 The word "asteya" is a compound derived from Sanskrit language, where "a" refers to "non-" and "steya" refers to "practice of stealing" or "something that can be stolen".Thus, "asteya" means "non-stealing".In Jainism, it is one of the five vows that all Śrāvakas and Śrāvikās (householders) as well as monastics must observe.