The 13 akharas: Shaiva sannyasi, Vaishnava bairagi and Udasin

What an akhara is

According to Platts’s dictionary the Hindi word “akhara” comes from the Sanskrit “akshapata”, which Monier-Williams glosses as an arena or wrestling ground. Platts also lists among its meanings a place of exercise, an assembly and “a sect of Hindu sadhus”. The official Kumbh Mela website and PIB connect the word with “akhand” (indivisible).

According to the Kumbh Mela website the akharas were formed to bring sadhus of similar practice and outlook into one body, and their members were trained in both scripture and arms. Tradition traces their beginning to Adi Shankaracharya. The historian Jadunath Sarkar (1959) writes that there is no contemporary record of the akharas’ history before about 1750, and according to DD News (December 2024) a spokesman of the Juna Akhara said that the akharas in their present form are not older than the 12th century and that the naga akharas grew up gradually between the reigns of Akbar and Aurangzeb.

Three traditions: sannyasi, bairagi and Udasin

The seven Shaiva akharas belong to Shankaracharya’s Dashanami sannyasi tradition; according to the Kumbh Mela website their chosen deity is Shiva, whom each akhara worships in its own form. According to PIB (2025) these akharas are led by naga sannyasis. According to the UP tourism corporation (UPSTDC), the Agni Akhara’s customs differ from those of the other Shaiva akharas and of the naga sannyasis.

The three Vaishnava akharas are those of the bairagi (vairagi) sadhus. According to Britannica, vairagins worship one or another form of Vishnu, usually wear white, and wear a forehead mark that is never of ash and always vertical; the naga vairagins among them form akharas of their own. According to DD News, Balanand of the Ramanandi sampradaya founded the three anis, Digambar, Nirmohi and Nirvani, and according to the president of the Nirmohi Akhara there are 18 akharas within these three anis, 7 devoted to Rama and 11 to Krishna.

The Kumbh Mela website traces the Udasin akharas to Shri Chand, son of the first guru of the Sikhs, and says their followers chiefly revere “Om”; DD News gives Shri Chand as the presiding deity of both Udasin akharas and the Guru Granth Sahib for the Nirmal Akhara. UPSTDC calls the Naya Udasin and Nirmal akharas institutions of the Udasi and Nirmala sects of Sikhism. All three are counted among the Akhara Parishad’s 13 and take part in the Amrit Snan at the Kumbh.

Offices of an akhara: the Shri Panch, mahants and Mahamandaleshwars

According to the Kumbh Mela website an akhara is run by a committee of five (the Shri Panch), whose members are held to represent Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha and Shakti. The Mahamandaleshwars lead the akharas, and only they may give the guru-mantra to new sadhus. In the Peshwai and bathing processions the Mahamandaleshwars ride on decorated chariots with the Shri Mahant, followed by their secretaries on elephants, the naga sannyasis on horses and the other sadhus on foot.

According to Sarkar (1959), renunciants known for both learning and character were once called Paramahansas, and from about 1800 they came to be called Mandaleshwars; the title is conferred by one of the seven Dashanami akharas, or by a math, with a tilak and the gift of a shawl. An akhara may have several Mandaleshwars; the most learned of them is made the akhara’s Acharya, which Sarkar calls the highest title. In today’s news this office is called “Acharya Mahamandaleshwar” (for example IANS, November 2024, on the Juna Akhara). According to PIB (2025) the Mahanirvani Akhara was the first to make women Mahamandaleshwars.

The Akhara Parishad and the order of the Amrit Snan

According to the Kumbh Mela website the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad exists to keep harmony among the akharas and to settle their disputes. In consultation with the mela committee (the divisional commissioner, the district magistrate and the mela officer) it fixes the dates, times and order of the akharas for the Shahi Snan and the Peshwai. According to Britannica, precedence in bathing led to bloody disputes in the past, and the government now enforces a fixed order. Sarkar (1959) writes that the British administration, after inquiring into the old practice, laid down the order: first the naga Gosains (the Shaiva akharas), then the Vaishnava bairagis, then the Udasis and last the Nirmalas.

According to The Week (14 January 2025), the order at the first Amrit Snan of the Prayagraj Maha Kumbh was: Mahanirvani and Atal; then Niranjani and Anand; then Juna, Avahan and Agni; then the bairagi Nirmohi, Digambar and Nirvani anis; and last the Udasin akharas, with Nirmal the very last. The same report says that at Haridwar the Niranjani bathes first, and at Ujjain and Nashik the Juna leads. The name “Shahi Snan” was changed to “Amrit Snan” at the 2025 Prayagraj Maha Kumbh, and according to PTI the same name was adopted for the Simhastha at the Nashik meeting of 1 June 2025.

Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha 2027: the announced dates

According to PTI and ETV Bharat (1 June 2025), the Chief Minister of Maharashtra announced these dates after a meeting in Nashik with the seers of the 13 akharas: flag hoisting (dhwajarohan) on 31 October 2026 (Saturday), at 12:02 pm at the Ramkund in Nashik and at the Kushavarta in Trimbakeshwar; the nagar pradakshina on 29 July 2027; the first Amrit Snan on 2 August 2027 (Monday, a Somvati Amavasya); the second on 31 August 2027 (Tuesday, Amavasya); the third at Nashik on 11 September 2027 (Bhadrapada Shukla Ekadashi) and at Trimbakeshwar on 12 September 2027 (Dwadashi); and the close, with the flag lowered, on 24 July 2028. The Free Press Journal (20 September 2026) repeated the same dates. They agree with our panchang; in the amanta reckoning the Amavasya of 2 August is Ashadha’s and that of 31 August Shravana’s, in the purnimanta reckoning Shravana’s and Bhadrapada’s.

According to the Nashik district, the Shaiva and Udasin akharas bathe at Trimbakeshwar and the Vaishnava akharas at Nashik. These dates rest on the government’s announcement; as of 8 October 2026 we found no separate notification from the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority, so check the Authority or the Nashik district administration for later notices before travelling.

Haridwar Ardh Kumbh 2027: the announced baths

According to PTI, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand met representatives of the 13 akharas at Haridwar on 28 November 2025 and announced 10 bathing days for the 2027 Ardh Kumbh, and the mela administration repeated the list on 14 April 2026: 14 January (Makar Sankranti), 6 February (Mauni Amavasya), 11 February (Vasant Panchami), 20 February (Magha Purnima), 6 March (Maha Shivratri, Amrit Snan), 8 March (Phalguna Amavasya, Amrit Snan), 7 April (Nav Samvatsar), 14 April (Mesha Sankranti, Amrit Snan), 15 April (Ram Navami) and 20 April (Chaitra Purnima). According to PTI this will be the first time the akharas take an Amrit Snan at an Ardh Kumbh.

In our panchang the Sun enters Makara at about 9:16 pm on 14 January 2027, so our calendar has Makar Sankranti on 15 January; the mela administration has announced the first bath for 14 January. The other nine dates agree with our panchang.

The Kinnar Akhara

According to National Geographic (May 2019) the Kinnar Akhara was formed in 2015; at the 2016 Ujjain Simhastha the Akhara Parishad refused it the royal bath, and at the 2019 Prayagraj Kumbh it took part in the bath by joining the Juna Akhara. According to The Telegraph (January 2021), the Parishad’s president at the time said the Kinnar Akhara could bathe with the Juna but not as a separate “14th akhara”. PIB (2025) and Britannica mention its presence at the Kumbh. It is therefore not placed in the list of 13 here.

Where the sources differ

• The word “akhara”: Platts and Monier-Williams connect it with the Sanskrit “akshapata” (wrestling ground), and Britannica too derives it from the Hindi word for a wrestling arena; the Kumbh Mela website and PIB call it a corrupted form of “akhand”.
• Founding dates: the dates of six Shaiva akharas come from a bards’ pothi which, according to Sarkar (1959), preserves the tradition of the bards of only one akhara (the Mahanirvani), in a manuscript that in his day was no more than 50 years old; Sarkar warns that other akharas’ bards might have told a different tale, and that in some years the thousands figure may have been dropped (Avahan’s VS 1603 would be 1547 CE; Mahanirvani’s 1805 would be 1749 CE). The CE years here subtract 56 from the Vikram Samvat year, as Sarkar does. DD News gives the same dates on the authority of the akharas’ spokesmen, but prints Atal’s samvat as 603 instead of 703.
• The oldest akhara: in the bards’ pothi Avahan (VS 603) comes first; but the written account of 1929 by Mahant Lakshman Giri of the Mahanirvani, which Sarkar quotes, calls Atal the oldest of the seven. UPSTDC says Avahan was founded by Adi Shankaracharya in the 6th century, gives Atal a history of nearly 1,400 years and Niranjani more than a thousand; according to PIB Avahan has been part of the Kumbh for over 1,200 years.
• Agni Akhara: DD News gives its founding as 1136 CE and its chief centre as Kashi (it prints the samvat as 1992, which does not match 1136 CE); Bharatkosh’s list of akharas gives its address at the foot of Girnar, Junagadh (Gujarat).
• The Vaishnava anis: DD News names Balanand of the Ramanandi line as the founder of all three; UPSTDC names Ramananda as founder of the Nirmohi Akhara and the saint Abhayramdas of the Nirvani Ani, and calls the Digambar Ani the largest of the three. Deity: DD News gives Rama and Krishna; UPSTDC speaks of the Nirmohi’s devotion to Rama; according to PIB these akharas’ religious flags bear the image of Hanuman.
• Udasin and Nirmal: according to UPSTDC the Bada Udasin was founded in 1825 at Haridwar by Nirvana Baba Pritam Das, according to DD News in 1788 by Shri Pritam Das. The Naya Udasin, according to UPSTDC, grew out of differences in 1902 and was registered on 6 June 1913; according to DD News it was founded in 1902 at Prayagraj. According to UPSTDC the Nirmal Akhara was set up in 1862 at Patiala by the rulers of Patiala, Nabha and Jind; according to DD News it was planned in 1816 and founded at the 1912 Haridwar Kumbh, with its main centre at Keedganj, Prayagraj.
• Main seats: the addresses in the table are from Bharatkosh’s list of akharas; UPSTDC also gives the seats of the Avahan (Dashashwamedh Ghat) and the Nirvani Ani (Hanumangarhi), and Sarkar (1959) that of the Mahanirvani at Daraganj, Prayagraj. Bharatkosh’s list also gives second addresses for several akharas, such as the Digambar Ani’s at Tapovan (Nashik) and the Agni Akhara’s at Haridwar.
• Names: what Sarkar (1959) calls the “Nirvani Akhara” is the Mahanirvani Akhara of Daraganj, Prayagraj, not the Vaishnava Nirvani Ani. Avahan is also written Aavahan or Ahvahan.
• The third bath of the 2027 Simhastha: according to PTI, 11 September at Nashik and 12 September at Trimbakeshwar; ETV Bharat’s list gives Trimbakeshwar’s first two Amrit Snans as 2 and 31 August too, and calls 12 September a Saturday, though it is a Sunday.
• The Amrit Snans of Haridwar 2027: PTI and the mela administration give three (6 March, 8 March, 14 April); a report in Swarajya speaks of four.

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