ash-wearing ascetics

[James Mallinson]

Dear List,
I've just got back from India and seen the discussion on sadhus that ran
earlier in the month. The original
question was about the identity of the ash-clad sadhus seen in India
today. As suggested, both nAths and
nAgA saMnyAsis go naked or wear just a laMgoTI but the most numerous
order of such ascetics in India
today is that of the rAmAnAndI tyAgIs. The vaiSNava rAmAnandIs have the
largest encampments at
Kumbh MelAs and perhaps a third of their number wear ashes. Next in size
among the camps of
ash-wearing ascetics are those of the dasnAmI nAgA saMnyAsIs, followed
by the udAsins (a
flourishing Panjab-based order who trace their lineage to ZrI cand,
eldest son of Guru Nanak) and then,
some way behind, the nAths, whose numbers are much less than the others.

The historical influence of the nAths on the other orders is, however,
considerable. Many aspects of the lifestyle and
appearance of all these ash-clad ascetics are very similar and were
current among the nAthas
before the other orders had been founded. The nAths enjoyed considerable
patronage and prestige from
c.1300-1800 CE and it seems that the other orders modelled themselves on
them. For example, the vaiSNava tyAgIs
wear around their necks single pieces of tulasI carved to look like
rudrAkSa seeds and include in their
liturgy mantras mentioning the nine nAthas and eighty-four siddhas.
Central to the ritual of these sAdhus is the triad of dhUni, sacred
fire-place, cimtA or cipIyA, fire-tongs,
and cilam, the pipe for smoking cannabis. Modern hagiography often
contains references to miracles
involving these ritual items while the only references that I have been
able to find in medieval sanskrit or
hindi literature are verses attacking the consumption of bhAMg in
gorakhnAth's gorakhbANI. I suspect that
this ritual triad was brought to India by Islamic ascetic orders The
late seventeenth century dAbistAn
describes several ash-smeared Hindu ascetic orders but never mentions
that they smoke or drink cannabis
preparations. It does however describe the Islamic madAriAn order, who
"like the Sanyasis Avadhuts wear
the hair entangled; and the ashes which they and the Sanyasis rub upon
their bodies are called bhasma;.........
they are always sitting at a fire; they drink/smoke a great deal of bang
[sic]". Ironically, many of today's
cilam-smoking ascetics are ardent hindutvavAdIs.
Yours,
James Mallinson.

Balliol College, Oxford.