Paper short abstract:

According to tradition, the Dasanami-Samnyasis were founded by Sankaracarya. I have previously suggested that the identity of the sect developed in several stages. This paper explores the extent to which their identity was influenced by Sufi institutions and practices.

Paper long abstract:

According to tradition, the Dasanami-Samnyasis, one of the largest of the sects of South Asian sadhus, was founded by the philosopher Sankaracarya (fl. c. 700 CE), who is also supposed to have founded monasteries in the 'four corners' of India, administered by four of his disciples. I have previously suggested ('The Dasanami-Samnyasis: The Integration of Ascetic Lineages into an Order', E. J. Brill: Leiden/Boston, 2006) that Sankaracarya had nothing to do with either the founding of an ascetic order or with the establishing of monasteries. Rather, I maintain that the identity of the Dasanami-Samnyasis, as an order or sect, developed in several stages, beginning in the late fourteenth century and culminating around the end of the sixteenth century, by which time the Dasanami-Samnyasis emerged as a fully formed sect with a historical founder, Sankaracaraya. I also suggested that the identity of the sect, in terms of its legendary historical formation, may have been influenced by Sufi institutions, which had significant influence within Islamic political structures during this period. The Dasanami-Samnyasis primarily constitute their own identity as a sect in terms of a 'miracle-working' historical founder who had four disciples. Similarly, Sufi institutions, during the same period in South Asia, developed an almost identical understanding of their own history. In this paper I further explore the extent of the possible influence of Sufi beliefs and practices on the formation and identity of a newly emergent Hindu sect.