Bhuriwara

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, Bhogawara,
and Anandawara. Each of these groups
has its headquarters in one of the four
monastic centers (maths) supposedly
established by the philosopher
Shankaracharya. Each division also has
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 particular ascetic quality, and with several of
the ten Dashanami divisions. The
Bhuriwara group is affiliated with the
Shringeri Math in the southern Indian
town of Shringeri and is thus connected
with the southern quarter of India. Their
Veda is the Yajur Veda, their mahavakya
is Aham Brahmasmi (“I am Brahman”),
and their ascetic quality is to renounce
all wealth and to live on food growing
wild in the jungles. The specific divisions associated with this group are
Saraswati Dashanami, Bharati
Dashanami, and Puri Dashanami.