Dadupanthi Nagas

Particular group of Naga (fighting)
ascetics associated with the religious
community (panth) established by the
western Indian poet-saint Dadu. The
Nagas are renunciant ascetics organized into different akharas, or regiments based on the model of an army.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth
century the Nagas’ primary occupation
was as mercenary soldiers, although
they also had substantial trading interests; both of these have largely disappeared in contemporary times. In the
bathing (snana) processions at the
Kumbha Mela festivals (“Festivals of the
Pot”), the Dadupanthi Nagas march
with the chatuh-sampradayi Nagas,
who are devotees (bhakta) of the god
Vishnu, but are considered independent of them. According to tradition,
the Naga section of the Dadupanth was
established by Sundardasa, one of
Dadu’s direct disciples.