Akhara


Akhara or Akhada is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists or a sampradaya monastery for religious renunciates in Guru–shishya tradition. For example, in the context of the Dashanami Sampradaya sect, the word denotes both martial arts and religious monastic aspects of the trident-wielding martial regiment of the renouncing sadhus.

Etymology

The term akhara, is a gender-egalitarian term, which means the circle or more precisely the spiritual core, congregation or league, it is similar to the Greek-origin word academy and the English word school, can be used to mean both a physical institution or a group of them which share a common lineage or are under a single leadership, such as the school of monastic thought or the school of martial arts. Unlike the gurukul in which students live and study at the home of a guru, members of an akhara although train under a guru but they do not live a domestic life. Some strictly practice Brahmacharya and others may require complete renunciation of worldly life. For example, wrestlers are expected to live a pure life while living at akhara with other fellow wrestlers, refraining from sex and owning few material possessions.
In some languages such as Odia the word is officially transcribed as akhada, by way of rendering the flapped sound as a d. The Haryanvi and Khari Boli dialects shorten this to khada.

History

Foundation dates of martial akharas

documented the founding date of various akharas based on a 19th century manuscript provided to him by the Nirvani Akhara of Dashanami Sampradaya.
  • Shavite martial akharas: Dashanami Sampradaya has 10 akharas, 6 of which are ancient akharas. The manuscript cited by Sarkar details the genealogy of head of 6 akharas. According to this manuscript, the six military akharas were founded in the following years, Dashanami military kharas had prohibition against eating meat or taking of narcotics:
  1. 547 CE, Avahan Akhara
  2. 646 CE, Atal Akhara
  3. 749 CE, Nirvani Akhara
  4. 904 CE, Niranjani Akhara
  5. 1146 CE, Juna Akhara which was originally called "Bhairavi Akhara"
  6. 1856 CE, Anand Akhara
  • Vaishnavite akharas: Followers of Vaishnavism are also called Bairagi or Vairagi. Among the Bairagi, those who became part of the military akharas were organised in the 7 akharas founding dates of most of which are unclear. Each of the akhara accepted members from all 4 sects of Vaishnavism. Bairagi military akharas generally did not follow the prohibition against eating meat or taking of narcotics. Vaishnavism has following four major sects and 7 martial akharas:
  • * subsects or paramparas
  • ** Sri founded by Ramananda
  • ** Brahma founded by Madhava
  • ** Rudra founded by Vishnusuvamin
  • ** Sanakadi founded by Nimbarka
  • * Martial akharas - total 7:
  1. Dadupanthis: Armed martial akharas were first likely formed by the Dadupantji guru Jait Sahib when he recruited armed Naga sadhus. In 1733, Dadupanthis were tax-paying farmers in Jaipur State and martial naga sadhus used employed to enforce the payment of taxes. In 1793, Dadupanthis and Jaipur State had an agreement under which Dadhupanthis provided 5000 armed soldier sadhus to defend the Jaipur State. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Dadupanthis acted as auxiliaries who assisted the East India Company forces.
  2. Satnami martial akhara: Satnamis are an offshoot/subsect of Ravidassia sect which in turn is a Ramanandi Sampradaya of Vaishnavism founded by the 14th century sadhu called Ramananda. Satnami revolt was a major rebellion against Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor, occurred in Narnaul and surrounding localities in the year 1672. The revolt was caused by the oppression led by the revenue officials of the Mughal Emperor. A large reinforcement was sent to contain the revolt and in the following battle thousands of Hindu Satnamis were killed. Satnamis revolted against the rule of mughal king Aurangzeb.
  3. Sikh's martial akharas: Khalsa armed akharas were formed by Guru Govind Singh in 1699 against the mughals, most notably against Aurangzeb. Banda Singh Bahadur, also called Banda Bairagi, who fought against Mughals was originally a Vaisnavite Bairagi. Udasi are a Sikh martial akhara.
  4. Partial list, please help expand.

    Historical timeline

In its earliest usage, akhara referred to training halls for professional fighters. Govind Sadashiv Ghurye translates the term as "military regiment". Ancient use of the word can be found in the Mahabharata epic which mentions Jarasandha's Akhara at Rajgir. Legendary figures like Parashurama and Agastya are credited as the founders of the early martial akhara in certain regions of India.
Svinth traces press ups and squats used by South Asian wrestlers to the pre-classical era. Many of the popular sports mentioned in the Vedas and the epics have their origins in military training, such as boxing, wrestling, chariot-racing, horse-riding and archery.
When the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya founded the Dashanami Sampradaya, he divided the ascetics into two categories: Shastradhari intelligentsia and Astradhari warriors. Shankaracharya established Naga sadhus as an astradhari armed order. He also popularised the Char Dhams during the reign of Katyuri dynasty of Garhwal Kingdom.
In 904 CE and 1146 CE, Niranjani Akhara and Juna Akhara were founded respectively.
In 1567 CE, Jogis and Sannyasi battled each other as detailed in the Tabaqat-i-Akbari, both are 2 of the 10 orders of Dashanami Akhara. Puris were outnumbered by 200 to 500 by Jogis, Akbar asked his soldiers to smear ash and join Puris to help them, this led to the victory of Puris,
In 1657/1672 CE, Satnami revellion against Aurangzeb's persecution of Non-Muslims.
In 1664 CE, Dashanami Akhara possibly battled Aurangzeb.
In 1690 CE and 1760 CE, Akharas of Saivites and Vaishnava sects fought each other at Nashik mela and Haridwar mela.
In 1770-1820 CE, during Sannyasi rebellion against Company rule in India, Akharas played a key role specially the Dashanami akhara.
In 1780 CE, the East India Company administration establish the sequence of order of procession for royal bathing by the akharas at Kumbh Mela to eliminate disputes.
In 2018, the Kinnar Akhara was established by the hijra community. It is under the Juna Akhada.
Today, akhara may be used for religious purposes or for the teaching of yoga and martial arts. Some of the noted Akhara organisations include Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, Nirmohi Akhara, and Shri Dattatreya Akhara.

Akharas within Guru–Shishya traditional Sampradaya-Paramparas

is a particular system of belief and within it a particular guru's lineage is called parampara. There are 3 distinct belief-system Sampradayas, each of which follows one of 3 types of Guru–shishya parampara lineage, each sampradaya-parampara may have several akharas of shastradhari or astradhari, and larger akharas may have own one or more permanent mathas.
Sampradaya translated as ‘tradition’, 'spiritual lineage' or a ‘religious system’. It relates to a succession of masters and disciples, which serves as a spiritual channel, and provides a delicate network of relationships that lends stability to a religious identity. Sampradaya is a body of practice, views and attitudes, which are transmitted, redefined and reviewed by each successive generation of followers. A particular guru lineage is called parampara. By receiving diksha into the guru–shishya traditional ''parampara of a living guru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya. One cannot become a member by birth, as is the case with gotra, a seminal, or hereditary, dynasty. In the traditional residential form of education, the shishya remains with his or her guru as a family member and gets the education as a true learner. In some traditions there is never more than one active master at the same time in the same guruparamaparya''.

Two types of Akhara: Shashtradhari and Astradhari

When the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya founded the Dashanami Sampradaya, he divided the ascetics into two categories:
  • Shastradhari intelligentsia.
  • Astradhari warriors. This refers to the Naga sadhus, an armed order created by Shankaracharya to act as a Hindu army. These weapon-bearing sadhus used to serve as mercenaries and thus were divided into akhara or regiments. Akharas' act of self-defence of turning into armed monasteries of mystics, also led to the unintended consequence of their sectarian fights among themselves turning into violent armed clashes at Kumbh Melas with disastrous consequence including numerous deaths, which diminished only after the East India Company administration limited the warrior role of akharas. Presently, Naga sadhu still carry weapons, but they rarely practice any form of fighting aside from wrestling.

    Astra Martial Arts Akhara

, the weapons or martial arts have a long tradition in India. The oldest recorded organised unarmed fighting art in South Asia is malla-yuddha or combat-wrestling, codified into four forms and pre-dating the Vedic Period. Stories describing Krishna report that he sometimes engaged in wrestling matches where he used knee strikes to the chest, punches to the head, hair pulling, and strangleholds. Based on such accounts, Svinth traces press ups and squats used by South Asian wrestlers to the pre-classical era.
In modern usage, akhara most often denotes a wrestling ground and is typically associated with kushti. For wrestlers, the akhara serves as a training school and an arena in which to compete against each other. The akhara used by wrestlers still have dirt floors to which water, red ochre, buttermilk and oil are added. Aside from wrestling, other fighting systems are also taught and practiced in akhara, which are commonly named after their founder. Indian martial artists may still practice in regional versions of traditional akhara today, but these are often replaced with modern training studios outside India.