) is a district in south Gujarat state in India. ...

Clement of Alexandria (150-211)

Clement of Alexandria makes several mentions of the Sramanas, both in the context of the Bactrians and the Indians:

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sarmanaeans among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sarmanae ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραφμαναι")." Clement of Alexandria "Exhortation to the Heathen" ^[3] Map showing the location of Tel Kaif, Iraq and the neighboring areas. ... For other uses of the name Assyrian, see Assyrian Assyrians are an ethnic group found in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon, who are speakers of various neo-Aramaic languages. ... Druidry or Druidism was the religion of the ancient druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic and Gallic societies through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ... Gallia (in English Gaul) is the Latin name for the region of western Europe occupied by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Bactria (Bactriana) was the ancient Greek name of the country between the range of the Hindu Kush (Caucasus Indicus) and the Amu Darya (Oxus), with the capital Bactra (now Balkh). ... A Celtic cross. ... Magi (Μάγοι) were Zoroastrian astrologer-priests from ancient Persia. ... The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... Desert hills in southern Judea, looking east from the town of Arad Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhûḏāh) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of historic Palestine, an area now divided between Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. ... Young Indian brahmachari Brahmin A Brahmin (less often Brahman) is a member of the Hindu priestly caste. ...

It should be noted that, to Clement of Alexandria, "Bactrians" seems to mean "Oriental Greek", as in a passage of the Stromata: "It was after many successive periods of years that men worshipped images of human shape, this practice being introduced by Artaxerxes, the son of Darius, and father of Ochus, who first set up the image of Aphrodité Anaitis at Babylon and Susa; and Ecbatana set the example of worshipping it to the Persians; the Bactrians, to Damascus and Sardis." The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Book I, Clement of Alexandria. ^[4] Artaxerxes was the name of several rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia: Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes II Artaxerxes III Arses of Persia is believed to have taken the royal title of Artaxerxes IV. Bessus, the Persian nobleman who murdered Darius III of Persia, renamed himself Artaxerxes when he claimed the... Darius is the coolest kid on earth. ... Darius II, originally called Ochus and often surnamed Nothus (from Greek νοθος, meaning bastard), was emperor of Persia from 423 BC to 404 BC. Artaxerxes I, who died shortly after December 24, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes was murdered... Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty,and the patroness of physical love. ... Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, Ü’Ü’Ü  in Assyrian, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (Location: , , modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... For other uses of the name Susa please see this page. ... Ecbatana (Hañgmatana in Old Persian, Agbatana in Aeschylus, written Agamtanu by Nabonidos, and Agamatanu at Behistun) was the capital of Astyages (Istuvegü), which was taken by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great in the sixth year of Nabonidos (549 BC). ... The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... Bactria (Bactriana) was the ancient Greek name of the country between the range of the Hindu Kush (Caucasus Indicus) and the Amu Darya (Oxus), with the capital Bactra (now Balkh). ... Damascus by night, pictured from Jabal Qasioun; the green spots are minarets Damascus (Arabic officially دمشق Dimashq, colloquially ash-Sham الشام) is the capital city of Syria. ... Sardis, (also Sardes) the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, the seat of a conventus under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine times, was situated in the middle Hermus valley, at the foot of Mt. ...

Porphyry (233-305)

Porphyry extensively describes the habits of the Sramanas (whom he calls Samanaeans) in his "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV ^[5]. He says his information was obtained from "the Babylonian Bardesanes, who lived in the times of our fathers, and was familiar with those Indians who, together with Damadamis, were sent to Caesar": For other meanings of Porphyry, see Porphyry Porphyry (c. ... Babylonia was an ancient state in Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... Bar Daisan (154-222), also latinized as Bardesanes, was a Syrian gnostic and an outstanding scientist, scholar, and poet. ...

"For the polity of the Indians being distributed into many parts, there is one tribe among them of men divinely wise, whom the Greeks are accustomed to call Gymnosophists. But of these there are two sects, over one of which the Bramins preside, but over the other the Samanaeans. The race of the Bramins, however, receive divine wisdom of this kind by succession, in the same manner as the priesthood. But the Samanaeans are elected, and consist of those who wish to possess divine knowledge." Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV Gymnosophists is the name (meaning naked philosophers) given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought. ...

"All the Bramins originate from one stock; for all of them are derived from one father and one mother. But the Samanaeans are not the offspring of one family, being, as we have said, collected from every nation of Indians..."Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV

On entering the order: "The Samanaeans are, as we have said, elected. When, however, any one is desirous of being enrolled in their order, he proceeds to the rulers of the city; but abandons the city or village that he inhabited, and the wealth and all the other property that he possessed. Having likewise the superfluities of his body cut off, he receives a garment, and departs to the Samanaeans, but does not return either to his wife or children, if he happens to have any, nor does he pay any attention to them, or think that they at all pertain to him. And, with respect to his children indeed, the king provides what is necessary for them, and the relatives provide for the wife. And such is the life of the Samanaeans. But they live out of the city, and spend the whole day in conversation pertaining to divinity. They have also houses and temples, built by the king". Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV

On life and death: "They are so disposed with respect to death, that they unwillingly endure the whole time of the present life, as a certain servitude to nature, and therefore they hasten to liberate their souls from the bodies [with which they are connected]. Hence, frequently, when they are seen to be well, and are neither oppressed, nor driven to desperation by any evil, they depart from life." Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV

See also

• Jainism
• Buddhism

Pre-Kushana Ayagapatta from Mathura Jainism (pronounced in English as //), traditionally known as Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म) , is a religion and philosophy originating in the prehistory of South Asia. ... A replica of an ancient statue of Gautama Buddha, found from Sarnath, near Varanasi. ...

Footnotes

1. ^  Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens (Paragraph 73)
2. ^  Dio Cassius, liv, 9.
3. ^  Clement of Alexandria "Exhortation to the Heathen"
4. ^  Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I
5. ^  Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV, Paragraphs 17&18.