(“space-clad,” i.e., unclothed) This may apply to any ascetic who is fully nude, which is a symbol of having rejected all possessions and worldly traditions in a broad ascetic setting.
The Digambaras are one of the three Naga anis ("armies") among the Bairagi Nagas, or renunciant ascetics who are devotees (bhakta) of Vishnu and who historically earned their livelihood as merchants and mercenary warriors.
These anis were formerly genuine military units, but nowadays they are only used to determine bathing (snana) order in the bathing procession during the Kumbha Mela (“Festival of the Pot”).
The Digambaras are by far the most significant of the three, and they take precedence over the others at the Kumbha Mela.
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