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79-481: Udasi and Udasin is derived from the Sanskrit word Udāsīn , which means one who is indifferent to or disregardful of worldly attachments, a stoic, or a mendicant. The word Udasi is derived from the Sanskrit word udasin , meaning 'detached, journey', reflecting an approach to spiritual and temporal life, or from udas ('detachment'), signifying indifference to or renunciation of worldly concerns. According to myth,

158-548: A sampradaya monastery for religious renunciates in Guru–shishya tradition . For example, in the context of the Dashanami Sampradaya sect, the word denotes both martial arts and religious monastic aspects of the trident-wielding martial regiment of the renouncing sadhus . The term akhara , is a gender-egalitarian term, which means the circle or more precisely the spiritual core , congregation or league , it

237-483: A d . The Haryanvi and Khari Boli dialects shorten this to khada (खाड़ा). Jadunath Sarkar documented the founding date of various akharas based on a 19the century manuscript provided to him by the Nirvani Akhara of Dashanami Sampradaya. In its earliest usage, akhara referred to training halls for professional fighters. Govind Sadashiv Ghurye translates the term as "military regiment". Ancient use of

316-550: A certain preaching area; Nanakmatta , Kashmir , Malwa (Punjab) and Doaba . An Udasi Akhara, named Dera Baba Bhuman Shah, dedicated the Udasi saint Bhuman Shah was formerly located in Behlolpur in Pakistan but it has since been abandoned since the 1947 partition of India . At one point, there were a total of 12 Udasi akharas in the city of Amritsar . They are as follows: A deori

395-709: A darbar in Aurangabad village), and Baba Piyara Ram (established in a darbar in Maari village), spread the Udasi teachings in the Shikarpur area. One prominent Udasi saint, Bankhandi , originally from either Nepal or near Delhi, was the founder of Sadh Belo in Sukkur , Sindh in 1823. In recent times, veneration of the folkdeity Jhulelal has crept into the practices of Udasi darbars in Sindh. The liberal attitude of Sindhi Muslims may have helped

474-509: A discussion of the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha (12.161). The bulk of the Mahābhārata was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, with the oldest preserved parts not much older than around 400 BCE. The Rāmāyaṇa narrates the life of Rama , the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom . Various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of

553-432: A domestic life. Some strictly practice Brahmacharya (celibacy) and others may require complete renunciation of worldly life. For example, wrestlers are expected to live a pure life while living at akhara with other fellow wrestlers, refraining from sex and owning few material possessions. In some languages such as Odia the word is officially transcribed as akhada , by way of rendering the flapped [ ɽ ] sound as

632-619: A key role specially the Dashanami akhara. In 1780 CE, the East India Company administration establish the sequence of order of procession for royal bathing by the akharas at Kumbh Mela to eliminate disputes. Today, akhara may be used for religious purposes or for the teaching of yoga and martial arts. Some of the noted Akhara organizations include Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (All India Akhara Council), Nirmohi Akhara , Shri Dattatreya Akhara and Guru Hanuman Akhara . Sampradaya

711-443: A total of 4,320,000 human years. These four yugas have a length ratio of 4:3:2:1. The Bhagavata Purana [3.11.18-20] ( c. 500-1000 CE) gives a matching description of the yuga lengths in divine years. The Kali Yuga is the present yuga . According to Puranic sources , Krishna's departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga , which is dated to 17/18 February 3102  BCE , twenty years after

790-493: A turban like Khalsas, and instead of the Khalsa emphasis on the panj kakkar garb and sporting arms, their dress code would include items such as a cap, a cotton bag, a flower rosary, a vessel made of dried pumpkin, a chain around the waist, ash to smear on their body, and a deerskin upon which to perform Hatha yoga , resulting in an extremely divergent appearance from Khalsa Sikhs in the eighteenth century. In addition to not consider

869-450: A ‘religious system’. It relates to a succession of masters and disciples, which serves as a spiritual channel, and provides a delicate network of relationships that lends stability to a religious identity. Sampradaya is a body of practice, views and attitudes, which are transmitted, redefined and reviewed by each successive generation of followers. A particular guru lineage is called parampara . By receiving diksha (initiation) into

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948-454: Is mahant , but some groups prefer to use the term Gaddi Nashin . The term for a follower or student at an Udasi site is chela . The word akhara is traditionally associated with wrestling but it implies a different meaning as used by Sikh sects like the Udasis and Nirmalas . Another word used for Udasi centres of spirituality is dera . Traditionally, the Udasis claim Sri Chand as being

1027-498: Is Shraddhadeva Manu , the seventh and current Manu of the fourteen manus of the current kalpa (aeon) , the progenitor of humanity. According to the Puranas, the genealogy of Shraddhadeva is as follows: Shraddhadeva had seventy children, including Ila and Ikshvaku , the progenitors of the Lunar and Solar dynasties of the kshatriyas, which play a prominent role in the origin stories of

1106-402: Is a form of training common to many combat sports which may vary in its precise form varies, but it is relatively ' free-form ' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to make injuries unlikely. Langot (लंगोट) or langota (लंगोटा), also Kaupinam (कौपिनम) or kaupina (कौपिन), is a traditional style of Indian loincloth for men, worn as underwear in dangal held in akharas. It

1185-601: Is a particular system of belief and within it a particular guru 's lineage is called parampara . There are 3 distinct belief-system Sampradayas (Vaishnava, Shaivite and Dashanami sampradaya), each of which follows one of 3 types of Guru–shishya parampara lineage ( Deva , Rishi and Manav parampara), each sampradaya-parampara may have several akharas of shastradhari (intellectuals) or astradhari (warriors), and larger akharas may have own one or more permanent mathas . Sampradaya ( Sanskrit  : सम्प्रदाय IAST sampradāya ) translated as ‘tradition’, 'spiritual lineage' or

1264-491: Is a place where practicing martial artists lodge and train under a martial art guru, akhara is also usually an arena for the dangal organised among the competing sports person. While living at akhara, pehlwan practice celibacy, stay smoke free and alcohol free and they eat nutrition tradition diet usually rich in milk, ghee , dried nuts and roti. Dangal is Hindi language word which means Sparring or competition in akhara, Sometimes called "Chhinj" in punjabi . Sparring

1343-473: Is also affiliated with Juna Akhara. There are numerous other still-extant akharas, founded by the disciples of the existing akharas, that are usually loosely or directly aligned under one of the existing akhara lineage. The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP) (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय अखाड़ा परिषद , transliterated as All India Akhara Council ), founded in 1954, is the apex organisation of 13 akharas of Hindu Sants (saints) and Sadhus (ascetics) representing

1422-425: Is dispute on whether the Udasis originated with Sri Chand or Gurditta. Another viewpoint is that Sri Chand was the founder of the sect and passed the leadership to Baba Gurditta as his successor. They maintain their own parallel line of gurus from Guru Nanak, followed by Sri Chand, followed by Gurditta. They first came to prominence in the 17th century, and gradually began to manage Sikh shrines and establishments in

1501-447: Is governed by the sacred body of five Sri Pancha and organized into 52 Matha or Marhi (Hindi: मढ़ी). Many assume 52 Marhi to refer to 52 lineages but they refer to 52 Desas (countries). These 52 Marhis are divided into 8 Davas corresponding to 8 directions. The maths are permanent centres of monastic practice with physical structures, led by a mahant or spiritual leader. Though not all akharas follow this structure, mainly due to

1580-410: Is now mainly used by men when exercising and other intense physical games especially wrestling , to prevent hernias and hydrocele . Langota, mostly worn by wrestlers, is a sewn undergarment which covers the buttocks and groin . A kaupina, mostly worn by ascetics or by older men in many parts of India, is a similar but unsewn garment that does not cover the buttocks and instead it passes between

1659-562: Is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets. Some historians and archaeologists have argued that this conflict may have occurred in about 1000 BCE." Despite the inconclusiveness of the data, attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra War. Attempts to date the events using methods of archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from

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1738-641: Is said that Sri Chand himself visited Thatta in Sindh, where a darbar commemorates his stay. Sri Chand travelled to Sindh in the second half of the 16th century during the reign of the Tarkhan dynasty . He established a dhuni (campfire) at Rohri and another at Faqir Jo Goth, the latter of which is around 5 kilometres from Thatta . After the passing of Gurditta, the second Udasi leader, the leadership passed to four preachers, with Bhai Almast being one of these four. Almast travelled to Sindh, where he conducted missionary activities and successfully converted many Sindhis to

1817-564: Is said to be an Udasi temple dedicated to a saint in every town and city of Sindh. During the reign of the Talpur Mirs of Khairpur (1783–1955), many Udasi darbars were constructed and Udasi saints were accepted to settle in the state. A darbar at Godhu Shah in Khairpur (known as the Godhu Shah Darbar, Nanga Darbar, or Gurpota Darbar) is believed to have been founded by a grandson of one of

1896-530: Is similar to the Greek-origin word academy and the English word school , can be used to mean both a physical institution or a group of them which share a common lineage or are under a single leadership, such as the school of monastic thought or the school of martial arts. Unlike the gurukul in which students live and study at the home of a guru , members of an akhara although train under a guru but they do not live

1975-507: Is subject to scholarly discussion and dispute. The existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, and mostly belongs to the period between c. 500 BCE and 400 CE. Within the frame story of the Mahabharata , the historical kings Parikshit and Janamejaya are featured significantly as scions of the Kuru clan, and Michael Witzel concludes that the general setting of

2054-521: Is the gateway to site. A dhuna or dhuan refers to a hearth where Udasi followers practice yogic activities and other religious practices, such as adhna and yagya . A dhuni refers to a campfire where a sacred fire occurs. Every Udasi place of worship contains a flag called a gerua , which is the colour of red-ochre and topped with wings from a peacock. A thara is a place where sacred verses are recited. A dharamshala are guesthouses where pilgrims and visitors would stay. Langar khana refers to

2133-633: The Rajatarangini ), place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kali Yuga epoch, corresponding to 2449 BCE. Some of the other proposals that have been put forward: The Vedic Foundation gives the following chronology of ancient India since the time of Krishna and the Bharata War: The Epic-Puranic chronology has been referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans , putting into question

2212-428: The guru–shishya traditional parampara of a living guru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya . One cannot become a member by birth , as is the case with gotra , a seminal, or hereditary, dynasty . In the traditional residential form of education, the shishya remains with his or her guru as a family member and gets the education as a true learner. In some traditions there is never more than one active master at

2291-541: The Aryans . According to Sudhir Bhargava, people from Brahmavarta moved out from Brahmavarta into and outside India after 4500 BCE, when seismic activities had changed the course of the Sarasvati and other rivers. Akhara Akhara or Akhada ( Hindi : अखाड़ा, romanised : Akhāṛā ) is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists or

2370-663: The Char Dhams during the reign of Katyuri dynasty of Garhwal Kingdom . In 904 CE and 1146 CE, Niranjani Akhara and Juna Akhara were founded respectively. In 1398 CE, Timur massacred thousands of Sadhus of various Akharas and Hindus at Haridwar mela after sacking Delhi to punish the Tughlaq Dynasty 's Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq 's perceived lack of brutality towards Hindus. In 1567 CE, Jogis (Giris) and Sannyasi (Puris) battled each other as detailed in

2449-808: The Indo-Aryan migrations at ca. 1500 BCE and proposing older dates for the Vedic period. According to the "Indigenist position", the Aryans are indigenous to India, and the Indo-European languages radiated out from a homeland in India into their present locations. According to them, the Vedas are older than second millennium BCE, and scriptures like the Mahabharata reflect historical events which took place before 1500 BCE. Some of them equate

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2528-711: The Indus Valley civilisation with the Vedic Civilization , state that the Indus script was the progenitor of the Brahmi , and state that there is no difference between the people living in the (northern) Indo-European part and the (southern) Dravidian part. The Indigenous Aryans theory has no relevance, let alone support, in mainstream scholarship. The idea of "Indigenous Aryanism" fits into traditional Hindu ideas about their religion, namely that it has timeless origins, with

2607-475: The Puranas contain genealogies of kings , which are used for the traditional chronology of India's ancient history. Ludo Rocher in his book "The Puranas" (1986) provides a long list of chronological calculations based on Puranic lists with a warning that they are "often highly imaginative". The Puranas are oriented at a cyclical understanding of time. They contain stories about the creation and destruction of

2686-667: The Puranas . These texts have an authoritaive status in Indian tradition, and narrate cosmogeny, royal chronologies, myths and legendary events. The central dates here are the Kurukshetra War and the start of the Kali Yuga. The Epic-Puranic chronology is referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans to propose an earlier dating of the Vedic period, and the spread of Indo-European languages out of India, arguing that "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to

2765-774: The Ramanandis and the martial traditions of the growing number of armed mahants. Before the emergence of the Singh Sabha Movement in the late 19th century, they controlled important Sikh shrines, including the Harimandir Sahib for a short while. However, during the Akali movement of the 20th century, the Tat Khalsa Sikhs expelled them from the Sikh shrines, accusing them of vices and of indulging in ritual practices that were against

2844-722: The Tabaqat-i-Akbari , both are 2 of the 10 orders of Dashanami Akhara. Puris were outnumbered by 200 to 500 by Jogis, Akbar asked his soldiers to smear ash and join Puris to help them, this led to the victory of Puris, In 1657/1672 CE, Satnami revellion against Aurangzeb's persecution of Non-Muslims. In 1664 CE, Dashanami Akhara possibly battled Aurangzeb . In 1690 CE and 1760 CE, Akharas of Saivites and Vaishnava sects fought each other at Nashik mela (60,000 died) and Haridwar mela (1,800 died). In 1770-1820 CE, during Sannyasi rebellion against Company rule in India , Akharas played

2923-659: The Vedas and the epics have their origins in military training, such as boxing ( musti-yuddha ), wrestling ( maladwandwa ), chariot-racing ( rathachalan ), horse-riding ( aswa-rohana ) and archery ( dhanurvidya ). When the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya (788–820 CE) founded the Dashanami Sampradaya , he divided the ascetics into two categories: Shastradhari ( Sanskrit : शास्त्रधारी, lit. scripture-bearers) intelligentsia and Astradhari ( Sanskrit : अस्त्रधारी, lit. weapon-bearers) warriors. Shankaracharya established Naga sadhus as an astradhari armed order. He also popularised

3002-501: The Vedic Period . Stories describing Krishna report that he sometimes engaged in wrestling matches where he used knee strikes to the chest, punches to the head, hair pulling, and strangleholds. Based on such accounts, Svinth (2002) traces press ups and squats used by South Asian wrestlers to the pre-classical era. In modern usage, akhara most often denotes a wrestling ground and is typically associated with kushti . For wrestlers,

3081-434: The 13 akharas to manage the akhara-related affairs across all kumb melas and across the nations. The still-extant seven Shastradhari or monastic Hindu akhara founded by the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya (also the founder of four Mathas ) can be classified, in terms of affiliation and the number of followers, as three major akharas, three minor akharas under major akharas and one smaller akhara under

3160-427: The 18th and the early 19th centuries, their teachings attracted a large number of people to the Sikh fold. According to early gur-bilas literature and some modern scholars, Guru Gobind Singh had employed a large number of armed, militant Udasi asectics prior to the construction of the forts of Anandpur Sahib. It has been posited that Guru Gobind Singh initiated the Khalsa in order to amalgamate the nirgun bhakti beliefs of

3239-423: The 18th century, from where they espoused a model of Sikhism that diverged considerably from that of the Khalsa. They would set up establishments across North India through to Benares, where they would come to be ideologically joined with monastic asceticism. The combination of Hindu gods and the Sikh religious text indicated that the sect evolved over time under many historical influences and conditions, interpreting

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3318-838: The Bharata War. The Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana contain lists of kings and genealogies, from which the traditional chronology of India's ancient history are derived. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Maurya court at Patna at c.  300 BCE, reported to have heard of a traditional list of 153 kings that covered 6042 years, beyond the traditional beginning of the Kali Yuga in 3102 BCE. The royal lists are based on Sūta bardic traditions, and are derived from lists which were orally transmitted and constantly reshaped. The first king

3397-438: The Khalsa's Rehat Maryada to be binding on them, their modes of thought and attitude towards salvation also differed significantly. The Khalsa believed that salvation could be attained while taking part in society and pursuing secular objectives like political power and accumulation of resources like agrarian land, though this had to be accomplished within a particular framework of beliefs and spiritual practices, chief among which

3476-653: The Sikh gurus ( Gurpota ) whom became an Udasi under the guidance of a mahant, it is associated with the Nanga sect of Udasis. Another Udasi saint who spread the faith in Sindh was Rai Sahib Gokal Singh, who established a darbar in Gokalpur Kot in Garhi Yashin. Baba Wasti Ram, an Udasi saint, established a darbar in Garhi Yasin town. Baba Wasti Ram and his successors, Baba Khushi Ram Sahib (a talented mystic), Baba Agya Ram (established

3555-584: The Udasipanth. His place of residence was at Rohri, at the dhuni established by Sri Chand. Those newly converted appended Ram or Das to the end of their names. The mahants (who appended the prefix Bava or Bao, meaning "ascetic" at the beginning of their names and refer to their title of leadership as Gadhisar ) of the Baba Sri Chand Darbar (colloquially known as Raj Ghaat) in Faqir Jo Goth, such as

3634-604: The Udasis take root in Sindh rather than being pushed out on the basis of religious intolerance and persecution. The most well-known Udasi darbars of Sindh are: (Birth–Death) Puranic chronology Traditional The Epic-Puranic chronology is a timeline of Hindu mythology based on the Itihasa (the Sanskrit Epics , that is, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana ) and

3713-405: The Udasis, some of them being: Note - the word dhūāṅ means hearth After the four dhūāṅs , another sub-sect of Udasis emerged known as Ba kh shishāṅ. There were six prominent groups of this type, them namely being: Places of worship associated with Udasis are known as Akharas or Darbars . The latter term finds heavy usage in Sindh. The title of a leader of an Udasi akhara or darbar

3792-569: The Vedas (1903), who argued that the Aryan homeland was located at the North Pole, basing this idea on Vedic hymns and Zoroastrian texts. Golwalkar took over the idea of 10,000 years, arguing that the North Pole at that time was located in India. Subhash Kak , a main proponent of the "indigenist position", underwrites the Vedic-Puranic chronology, and uses it to recalculate the dates of the Vedas and

3871-456: The Vedic Aryans inhabiting India since ancient times. M. S. Golwalkar , in his 1939 publication We or Our Nationhood Defined , famously stated that "Undoubtedly [...] we — Hindus — have been in undisputed and undisturbed possession of this land for over eight or even ten thousand years before the land was invaded by any foreign race." Golwalkar was inspired by Tilak's The Arctic Home in

3950-563: The Vedic people. According to Kak, "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati (or Indus) tradition (7000 or 8000 BC)." According to Sudhir Bhargava, the Vedas were composed 10,000 years ago, when Manu supposedly lived, in ashrams at the banks of the Sarasvati river in Brahmavarta, the ancient home-base of

4029-515: The akhara serves as a training school and an arena in which to compete against each other. The akhara used by wrestlers still have dirt floors to which water, red ochre, buttermilk and oil are added. Aside from wrestling, other fighting systems are also taught and practiced in akhara, which are commonly named after their founder. Indian martial artists may still practice in regional versions of traditional akhara today, but these are often replaced with modern training studios outside India . While akhara

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4108-460: The area where a free kitchen is carried out. The term Gawantaris refers to Udasi musicians. A commonly played instrument of the Udasis is the Narasingha horn, used to inform the public about religious processions. An Udasi saint and direct descendant of Guru Nanak named Sukhbasi Ram Bedi (1758–1848) was responsible for authoring literary work in verse titled Guru Nanak Bans Prakash documenting

4187-474: The body holds its post for 4 years. It is a concept similar to centuries-old Indian republican consensual elective system of Panchayat (at an individual village level) and Khap (grouping of the related villages within a union). Among the five elected Sri Pancha of the akhara, they hold the following positions in the decreasing order of seniority, all of which can be considered guru in their own right: At highest level, akhara are classified into one of

4266-499: The buttocks. The major traditional Indian-origin martial arts akhara, mostly focused on wrestling and Pehlwani , by state include: Shastra (Sanskrit and Hindi: शास्त्र) means treatise, scriptures or the school of thoughts based on those. There has been a long monastic tradition of obtaining "Shashtra Vidhya" (knowledge of Sashtras ) in various Sampradaya schools of thoughts in Hinduism , where disciples could learn one or more of

4345-506: The disappearance of Krishna from the Earth. The Aihole inscription of Pulikeshi II , dated to Saka 556 = 634 CE, claims that 3735 years have elapsed since the Bharata battle, putting the date of Mahābhārata war at 3137 BCE. Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by Vriddha-Garga, Varahamihira (author of the Brhatsamhita ) and Kalhana (author of

4424-737: The earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati Valley traditions (7000 BCE to 8000 BCE)." The Mahabharata and the Rāmāyaṇa are the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India . Together they form the Hindu itihasa . The Mahābhārata narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War , and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as

4503-603: The epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age ( Vedic ) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE. According to Professor Alf Hiltebeitel , the Mahabharata is essentially mythological. Indian historian Upinder Singh has written that: Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved. It

4582-612: The establisher of many akharas but historically, they first appeared in the mid-18th century when Mahant Nirvan Pritam Das established the Panchayti akhara in 1779, as per Sikh historian Kahn Singh Nabha in the Mahan Kosh . Mahant Nirvan Pritam Das also founded akhara centres in Kashi Kankhal ( Haridwar ) and other places of Indic pilgrimage sites . Traditionally, there were four Udasi centres ( akharas or dhuans ) with each controlling

4661-461: The first mahant, Bava Balkram Das, conducted missionary activities in the area and faraway (even as distant as Nepal) as did his successors. His two successors, Bava Pooran Das and Bava Lachman Das, were not only missionaries but also masters at hathi yoga . Sikhism became popularized in Sindh due to the missionary works of these Udasi saints. Udasi temples in Sindh typically houses both the Guru Granth Sahib as well images of various Hindu deities. There

4740-461: The following in a monastic setting: Hindu scriptures , Yoga Sashtra , Vastu shastra (architecture), Vaimānika Shāstra (ancient aerospace technology), Jyotiḥśāstra (astrology), Nadi Sashtra (fortune telling), Rasa shastra (medicine), Shilpa Shastras (arts and craft), Natya Shastra (dance, drama and performing arts), Tantra , Para Vidya (Higher scholar), Madhu-vidya (knowledge of bliss), and so on. According to some texts, an akhara

4819-437: The four different Sampradaya (philosophical denominations) based on their traditional systems: Each sampradaya has several paramparas (lineages), each started by a guru based on the guru-shishya tradition . The subsidiary status is as per the traditional Shahi Snan preferential sequence of procession, though time to time several subsidiary akharas have unsuccessfully tried with authorities to have this sequence altered as

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4898-416: The insufficient size. For example, smaller akhara, some as small as having only one marhi, may be set up either as a subsidiary affiliate to a larger and more established older akhara group or occasionally an independent akhara due to the disagreements over succession. Akharas can march as subsidiary akhara under the current preferential order of sequence in the Shahi Snan during Kumbh Mela or they are given

4977-428: The largest followership in India . These are entitled to the special privilege of the Shahi Snan at Kumbh Mela and Ujjain Simhastha mela in a pre-determined sequence. The monastic akhara and their Sri Pancha of various sects meet during the Kumbha Mela . The Naga sadhu and the various akhara traditionally lead and initiate the bathing rituals before the general population steps in. The order of procession

5056-432: The last place if their claim for the independent akhara is approved by the authorities. According to the texts, the top administrative body of each of the akhara is the Sri Pancha (sacred body of five), representing Brahma , Vishnu , Shiva , Shakti and Ganesha . It is elected by consensus from among the Mahants of Matha or Marhi (Sanskrit: मठ and Hindi: मढ़ी ) that make up an akhara on every Kumbha Mela and

5135-413: The late 4th to the mid-2nd millennium BCE. Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kali Yuga . The late 4th-millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of the Kali Yuga epoch, based on planetary conjunctions, by Aryabhata (6th century). Aryabhata's date of 18 February 3102  BCE for Mahābhārata war has become widespread in Indian tradition. Some sources mark this as

5214-444: The life of Guru Nanak and his descendants. Today's Udasi are predominantly located in northwestern India , especially around Punjab , Haryana , Gujarat , and cities like Haridwar and New Delhi ; they are divided into three major groups: Sindh has a large number of people who may be best described as Udasis. The area of northern Sindh was especially influenced by Udasipanth. The Udasi temples of Sindh are known as darbars . It

5293-401: The major akhara: The akhara with the most sadhu is Juna Akhara , followed by Niranjani Akhara and Mahanirvani Akhara . Among these, today, three are considered major akhara (Juna, Niranjani and Mahanirvani) and three minor akhara (Avahan affiliated with Juna, Ananda affiliated with Niranjani and Atal affiliated with Mahanirvani). The 7th, small Brahmachari (celibate) akhara named Agni

5372-426: The message of Guru Granth Sahib in monistic Vedantic terms. They were initially largely based in urban centers where they set up their establishments, or akharas , only beginning to spread into rural areas during Sikh rule; before, they had around a dozen centres; by the end of Maharaja Ranjit Singh 's reign, the number had increased to around 250. The Udasis widely propagated its form of Sikh philosophy, and during

5451-409: The number of their followers grew. Initially there were only 4 akharas based on the sampradaya (sect), which have split into subsidiary akharas due to differences in the leadership and expansion in the followership. In January 2019, there were 13 akharas that are allowed to participate in Prayagraj Kumbh Mela and they have formed the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad with 2 representatives from each of

5530-406: The progenitor of humanity, and the Bharata War . Dating the Bharata War at 1400 BCE, A.D. Pusalkar (1962) uses this list to give the following chronology: According to Subhash Kak , [T]he Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati (or Indus) tradition (7000 or 8000 BCE). The historicity of the Mahabharata War

5609-421: The rise of the written Purana historically with the rise of devotional cults centering upon a particular deity in the Gupta era: the Puranic corpus is a complex body of material that advance the views of various competing sampradayas . The content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent. The Mahabharata , Ramayana and

5688-524: The royal families of the Vedic period. The Mahabharata states that "it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, and others have been descended." The Puranas have been used by some to give a tentative overview of Indian history prior to the Bharata War. Gulshan (1940) dates the start of the reign of Manu Vaivasvata at 7350 BCE. According to Ganguly, the Puranic gives 95 kings between Shraddhadeva Manu (aka Manu Vaivasvata),

5767-484: The same time in the same guruparamaparya (lineage). When the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya founded the Dashanami Sampradaya , he divided the ascetics into two categories: Astra (Hindi: अस्त्र), the weapons or martial arts have a long tradition in India. The oldest recorded organized unarmed fighting art in South Asia is malla-yuddha or combat-wrestling, codified into four forms and pre-dating

5846-492: The sect was established in the Puranic age but historically speaking, the sect was founded by and based on the teachings of Guru Nanak 's elder son Sri Chand (1494–1629, other sources give a death year of 1643). Sri Chand, contrary to his father's emphasis on participation in society, propagated ascetic renunciation and celibacy. Another Sikh tradition links the Udasis to Baba Gurditta , the eldest son of Guru Hargobind , and there

5925-433: The teachings of the Sikh gurus. The Sikh Gurdwara Reform Act, 1925 defined the term "Sikh" in a way that excluded the syncretic groups like Udasis, Nanakpanthis , and other groups who maintained transitional identities. Subsequently, the Udasis increasingly identified themselves as Hindus rather than Sikhs. According to 18th-century descriptions, they either cut or matted their hair under a turban, rather than knot it under

6004-473: The text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. The Puranas (literally "ancient, old", ) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly legends and other traditional lore, composed in the first millennium CE. The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of many authors over the centuries. Gavin Flood connects

6083-419: The word can be found in the Mahabharata (c. 400 BCE text describing 900 BCE era) epic which mentions Jarasandha 's Akhara at Rajgir . Legendary figures like Parashurama and Agastya are credited as the founders of the early martial akhara in certain regions of India. Svinth (2002) traces press ups and squats used by South Asian wrestlers to the pre-classical era. Many of the popular sports mentioned in

6162-503: The world, and the yugas (ages). There are four yugas in one cycle: According to the Manusmriti ( c. 2nd CE), one of the earliest known texts describing the yugas , the length of each yuga is 4800, 3600, 2400 and 1200 years of the gods, respectively, giving a total of 12,000 divine years to complete one cycle. For human years, they are multiplied by 360 giving 1,728,000, 1,296,000, 864,000 and 432,000 years, respectively, giving

6241-538: Was the societal order and structure of the Khalsa. The Udasis considered secular pursuits to be incompatible with personal salvation, which was to be achieved only through renouncing the world, espousing asceticism and a monastic traveler lifestyle. Udasis are known for their Akharas along with the Nirmala sect of Sikhism. The Udasis also worship the panchayatana , the five Hindu deities: Shiva , Vishnu , Durga , Ganesha , and Surya . There are various sub-sects within

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