By Er. Rajesh Pathak
Pointing out the causes of the downfall of the country in face of foreign invasion, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar says-‘One gets weakened first, defeat follows then. The spirit of organisation of the country got shattered first, the reign of slavery took the hold of it later. Steeped with low loyalties of caste and sect, as the sense of political-social oneness among the people went to pieces and left through the windows, the freedom was inevitably to leave through the main gate .’ (Sanskruti ke chaar adhyeyaye)
However there were many who took the weakness of social-segregation as one of the main problems of the country. And they did what they could for its eradication as well. And one of the most prominent among them was Adi Shankaracharya, whose ‘Statue of Oneness’ is unveiled last year in Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh.
According to the tradition a brahamchari (celibate) goes to seek his first alms only from his mother after having gone through the rite of Yagyopavit sanskara. But Acharya Shanker went to the house of the poor Valmiki woman engaged in the work of sanitizing of the village. He touched her feet as a gesture of salutation, asking- ‘Maa bhikshaam dehi’ (Mother! give me the alms) . Thus he preferred to consume the food from the hands of poor woman instead of his real mother’s .When grown up, from Kerala he came to Omkarnath Teertha on the bank of Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh, and got to have been initiated from Shri Govind pad as a Sanyasi (renunciant). Taking into the fold of Hinduism the very embodiment of compassion, Gautam Buddha, as 9th incarnation of God Vishnu, he took a revolutionary step in the direction of social integration. And thereafter with Hindu doctrine he infused many a teaching of Buddha. This helped to subdue the effect of the sense of discrimination prevailed then to a great extent.
This is not all! Adi Shankaracharya shared no less contributions for the national integration too ― most notable being the four Mathas( religious shrines) established by him in the four different directions of the country viz. Rameshwaram, Dwarka, Badrinath and Jagannath Puri. And in 547 AD he went on to initiate Dashnami Sanyasi or Akhada Parampara , likewise. And, these ten are: Teerth, Ashram, Vana, Aranya, Parvat , Sagar, Saraswati, Bharti, Giri, Puri. Thereafter two more Akhadas came into existence by the virtue of Shir Chand , the son of Guru Nanak Dev. Last and 13th of them was Nirmal Akhada , votaries (sadhus) of which draw inspiration from all the Sikh gurus and Guru Granth Sahib .
In order to inflame the spirit of Dhrama the institution of Akhadas grew into active form in the Mughal-period . The institution is said to be named as Akhadas after the arrogant (akkhad in Hindi ) nature of sadhus . In case of the marriage and crimes like killing they are subjected to be excommunicated from the Akhada. However, in wake of stampede in 1954 Kumbha the Akhada Parishad came into being in what is called organized form.
Earlier the sadhus performed the rituals of austerity according to their will , normally being unconcerned to each other. Later, so as to organize them, and through them the people socially and religiously, it was Shankaracharya who came to form the Akhadas. In 1260 the army of Muslim Slave-dynasty attacked Kankhal , one of the ‘Panch Teerth of Haridwar, also the abode of World fame Gurukul Kangri. In the battle that continued for 11 days the Naga Sadhus emerged victorious. Over 5000 sadhus fell martyred ! The battle was led by the able leadership of Mahant Bhagwananda. The symbols of bravery, the two spears ‘Surya Prakash’ and ‘Bhairav Prakash’ used in the battle are still laid in all sanctity in the cantonment of Kankhal. Every year these spears are worshipped on the eve of Vijayadashami .
In 1664 Aurangzeb army led by Mirza Ali set out to vandalize Baba Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. The Dashnami sanyasis, however, fought back and forced them to backtrack. And when Aurangzeb army attacked Kashi’s Gyanvapi temple, before it came stood laced with weapons were over 15000 Naga sadhus. In great numbers the Nagas though fell martyred, but they forced Mughals to give up the fight and retreat. And when again for the second time Aurangzeb army tried to launch attack on Kashi Vishwanath in 1669, it met counter attack far more than his match in strong Naga warriors. In the first volume of ‘The illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism’ by James G. Lochte field that we find how Mughals were defeated by the Hindu Naga warriors.
Historian and the then Vice Chancellor of Kolkata during British India , Yadunath Sarkar, tells, in the 3rd battle of Panipat in 1761the Nagas fought under the leadership of Pushpendra Giri from the side of Marathas and contributed in dealing the defeat to the Afghan army. In the reign of Akbar too, it was Malang fakirs who kept teasing and fighting with Hindu villagers . They disliked to see Hindus owing respect to Sanyasis. As the conflict intensified, Naga sadhus themselves came to fore in intervention and took the training to fight using the arms from Rajput soldiers. And, thus, as the retaliation began from the Nagas, the Malang fakirs gradually began to learn that they had better desist from committing mischief any longer.
(The writer is columnist and a freelancer and can be reached at M-9826337011)
