Organized Naga military activity originally flourished under state patronage. During the latter half of the sixteenth century and the early part of the seventeenth century, a number of bands of fighting ascetics formed into akharas with sectarian names and identities. The Dasnami Sannyasis constitute perhaps the most powerful monastic order which has played an important part in the history of India. The cult of the naked Nagas has a long history. The present volume aims to explore new findings which are available in various archives and repositories in order to fill up the lacuna in Jadunath Sarkar’s work on the subject as elaborated in the present introduction. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

"Organized Naga military activity originally flourished under state patronage. During the latter half of the sixteenth century and the early part of the seventeenth century, a number of bands of fighting ascetics formed into akharas with sectarian names and identities.The Dasnami Sannyasis constitute perhaps the most powerful monastic order which has played an important part in the history of India. The cult of the naked Nagas has a long history. The present volume aims to explore new findings which are available in various archives and repositories in order to fill up the lacuna in Jadunath Sarkar’s work on the subject as elaborated in the present introduction. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka."--Provided by publisher.

Intimate portraits of the life of Hindu Sadhus.

The Wrestler's Body tells the story of a way of life organized in terms of physical self-development. While Indian wrestlers are competitive athletes, they are also moral reformers whose conception of self and society is fundamentally somatic. Using the insights of anthropology, Joseph Alter writes an ethnography of the wrestler's physique that elucidates the somatic structure of the wrestler's identity and ideology. Young men in North India may choose to join an akhara, or gymnasium, where they subject themselves to a complex program of physical and moral fitness. Alter's first-hand description of each detail of the wrestler's regimen offers a unique perspective on South Asian culture and society. Wrestlers feel that moral reform of Indian national character is essential and advocate their way of life as an ideology of national health. Everyone is called on to become a wrestler and build collective strength through self-discipline.

Excerpt from The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Vol. 4 of 4 Mughul, Mughul. - One of the four great Muhammadan sub divisions known in Europe under the form Mongol. Mr. Ibbetson, ' writing of the panjab, does not attempt to touch upon the much debated question of the distinction between the Turks and Mughuls. In the Delhi territory, indeed, the villagers accustomed to describe the Mughuls of the Empire as Turks, used the word as synonymous with official, and I have heard my Hindu clerks of Kayasth class described as Turks, merely because they were in Government employ. On the Biloch frontier the word Turk is commonly used as synonym ous with Mughul. The Mughuls preper probably either entered the Paujfib with Babar, or were attracted thither under the dynasty of his successors; and I believe that the great majority of those who have returned themselves as Mughuls in the Eastern Panjab really belong to that race. In these Provinces they say that they take their name from their ancestor Mughul Khan. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.