Short answers, pulled from the story.
Śramaṇa is a Sanskrit term meaning a person "who labours, toils, or exerts themselves for some higher or religious purpose," or "a seeker, or ascetic, one who performs acts of austerity." The word is derived from a verbal root meaning "to exert effort, labor or to perform austerity."
The Śramaṇa tradition includes Jainism, Buddhism, the Ājīvika movement, the Ajñana school, and the Cārvāka movement. The tradition is defined by rejection of the epistemic authority of the Vedas and explicitly excludes Hinduism.
According to scholars Olivelle and Crangle, the earliest known explicit use of "śramaṇa" appears in section 2.7 of the Taittiriya Aranyaka, a layer within the Yajurveda dated to around 1000 BCE. It refers to śramaṇa Rishis and celibate Rishis in a Vedic ritual context.
The Buddhist text Samaññaphala Sutta identifies six pre-Buddhist śrāmana schools led by Pūraṇa Kassapa (amoralism), Makkhali Gosāla (fatalism), Ajita Kesakambalī (materialism), Pakudha Kaccayana (atomism), Mahavira (Jain fourfold restraint), and Sanjaya Belatthiputta (absolute agnosticism). Each led an organized monastic order.
The Ājīvika movement declined after its peak in the late 1st millennium BCE, but continued to exist in South India until the 14th century CE, as confirmed by inscriptions in Karnataka and the Kolar district of Tamil Nadu. A major early blow came when the Mauryan emperor Ashoka ordered the killing of around 18,000 Ājīvika followers in Pundravardhana.
Śrāmana traditions contributed concepts of karma, samsara, moksha, and ahimsa that became central to all Indian philosophies including Hinduism. Patrick Olivelle proposed that the Hindu ashrama system, created probably around the 4th century BCE, was modeled on the voluntary renunciation principle found in Buddhist and Jain monastic orders.