Mauni

Derived from the word muni (“sage”),
mauni designates a person who is
observing a vow of silence as a religious
act. Just as members of certain Christian
monastic orders observe a vow of
silence to turn their thoughts inward
and enrich their inner lives, in the same
way Hindu ascetics have taken vows of
silence as a tool for spiritual development. At times these vows may be for a
finite period of time (a week, a month,
and so on), but even now there are
ascetics who have not spoken in
decades, communicating through
expression, gesture, and writing on a
piece of paper or a slate.