Rebirth by Water

On the banks of the Ganga in Prayagraj, over a thousand Naga Sadhus gather on Saturday morning for the ritual to initiate more men into their fold at Maha Kumbh 2025.

Wearing only white langotis, those being initiated—from the age of 12 to those in their 80s— get their heads tonsured, with just a choti (strands) left in the middle of the head. Their beards are shaved too. Their bodies are then smeared in bhasma from head to foot as they wait for the next ritual, shouting in chorus Har Har Mahadev.

As a crowd gathers to witness the ritual, the senior seers, mostly in saffron robes, try to keep everyone away, stopping cameramen and people from shooting videos and taking photographs of the ceremony of the Juna Akhara, the largest of the 13 recognised  akharas of the Naga Sadhus. The other akharas will have their own ceremonies to initiate new Naga Sadhus, ascetics who cut themselves off from their past and the rest of the world, practise celibacy and are distinguished by their nakedness.

Though the seers of the Juna Akhara do not disclose any specific number for those initiated today, going by a rough estimate of those sitting with tonsured heads at the ghat it could be anywhere between 600 and 1,000. According to one seer, around 800 have been initiated, in a ceremony that lasts 24 hours, during which the new sadhus  have neither food nor water. The new recruits are given janeyu, sacred thread and babhuti, and then perform pind daan, signifying the end of their previous life. Around seven hours after the ceremony started, they leave the river banks in a procession chanting Har Har Mahadev to go the akhara where the rest of the rituals are performed.

The rites that follow are performed in the secrecy of the akharas, where a havan, ritual offering into a consecrated fire, is held, the guru mantras chanted and the tung tod performed, signifying breaking off from all attachments. This completes the process of the initiation. It is said that historically Naga Sadhus were conceptualised as spiritual warriors against invaders.

The other akharas will also be holding similar ceremonies to initiate new Naga Sadhus on various dates on the banks of the Ganga. The rituals are generally completed before the Mauni Amavasya, a new moon day seen as one of the most sacred in the Hindu calendar, when bathing at the sangam, the confluence of the Yamuna, Ganga and mythical Saraswati, is considered auspicious. On the Mauni Amavasya, which falls on January 29, the new Naga Sadhus will take a dip in the Ganga.

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