Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in Northern India

3. The Reformation

chapter 3 The Reformation 84 Eleven Aghori ascetics have succeeded Baba Kina Ram as the head of his lineage from 1771 to the present day (table 1). However, there is little available information about eight of them. Aghor was thought to have had a renaissance under the sixth head of the lineage, Baba Jainarayan Ram (1882–1927), who apparently reconsolidated the organization and improved upon its teachings and healing practices (Asthana 1994b). Unfortunately, a dispute after his death led Jainarayan’s natal family members to break off from the lineage, taking most of its internal documents with them. The leadership became increasingly isolated over the next thirty years, with the membership declining and ashrams and shrines falling into disrepair. The Aghori published very little until their reformation. The Kina Ram lineage underwent a major transformation between 1961 and 1978, a period leading up to the succession of Baba Rajeshwar Ram (Burhau Baba) by Awadhut Bhagwan Ram.1 These two renunciates could not have been more different in their style of teaching, overall manner, and representation of Aghor to the rest of the world. Although most postreform disciples strongly maintained that these two babas shared the same underlying philosophy, their external differences had a profound effect on the membership, practices, and structure of the organization, just as they have had a profound effect on the practice of Aghor medicine today. burhau baba In many ways, Burhau Baba epitomized the popular stereotype of an Aghori.2 He was a large, imposing man with a shaven head and severe expression who usually wore nothing but sandals. People typically described him in three phrases, often with one or more repetitions of bahut: Bahut bahut mazbumt the. (“He was very, very strong.”) Bahut bahut mote the. (“He was very, very fat.”) Bahut bahut sharab pite the. (“He drank very, very much.”) Burhau Baba was known for consuming supernatural quantities of country liquor, as well as marijuana from a chillum (clay pipe) that his disciples kept filled and ready. His manner was fierce, and he often gave his “blessings” through the medium of profanity and the business end of his staff to anyone who had the courage to come within his range. Burhau Baba was a regular presence at the shmashamn of Harischandra Ghat, where the Dom funerary attendants I interviewed continued to speak of his legendary strength. They told me that he would stand motionless for hours while wading chest deep in the river during the winter . He would visit the shmashamn at all hours of the day and night, always The Reformation 85 table 1. lineage of baba kina ram and his successors Name Years of Leadership Baba Kina Ram Unknown–1771 Baba Bija Ram 1771–81 Baba Dautar Ram 1781–1846 Baba Gaibi Ram 1846–57 Baba Bhavani Ram 1857–82 Baba Jainarayan Ram 1882–1927 Baba Mathura Ram 1927–41 Baba Saryu Ram 1941–44 Baba Dalsingar Ram 1944–49 Baba Rajeshwar Ram 1949–78 Baba Siddhartha Gautama Ram 1978–present note: This lineage comprises the renunciates who sat at Krim Kund following Baba Kina Ram’s arrival (date unknown). However, the Aghori consider the first head of the lineage before the establishment of Krim Kund to be Lord Dattatreya in the guise of Baba Kalu Ram. source: Asthana 1994b. returning to the ashram with an armload of wood for Baba Kina Ram’s dhuni. Baba Rajeshwar Ram enjoyed spending time with his Dom devotees , either in the shmashamn or at the Kina Ram Ashram, where he often held fish bhojans (sacred feasts) well into the night with the Dom raja at his side. Local men recalled Burhau Baba from their boyhood, telling stories that sounded like urban legends of the “mean old man down the street.” Hari Baba said that in his boyhood, long before he joined the lineage and became a baba himself, he once took darshan from Burhau Baba on a whim while walking home from school. After the boy bowed to this imposing figure, Burhau Baba looked at him sternly and said, “What are you doing here? Go to school!” (Ram 1997: 3). Another local man, Ramuji, recalled his boyhood when he used to play with other children on the west side of Krim Kund, before the wall was built around it. One time, when Ramuji was about ten or eleven years old, Burhau Baba caught hold of him and made him sit down by the...