(from Sanskrit dhu, meaning "to light") Ascetics tend to a smoldering fire that they keep burning.
In monastic life, this fire serves a variety of purposes: It's a way to remain warm in chilly locations, a way to practice physical asceticism by withstanding heat, especially in the summer, and it's also a sort of religious devotion when properly cared for.
The dhuni is a natural meeting area that serves as the heart of ascetic life for many ascetics, offering warmth, a fire for cooking and brewing tea, and coals for lighting the chillum, a straight pipe used to smoke tobacco laced with hashish (charas).
In material form, fire is regarded as the god Agni.
Agni is a witness to the serious and spiritual conversation that takes place around the dhuni.
Certain restrictions designed to maintain the dhuni's purity can be seen: one should not blow directly on the fire (lest saliva contaminate it), but rather through a tube designed for this purpose; one should keep the boundary around the dhuni (usually made of hardened clay) clean; and one should not touch this boundary with one's feet.
A lengthy tradition of continual fire may be found in some ascetic places.
One such place is the Himalayan holy town of Triyuginarayan, where a fire is said to have been blazing for three cosmic eras (yugas).
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