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Hospitality was a characteristic of the Vedic life; especially the
wandering ascetic, pravrājaka, was highly respected. He is
called vŗtya.
"Let him rise up of his own accord to meet the vŗtya and
say, vŗtya, where did you stop overnight?
Here is water, let it refresh thee...”(15.11)
The status of the wandering monk was even greater than that of the
king as declared in (15.10).
A characteristic of Vedic society was that
strangers were welcomed and respected. The strangers could be
these belonging to the same society but residing in different
places or they may belong to different societies with different
norms.
"Let us have concord with our own people, And concord
with strangers;
Ashvins, create between us and strangers a unity of
heart. (7.52) ".
See the section "the wandering monk".
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