One of the eleven Dashanami Sanyasis divisions, ascetics who are Shiva worshippers (bhakta).
Shankaracharya, a ninth-century philosopher, is said to have founded the Dashanamis in order to create a corps of educated men who might assist revive Hindu life.
- Each division is given a distinct name, such as aranya (“forest”) in this instance.
- New members are given this name as a surname to their new ascetic names at the time of initiation, allowing for quick group identification.
- These 10 "named" divisions are split into four broader organizational groupings, apart from their unique identities.
Shankaracharya additionally created four monastic centers (maths) where each group has its headquarters.
- The Aranya Dashanamis are members of the Bhogawara community, which is associated with the Govardhan Math near Puri, on the Bay of Bengal.
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