Bhogawara

One of the four major organizational
groups of the Dashanami Sanyasis,
renunciant ascetics who are devotees
(bhakta) of the god Shiva; the other
three groups are Kitawara, Bhuriwara,
and Anandawara. Each of these divisions has its headquarters in one of the
four monastic centers (maths) supposedly established by the philosopher
Shankaracharya. Each group also has
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Bhogawara
certain religious associations: with one
of the four Vedas, with a particular quarter of the Indian subcontinent, with one
of the “great utterances” (mahavakyas)
expressing ultimate truth, with a
specific ascetic quality, and with several
of the ten Dashanami divisions. The
Bhogawara group is affiliated with the
Govardhan Math in the city of Puri on
the Bay of Bengal, and it is therefore
connected with the eastern quarter of
India. Their Veda is the Rg Veda, their
mahavakya is Prajnanam Brahman
(“Knowledge is Brahman”), and their
ascetic quality is to remain indifferent to
worldly pleasures. The particular
divisions associated with this group
are the Aranya Dashanamis and
Vana Dashanamis.