Vrātya
mythological figure · 1 work · 1 mention · 10 anchored passages
the one Vrātya among the gods · the wandering ascetic
in the texts
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
A wandering ascetic/sacrificial figure identified with the origin of Prajāpati and with the entire structured cosmos, honored ritually as a divine guest.
If one who is a non-vrātya bearing the name vrātya comes as a guest to the house — one should draw him in, yet not compel him to stay.
In whose house a vrātya who knows thus stays as a guest for an unlimited number of nights — he thereby wins unlimited worlds.
And one who slanders a vrātya who knows thus is cut off from the assembly hall, from the tribal assembly, from the army, and from the liquor.