Goswami is a vernacular variant of the Sanskrit term goswami, which means "master of the senses."
Although this term might be used to any ascetic, it was most
widely used to refer to particular subgroups of Sanyasis, the ascetic devotees
(bhakta) of the deity Shiva, under British colonial authority in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries.
Sanyasis at the lowest end of the ascetic status spectrum, such as the Nathpanthis or Naga (militant) Sanyasis, were known by this moniker and were often recruited from the lower sections of society.
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