It seems, however, that only boys were sent to study outside the home, and thus the ashramic system of education contributed to a gap in learning between the sexes. Besides study, students would perform chores for their
gurū, including begging for alms from wealthy residents. It was common for rulers and other wealthy individuals to support the establishment of these educational centers.
"Graduation" was marked by social expectations as well as a ceremonial bath. In the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (1:11:1) we read that, upon completing their initial brahmacarya stage of learning, students were exhorted by their teachers to "speak the truth," "practice virtue (dharma)," and not neglect their studies or obligations to teachers, gods, and ancestors.
Over the centuries, ashrams became centers of pilgrimage, as people were drawn to one gurū or another, and to their legacies. As the spiritual magnetism of these gurūs came to attract Jains and Buddhists as well as Hindus, the forest retreats gradually lost their sectarian character.
Revival of Hindu Ashrams in Modern India
Revival of the ashram mode of life in the early twentieth century can be attributed to neo-Hindu movements and, more specifically, to Hindu Reformers like Narendranath Datta, known as Vivekananda (1863–1902), Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948), Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950) and his disciple Mira Richard, known as "the Mother" (d.
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