Saraswati 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 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, Saraswati
(the patron goddess of learning and culture). Upon initiation, new members
are given this name as a surname to
their new ascetic names, thus allowing
for immediate group identification.
These ten “named” divisions of
Dashanami Sanyasis are divided into
four larger organizational groups. Each
group has its headquarters in one of the
four monastic centers (maths) supposedly established by Shankaracharya, as
well as other particular religious associations. The Saraswati Dashanamis
belong to the Bhuriwara group, which is
affiliated with the Shringeri math in the
southern Indian town of Shringeri. The
Saraswati division is elite in that it is one
of the few that will initiate only brahmins (the other such divisions are
Ashrama, Tirtha, and part of the
Bharati order).