3. Kumbh Mela as Political Theatre
1. Author’s interview with Yatindranand Giri conducted on 12 January 2013, 12 May and 18 May 2018.
2. Organiser (11 February 1979), Bharat Prakashan, Delhi.
3. Christophe Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, Hurst & Company, London, 1993, pp. 357–358.
4. Organiser (1 August 1982).
5. Author’s interview with Vijay Kaushal conducted on 18 May 2018.
6. Author’s interview with Yatindranand Giri conducted on 12 January 2013, 12 May and 18 May 2018.
7. Samanvay: Shri Swami Satyamitranand Giri Abhinandan Granth, Mahamandaleshwar Shri Swami Abhinandan Granth Samiti, Jabalpur, 1999, p. 8.
8. Swami Shraddhanand, Hindu Sangathan: Saviour of the Dying Race, 1926, pp. 140–141.
9. Sumathi Ramaswamy, The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2010, p. 166.
10. Lise McKean, Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1996, p. 148.
11. Ibid., pp. 148–149.
12. For details, see Krishnakant Chaturvedi and Brahmajeet Sharma, Divyalok: Parivrajak Ki Divya Yatra, Samanvaya Prakashan, Haridwar, 1986.
13. McKean, Divine Enterprise, pp. 124–163.
14. Author’s interview with Akhileshwaranand Giri conducted on 25 May 2018.
15. Patriot, 23 January 1966, p. 4.
16. Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement, p. 206.
17. Patriot (8 November 1966), p. 1.
18. Ibid.
19. Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement, p. 211.
20. Times of India, 23 January 1977.
21. Author’s interview with Jitendranand Saraswati conducted on 25 May 2018.
22. The Statesmen, 1 February 1989, p. 7.
23. Mark Tully, The Kumbha Mela, Indica Books, Varanasi, 2001, p. 29.
24. Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement, p. 373.
25. Tully, The Kumbha Mela, pp. 31–32.
26. Patriot, 23 January 1966, p. 4.
27. Statesman, 1 February 1989, p. 7.
28. Statesman, 3 February 1989, p. 4.
29. Sunday Pioneer, 21 January 2001.
30. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, The Publications Division, 1966, vol. 16 (November 1920–April 1921), p. 257.
31. Report of Sadhus Taking Part in Non-cooperation, Political Department, Special Section (PDSS), Bihar State Archives, Patna, 1921, part 2, fol. 3, file no. 80.
32. Ibid.
33. Between the years 1920 and 1935, a good number of reports on the subject of ‘political sadhus’ was compiled by the intelligence department as is evident in the index to the PDSS files in the Bihar State Archives, Patna.
34. Gyanendra Pandey, The Ascendancy of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh: A Study in Imperfect Mobilisation, 1926–34, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1978, p. 104.
35. William Gould, Hindu Nationalism and the Language of Politics in Late Colonial India, Cambridge University Press, Delhi, 2004, p. 48.
36. Ibid., p. 49.
37. Ibid., p. 49.
38. Ibid., p. 63.
39. Ibid., p. 49.
40. Ibid., pp. 49–50.
41. Leader, 24 January 1942, p. 3.
4. The Broken Leg Test
1. ‘Lack of Fresh Blood Bares Naga Sadhus to Near Extinction’, The Economic Times, 4 February 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/nation-world/lack-of-fresh-blood-bares-naga-sadhus-to-near-extinction/many-akharas-parading-fake-nagas-at-kumbh/slideshow/18330229.cms; http://daily.bhaskar.com/news/MK-NE-allahabad-know-what-is-pushing-naga-sadhus-towards-extinction-4168835-PHO.html.
2. Report of the Kumbh Tragedy Enquiry Committee, Police Department, UP State Archives, Lucknow, file no. 1041/54, p. 153.
3. Kama Maclean, Pilgrimage and Power: The KumbhMela in Allahabad, 1765–1954, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2008, p. 205.
4. Author’s interview with Kanhaiya Lal and his friends, Gopal, Ilam and Ballu, conducted on 30 October 2012, 28 November 2012, 19 December 2012 and 14 January 2013. The first three interviews were conducted in Haridwar and the last one in Allahabad.
5. For details, see Jadunath Sarkar, A History of Dasanami Naga Sanyasis, Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani, Allahabad, 1958, pp. 65–76, Clark, Matthew, The Dasanami Samnyasis, Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2006, pp. 81–99.
6. Author’s interview with Anand Giri conducted on 14 April 2013 in Joshimath.
7. Author’s interview with Ravindra Puri conducted on 30 July 2012 in Haridwar.
8. J.N. Farquhar, ‘The Fighting Ascetics of India’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. 9 (1925), p. 485.
9. G.S. Ghurye, Indian Sadhus, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1964, p. 113.
10. Robert Lewis Gross, The Sadhus of India, Rawat Publications, Jaipur–New Delhi, 1992, pp. 125–126.
11. Roderick Neill, Sadhus and Hippies, Quest, Bombay, 1970, p. 23.
12. Gross, The Sadhus of India, p. 133.
13. Sondra L. Hausner, Wandering with Sadhus, Foundation Books, Delhi, 2007, p. 127.
14. Ghurye, Indian Sadhus, pp. 98–99.
15. Kama Maclean, ‘Seeing, Being Seen and Not Being Seen: Pilgrimage, Tourism, and Layers of Looking at the KumbhMela’, Cross Currents, vol. 59, no. 3 (September 2009), p. 327.
16. Maharashtra State Gazetteers: Nasik District, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1975, p. 964.
17. For details, see Report of the Kumbh Tragedy Enquiry Committee
18. Ibid., pp. 152–153.
19. Ibid., p. 155.
20. UP Information Newsletter No. 146, UP Government Archive, Lucknow, 14 November 1958, file no. 69M/54.
5. A Jamun Tree, a Naga and the Rainbow Family
1. Author’s interview with Shivraj Giri conducted on 8 March 2013 in Delhi and 19 April 2013 and 10 May 2013 in Haridwar.
2. Jadunath Sarkar, A History of Dasanami Naga Sanyasis, Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani, Allahabad, 1958, pp. 57–59.
3. G.S. Ghurye, Indian Sadhus, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1964, p. 106.
4. Matthew Clark, The Dasanami Sanyasis, Brill, Leiden–Boston, 2006, p. 69.
5. Surajit Sinha and Baidyanath Saraswati, Ascetics of Kashi, NK Bose Memorial Foundation, Varanasi, 1978, p. 87.
6. Ibid., p. 90.
7. Soma Wadhwa, ‘Haridwar’s Unholy Wars’, Outlook, 11 May 1998.
8. Author’s interview with Vinod Rawat conducted on 11 May 2013 in Haridwar.
9. Author’s interview with Harish Sharma conducted on 11 May 2013 in Haridwar.
6. What is in a Name?
1. Surajit Sinha and Baidyanath Saraswati, Ascetics of Kashi, NK Bose Memorial Foundation, Varanasi, 1978, p. 98.
2. Amar Ujala, 5 August 2012.
3. Amar Ujala, 4 August 2012.
4. Amar Ujala, 8 August 2012.
5. Dainik Jagran, 24 January 2013.
6. Dainik Jagran, 25 January 2013.
7. Author’s interview with Divyanand Saraswati conducted on 2 March 2013 and 10 April 2018 in Haridwar.
8. ‘Ashram, Ram Rahim, Rampal: The 14 Fake Babas Put on Boycott List’, Hindustan Times, 11 September 2017, https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/asaram-gurmeet-ram-rahim-on-fake-baba-list-meet-the-14-faces-hindu-sadhus-want-boycotted/story-JYEQQkSYOOBFFQzKfbD7UP.html.
9. For details, see H.H. Wilson, Religions of Hindus, Vol. I: Essays and Lectures on Religious Sects of the Hindus, Asian Publication Services, Delhi, 1976. The book was first published in 1861.
10. G.S. Ghurye, Indian Sadhus, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1964, pp. 109–110.
11. Sinha and Saraswati, Ascetics of Kashi, pp. 96–97.
12. Ibid.
13. Swami Sadananda Giri, Society and Sanyasin: A History of the Dasanami Sanyasins, Kriyayoga Ashrama, Rishikesh, 1976, pp. 50–53.
14. Shri Mahant Lal Puri, Dashanam Naga Sanyasi evam Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani, Shri Pancha
yati Akhara Mahanirvani, Kankhal, Haridwar, 2001, pp. 133–134.
15. G.S. Ghurye, Indian Sadhus, pp. 109
16. Sinha and Saraswati, Ascetics of Kashi, p. 97.
17. Ibid., p. 98.
18. Shri Mahant Lal Puri, Dashanam Naga Sanyasi evam Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani, Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani, Kankhal, Haridwar, 2001, pp. 133–134.
19. Matthew Clark, The Dasanami-Samnyasis, Brill, Leiden–Boston, 2006, p. 48.
20. Ibid., p. 76.
21. Sinha and Saraswati, Ascetics of Kashi, p. 98.
22. Mail Today, 13 February 2013.
23. Ibid.
24. Hindustan Times, 6 February 2013.
25. Dainik Jagran, 8 February 2013.
26. Author’s interview with Divyanand Saraswati conducted on 2 March 2013 in Haridwar.
27. Peter van der Veer, ‘God must be Liberated!’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 21. no. 2 (1987), 101–102.
28. Ibid., p. 102.
29. Ibid., p. 103.
30. Swami Bhagavadacharya, ‘Shri Paramparaparitran’, in Shrimahant Harinamdas Vedanti (ed.), Shri Sampradaya Manthan, JGR Swami Haryacharya Prakashan, Varanasi, 2001, pp. 113–143.
31. Swami Bhagavadacharya, Swami Bhagavadacharya, Shri Ramananda Sahitya Mandir, Alvar, 1958, p. 86.
32. van der Veer, ‘Gods on Earth’, p. 103.
33. Ibid., pp. 105–123. See also Bhagavadacharya, ‘Shri Paramparaparitran’.
7. Preceptors to the World
1. Author’s interview with Achyutanand Tirth conducted on 26 April 2018 at his ashram, Bhuma Niketan, Haridwar.
2. Times of India, 22 February 2017.
3. Times of India, 4 March 2017.
4. Author’s interview with Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati conducted on 12 January 2013 in Allahabad.
5. Matthew Clark, The Dashanami-Samnyasis, Brill, Leiden–Boston, 2006, pp. 114–119.
6. Ibid., p. 122.
7. Ibid., p. 145.
8. Tehelka (Hindi), 15 February 2013.
9. Clark, The Dashanami-Samnyasis, p. 131.
10. Patrika, 18 December 2018.
11. Christophe Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, Hurst & Company, London, 1993, p. 357.
12. Tehelka (Hindi), 15 February 2013.
13. Acharya Baldev Upadhyaya, Kashi Ke Panditya Parampara, Vishwavidyalaya Prakashan Varanasi, 1983, pp. 209, 216.
14. Pitambaramrita, no. 12 (December 2017), p. 17.
15. Ibid.
16. Author’s interview with Kamalkant Tripathi conducted on 10 May 2018 in Varanasi.
17. Times of India, 25 February, 2017.
18. Author’s interview with Prof. Anjaneya Sastri conducted on 4 May 2018 in Varanasi.
19. Author’s interview with Hariprasad Adhikari conducted on 9 May 2018 in Varanasi.
20. Author’s interview with Prof. Ramesh Kumar Pandey conducted on 4 May 2018 in New Delhi.
21. Pitambaramrita, p. 15.
22. Ibid.
23. Author’s interview with Kamalkant Tripathi conducted on 10 May 2018 in Varanasi.
24. The Hindu, 26 January 2013.
25. Author’s interview with Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati conducted on 12 January 2013 in Allahabad.
26. Dainik Jagran, 31 December 2012.
27. Dainik Jagran, 3 January 2013.
28. The Hindu, 26 Januaray 2013.
29. Clark, The Dashanami-Samnyasis, p. 298.
30. Dainik Jagaran, 31 December 2012.
Epilogue
1. In a press conference held on 27 October 2018, the VHP working president Alok Kumar declared that a date for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya would be announced at the Dharma Sansad during the Ardh Kumbh at Prayagraj. https://www.amarujala.com/india-news/vhp-said-that-dharm-sansad-in-kumbh-will-decide-the-date-of-ram-mandir-construction.
2. Author’s interview with Martand Puri conducted on 20 January 2019 in the Ardh Kumbh Mela area in Allahabad.
3. Author’s interview with the AIAP president Narendra Giri conducted on 1 February 2019 in Ardh Kumbh Mela area at Prayagraj.
4. ‘Did VHP and RSS Stop Ram Temple Plans because of Congress?’, Caravan, 7 February 2019, https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/ram-temple-agitation-on-hold-rss-vhp-congress.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Author’s interview with Computer Baba conducted on 2 February 2019 in Ardh Kumbh Mela area in Allahabad.
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Ascetic Games Page 20
