Those who strive
Śramaṇa means 'one who strives'. By the 5th century BCE, the growing cities and kingdoms of the Ganges plain were home to many such seekers: men, and some women, who had left the household life, lived on alms and followed teachers who claimed to know the way out of suffering and rebirth.
They rejected the authority of the Vedas and the brahmin priests. Instead they relied on discipline, meditation, fasting, debate and personal experience.
Six famous teachers
An early Buddhist discourse, the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, describes a king who had questioned six well-known teachers of the day. Their views ranged widely: that actions have no moral result, that everything is fixed by fate, that nothing survives death, or that no firm answer can be given at all.
One of the six, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, is the teacher Jains know as Mahāvīra. Another, Makkhali Gosāla, led the Ājīvikas, a movement that later disappeared. Their rivalry with the Buddha is a recurring theme in the early texts.
What survived
Of all the śramaṇa movements, only two survive as living religions: Buddhism and Jainism. Both kept the ideal of renunciation, the monastic community supported by lay followers, and the goal of freedom from rebirth, while disagreeing sharply on how to reach it.
Why it matters
Siddhartha Gautama's search for awakening emerged within this wider culture of wandering seekers.
History and tradition
What historians can say
Most of what is known about the śramaṇa teachers comes from Buddhist and Jain texts, each of which describes its rivals in unflattering terms. The Ājīvikas are also mentioned in Ashoka's inscriptions, which show they still existed in the 3rd century BCE.