Akharas and Akharas

Putting the body momentarily aside, there is also an institutional level on which wrestlers are like sannyasis: the akhara. In its broadest sense akhara means the social and spatial organization of any specialized group. From this general definition derive two primary commonsense denotations of the term: one is, of course, the akhara as a wrestling gymnasium; the other, the akhara as an ascetic monastery.

In its monastic sense the term akhara is used most often to define a subgrouping of the Naga sannyasi ascetic order. The Nagas are themselves a subgroup of the larger Dasnami order which traces its origin to Shankaracharya in the eighth or ninth century A.D.(Ghurye 1953: 6). For a sannyasi, the akhara he belongs to, rather than the larger order of which that akhara is a branch, is his primary point of reference for self-definition.

Unlike the stereotypical image of the passive, mystical sannyasi, the Dasnami Nagas were and to some extent still are known for their military exploits. Their akharas became centers for training in martial arts and weaponry. Ghurye goes so far as to translate akhara to mean “military regiment,” because the Dasnami Nagas were involved in various military campaigns at different times (1953: 116; cf. also Farquhar 1925; J. Ghose 1930; Lorenzen 1978).

During the time of Akbar and through the reign of Aurangzeb, Dasnami Naga membership restrictions were relaxed in order to allow low-caste Shudras to join the order. Many Shudras were actively recruited since the Dasnami Nagas needed to increase their numbers in order to defend Hindu shrines and monastic institutions from Muslim intervention and aggression (cf. Ghurye 1953: 110–127; Orr 1940; Prasad 1982; J. Sarkar 1950). Shudras were thought to be robust and thus well suited to take up arms in defense of Hinduism. By allowing Shudras to join with Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas, the sheer numerical strength of the order was significantly increased.

Aside from the intercaste dynamics of the Naga order, what concerns us here is the explicit and effective incorporation of martial practices into an ascetic way of life. Naga combat was not a simple matter of sannyasis taking up arms to defend themselves. For the Nagas, fighting became an integral feature of their identity. Ghurye notes that Nagas practiced physical penance so as to make themselves physically fit and immune to pain (1953: 122). It is clear that these austerities were not purely martial—in the sense of being practiced strictly for offensive warfare—but were, in fact, methods for achieving salvation (cf. van der Veer 1989). Ghurye remarks that since many of the Nagas were Shudras, rigorous physical training, rather than spiritual contemplation, was thought to be a more appropriate form of ascetic discipline. This interpretation is suspect on the grounds that it makes a sharp and untenable distinction between physical and mental austerities. Moreover, as Chattopadhyay has pointed out, the evidence of history is that there has always been a degree of ambiguity with regard to any one caste group’s monopoly on martial training. In the medieval period it was quite common for Brahmans to receive martial training at such centers as the University of Taksasila (Chattopadhyay 1966: 54). In any case, it is not accurate to say that one caste group is exclusively predisposed to physical training while another is more suited to mystical contemplation and scholarly work. Whatever factor Shudra recruitment may have played, it seems clear that Naga sannyasis, like wrestlers, translated yogic spirituality into terms more compatible with worldly action. Ghurye notes that in the post-independence era Naga sannyasis further translated their martial art into less aggressive terms. They now practice wrestling, gymnastics, and other forms of physical exercise (1953: 127).

Many of the Naga akharas have branch institutions in Banaras, and at least one of these sponsors a gymnasium on Hanuman Ghat. In this particular case the affiliation between the Naga monastic akhara and the gymnasium is tenuous and unclear. It seems that the wrestling gymnasium belongs to the monastery but is used by neighborhood residents. Oddly enough, the gymnasium is more a bodybuilding club than an akhara per se, but this is probably a fairly recent development.

There is also a defunct wrestling akhara on Manikarnika Ghat called Naga Akhara. Among the wrestling members were some Naga sannyasis. At Rang Mahal, a wrestling akhara downriver from Banaras, there is a temple complex run by Naga sannyasis. Although the majority of the wrestling members of the akhara are Muslims, Hindu merchants, Thakurs, Brahmans, and Yadavs, Naga sannyasis also practice wrestling. An annual wrestling tournament is sponsored by the Rang Mahal Akhara, but this seems to be a purely “secular” event, and to the best of my knowledge no sannyasis take part.

In his study of Ramanandi ascetics in Ayodhya, van der Veer has shown how Nagas discipline their bodies through the retention of semen (1989: 463). As with other Ramanandis (tyagis and rasiks) this practice is central to the mechanism by which emotion and passion is directed towards devotion to Ram. The Nagas of Ayodhya seem to wrestle in much the same way as “secular” wrestlers in Banaras, with the important qualification that they do so as self-proclaimed ascetics.

There are clear parallels between Naga akharas and wrestling akharas. However, I was repeatedly and without exception told that the two types of akhara have nothing to do with each other. Sannyasis who wrestle do not subscribe wholeheartedly to the lifestyle of wrestling. As a rule, according to “secular” wrestlers, they do not compete, and they do not drink milk or eat ghi and almonds. The two life paths are parallel and at points contiguous, but they are classified as distinct and separate. From the perspective of the wrestler, at least, this serves to maintain the institution of sannyas as a firm reference point, similar but different. The sannyasi who takes up arms or wrestles is never confused with his “secular” counterpart.

This point can of course be debated, and van der Veer has pointed out that in at least some Naga akharas young boys come and receive training much as they do in the “secular” akharas I have described (personal communication). Perhaps some Nagas wrestle competitively, and it is perfectly possible that some consume a diet of milk, ghi, and almonds. However, what is more important here than the objective truth of the matter, is that the secular wrestlers, absorbed in their ideological world, think of themselves as more unlike than like Nagas.

The case of the Dasnami Nagas is significant insofar as it helps define the structural relationship between wrestler and sannyasi. Obvious and formal parallels aside, wrestlers see in the practice of Naga asceticism a tacit justification for their own concern for physical fitness and moral strength. In this regard the sannyasi legitimizes the wrestler’s way of life. The Naga is, in some respects, an image of what the wrestler would become if he were to renounce the world completely.