Akhāṛās Warrior Ascetics

Akhāṛās Warrior Ascetics The Hindi term akhāṛā means “wrestling arena,” hair short, many wear jatạ̄ (dreadlocks). In terms from which akhāṛiyā derives, meaning “master of appearance and lifestyle, nāgās are in many fighter,” “skilled manoevrer,” or “strategist.” respects indistinguishable from South Asian There is a network of akhāṛās throughout India, Sufifaqīr s (Arab.; Hind. fakīr). Some nāgās prac- particularly in the north, where men train in wres- tice rigorous austerities, such as maintaining an tling and other methods of fighting.Akhār ̣ās arm aloft (ūrdhvabāhu) or remaining standing specialize in various techniques of fitness and (khaṛeśvarī) for many years (see also → sādhus); combat, which include the use of weights, clubs, some practice yoga exercises. and maces. The akhāṛās have a resident guru. The wrestlers’ patron deity is → Hanumān. This network of akhāṛās, which serves local men who Origins of the Akhārạ̄ s typically train before or after work, is distinct from another network of akhāṛās pertaining to One of the earliest available (semihistorical) ref- groups of (formerly) militant ascetics with par- erences to militant (or armed) ascetics (or yogīs) ticular religious and sectarian identities. in the Indic world is in Bāṇabhatṭ a’ṣ 7th-century That religious ascetics would be inducted romance Harsacaritạ based on the life of King into fighting regiments is neither necessarily Harsa,̣ who ruled (606–648 CE) North India from perverse – in the context of the history of tradi- Kanauj and Thanesar (Sthāṇvīśvara), near Kuruk- tional Hinduism – nor necessarily a radical break shetra (150 km northwest of Delhi). In the from a previous mode of life. There is an obvious Harsacaritạ appear two ascetics (Pātālasvāmin similarity in the lifestyles of both soldiers and and Karṇatāla) who eventually become employed ascetics: both require rigorous self-discipline, as personal guards to King Puspabhūti,̣ “elevated enduring the hardships of lengthy travel and to a fortune beyond their wildest dreams . occu- extended periods of camping; subsistence, some- pying the front rank in battle” (HCar. 3.130). In times, on meager rations; being subservient to a the Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃ graha (8th–10th cents.), commander or guru; and enduring extended (or there is a reference (18.202–207) to “mendicant permanent) celibacy. In medieval India, asceti- mercenaries with strange weapons” who are cism, trade, and war were not incompatible. described as shaven-headed → Pāśupatas who are Fighting ascetics are usually referred to as nāgās protecting trade. There are a couple of references (deriving from the Hindi term naṅgā, “naked”). (see Sanderson, 2009, 261–262n616) in the Nāgās are usually almost naked, except for a loin- Mayasaṃ graha (5.182) and the Piṅgalāmata cloth (laṅgotī/kaupīṇ ), and besmear their bodies (10.28–31), from the 9th to 12th centuries, to with ash known as bhasm or vibhūti (“supernatu- Śaiva mathạ s (monasteries) containing armories ral powers,” “dignity”), the most sacred (or pure) for the storage of weapons of war. In a frequently form of which is made from the product of burnt cited reference to fighting ascetics in the mid- and filtered cow dung. They keep a sacred fire 16th-century Bījak of → Kabīr (Ramainī 69), scorn (dhūnī), and some have experience of training in is poured on yogīs, siddhas (another name for fighting and the use of basic weaponry, particu- yogīs), mahants (chiefs/superiors), and ascetics larly the sword, mace, and dagger. Some members who resort to arms, keep women, and collect (particularly nāgās) of some akhāṛās smoke a property and taxes. An entourage of (perhaps) great quantity of gāñjā (the buds of female can- three thousand, which included armed yogīs nabis plants) and caras (cannabis resin), mostly in in service to a yogī king in conflict with a ruler chillums (Hind. cilam, clay pipe), and may also in Gujarat, is described by Ludovico di Varthema regularly eat bhāṅg (prepared cannabis leaves; see of Bologna the early 16th century (see Winter also → intoxicants). While some nāgās keep their Jones, 1863, 111–112) in what may be the first 12 Akhāṛās account by a European of a contingent of armed patronage. During the latter half of the 16th cen- ascetics. tury and the early part of the 17th century, a num- Another incident often referred to in accounts ber of bands of fighting ascetics formed into of the early history of akhāṛās is of a conflict akhāṛās with sectarian names and identities. reported at Thanesar. In 1567 the Mughal emperor These armies were of mercenaries who often Akbar (1542–1605) watched a battle between two largely disbanded during cessations of conflict groups of ascetics who had become disputatious and during harvest times, when many of the men concerning the right to collect alms from pilgrims would return home to attend to agricultural who had gathered at an annual pilgrimage to duties. The formation of mercenary nāgā armies Thanesar. The two groups, who numbered around occurred largely in parallel with the constitution three hundred and five hundred, are referred of a formal and distinct identity for many of the to, respectively, as “Purī” and “Kur” (or Gur) currently recognizable sects of sādhus, including saṃ nyāsīs by Abu al-Fazl, one of the court biogra- the Rāmānandīs and Daśanāmīs. Several com- phers of Akbar. The “Gurs” were in all probability mentators (e.g. Orr, 1940) have maintained that “Giris” (Purī and Giri are two of the ten names of members of the Nāth sect (→ Nāth Sampradāya) saṃ nyāsīs: see below). The fighting ascetics were have at times constituted elements of nāgā armies, armed with stones, swords, and cakras (metal but there seems to be no substantial evidence wheels that may be hurled at opponents). Akbar to support this assertion. It is most likely that instructed his troops to assist the Purīs, who were observers mistakenly identified either Rāmānandīs the faction weaker in number, resulting in their or Daśanāmīs as Nāths. victory. About a score of the combatants died. Some commentators follow J.N. Farquhar (1925), who reported, based on anecdotes, that Madhu- Conflicts Involving Armies ofNāgā s sūdanasarasvatī (1540–1647), the well-known → Vedānta philosopher, approached Akbar to seek From the late 16th century until the early decades advice on the protection of an order (to which he of the 19th century, many prominent regional belonged) from harassment by armed Muslim regents recruited bands of nāgās to fight in inter- faqīrs (notwithstanding the unreliability of this regional struggles for power. The Mughal emperor account, Madhusūdanasarasvatī did have a connec- Aurangzīb authorized in 1692/1693 five Rāmānandī tion to Akbar’s court). According to J.N. Farquhar, commanders and their armies to move without Madhusūdanasarasvatī was advised by Rājā Birbal hindrance. The British officer lieutenant-colonel to initiate a large number of non-Brahmans into a Valentine Blacker included “gossyes” (i.e. gosāīṃ s) militant order. Thus were many Ksatriyas,̣ Vaiśyas, in his account of the rise of infantry forces in India and, says J.N. Farquhar, “multitudes of Śūdras at in the 1700s, comparing them in proficiency to a later date” admitted into the order. It is said that Afghan and Jāt ̣Sikh khālsā troops (the Sikh order, half of the Bhāratīs (see below) refused to accept or brotherhood, known as the khālsā, was, accord- this and went to Sringeri to remain “pure.” The ing to tradition, founded by Gurū Gobind Singh, recruitment of nāgās into organized fighting units and its troops were drawn almost entirely from appears to have occurred around the time of the Jāt ̣ caste of northwestern cultivators). They Akbar’s reign, although it is unlikely to have been were particularly renowned for their nocturnal in response to attacks by Sufis. Nearly all of the guerilla operations: naked, sometimes slippery recorded conflicts between bands of ascetics have with oil, and dangerous with the dagger. The dis- been between factions of Hindus, in most instances position of regents to employ nāgā armies may between Vaisṇ avạ → Rāmānandī vairāgīs/bairāgī have also been partly due to their reputation for and Śaiva → Daśanāmī saṃ nyāsīs (also known as “supernatural” yogic abilities, and the consequent gosāīṃ s) at melās (festivals) over bathing priori- potential apprehension of adversaries, and to sev- ties for particular akhāṛās. The Rāmānandīs and eral historical legal statutes that either restricted the Daśanāmīs are the largest of the 60 or so extant or annulled the ability of states to prosecute them, sādhu sects in India and Nepal, and also those being of religious orders, for crimes committed. with the greatest number of nāgās. In 1763, Pṛthvī Nārāyaṇ Śāh, king of Gorkha The evidence indicates that organizednāgā and the founder of modern Nepal, was engaged in military activity originally flourished under state a campaign to extend his empire into the Kath- Akhāṛās 13 mandu Valley. His chief advisor and strategist began service with Safdar Jang in 1731) – and his was a Nāth siddha named Bhagavantnāth, who successor Shuja-ud-Daulah. (The Mughals also used his influence to negotiate various matrimo- supported Rāmānandī nāgās at Ayodhya: Safdar nial and military alliances between Gorkha and Jang granted seven bīghās [approx. five-eights of some of the other 45 kingdoms of western Nepal. an acre] of land at Hanumān Hill in Ayodhya to During Pṛthvī Nārāyaṇ’s attack on the village of Abhay Rām Dās, the mahant of the Nirvāṇī anī Saga, his Gorkhalese troops were confronted by [see below].) Other patrons of the gosāīṃ s five hundred nāgās – under the leadership of included the Maratha rulers Mahādjī Śiṃ de and Gulābrām – who were fighting on behalf of one Alī Bahādur, the Mughal emperor Shāh Alam, the of his opponents, Jāyāprakāś Malla, king of Kath- Jāt ̣ ruler Javāhir Singh, and the Persian Nāzaf mandu.

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