Akhara or Akhada (Sanskrit: अखाड़ा, shortened to Khara Hindi: खाड़ा) is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists or a sampradaya monastery for religious renunciates in Guru–shishya tradition. For example, in the context of the Dashanami Sampradaya sect, the word denotes both martial arts and religious monastic aspects of the trident wielding martial regiment of the renunciating sadhus.
Etymology
The term akhara, is a gender-egalitarian term, which means the circle or more precisely the spiritual core, congregation or league, it is similar to the Greek-origin word academy and the English word school, can be used to mean both a physical institution or a group of them which share a common lineage or are under a single leadership, such as the school of monastic thought or the school of martial arts. Unlike the gurukul in which students live and study at the home of a guru, members of an akhara although train under a guru but they do not live a domestic life. Some strictly practice Brahmacharya (celibacy) and others may require complete renunciation of worldly life. For example, wrestlers are expected to live a pure life while living at akhara with other fellow wrestlers, refraining from sex and owning few material possessions.
In some languages such as Odia the word is officially transcribed as akhada, by way of rendering the flapped sound as a d. The Haryanvi and Khari Boli dialects shorten this to khada (खाड़ा).
History
Foundation dates of martial akharas
Jadunath Sarkar documented the founding date of various akharas based on a 19the century manuscript provided to him by the Nirvani Akhara of Dashanami Sampradaya.
Shavite martial akharas: Dashanami Sampradaya has 10 akharas, 6 of which are ancient akharas. The manuscript cited by Sarkar details the genealogy of head of 6 akharas. According to this manuscript, the six military akharas were founded in the following years, Dashanami military kharas had prohibition against eating meat or taking of narcotics: 547 CE, Avahan Akhara 646 CE, Atal Akhara 749 CE, Nirvani Akhara 904 CE, Niranjani Akhara 1146 CE, Juna Akhara which was originally called "Bhairavi Akhara" 1856 CE, Anand Akhara
Vaishnavite akharas: Followers of Vaishnavism are also called Bairagi or Vairagi. Among the Bairagi, those who became part of the military akharas were organised in the 7 akharas founding dates of most of which are unclear. Each of the akhara accepted members from all 4 sects of Vaishnavism. Bairagi military akharas generally did not follow the prohibition against eating meat or taking of narcotics. Vaishnavism has following four major sects and 7 martial akharas: subsects or paramparas Sri founded by Ramananda Brahma founded by Madhava Ridra founded by Vishnusuvamin Sanakadi founded by Nimbarka Martial akharas - total 7: Dadupanthis: Armed martial akharas were first likely formed by the Dadupantji guru Jait Sahib (1693–1734 CE) when he recruited armed Naga sadhus. In 1733, Dadupanthis were tax-paying farmers in Jaipur State and martial naga sadhus used employed to enforce the payment of taxes. In 1793, Dadupanthis and Jaipur State had an agreement under which Dadhupanthis provided 5000 armed soldier sadhus to defend the Jaipur State. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Dadupanthis acted as auxiliaries who assisted the East India Company forces. Satnami martial akhara: Satnamis are an offshoot/subsect of Ravidassia sect which in turn is a Ramanandi Sampradaya of Vaishnavism founded by the 14th century sadhu called Ramananda. Satnami revolt was a major rebellion against Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor, occurred in Narnaul and surrounding localities in the year 1672. The revolt was caused by the oppression led by the revenue officials of the Mughal Emperor. A large reinforcement was sent to contain the revolt and in the following battle thousands of Hindu Satnamis were killed. Satnamis revolted against the rule of mughal king Aurangzeb. Sikh's martial akharas: Khalsa armed akharas were formed by Guru Govind Singh in 1699 against the mughals, most notably against Aurangzeb. Banda Singh Bahadur, also called Banda Bairagi, who fought against Mughals was originally a Vaisnavite Bairagi. Udasi are a Sikh martial akhara. Partial list, please help expand.