Naga sadhus make a formidable image but it might come as a surprise to most that these ascetics take enough care ‘beautifying’ themselves, which can sometimes give a bride dressing up a complex.
Naga sadhus make a formidable image but it might come as a surprise to most that these ascetics take enough care ‘beautifying’ themselves, which can sometimes give a bride dressing up a complex.
Before each ‘shahi snan’, Naga sadhus do the traditional ‘sattrah shringar’ (17 adornment), one up on the ‘solah’ or 16 shringars traditionally associated with a married Hindu woman.
The night preceding the shahi snan, Naga sadhus begin the ‘spiritual and physical shringar’, which begins with cleansing rituals and concludes with smearing the entire body with ash. The whole process takes 7-8 hours. Every Naga sadhu stays awake the whole night, first praying to Shiva and the deity of his akhara to purify his soul, and then begins readying himself.
If a woman dresses up to look attractive, a Naga sadhu adorns himself for a union with the divine Ganga. The sadhus perform all the 16 shringars that a woman does, and an additional 17th: the smearing of ash or ‘bhabhoot’ all over their body.
Once they reach the bathing ghats, their excitement peaks, and even the most senior of these sadhus can be seen frolicking in the river water like a child in the arms of his mother, says Mahant Narendra Giri, Niranjani Akhada secretary and president of Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad.
He explains that unlike others who bathe to purify themselves, the Naga sadhus first purify themselves through prayer and only after ensuring that they are ‘shudh’ from inside do they go for a bath in the Ganga.
He says each Naga sadhu smears his body with holy ash and grooms his ‘Panchkesh’ (hair of his body) before proceeding for the dip.
“Like a married woman applying a bindi, sindhoor and kajal, a naga sadhu after attending to his ‘panchkesh’ applies the sacred roli, tilak and chandan. If a woman wears jewellery, a naga ascetic too wears garlands of rudraksh. He wears a kada (iron bracelet) instead of bangles and carries a ‘damroo’, ‘chimta’ and ‘kamandal’ as other adornments,” Narendra Giri says.
He says though a Naga sadhu does not wear clothes, he often puts on a loincloth or kopin and ‘naagphani’ as a concession to the world.
Shri Mahant Aradhana Giri of Shri Sanyasini Dashnaami Juna Akhada, says, “No doubt the shringar of a Naga sanyasi is tougher than that of a woman. A Naga sadhu purifies his body and soul before the shahi snan in the river because he is aware that millions of others will bathe in the same water after him and it is for this reason that he comes out after just one dip or two.”
THE SATTRAH SHRINGAR
1. Tilak
2. Chandan
3. Braided hair
4. Kajal
5. Chimta, Damroo, Kamandal
6. Rudraksha garland
7. Kundal
8. Smear of roli
9. Kada
10. Amulet of Rudraksha
11. Ring of iron
12. Panchkesh
13. Waistband of Rudraksha
14. Iron/Silver rings
15. Chandan
16. Langot/Kopin
17. Bhabhoot
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Lucknow / by Sandeep Kumar, Hindustan Times, Prayagraj / February 05th, 2019