authoritarian organization, with all
power ultimately vested in a single,
unelected leader, the sarsanghchalak,
and the pracharaks are the crucial link
between this highly centralized leader-
ship and the highly decentralized local
units. The pracharaks are responsible
for coordinating and managing RSS
activities in their area, as well as for
reporting on these at RSSmeetings at
various levels; they may also be sent out
on loan to provide leadership to RSS-
affiliated organizations. As a rule,
pracharaks are completely devoted to
the RSScause, and most have been asso-
ciated with the RSS since childhood.
Their ethos is one of service and sacri-
fice to the RSS, and by implication to the
country as a whole: They are generally
unmarried, have no other employment,
receive no salary from the RSS(although
the local unit generally provides their
living expenses), and are famous for liv-
ing a simple and spartan lifestyle. Most
of them are also well educated and are
selected for their ability to get along
well with others. For further informa-
tion see Walter K. Andersen and
Shridhar D. Damle, The Brotherhood in
Saffron, 1987; and Daniel Gold,
“Organized Hinduisms: From Vedic
Truth to Hindu Nation,” in Martin Marty
and R. Scott Appleby (eds.), Funda-
mentalisms Observed, 1991.Pradakshina
(“toward the right”) Circumambulation
of an object or person as a sign of wor-
ship, reverence, or respect. This is
always done in a clockwise direction, so
that the walker’s right side (considered
the purer and more auspicious side) is
always turned toward the object or per-
son being circled. Just about anything
can be so circled—one’s parents or
teacher, the image of a deity, a temple,
a city, or the entire Indian subconti-
nent. In many larger temples, particu-
larly in the Nagaraarchitectural style,
the pradakshina is the name for one of
the architectural features. In this case,
it is a semicircular processional pas-
sageway surrounding the temple’s
main image, so that people can cir-
cumambulate the main image either
before or after worship. Pradakshina is
also the fifteenth of the sixteen tradi-
tional upacharas(“offerings”) given toPradakshinaA.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada was the founder of ISKCON,
a religious community devoted to the god Krishna that is popularly known as the Hare Krishnas.