Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas

Index

Index abortion, 209n5 Ādi Śaṅkarācārya. See Śaṅkarācārya (philosopher ) administration, 64, 65, 77, 88. See also akhār .ās Advaita. See Vedānta, Advaita Afghanistan, 105 ages (yugas), 144 Aghori, 168, 170, 211n10 agni cakra, 169. See also cakras (energy) aham . kāra (ego), 48 ākāś 94, 121. See also space akhār .ā jyotis .īs, 140. See also astrologers akhār .ās (administration), 72, 75, 77–89, 116; and dhūnīs, 123; Jūnā, xvi, 24, 39, 81, 84–85, 87, 135, 136, 137, 138, 164, 213n15; at Kumbh Melās, 131, 134, 136, 137–39, 143–44; Nāth, 82, 128, 134; Nirañjanī, 24, 39, 82, 83, 84–85, 129, 130, 135, 136, 137, 138; Śaiva, 85; Udāsīn, 134; Vais .n . ava, 85, 134. See also administration Alakh, 210n8 Alexander the Great, 2 Allahabad, 11, 17, 133, 134, 143. See also Kumbh Melās, Allahabad altars, 70, 122, 124, 186 Alter, Joseph, 55, 196, 209n9, 211n17 Amar Bharti, 137 Amarnāth, 10, 108, 110 amr .ta (nectar of immortality), 132, 133, 142, 144–45 ānanda (bliss), 187 anthropology, 12, 29, 57, 202–203; and ethnography , 6–8 anubhav, 101. See also experience apana, 185 Aprokh Anubhūti (Direct Experience), 68 Aquarius, 214n6 Aran . ya (daśnāmī family name), 75 Aries, 140, 141, 146 Arjuna, 207n4 Asad, Talal, 188, 208n18 āsanas, 165. See also seats āsans, 94, 123, 139. See also seats asceticism, 44, 54, 65, 67, 190; and ashrams, 115; and landscape, 92; and militarism, 77; and pilgrimage places, 95; tapas as, 170; and wandering, 95–96. See also discipline (bodily) ashes, 1, 46, 47, 66, 86, 87, 184; and dhūnīs, 120, 121, 124 Ashram, Nepali, 109, 113, 117, 118, 151 Ashram, Pithoragarh, 213n15 ashrams, 12, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115–20. See also Swargāśram Āśrama, Bābā Mastarām, 97, 98, 119 Āśrama, Śivānanda, 106 Āśrama (daśnāmī family name), 75, 211n18 āśrama system, 62, 116 Assam, 208n9 astral configurations, 1, 11, 125, 130, 132, 139, 140, 142, 145 astral cycles, 11, 140–42 astrologers, 130, 135, 140 astrology, 142, 214n9 astronomical time, 93; and Kumbh Melās, 130 Āśvin, 109 ātman, 36, 49, 53, 54, 68, 156, 157, 166, 167. See also soul Auroville, 111 238 • Index Ayodhya, 51 Ayurveda, 168 Azouvi, François, 209n15 Bābā Mastarām Āśrama. See Āśrama, Bābā Mastarām bābās (renouncers), 34, 85–87, 118, 130, 134; defined, 2; Vais .n . ava, 101. See also Dudh Bābā; Pāgal Bābā; Tyāgī Nāth Bābā Badrinath, 210n4 Bagmati River, 5, 13, 155 Banaras, 211n17. See Varanasi Basanta Pañcamī, 141 bathing: and caste, 39; at Kumbh Melās, 85, 127, 128, 133, 135–47, 175 Bay of Bengal, 15 Benaras, 217n3 Bengal, 80, 109–10 Bengalis, 209n8 bhagats (devotees), 135 Bhagavad Gītā, 3, 9, 35–36, 173 Bhagīrath, 92 Bhagīrathi River, 92 Bhagvān, 164, 187, 215n7; and tapas, 178 bhajans (devotional singing), 113 bhakti, 69. See also devotion bhakti mārga (path of devotion), 69–71. See also jñāna mārga (path of knowledge) bhan . d . ārās (feasts), 106, 130, 135, 136 Bharat Ma, 154 Bharat Mātā Mandir, 117 Bhāratī (daśnāmī family name), 75 Bhardwaj, Surinder M., 213n10, 213n13 bhasma, 121. See also ashes Bihar, 80 birth, 2, 11, 133, 144, 145, 154, 155 blessing (darśana), 106 bliss (ānanda), 187 body, 2, 3, 5, 8–12, 17, 29–30, 35–58, 64, 69, 149–80, 191, 201; and culture, 48, 94, 188, 201, 202; and dhūnīs, 121; and emotions, 173, 176–77, 180, 183, 186; and encompassment , 185; and experience, 8, 9, 11, 30, 149–50, 170, 174, 176, 177, 189, 204; female, 161; and gender, 19–20; and Hindu philosophy, 48–50; illusion and, 30, 71, 175, 179; and jungles, 115; and knowledge, 11, 30, 151, 152, 157, 163, 164, 166–68, 173, 174, 177, 183, 188, 201; and lineages, 76; and locations, 168, 188; maintaining, 174, 180; and materiality, 30, 142, 164, 169, 186; and mind, 37, 55–56, 189, 202–203; naked, 85, 86–87; obscurations of, 156–62; and outer worlds, 186; and place, 16, 94, 98, 149–80, 188; practices of, 48, 67, 170–73; presentation of, 47; revelations of, 162–70; and social structures, 186; and society, 183–84; and soul, 36–37, 53–54, 55–57, 163, 171, 183, 188...