Galta

A village in the state of Rajasthan, a few
miles east of Jaipur, the capital. Galta is
most famous for its connection with the
Bairagi Naga ascetics, renunciant tradersoldiers who were devotees (bhakta) of
the god Vishnu. According to Bairagi
tradition, in 1756 a conference took
place at Galta in which the different
groups of Bairagi Naga ascetics were
welded into one cohesive military unit
called the Ramanadis or “army of Ram”
under the leadership of a Bairagi named
Balanand. Balanand organized the
Ramanandis into three anis or armies—
the Digambara Ani, Nirvani Ani, and
Nirmohi Ani—which are still the major
Bairagi divisions. According to tradition, this unification was necessary
because of continual attacks by the
Naga class of the Dashanami Sanyasis,
a competing group of renunciant tradersoldiers who were devotees of the god
Shiva. The dispute occurred during
the festival Kumbha Mela, ostensibly
over precedence in the bathing (snana)
procession, which was a sign of relative status. However, an underlying
cause may have been power and control of an area’s resources.
The exact circumstances under
which the armies of Ram were formed
are difficult to determine. Independent
sources clearly show that the Bairagis
became more cohesively organized during the late eighteenth century and
that some of these bairagi bands were
using their mobility, resources, and
power to engage in long-distance trading. However, the decentralized nature
of ascetic life makes the summary formation of such an army highly unlikely,
unless this was the final fruition of an
already existing trend.