- Purushottam Agarwal

Acharya Shankhapani's age was indeterminate, it could have been one hundred years, might be even two hundred years or even still more. No body knew for certain the actual figure; out going generation of the villagers could only say that ' They have been seeing him as he was that day with same features and wrinkles on his face.' Any body hardly knew that Acharya’s real name was Somadeva. For that matter no body in that region either had any curiosity to know such things. It was enough for them to call him Acharyaji.

 Acharya belonged to Mithila, a town on the bank of Sadanira in the foothills of Himalayas. He was born in the Race Vratyas, the members of which traditionally used to wander from place to place with their flocks and herds. They did not believe in settled life and therefore never owned any land or place. They were always unsettled and camped at any human establishment only for few weeks. They did not have any well-defined religion or faith. Apparently they were not confined to any society nor ever claimed to have some place of their origin.

Their only possessions were a small cattle folk and skill in handicraft. They brought articles and consumables of one place to another. Thus they were traders also in a small sense of it. 

What general public did not know was that they belonged to erstwhile warrior class and were experts in martial arts. Only prominent kings and chieftains knew this secret and kept it well guarded for their own interest. They clandestinely used to assign jobs to them to train soldiers in various martial arts. Many kings tried to lure them to settle down in their kingdoms but a settled life was not agreeable to this race. They had their own code of conduct and one of it was not to belong to any thing or place.

 When staying at a place they participated in the religious functions or festivities of the place just to remain acceptable by the mass. They did not follow nor had faith in Vedic rites. For them Buddhism or Jainism or Islam was one and the same thing. There was probably a deep-rooted hatred in their psyche for every religion and faith; there must be some reason or rather a deep-rooted reason for this. And obviously these traits of character did not fit into settled life at any one place. They were born free and preferred to live free.

 The Vratyas, the title by which the members of the Clan were known, were actually nomadic renegade Aryans who had not been able to settle down permanently due to economic and social compulsions, prevailing at that point of time in history.  A legend was sublimely carried in Acharya's Ashram that Vratyas belonged to Indo-Iranial tribe that was not only valorous but also wise also in worldly ways. People had found some traces in history to substantiate their viewpoint.