Aranya Dashanami

One of the ten divisions of the
Dashanami Sanyasis, ascetics who
are devotees (bhakta) of Shiva. The
Dashanamis were supposedly established by the ninth-century philosopher Shankaracharya in an effort to
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Aranya Dashanami
create a corps of learned men who
could help to revitalize Hindu life.
Each of the divisions is designated
by a different name—in this case,
aranya (“forest”). Upon initiation,
new members are given this name
as a surname to their new ascetic
names, thus allowing for immediate
group identification.
Aside from their individual identity,
these ten “named” divisions are
divided into four larger organizational
groups. Each group has its headquarters in one of the four monastic
centers (maths) also established
by Shankaracharya. The Aranya
Dashanamis belong to the Bhogawara
group, which is affiliated with the
Govardhan Math in the city of Puri,
on the Bay of Bengal.