A stock phrase used to refer broadly to two distinct systems of spiritual practice and religious orientation in early India. The term “mendicants” (śramaṇa; dge sbyong) refers to a person who follows religious systems that focus on asceticism, renunciation, and monasticism. Buddhism and Jainism, among numerous other such systems, are considered śramaṇa traditions. The term brahmin refers to a person who follows the Vedic tradition and its correlate religious systems that feature the ritual worship of brahmanical deities within the context of a householder lifestyle.

A common two-member compound (dvandva) found as a stock phrase in Buddhist literature to refer broadly to two distinct systems of spiritual orientation and practice in early India. The term “śramaṇa” (Tib. dge sbyong) refers to those who took vows in non-brahmanical spiritual systems that focused on asceticism, renunciation, and monasticism. The term “brāhmaṇa” (Tib. bram ze) refers in this context not so much to brahmans in terms of caste identity alone but rather to those who actively participated in the Vedic tradition of learning and the ritual worship of brahmanical deities, mostly within the context of a householder lifestyle.