Dasanami Sampradaya (IAST '), literally Tradition of Ten Names, is a Hindu monastic tradition established by Adi Shankara in the 8th century CE in India. Those Hindus who take up sannyasa in the Advaita Vedanta or Smarta tradition take up one of the ten names associated with this sampradaya. In North India, these monks are organised into '. In the 16th century CE, Madhusudana Saraswati organised the Naga tradition of armed sannyasis in order to protect Hindus from the tyranny of the Mughal rulers.

The ten orders are:

• Saraswati, Tirtha, Aranya and Bharati, associated with the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, in the south
• Tirtha and Ashrama, linked with the Dwaraka Pitha, in the west
• Giri, Parvata and Sagara, associated with Jyotirmath in the north
• Vana, Puri and Aranya, associated with the Govardhana matha at Puri in the east.

However, the association with the above mathas is only a nominal one.

See also

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• Sannyasa
• Adi Shankara
• Advaita Vedanta

External links

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• The Dashanami Sampradaya- the Monastic Tradition
• Dasnami Sampradaya

Four phases of life