Digambara

(“space-clad,” i.e., naked) In a general
ascetic context, this can refer to any
ascetic who is completely naked, which
is a sign of having renounced all possessions and all worldly conventions.
Among the Bairagi Nagas, or renunciant
ascetics who are devotees (bhakta) of
Vishnu and who formerly made their
living as traders and mercenary soldiers,
the Digambaras are one of the three
Naga anis (“armies”), the others being
the Nirmohis and Nirvanis. In earlier
times these anis were actual fighting
units, but in modern times are mainly
important for determining bathing
(snana) order in the bathing processions at the Kumbha Mela (“Festival of
the Pot”). Of the three, the Digambaras
are by far the most important, and at the
time of the Kumbha Mela take precedence over the others.