from these austerities is thought to develop phenomenal powers before
achieving final liberation. Significantly, the powers that a sannyasi comes
to possess through the performance of austerities are embodied, even
though the final realization of liberation entails a complete dissolution of
the body. In popular imagination, sannyasis can tell the future, read minds,
and perform other miracles. Often the act of performing intense austerities
is said to generate tremendous heat, referred to commonly as tapas.The
heat of tapas is closely linked both conceptually as well as in a theory of
physiology associated with the retention of semen. In many respects, there-
fore, the sannyasi is an ascetic analog of the divine ape, Hanuman, and
practitioners of the martial arts in India draw on both models to define the
nature and extent of their own strength and skill.
Interestingly, recent scholarship has shown that sannyasis were, in all
likelihood, themselves practitioners of various martial arts. Although past
scholarship has tended to emphasize the asocial, ascetic, and purely cogni-
tive features of sannyas, it is clear that at various times in the history of
South Asia, groups of sannyasis (known tellingly as akharas, a term that can
mean either “gymnasium” or “ascetic order, celibacy, and yoga”) have used
their power to develop specific fighting skills. These so-called fighting asce-
tics were retained by merchants, landlords, and regional potentates to de-
fend or extend their various interests. In some instances sannyasis of this
kind amassed significant amounts of wealth and exercised considerable po-
litical power. A recent permutation of this practice is manifest in present-day
Ayodhya, a prominent religious city in north India, where the heads of var-
ious akharas have tremendous political clout, as well as in the articulation
of aggressive, chauvinistic, communal Hinduism, wherein the powerful
sannyasi is seen as the heroic embodiment of idealized Hindu masculinity.
In contrast to East Asia, where the ascetic practices associated with
Daoism produced the archetypal martial arts, there is very little known
about how the fighting ascetics of India refined their skill. However, it is
clear that yoga as a form of rigorous self-discipline is an integral part of as-
cetic practice, and that yoga makes reference to a theory of subtle physiol-
ogy that translates very well into the language and practice of martial arts,
even though in recent history it has come to be regarded, by most practi-
tioners, as the antithesis of these arts. Although yoga is often thought of as
being cerebral, supremely metaphysical, and concerned with such
ephemeral concepts as the transmigration of the soul and the dissolution of
consciousness, many of the basic or preliminary steps in yoga entail clearly
defined codes of conduct, comprehensive ethical standards, and detailed
prescriptions for personal “moral hygiene,” as well as the more commonly
known methods of asanas (physical postures) and pranayama (breathing
exercises). These preliminary steps of yoga are designed to build up a prac-468 Religion and Spiritual Development: India