Dasanami Sannyasis: Polity and Economy in the Eighteenth-Century India

Abstract

The present article seeks to explore the multidimensional activities of the Dasanami Sannyasis, a religious order founded by the disciples of Shankaracharya in the tenth century. As the name implies, the order was composed of the ten sections—Giri, Puri, Bharati, Saraswati, Ban, Aranya, Parbat, Tirtha, Ashram and Sagar; while materials on the first three are abundantly available, those on the last seven are scarce. Although primarily religious ascetics, they were also involved in financial, administrative (both civil and military) and diplomatic affairs. Alignment with state powers strengthened their power and resources. They amassed large tracts of rent-free land. Resources derived from land and monetary privileges sanctioned by the Indian powers helped them to extend their influence in the economy, especially in moneylending and trade. As a result, they began to act as semi-independent chiefs and warlords. The rise of the Dasanamis began to decline after the coming of the British in the Bengal Presidency, eventually, leading to a conflict with the local Zamindars, peasants and the newcomer East India Company. This is known as the Sannyasi Rebellion in the records of the East India Company; though called a rebellion, it would be simplistic to describe it as a nationalist uprising because various complex factors were at work. But considering the disruptive impact it had in the administrative network of the East India Company, the Sannyasi Rebellion was certainly an important episode in its early years. This event has been variously interpreted, often wrongly by different schools of historians.