Dashanami

(“ten names”) Collective name for the
ten divisions among the Sanyasis, an
ascetic order supposedly founded by
the great philosopher Shankaracharya,
whose members are devotees of the
god Shiva. These ten divisions are each
distinguished by a different name,
which is taken as a surname by
an ascetic after his initiation in the
division. These ten names are Giri
(“mountain”), Parvata (“mountain”),
Sagara (“ocean”), Saraswati (the goddess of learning), Bharati (“India”), Puri
(“city”), Aranya (“forest”), Vana (“forest”), Tirtha (“crossing-place”), and
Ashrama (“hermitage”).
Although all of the ten divisions are
Dashanami Sanyasis, there are internal
status differences based on the distinction between three ascetic classes:
Dandi, Paramahamsa, and Naga. The
Dandi Sanyasis, named for the staff
(danda) that they must always carry,
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Dashanami
have the strongest connection with classical Sanskrit (sacred language) learning, are the strictest in their ascetic
practices, and tend to be the most conservative in their social views. Dandi
Sanyasis often follow ascetic initiation
only after having completed the other
three stages of life (ashramas), and thus
fulfill the idealized pattern in the dharma
literature, the texts on religious duty.
Dandi Sanyasis were virtually always
brahmins (priests) before becoming
ascetics, and almost all Dandis belong to
the Dashanami divisions that will only
initiate brahmins—that is, the Saraswati,
Ashrama, Tirtha, and some sections of
the Bharati divisions. The remaining
Dashanami divisions will admit members from all four of the traditional
social classes: brahmins, kshatriyas,
vaishyas, and shudras. Members from
the first three groups, known as “twiceborn” because they are eligible for the
adolescent religious initiation known as
the “second birth,” are initiated as
Paramahamsa Sanyasis, whereas shudras are initiated as Naga, or militant
ascetics. Thus, despite the supposed loss
of identity among ascetics after formally
“renouncing” the world, one can see the
continuing influence of a person’s former worldly status.
These ten divisions are collected into
four larger organizational groups:
Anandawara, Bhogawara, Bhuriwara,
and Kitawara. Each of these groups has
two or three of the ten Dashanami
orders, and each is centered in one of
the four sacred centers (maths) supposedly established by Shankaracharya.
Each of these four groups is also associated with one of the four Vedas—the
oldest Hindu sacred texts, a different
geographical quarter of India, a different
“great utterance” (mahavakya), and a
different ascetic quality.