Paramahamsa

(“supreme Hamsa”) One of four types of
Hindu ascetic. The four types were
based on their supposed means of livelihood, which in practice has been much
less important for ascetic identity than
sectarian or organizational affiliation.
The Paramahamsa is the most prestigious of the four, the others being (in
order of increasing status) Kutichaka,
Bahudaka, and Hamsa. Paramahamsas
have no fixed abode and always live in
an uninhabited place. They are said to
have transcended all questions of religious duty (dharma), purity, and impurity (ashaucha), to have broken all
attachments to the world, and to be
498
Pap
continually immersed in contemplation
of the Supreme Brahman.
The word Paramahamsa has a more
specialized meaning among the
Dashanami Sanyasis, ascetic devotees
(bhakta) of the god Shiva whose organization is divided into ten sections, each
designated by a particular name. Here
the name Paramahamsa refers to an
ascetic who comes from one of the
three twice-born (dvija) varnas—that
is, who is a brahmin, kshatriya, or
vaishya, the three social groups with
higher symbolic status—and who has
been initiated as a Sanyasi in one of
the six divisions that will accept nonbrahmins. Paramahamsas have higher
status in these divisions than the Naga
or fighting ascetics, who will initiate
shudras, but lower status than the
Dandis, who are invariably brahmins.