{{Short description|Hindu ascetics of India}} {{other uses|Gosain|Gossain|Goswami}} '''Gosains''', who are also known as '''Gossain''', '''Gosine''', '''Gossai''', '''Gosyne''', '''Gosein''', '''Gosavi''', and as '''Goswamis''', are Brahmins,<ref>{{Citation |last=Bond |first=N. |title=Exploring pilgrimage and religious heritage tourism experiences. |date=2015 |work=Religious tourism and pilgrimage management: an international perspective |pages=118–129 |editor-last=Raj |editor-first=R. |url=http://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/9781780645230.0118 |access-date=2024-10-04 |edition=2 |place=UK |publisher=CABI |language=en |doi=10.1079/9781780645230.0118 |isbn=978-1-78064-523-0 |editor2-last=Griffin |editor2-first=K.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pushtimarg |url=https://archive.org/stream/Pushtimarg/APrestigiousPathToGraceClassModernityAndFemaleReligiosityInPustimargVaisnavism_djvu.txt |title=Pushtimarg |pages=v}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saha |first=Shandip |date=2004-01-01 |title=Creating a Community of Grace: A History of the Pusti Marga in Northern and Western India (1493-1905) |url=https://www.academia.edu/9013858 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Jadunath |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32182/page/n135/mode/1up?view=theater |title=A History Of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis |pages=110}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=G. |date=2012 |title=Caste versus Class : Social Mobility in India, 1860-2012 |journal=University of California |pages=9|s2cid=2632653 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Farquhar |first=J. N. |date=1925 |title=The fighting ascetics of India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/bjrl.9.2.5 |journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands Library |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=431–452 |doi=10.7227/bjrl.9.2.5 |issn=2054-9326|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Hindu ascetics<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giri |first=Madhu |date=2019-12-22 |title=Cultural Crisis of Caste Renouncer: A Study of Dasnami Sanyasi Identity in Nepal |url=https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/mef/article/view/33588 |journal=Molung Educational Frontier |volume=9 |pages=91–98 |doi=10.3126/mef.v9i0.33588 |issn=2542-2596|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{sfn|Bayly|1988|p=52}} and religious functionaries of India. They are found chiefly in northern, central and western India, particularly in the Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh regions.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999">{{cite wikisource |last1=Navelkar |first1=V. R. |editor-first1=Tanaji |editor-last1=Halarnkar |editor-link1=Tanaji Halarnkar |others= |title=Konkani Vishwakosh |trans-title=Konkani Encyclopaedia |wslink=Page:Konkani Viswakosh Vol1.pdf/695 |type= |edition= |series= |pages=695–696 |volume=1 |year=1999 |publisher=Goa University |location=Goa |language=gom |wslanguage=gom }}</ref> They have different histories by place and time.
== Etymology and origins == The name Goswami (or Gosavi) is derived from the Sanskrit word ''Goswamin'', which translates to "owner of many cows."<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" /> While it has been variously interpreted as 'master of cows', 'master of mind or intellect', 'master of senses or emotions' and 'master of passion',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen |date=2013-02-01 |title=From Goswami rajas to Goswami caste in Hyderabad |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/694230j7#:~:text=Goswami%20lineages%20established%20themselves%20as,Mughlai%20administration%20and%20court%20culture. |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1177/006996671204700101 |issn=0069-9667}}</ref>{{sfn|Bayly|1988|p=477}} the term appears in Vedic literature with the specific meaning related to cattle ownership.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
The institution is considered ancient, with references found in Vedic texts. The tradition traces its lineage to pre-Gosavya sages such as Bharadwaja, Parashara, Vyasa, Gautama, Shuka, Bhrigu, and Vasistha. The concept of the "householder saint" is also deeply rooted in their history; figures such as Dakshaprajapati and Shankara were householders, and the yogi Dattatreya is described in the ''Mahabharata'' as practicing the ''Grihastha'' (householder) ashram.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" /> The Goswamis have strong historical ties with the Rajputs (Kshatriyas) as they were highly respected and given high positions by the Rajput Kings. The Goswamis were also Gurus (teachers) and royal advisors of the Rajputs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeNapoli |first=Antoinette E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXKVAwAAQBAJ&dq=goswami+rajput&pg=PA127 |title=Real Sadhus Sing to God: Gender, Asceticism, and Vernacular Religion in Rajasthan |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-994003-5 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Indian - Maharana Sangram II visiting Gosain Nilakanthaji after a tiger hunt - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Maharana Sangram Singh II of Mewar visiting Gosain Nilakanthaji after a tiger hunt. (c.1725)]]
== Sects and divisions == There are two primary sects among the Gosavis: Shaiva and Vaishnava.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
=== Shaiva === The members of Dashnami Sect, believed to be the first brahmanical order of ascetics founded by Adi Shankaracharya,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giri |first=Madhu |date=2019-12-22 |title=Cultural Crisis of Caste Renouncer: A Study of Dasnami Sanyasi Identity in Nepal |url=https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/mef/article/view/33588 |journal=Molung Educational Frontier |volume=9 |pages=94–95 |doi=10.3126/mef.v9i0.33588 |issn=2542-2596|doi-access=free }}</ref> use the surname Goswami, Gosain or Gosavi which means a man who has attained complete control over sense organs. The Dasnami Gosavis are divided into two groups: ''Mathdhari'' (those living in monasteries) and ''Gharbari'' (householders).<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" /> Many of the married Gosains officiate as priests and religious teachers.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gawde |first=Shakuntala |title=Daśanāmī Order |date=2020 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indian Religions |series=Encyclopedia of Indian Religions |pages=1–5 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_65-1 |access-date=2024-09-27 |place=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer Netherlands |doi=10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_65-1 |isbn=978-94-024-1036-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Vaishnava === In the sect of Vallabhacharya, the Pushtimarg, Brahmin religious leaders and spiritual heads of the tradition use Goswami and sometimes Gosain as surname and are addressed with the same as an honorific.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pushtimarg |url=https://archive.org/stream/Pushtimarg/APrestigiousPathToGraceClassModernityAndFemaleReligiosityInPustimargVaisnavism_djvu.txt |title=Pushtimarg |pages=v}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saha |first=Shandip |date=2004-01-01 |title=Creating a Community of Grace: A History of the Pusti Marga in Northern and Western India (1493-1905) |url=https://www.academia.edu/9013858 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |pages=328}}</ref> Other Vaishnava traditions include the Mahapurushiya sect founded by followers of Shankaradeva, and the Gaudiya sect. The Gosavis of Madhavendrapuri and Ishwarpuri, who were in the Guru tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, established the Gaudiya Vaishnava sect in Bengal.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" /> Gurupooja (worship of the guru) is a distinct characteristic of the Vaishnava Gosavi.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
The chief disciples of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, namely the Six Goswamis, along with other followers and their lineages use Goswami as title and surname.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massey |first=Paridhi David |title=Vrindavan: A Land of Living History |url=https://www.academia.edu/35663778 |journal=Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development |pages=48–54}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosen |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLd-AAAAMAAJ |title=The Six Goswamis of Vrindavan |date=1991 |publisher=Folk Books |isbn=978-0-9619763-2-3 |language=en}}</ref> [[File:India, Jasrota - Gosain Narottam Das - 2018.102 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|thumb|Painting of a Vaishnava Gosain, Narottamdas. From Cleveland Museum of Art, c. 1720-30]]
In the Ekasarana Dharma, a sect propagated by Sankardev, the hereditary heads and religious functionaries of Satras of Assam use the surname and title of Gosain and Goswami.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Borlongan |first1=Ariane |last2=Gonzales |first2=Wilkinson Daniel |date=2017-12-31 |title=Openings of telephone conversations in Philippine English |journal=Asian Journal of English Language Studies |volume=5 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.59960/5.a1 |issn=2619-7219|doi-access=free }}</ref>
The Vaishnav Brahmins of region from UP to Bengal associated with Ramanandi sect started using the title 'Gosain-ji', which gradually replaced the term 'Guru' (teacher) as an honorific, and the same became a surname of Bairagi caste as well. The instance is reported by Buchanan in his memoirs while travelling in district of modern day Bihar. By 1910, the term was fully accepted as a credible title for both Shaivas and Vaishnavas as is reported in village-to-village surveys where Vaishnav temples are described as being erected or inhabited by Gosains.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pinch |first=William |date=1996 |title=Peasants and Monks in British India. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. xii, 242 pp. |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2659664 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=835–836 |doi=10.2307/2659664 |jstor=2659664 |issn=0021-9118|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Lineage types === The community also distinguishes between members based on lineage: * '''Bindu:''' Gosavis from ''Aurus'' (biological) descendants. * '''Naad:''' Gosavis from ''Trivarnika'' (three upper castes) who have been initiated.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
== Customs and initiation == Entry into the Gosavi sect is not restricted by caste or religion; however, specific rituals such as the ''Virjahom'' purification are performed before initiating persons of the three upper varnas. Traditionally, Shudras are not initiated.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
The initiation process for men typically involves a day-long fast followed by the shaving of the head, bathing, and covering the body with ashes. The initiate is given a new name and becomes a temporary Gosavi. After a probationary period of roughly two years, the guru whispers the mantra "Om Soham" into the initiate's ear, confirming them as a definitive Gosavi. Women who join the sect are required to cut their hair, wear saffron clothes, apply ashes, and live in a monastery while observing celibacy.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" /> Newly initiated members are often given salt to eat to encourage devotion.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
Gosains were also Shaivite priests in most of the areas where their population was significant.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen |date=2013-02-01 |title=From Goswami rajas to Goswami caste in Hyderabad |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/694230j7#:~:text=Goswami%20lineages%20established%20themselves%20as,Mughlai%20administration%20and%20court%20culture. |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1177/006996671204700101 |issn=0069-9667}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shah |first=A.M. |date=2006 |title=Sects and Hindu social structure |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/006996670604000203 |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |language=en |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=209–248 |doi=10.1177/006996670604000203 |issn=0069-9659|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They were often associated with Thakurbari in Eastern India and Mutts and Temples in regions like Braj where they possessed strong religious connotation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hagen |first1=James R. |last2=Yang |first2=Anand A. |date=1976 |title=Local Sources for the Study of Rural India: The 'Village Notes' of Bihar |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/001946467601300105 |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=75–84 |doi=10.1177/001946467601300105 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dimock |first1=Edward C. |last2=De |first2=Sushil Kumar |date=1965 |title=The Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Bengal |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/598027 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=264 |doi=10.2307/598027 |jstor=598027 |issn=0003-0279|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== History and military role == [[File:Mughal emperor Jahangir testing the strength of penance of Gosain Nirmalji and Bhagvanji, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg|thumb|Mughal emperor Jahangir testing the strength of penance of Gosain Nirmalji and Bhagvanji, National Museum, New Delhi]] [[File:Jahangir Converses with Gosain Jadrup.jpg|thumb|Folio showing Emperor Jahangir conversing with Gosain Jadrup from a Jahangir-nama manuscript, c. 1620]]
The Gosains have a long history of political influence and martial activity. During the reign of Chandragupta, small Gosavi kingdoms existed in India. By the 4th century AD, Parivrajak Brahmins (Gosavi kings) ruled regions in the Punjab (such as Jhajjar) and Bundelkhand. A dynasty of wandering Brahmin Gosavis also ruled in Tripura as mandaliks (feudatories) of the Gupta Empire during the Vakataka reign in Vidarbha.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
By the end of the eighteenth century, the Gosains of the Dashnami sect became a politically powerful group in northern India and also held and enjoyed Jagirs, pensions and titles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giri |first=Madhu |date=2019-12-22 |title=Cultural Crisis of Caste Renouncer: A Study of Dasnami Sanyasi Identity in Nepal |url=https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/mef/article/view/33588 |journal=Molung Educational Frontier |volume=9 |pages=97 |doi=10.3126/mef.v9i0.33588 |issn=2542-2596|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bhattacharya |first=Ananda |date=2012 |title=Dasanami Sannyasis as Ascetics, Baniyas and Soldiers |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/26491237 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=93 |pages=231–260 |jstor=26491237 |issn=0378-1143}}</ref> They are sometimes referred to more generally as Sannyasis. A class known as "Kshatriya Gosavi" were active warriors who fought alongside Rajput rulers such as Prithviraj Chauhan, Jaichand of Kannauj, and the Chandel kings.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
[[File:Portret van drie onbekende Gosains uit Berar Goisais. Hindoo devotees. Berar (titel op object), RP-F-2001-7-1122G-57.jpg|thumb|Group of Gosains at Berar c.1862]] The ascetic Gosains were powerful nomadic and mercenary trading groups who undertook pilgrimages across significant areas of land and they were important to urban economies and the development of wider trade networks.{{sfnp|Bayly|1988|p=29|ps=}} These itinerant religious groups could be very large in number, with figures in excess of 50,000 being probable for those headed by figures such as '''Umrao Giri''' and '''Himmat Bahadur Anup Giri Gosain'''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pinch |first=William R. |date=September 1998 |title=Who was Himmat Bahadur? Gosains, Rajputs and the British in Bundelkhand, ca. 1800 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001946469803500304 |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=293–335 |doi=10.1177/001946469803500304 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription }}</ref> in the late 1700s.{{sfnp|Bayly|1988|p=126|ps=}} Their numerical strength enabled them to be self-protecting and also to protect the trade routes that they used, regardless of who might have titular power in any given place.{{sfnp|Bayly|1988|p=142|ps=}}
One out of at least three separate events that are grouped as Sanyasi Rebellion involved Gosains<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lorenzen |first=David N. |date=January 1978 |title=Warrior Ascetics in Indian History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/600151 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=61–75 |doi=10.2307/600151|jstor=600151 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> along with other instances of their frequent clashes with Company's army in northern frontiers of Bengal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Banerjee-Dube |first=Ishita |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107588387 |title=A History of Modern India |date=2014-10-27 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-06547-5 |pages=52|doi=10.1017/cbo9781107588387 }}</ref> Their movements were often dictated by religious festivals, both of a localised village nature and of a more widely celebrated type, such as Holi.
The community often faced internal and external conflicts. During the reign of Akbar, a fierce battle occurred between Bairagis and Gosavis. In 1760, at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, a major conflict broke out resulting in the deaths of 18,000 Bairagis and Gosavis.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" /> During the Mughal era, they suffered significantly under Aurangzeb and subsequently fought against him on the side of the Marathas. They also served in the armies of Mahadaji Shinde.<ref name="Vishwakosh1999" />
Many of the married Goswamis (as in North) of the South were priests and religious teachers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Jadunath |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32182/page/n139/mode/1up |title=A History Of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis |pages=109}}</ref> Historically in Poona in 1800s, they were traders and bankers and held most of riches of the city in their hands. Peshwa Baji Rao I had built the Vajreshwari Temple in Vadavali village whose hereditary priestly rights along with other 5 villages were donated to householder Goswamis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Jadunath |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32182/page/n139/mode/1up |title=A History Of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis |pages=114}}</ref>
In nineteenth-century Hyderabad, the Goswami Rajas, as they were termed so due to their influential participation in Nizam's administration and lending loans, established themselves as wealthy banking houses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen |date=2013-02-01 |title=From Goswami rajas to Goswami caste in Hyderabad |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/694230j7#:~:text=Goswami%20lineages%20established%20themselves%20as,Mughlai%20administration%20and%20court%20culture. |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1177/006996671204700101 |issn=0069-9667}}</ref> An 1845 map, which names the city's most influential localities, mention 'Gosai Mhall' or the palace of Gosains in Begum Bazar with their locality resembling those of wealthy men and being termed as 'most opulent' in the city.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen |title=Banking Firms in Nineteenth-Century Hyderabad Politics (1981) |url=https://www.academia.edu/27540810 |journal=Modern Asian Studies |date=4 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen |date=2013-02-01 |title=From Goswami rajas to Goswami caste in Hyderabad |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/694230j7#:~:text=Goswami%20lineages%20established%20themselves%20as,Mughlai%20administration%20and%20court%20culture. |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1177/006996671204700101 |issn=0069-9667}}</ref>
The Nawabs of Awadh, who ruled Oudh State in the 18th and 19th centuries and were Muslim successors to the Mughal Empire, recruited from Gosain martial brotherhoods as a way to assimilate influential Hindu elements of society and buttress their own sources of power. This attempt at creating a plural society was in sharp contrast to the zealotry that had characterised their predecessors.{{sfnp|Bayly|1988|pp=26, 142|ps=}}
== References == '''Citations''' {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
'''Bibliography''' {{refbegin}} *{{citation |title=Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870 |first=C. A. |last=Bayly |authorlink=Christopher Alan Bayly |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-52131-054-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfo3AAAAIAAJ}} {{refend}}
== Further reading == *{{cite journal |first=David N. |last=Lorenzen |authorlink=David Lorenzen |year=1978 |jstor=600151 |title=Warrior Ascetics in Indian History |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=61–75 |doi=10.2307/600151}}
Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia Category:Merchant castes Category:Mercenaries in India Category:Mercenary units and formations of the Middle Ages