Courtesy: https://twitter.com/vishuddhi08/status/1527851802255048704?s=21&t=WmH-Y7u1SY58jEB-QB6L7Q
https://twitter.com/yajnshri/status/1529636088540647429?s=21&t=GXnoTBS7gREu_BbdroN_Qg
Naga Sadhus: The Protector of Sanatan Dharma, Defeated Aurangzeb Defending Kashi Vishwanath temple in 1664
Naga Sadhus! when we hear about them, we have the wrong idea of naked sadhus with ash in body but they protected the Hindu religion many times. They are sacred infantry without payroll to protect their ‘Hindu Dharma’ against Is-lamic
Invaders and then the British. Nagas’s guru was Dattatreya, the incarnation of the Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahadev. The Dashanami sampradaya of monastic tradition is attributed to Dattatreya was organized into 4 mutts by Adi Shankaracharya.
Besides the mutts, he also organized a section of warrior sadhus to protect Sanatana Dharma. Later they came to be known as ‘Naga Sadhus’. They have no fear of death and their weapons have been the Trishul, sword, stick and conch shells.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. The temple was attacked several times by Islamic plunderers. It was first destroyed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE. He was then a commander under the army of Mohammad Ghori.
Like most other temples, this temple was also rebuilt. The rebuilding was done under the patronage of a Gujarati trader before mid 13th century
Kashi was plundered again by the Sharqi rulers of the Jaunpur Sultanate followed by d Muslim army of Sikandar Lodhi in the 15th century and was rebuilt by Raja Todar Mal in the last part of the 16th century, i.e. in 1585.
Aurangzeb and his Mughal forces attacked Kashi Vishwanath Temple in 1664. The Naga Sadhus resisted and defended the temple. They badly defeated Aurangzeb and his forces.
This defeat of the Mughals finds mention in James G. Lochtefeld’s book “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism”, Volume 1.
He described the event as the ‘Battle of Gyan Vapi’ in his book.
(Note that the ‘victory’ of the Naga Sadhus against Aurangzeb and his forces has been termed ‘great’ in this description.
Aurangzeb attacked Varanasi again after four years, i.e. in 1669, and vandalized the temple. He built a mosque in its place called the Gyanvapi mosque. When Aurangzeb attacked Varanasi the second time in 1669, Naga Sadhus must have retaliated to their last breath. According to local folklore and oral narrations, around 40,000 Naga Sadhus sacrificed their lives, defending Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirling
DASHNAMI NAGA SADHU
Hinduism is the dharma that advocates peaceful living taking into cognizance human relation with nature and Indian ascetics has ancient history of establishing their relationship with nature like forests, mountains, rivers, we assign the power of nature as similar to god and placed them in our worship order in the same series Naga Sadhu who are of the monastic order of Dashnami Sampraday played a great part in the history of India.
Most of the Nagas go without – ceremonial occasions. Some of them, however, adhere to their vows of keeping no possessions.
The sect of the Nagas, naked ascetics, has a pretero-historic ancestry. It must have been founded when Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were no more than swamps. The famous Mohen-jo-daro seal depicts Pashupati sitting naked and being worshipped by animals.
The Vedas refer to the long-haired ascetics, Lord Shiva sitting on Mount Kailash, almost naked and besmeared with ashes, is their appropriate guardian deity.
it has its learned sanyasis , who enjoy spiritual leadership, its Yogis, who specialise in Yogic practises; its mahants,
who look after the temples, monasteries and Akharas well and its ordinary sadhus and lay members, called Gharbari Gosais, who marry and do normal avocations in various parts of the country, but are pledged to the glory of their Order.
The Dashnamis are divided into two sections
the shastradharis, who specialise in sacred lore, and the astradharis, who specialise in arms. The sanyasis, are ranged in four ranks. Kutichak, Bahudak, Hansa and Paramahansa – the last being the highest.
Monastic orders of such ascetics existed in India long before the dawn of
The Greeks, when they came with Alexander, met the naked philosophers, the Gymnosophists.
Only fortunate few become Naga Sadhus – strongest commitment makes a Naga. The process to achieve Naga position is very difficult and the exercises are so hard that it cannot be compared to the most strenuous preparations of any army around the world.
During ancient times, Naga Sadhus were taught to fight anti-Vedic invaders ferociously. Naga Sadhus were equipped with talwars, trishuls, gadas, teer dhanush and weaponry skills to protect Mandirs (मंदिर) and Maths (मठ). Naga Sadhus successfully protected Shiv Mandirs from invaders and mughals. Aurangzeb’s special army of muslims who were established to denigrate Hindu temples and structures were defeated hundreds of times. These terrorist muslims were butchered to death like mad dogs. Maths (मठ). Naga Sadhus successfully protected Shiv Mandirs from invaders and mughals. Aurangzeb’s special army of muslims who were established to denigrate Hindu temples and structures were defeated hundreds of times. These terrorist muslims were butchered to death like mad dogs.
Tasvir-e naga sepahi, Picture of a Naga sadhu.
Watercolour on paper, with identifying inscriptions in Persian in nasta’liq script.
🙏🚩Salute to the Naga Sadhus for selflessly defending Dharma.
