Ascetics in India

Main article: Religion in India

Philosophical Systems of India

Main article: Philosophical Systems of India

Dashanami Shankaracharya: sadhu, sannyasi, nagi, swami

Dashanami (tradition of ten names) - the order of monks, wandering hermits (sadhu), originating from Adi Shankaracharya.

During the widespread use of Buddhism in India, the number of Hindu monks significantly decreased. Adi Shankaracharya, who lived in the 9th century, was able to revive the monastic tradition of Hinduism by combining the disparate currents of the sadha into a well-organized structure, dividing into 10 parts according to the nature of the worldview of its adherents. At the same time, several other monastic traditions remained outside the organization by the Dashanami.

Adi Shankara had four students who led four major sampradayas (philosophical concepts). These four had ten students, who eventually headed ten directions with centers:

• in Dwarak to the west in Gujarat (Tirtha and Ashrama),
• Jagannathadham Puri to the east in Odisha (Vana and Aranya),
• Shringeri in the south in Karnataka (Saraswati, Puri and Bharati)
• Jyotirmathe to the north in Uttarakhand (Giri, Parvata and Sagara).

The connection of the Dashans to the Advaita Vedanta tradition founded by Shankaracharya is not comprehensive.

Dashans come in two categories, the first wear a danda (pole), the second do not. Dandu are worn by those dashans who were caste brahmanas before the adoption of Sannyasa. Such Dashans adhere to many restrictions related to rituals, nutrition, with contacts with worldly people, they have many prescriptions.

The Dandins are three lines of ten in the Dashanami tradition, the hallmark of whose adherents is a pole wrapped in cloth that they always carry with them and symbolizes the jiva's unity with Brahman. The purpose of such a sannyasa is moksha as the comprehension of true self by renouncing all manifestations of the material world. The monks of the order lead an ascetic lifestyle, live on alms.

All Dashanami orders were ascetic and used the practice of jnana yoga, but much later, due to the popularity throughout India, everyone who adhered to Advaita Vedanta began to join them, and some of the Dashanim stopped focusing on asceticism.

Members of the Dashanami order have compound names: Swami (title) + personal name + name of one of ten directions. For example, Swami Ramakrishna Puri or his disciple Swami Vivekanada Puri.

The title "Jagadguru Shankaracharya" denotes one of the four supreme leaders of the order.

How the Naga Sadhu Recruitment Goes

In January 2025, Maha Kumbha Mele was being recruited for initiation candidates as Naga Sadhu (naked hermits).

Thousands of young Sanyasi ready to become nagas in different akharas, with the intention of sacrificing everything for Sanathan Dharma, have applied. Akhara issues registration questionnaires with which people who wish to become Naga are secretly interviewed. Their data is checked. For more details see Kumbh Mela

Gosain

The monk warrior is a famous figure in the history of medieval Europe and the Middle East. Much less is known about armed Hindu ascetics who played a significant role in the Indian wars of the eighteenth and first decades of the nineteenth centuries.

The role of religious devotees, called sannyasi, fakir, naga or gosain (gosina, gossai, gosavi and goswa), was noted in historical literature in connection with their military and economic activities in North and West India.

Letters and memoirs of the mid-17th century, starting from the time of the French traveler Tavernier, often mention these brave warriors. During the troubled years of the final collapse of Mughal power in India, most of its northern regions were captured by looting gangs of armed religious ascetics, who usually traveled in large groups of cavalry and infantry, taking great tribute under the guise of alms from the areas through which they passed, and ready to fight anyone who opposed their advancement. In the ranks of these warrior monks, representatives of all the main religious orders that were then founded in North India could be found.

The ancient orders are not at all proud of this remarkable episode in their history. Some go so far as to deny that their brotherhood played any role in these events. However, among other strong evidence, the clear distinction still drawn in several orders between the true consecrated and the modern descendants (in a straight or spiritual line) of the old Naga fighters makes this fact indisputable.

The term "gosain" was broadly applied to followers of Shaivism

The term "gosain" was broadly applied to followers of Shaivism, some of whom were priests, others were wandering poor monks, others served as mercenaries in the army of princes and leaders in the eighteenth century, others lived in maths ("monasteries") in the main cities and combined religious and commercial activities, and the fourth settled in rural areas, where they had extensive land holdings to maintain their maths.

The term "gosain" comes from the Sanskrit "goswami" (lord of passions) and was originally understood as a person who, for the sake of veneration of God and for the good of his soul, completely curbed his passions and could devote his whole life to devotion and penance.

The spiritual chapters of the Vallabhacharya sect are also called Gosains.

History of paramilitary orders formed during Mughal rule

Talking about the brotherhood of peaceful ascetics who suddenly took up arms is unlikely to be fair. In the case of militant unification such as Sikhs, it is likely that this was the case, although even the Sikh community never went without its non-belligerent members. Militant Sikhs are distinguished by the title Akali, "immortals." The order was founded by the Tenth Guru.

However, the transformation of other orders followed the path of reception with or without any formal initiation ceremony, a large number of warriors, solely for defense purposes. Calling on such a ​​vooruzhennuyu force was clearly easier than dissolving it when its presence began to cause inconvenience. If the situation were less dangerous, it is hard to imagine having to resort to such a desperate means.

At that point, it seemed to be the only alternative to total extinction. Harmless sadhus who attended large religious fairs preferred to travel in the company of armed comrades-in-arms. In times of imminent danger, rival sects, forgetting their theological differences, turned to a military leader who, in the role of mahant, or abbot, presided over the akhara, or monastic settlement, best able to provide effective protection. Yet opening the doors of religious orders to this undisciplined crowd of nominal devotees couldn't help but have a profound impact on their subsequent history.

The origin of the movement is of great interest. Successive waves of Muslim invasion beginning in the twelfth century brought to India, as part of the conquering armies, crowds of reckless adventurers of all stripes. Among them were a large number of Muslim fakirs or dervish (darwesh), who were introduced to the use of weapons by the religious wars of that time. Armed with spears and battle axes, they roamed the conquered areas freely, killing and robbing at will. Hindu ascetic orders were among those most affected at their hands. Religious pilgrimage sites, with their constant stream of pious offerings, were a favorite hunting ground for fanatical faqirs. Deadly attacks were carried out on groups of defenseless pilgrims bathing in these sacred places. The sympathies of the Muslim authorities were mostly on the side of the aggressors. In the absence of remedies, this senseless violence inevitably triggered a response.

Yogi - followers of Gorakhnath - arm themselves first

Of the famous Hindu ascetic orders, the first to resort to arms were yogis, or nathi, disciples of Gorakhnath, commonly known as kanfata (forked ears) due to the heavy pendants of stone or metal they wore in their ears.

In both theory and practice, the yogi was less constrained by the characteristic Hindu doctrine of ahimsa (nonviolence) than members of other religious orders. From earliest times, the cult was associated with dark and intimidating rites in which the sacrificial sword played an important role, and human sacrifices were not uncommon. Yogis were also great practitioners of magic. They were widely credited with possessing occult powers as a result of their asceticism: a reputation that allowed them to play to particular effect on the hopes and fears of those who sought secular power. The yoga adept thus became a trusted advisor to the Rajas and nobles, and often a secret agent in promoting their plans.

There can be no doubt that it is as not just "ghost comforters" but powerful secular allies that we find these "Druids of India," as Tod picturesquely calls them, attached in the early period to the courts of several Rajput princes such as Bappa Rawal of Mewar (Udaipur) and Rao Jodha of Marwar (Jodpur).

One of these yogic advisers of a later time, when the master's affairs were running out, predicted his imminent accession to the throne. Colonel Tod quipped about this case: "The prophetic gurus surrounding the princes turn out to be dangerous comrades when, in addition to the position of compilers of drugs and interpreters of dreams, they are endowed with the power to realize their own predictions!" ^[1]

Therefore, it is not surprising that of the famous historical orders of yoga, the first to offer armed resistance to Muslim oppressors. It is also easy to see how, with their growing numbers and power, the war of self-defense soon turned into active aggression, not only against Muslim abusers but also against their Hindu co-religionists.

Dr. Farquhar cites, among other examples, the case of the leader of the yogis, who around 1500 C.E. "had his lands in Western India and contained a significant amount of yogis. Every three or four years, about three thousand of these warriors went on pilgrimages and taxed the whole country with indemnity. " "Never have I seen yogis like this," exclaims reformer Kabir around the same time. "Should I call such people ascetics or bandits?^[2]..

1565: Sannyasi of seven akhars attract non-Brahmins and arm them by permission of Akbar

The next important group to join the militant movement is believed to have been the Sannyasi, the most revered of all classical religious orders. Sannyasi reorganized by Shankaracharya in the ninth century (see above).

What seems to be a genuine tradition is that in the reign of Akbar (1556-1605), a famous Sannyasi scholar from Benares named Madhusudana, who belonged to the akhara Saraswati, asked the emperor to allow his order to take appropriate measures for his own protection. It was proposed that "double-born" non-Brahmans (i.e. people from military and commercial castes) should now be enlisted as combat sannyasi. The emperor is said to have given his consent.

In support of this passage from an unwritten history, the fact was already mentioned that in North India in the middle of the 20th century only three (three and a half, to be precise) out of ten akhar sannyasi were designated as "pure," that is, consisting entirely of Brahmins. In the south, which the movement barely touched, all suborders are clean. "

"The saying still common in the North that three-and-a-half akharas are pure refers to the fact that when Madhusudana introduced non-Brahmans into seven groups, half of the Brahmanic membership of the Bharati akhara wanted nothing to do with desecration and, as a result, went south to Shringeri and was included in the pure Bharati suborder there. Thus, half of the Bharati akhara in the North has kept its purity. "

Dr. Farquhar dates the armament of the sannyasi to about 1565. Perhaps it started even earlier. The habit of carrying arms in self-defense may have spread so much that it was considered appropriate to obtain the emperor's sanction before the right to do so was challenged.

As soon as the Sannyasi received permission to carry weapons, disagreements broke out among them. The story tells that while in a camp in Taneshwar in 1567, Akbar observed with great pleasure an armed skirmish between members of akhar Giri and Puri and even sent some of his men to help the weaker side.

Armed statehouses become fans of Shiva, begin to accept money, eat meat, drink wine and kill Vaishnavs

Armed sannyasi were commonly known as Gosains (Goswami, Lord of Cattle, a name applied to various types of ascetics), as well as Dashnami, members of the Order of Ten Names. Other more general titles were Atit (beggar), Swami (master) and Mahapurusha (great soul, dignitary or saint).

In violation of the rules of their order, they accepted money, and also (like yogis) freely indulged in eating meat and intoxicating drinks. Unlike the real sannyasi, they were ardent adherents of the god Shiva and sworn enemies of Vishnu fans. Tradition tells of two infamous leaders of the gosain who took a vow to kill two vairagas (Vaishnava ascetics) daily before eating. When they failed to achieve their goal, they usually made clay figures of their enemies, attached the corresponding sect sign to them, and destroyed their images. It was believed that this led to the death of the victim.

Arming Vaishnavas to Counter Yogis

There is every reason to believe that it was the violence suffered by their ascetic brothers, yoga and sannyasi, as well as Muslim persecution, that led to the mass arming of the third major group of Hindu devotees, Vishnu-worshipping sects whose members were commonly referred to as bairags (vairags, those who curbed their passions).

The exact date is not easy to establish, but this event could not occur much later than the arming of the sannyashi. One case in their history may encourage us to attribute it to a much earlier period. This was apparently the violent expulsion of yogis led by Tara Nath from Galta, a sacred swimming pool in a narrow gorge east of the modern city of Jaipur, during the reign of Prithivvi Raj Amber (1502-1527).

As spiritual advisers to the rulers of Amber (the ancient capital of Jaipur), yoga has long held a strong position in Galta. During the period mentioned, a group of Vaishnava ascetics led by the illustrious saint Krishnadas Payahari succeeded in crowding out their rivals and permanent possession of Galta. One can doubt whether the weapons of their war were entirely spiritual. Legendary accounts of miraculous feats by which Payahari and his followers upset the deadly designs of their yogi opponents suggest that if they were not fully armed, they were at least able to meet strength by force.

It is noteworthy that the combat (lashkari) part of Ramanandi, which for a long time held undisputed leadership among the fighting bairags, dates its existence as a separate organization to this period.

18th century

The eighteenth-century Gosains traced their spiritual origins to religious leader Shankaracharya. All gosains theoretically belonged to one of the akhars ^[3] KOHN.

Apparently, the bulk of the gosains operating in North India in the 18th and early 19th centuries belonged to the akhara of the gosain Gir or Giri.

James Rennel, an early British geographer and employee of the East India Company, encountered a group of Gosain in 1767 near the Bhutanese border as they headed for a pilgrimage to Bengal.

Their movements were often dictated by religious festivities, both local rustic in nature and more widely celebrated, such as Hawley. Since these festivals were also reasons for seasonal markets, the state states could move goods and trade them between districts.

The numbers of such itinerant religious groups may have been large, with likely numbers exceeding 50,000 for communities led by figures such as Umrao Giri and Himmat Bahadur Anup Giri Gosein in the late 1700s. Their numerical composition allowed them to provide self-defense, as well as protect the trade routes they used, regardless of who could wield titular power in a particular region.

At least one of the three separate events, which are grouped into the so-called Sanyasi uprising, involved the state states along with other cases of their frequent clashes with the East India Company army on the northern borders of Bengal.

One of the main causes of the conflict was the collection of taxes by British colonialists from local nobility, which deprived the latter of the opportunity to pay traditional alms to ascetic groups.

Phakir Group, 1880

Researchers

The scientific studies of Professor J.N. Farquhar revealed a lot of interesting information about the militant ascetics of India, and in particular about the armed sannyasi, to reveal the history of which he was specially aimed. It was a subject on which there was little information, and further clarification of which he believed would contribute greatly to understanding the confusion of sects in North India. For Dr Farquhar, like many of his friends, it was a poignant disappointment that he was forced by ill health to leave India before finishing a study that had already begun to produce valuable results. The materials of his research were embodied in two articles published in June 1925: one entitled "Organization of the Sannyasi Vedanta" in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the other entitled "Warring Ascetics of India" in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library (vol. 9, No. 2).

The article "Armed Religious Ascetics in North India" by W.G. Orr, a former missionary of the Church of Scotland in Rajputan, was conceived in the 1930s as an addition to these two studies and aimed ​​na combining new ^[4]

Notes