rebirth. The ideas of spiritual liberation using different terminology, is found in ancient texts of non-Buddhist Indian traditions, such as in verse 4.4.6 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of Hinduism. The term may have been imported into Buddhism with much of its semantic range from these other sramanic movements. However its etymology may not be conclusive for its meaning. Different Buddhist traditions have interpreted the concept in different ways, and the term has had a range of meanings over time. Extinction and blowing out One literal interpretation translates nir√vā as "blow out", interpreting nir is a negative, and va as "to blow"., giving a meaning of "blowing out" or "quenching". It is seen to refer to both to the act and the effect of blowing (at something) to put it out, but also the process and outcome of burning out, becoming extinguished. The term nirvana in the soteriological sense of "blown out, extinguished" state of liberation does not appear in the Vedas nor in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads. According to Collins, "the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it nirvana." The term nirvana then became part of an extensive metaphorical structure that was probably established at a very early age in Buddhism. According to Gombrich, the number of three fires alludes to the three fires which a Brahmin had to keep alight, and thereby symbolise life in the world, as a family-man. The meaning of this metaphor was lost in later Buddhism, and other explanations of the word nirvana were sought. Not only passion, hatred and delusion were to be extinguished, but also all cankers (asava) or defilements (khlesa). Later exegetical works developed a whole new set of folk etymological definitions of the word nirvana, using the root vana to refer to "to blow", but re-parsing the word to roots that mean "weaving, sewing", "desire" and "forest or woods": vâna, derived from the root word √vā which means "to blow": (to) blow (of wind); but also to emit (an odour), be wafted or diffused; nirvana then means "to blow out"; vāna, derived from the root vana or van which mean "desire", nirvana is then explained to mean a state of "without desire, without love, without wish" and one without craving or thirst (taṇhā); adding the root √vā which means "to weave or sew"; nirvana is then explained as abandoning the desire which weaves together life after life. vāna, derived