Giri Dashanami

One of the ten divisions of the
Dashanami Sanyasis, renunciant ascetics
who are devotees (bhakta) of Shiva. The
Dashanamis were supposedly established by the ninth-century philosopher
Shankaracharya, in an effort to create
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Giri Dashanami
a corps of learned men who could help
to revitalize Hindu life. Each of the divisions is designated by a different
name—in this case, giri (“mountain”).
Upon initiation, new members are
given this name as a surname to their
new ascetic names, thus allowing for
immediate group identification.
Aside from their individual identity,
these ten “named” divisions are collected into four larger organizational
groups: Anandawara, Bhogawara,
Bhuriwara, and Kitawara. Each group
has its headquarters in one of the four
monastic centers (maths) supposedly
established by Shankaracharya. Each of
the 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. The Giri
Dashanamis belong to the Anandawara
group, which is affiliated with the Jyotir
math in the Himalayan town of
Joshimath.