ABSTRACT
This chapter consolidates Veena Das’s reading of the Dharmaranya Purana with the question of why there is no sanyasi Brahmin in the Purana. Das does not raise this question. This chapter argues that the Purana cannot have a sanyasi Brahmin as a separate entity such as, say, Buddhist or Jain monks in the Purana, since this Purana was composed long after the theological unification of the householder Brahmin and the renouncer Brahmin. Veena Das reads this Purana through the categorical partitions of king-Brahmin renouncer, though the last two are basically embedded in one single Brahmin body. Further, based on Das’s reading, this chapter discusses how discrete jatis differentiate themselves based on untouchability. This Purana, in a way, summarises Olivelle’s reading in the first two chapters.
