Bhattacharyya Ananda - A History of the Dasnami Naga Sannyasis

The cult of the naked Nagas has a long history. The Dasnamis were divided into Gossains and Nagas. The geographical distribution of Sannyasis, maths and akharas highlighted their area of activities.

The present volume aims to explore new findings which are available in various Archives and repositories in order to fill up the lacuna and shortcomings of Jadunath Sarkars work on the subject as elaborated in the present introduction. It is unclear as to say why Sir Jadunath did not consult the British East India Companys correspondences, rather, giving much importance to Persian and Marathi sources. In order to demonstrate the idea of Hindutva Sir Jadunath glorified the martial valour of the Dasnami Naga Sannyasis. Two-thirds of the book of Sir Jadunath has thrown light on their involvement in warfare and military activities on behalf of the regional powers. While discussing their mercenary activities, Sir Jadunath was also silent about their involvement in the famous palace conspiracy at the Cooch Behar native state. The present introduction as appended with Sir Jadunaths monograph will justify the multi-dimensional aspects of the Dasnami Nagas including their trade and moneylending involvement.

The editor of the present volume is highly indebted to archival officers and staff of the National Archives of India, New Delhi, Jhumur Sengupta, Archivist, of the West Bengal State Archives, Kolkata, Allahabad Regional Archives, U.P. State Archives, Lucknow, Bangladesh National Archives, Dhaka and the various akhara organizations for rendering valuable services in retrieving the resources for scholarly purposes. Finally, I would like to thank Sri Ramesh Jain, for agreeing to reprint the book of Jadunath Sarkar.

Ananda Bhattacharyya

Anup Gir Gosain had taken an important part in achieving the establishment of Sindhia as Regent of Delhi, but hardly any reward for all his labour was forthcoming from the Maratha lord of Hindustan. He therefore retired from Delhi to Mathura in 1789, expecting in time to get at least a suitable jagir; but in the course of this year, he was charged with the diabolitical crime of attempting Mahadjis life by black magic and witchcraft and was threatened with fatal punishment. The irrepressible monk, however, surmounted this danger with the same resourcefulness with which he had cut many a gordian knot in his career before.

Summoned to Mahadjis durbar, he gave the slip to his chobdars on the way and having entered the tents of the Peshwas agent, Ali Bahadur, took sanctuary under the jatrin-patka (the golden standard) of the Peshwas as a refuge from Sindhias vengeance. This incident precipitated a political crisis of the gravest import. Mahadji demanded of Ali Bahadur the delivery of the alleged criminal into his hands. Ali Bahadur found it inconsistent with his sense of chivalry and the Peshwas honour, to comply with Sindhias demand. Mahadji therefore took recourse to force and besieged Ali Bahadurs camp from 21 to 24 July. This hostility between the Peshwas deputed caused a profound stir, and Tukoji Holkar who had now come to Maratha lent the weight of his support to Ali Bahadur on 31 July. A Sindhias lately-won ascendancy, loomed on the horizon. The astute minister Nana Fadnis saught to avert it, by decreeing the administration of the monks estate and contingent by the Maratha state and his detention in the Jhansi fort, pending the final determination of the issue. These terms were, however, denounced by Mahadaji as being a clever subterfuge to set the monk at liberty. So the sword of Sindhia was kept suspended over Anupgiris head. In January 1790, his doom seemed imminent when Ali Bahadur, starving with his troops by reason of Sindhias suspension of all grants, proposed to hand him over to the latter. But the Gosain non-plussed his host by threatening to kill himself rather than be dishonoured. He was attended by a body of three hundred desperate chelas (disciples) who were ready to lay down their lives for him. So Ali Bahadur relented and negotiated the refugee monks release, on condition of his imploring pardon by appearing as a penitent in Mahadajis durbar. The Gosain yet clung to the Peshwas standard, with the same tenacity as before, and refused to budge an inch from his present post. His inexorable resolution ultimately forced the mountain of Sindhia to move to Ali Bahadurs camp and make it up with him by liberating the monks family from internment and presenting him with a robe of honour, a horse and elephants on 6 February 1790.

Thus, the monk triumphed again over the virtual lord of Hindustan. For more than a year after this event, Anupgiri lingered in Mathura scanning the political horizon; but Sindhias resounding victories at Patan (20 June) and at Merta (10 September) defeated all hopes of his ever regaining any influence either in Rajasthan or the Doab. He therefore joined the cause of Ali Bahadur and proceeded along with him to Bundelkhand to navigate in the troubled political waters there which we propose to delineate in the following chapter with as much lucidity as the scanty materials would allow.