Akhada means a wrestling arena, and the Akhada system is believed to have been started by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century AD to prepare a warrior class that could fight for Hinduism, in addition to the mission of imbibing knowledge, the Akhadas raised weapon-wielding brigades to repel the foreign invasions and named them Akhadas.
The mission of Akhadas to protect Dharma. The Naga sect and Dashanami renunciants came together and held spears as a weapon which symbolised strength. They began to give training in gymnastics and using of various weapons such as swords, along with lessons on religious scriptures.
Akhara are classified into one of the four different Sampradaya (philosophical denominations) based on their traditional systems: Each sampradaya has several paramparas (lineages) based on the guru-shishya tradition.
Initially there were only 4 akharas based on the sampradaya (sect), which have split into subsidiary akharas due to differences in the leadership and expansion in the followership, there were 13 akharas that are allowed to participate in Prayagraj Kumbh Mela and they have formed the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad with 2 representatives from each of the 13 akharas to manage the akhara-related affairs across all kumb melas and across the nations.
Sanyasi Akhara (सन्यासी अखाड़ा) of the followers of Shiva. Examples of these akharas include the (1) Niranjani Akhara and its subsidiary (2) Ananda Akhara (3) Juna Akhara and its subsidiaries (4) Avahan Akhara (5) Agni Akhara (6) Pari Akhara, an exclusive akhara of female sadahavi (saints), was included in Prayagraj Kumbh for the first time starting from 2013 as a subsidiary akhara of one of the existing akhara (7) Vairagi Akhara, also Bairagi Akhara (Hindi: बैरागी अखाड़ा) of the followers of Vishnu; Examples of such akharas include the
(8) Mahanirvani Akhara (or simply Nirvani) and its subsidiaries (9) Atal Akhara (10) Nirmohi Akhara and
(11) Digambar akhara, and (12) Khalsa akharas (13) Udasi Akhara (उदासी अखाड़ा) of the followers of Hinduism (with sikh practices) include the Nirmal Akhara (14) Kalpwasis akhara (कल्पवासी अखाड़ा) of the followers of Brahma, generally ordinary people who are temporarily living the austere life during the Kumbh Mela to mimic Vanaprastha (वनप्रस्थ) retiring into a forest stage of later life. In that sense kalpwasi akhara is a temporary akhara of no fixed ongoing organisation.
By three types of Paramparas (a) Daiva-parampara; Narayana, Sada Shiva and Padmabhuva (Brahma) (b) Ṛiṣhi-parampara; Vasistha, Sakti, Parasara, Vyasa and Suka (c) Manava-parampara; Gauḍapada, Govinda bhagavatpada, Sankara bhagavatpada, and then Shankara's four disciples Padmapada, Hastamalaka, Totaka, Vartikakara (Suresvara) and others.
Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad; There are 3 types of akharas; Nirvani Ani Akhada, Digambar Ani Akhada and Nirmal Ani Akhada.
Nirvani Ani Akhada; It has the largest number of akhadas for the Sadhu Sants and the Naga Sadhus as well. There are seven Nirvani Ani Akhadas: Shri Panchdashnaam Juna Akhada (Varanasi): It is the largest of the 13 Akhadas. The Juna Akhada follows the Dashnaami Sampraday of Shaivism founded by Adi Shankaracharya. They worship Lord Dattatreya. The Kinnar Akhara (Transgender Akhara) is also under the Juna Akhada.
Shri Panchayati Niranjani Akhada (Prayagraj): It is the second largest akhada. It was founded in 904 AD in Gujarat. Niranjani Akhada worships Kartikeya. The Niranjani Akhada consists of a lot of educated persons having doctorate and post graduation.
Shri Panch Atal Akhada (Varanasi): It is one of three oldest Akhadas. They worships Lord Ganesha and the holy symbols of Bhairva Prakash Bhala and Surya Prakash Bhala.
Shri Panchdashnaam Aavahan Akhada (Varanasi): It is the oldest monastic order. They worship Dattatreya.
Taponidhi Shri Anand Panchayati Akhada (Nasik): It is the second oldest Akhara. The deity of this Akhada is Dev Bhuwan Bhaskar Suryanarayan.
Shri Panchayati Mahanirvani Akhada (Prayagraj):The deity of the Akhara is Sage Kapilmuni and they have holy symbols like Bhairva Prakash Bhala and Surya Prakash Bhala.
Shri Panchdashnaam Panchagni Akhada/Shri Shambhu Panchagni Akhara (Junagarh): They are Brahmchari saints. They differ from other Shaivite akharas as they do not practice dhuni (the fire sacrifice) and do not consume any intoxicant and wear janau or the sacred thread.
Digambar Ani Akhada; It is also known as Bairagi Akhadas. They are Vaishnavas (followers of Lord Vishnu). It contains three akhadas, they are Shri Nirmohi Ani Akhara (Mathura); It was formed in Vrindavan by uniting 18 Vaishnav groups. They worships Lord Hanuman, Shri Digambar Ani Akhara (Sabarkantha), Shri Nirvani Ani Akhara (Ayodhya).
Nirmal Ani Akhada; It has three akhadas and they are known as Udasin. They are: Shri Panchayati Bada Udasin Akhada (Prayagraj); They follow the teachings of Sri Chand, the elder son of Guru Nanak. It was founded in 1825 by Yogiraj Shree Nirvandev ji Maharaj in Haridwar.
Shri Panchayti Naya Udasin Akhada (Haridwar) : It was formed by Mahant Sudhir Das in 1846 following a dispute with the Shri Panchayati Bada Udasin Akhada.
Shri Nirmal Panchayati Akhada (Haridwar): They follow Nirmal Sampraday. It was founded in 1856 in Punjab by Durga Singh Maharaj. It has close ties with Sikhi in Sanatani way.
Vaishnava sampradaya: has 4 major Guru–shishya traditional paramparas; Sri Sampradaya parampara of guru Ramanujacharya, Madhva Sampradaya parampara of guru Madhvacharya, Rudra Sampradaya parampara of guru Viṣṇusvami /Vallabhacharya and Kumara sampradaya parampara of guru Nimbarka.
Shaivite sampradaya: has 6 major Guru–shishya traditional paramparas; Nandinatha Sampradaya parampara of guru Tirumular (now known as Siddha Sampradaya of Shaiva Siddhanta), Meykandar Sampradaya parampara of guru Meykandar (now known as Saiva Adheenams of Shaiva Siddhanta in South India)
Adinath Sampradaya parampara of guru Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath (known as Nath Sampradaya of Siddha Siddhanta)
Trika Sampradaya (also known as Ragasya Sampradaya and Trayambaka Sampradaya) parampara of guru Durvasa and Vasugupta who follow Kashmir Shaivism
Lingayat Sampradaya parampara and Srouta Sampradaya parampara
Advaita Sampradaya (also known as Ekadandis, currently known as Dashanami Sampradaya): After the decline of Buddhism, a section of the Ekadandis were organized by Adi Shankara in the 8th century in India to be associated with four maṭhas paramparas to provide a base for the growth of Hinduism. Dashanami Sampradaya, "Tradition of Ten Names", is a Hindu monastic tradition of Ekadandi sannyasins (wandering renunciates carrying a single staff)
Shastradhari (शास्त्रधारी, lit. scripture-bearers) intelligentsia. Shastra (शास्त्र) means treatise, scriptures or the school of thoughts based on those. There has been a long monastic tradition of obtaining "Shashtra Vidhya" (knowledge of Sashtras) in various Sampradaya schools of thoughts in Hinduism, where disciples could learn one or more of the following in a monastic setting:
Hindu scriptures, Yoga Sashtra, Vastu shastra (architecture), Vaimanika Shastra (ancient aerospace technology), Jyotiḥsastra (astrology), Nadi Sashtra (fortune telling), Rasa shastra (medicine), Shilpa Shastras (arts and craft), Natya Shastra (dance, drama and performing arts), Tantra, Para Vidya (Higher scholar), Madhu-vidya (knowledge of bliss), and so on.
Astradhari (अस्त्रधारी, lit. weapon-bearers) warriors. This refers to the Naga sadhus (a sub-set of Dashanami Sampradaya), an armed order created by Shankaracharya to act as a Hindu army. These weapon-bearing sadhus used to serve as mercenaries and thus were divided into akhara or regiments. Akhara evolved into the "fighting martial force" of medicants likely as a reaction to the harsh and brutal treatment of Hindus by the Muslim Rulers. Akharas' act of self-defence of turning into armed monasteries of mystics, presently, Naga sadhu still carry weapons, but they rarely practice any form of fighting aside from wrestling.
The oldest recorded organized unarmed fighting art in South Asia is malla-yuddha or combat-wrestling, codified into four forms and pre-dating the Vedic Period. Stories describing Krishna report that he sometimes engaged in wrestling matches where he used knee strikes to the chest, punches to the head, hair pulling, and strangleholds.
The renunciants who have performed spiritual practice for a minimum of 12 years or have acquired special spiritual powers get superior posts in the sectarian religious order. Strict discipline is observed in the Akhadas. Ascetics who do not obey orders are given severe physical punishment or monetary fine. Langota (लंगोटा), also called kaupina (कौपिन), is a traditional style of Indian loincloth for men, worn as underwear in dangal held in akharas.
There is a hierarchy of Mahamandaleshwar, Mandaleshwar, Mahant in each Akhada. The Brahmanishtha Ascetics, who are very humble, intelligent and have reached the state of Paramhansa are given these titles. Among the five elected Sri Pancha of the akhara, they hold the following positions in the decreasing order of seniority, all of which can be considered guru in their own right (a) Acharya Mahamandaleshwara, the Great leader and Teacher of the spiritual order of the God (b) Mahamandaleshwara, the senior divisional leader of the spiritual order of the God (c) Mandaleshwara, the divisional leader of the spiritual order of the God (d) Sri Mahant, the senior spiritual leader (e) Mahant, the spiritual leader or master. Each Matha (marhi) within the akhara is governed by a mahant
The Kumbh Mela is perhaps the only event in the world where no invitation is required yet millions of pilgrims gather to celebrate the holy event. Apart from its primary bathing rituals, the social aspect of the festival also revolves around the various Yajnas, the chanting of Vedic Mantras, holy elucidations, traditional dances, devotional songs, programs based on mythical stories, and prayers. The subsidiary status is as per the traditional Shahi Snan preferential sequence of procession, though time to time several subsidiary akharas have unsuccessfully tried with authorities to have this sequence altered as the number of their followers grew.
The Ascetics of Atal Akhada and Nirvani Akhada stay together during the Kumbh Mela, whereas those of the Anand Akhada and Niranjani Akhada stay together. Religious assemblies are held where doctrines are debated, standardized and conducted by renowned saints and sages. Kumbh has been spiritually uniting the people of India and across the world since time immemorial and will continue doing so for years to come.
Not only renunciants, but Bairagis too fought with arms many times against aggressors of other religions, and thus performed a major duty in the protection of Dharma. Despite being scholars, the armed Ascetics of Shaiva and Vaishnav Akhadas gave great relief to the unarmed and peace-loving Hindu community. It is a historic fact that the aggression of Islam could be stopped on the border of Sindh due to these Akhadas.
Authored by Anadi Sahoo
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