Mahābhārata: - Saṃnyāsa, Yajña-dāna-tapas
Saṃnyāsa, Yajña-dāna-tapas
By the time of the Mahābhārata, it seems that several people had given up worldly life and had taken up saṃnyāsa; they practiced abstinence and lived on roots and fruits in āśramas (hermitage) that they constructed in the wild. It was common for the kings to take up the lifestyle of a muni (sage, ascetic) during old age. Saṃnyāsa is the fourth āśrama (stage of life).