Vaishnav & Bairagi Glossary

• Bairagi — बैरागी: A Vaishnav ascetic tradition — and today a settled community — descended from renunciant (vairagya) disciples of the four Vaishnav sampradays.
• Vairagya — वैराग्य: Detachment from worldly attachment — the spiritual discipline the Bairagi tradition is named after.
• Tyagi — त्यागी: A fully renunciant Bairagi sadhu who has given up household life, property and family ties.
• Naga Sadhu — नागा साधु: The martial renunciant order of the akhadas, historically raised to protect pilgrims, temples and maths.
• Grihasthi — गृहस्थी: A householder Bairagi — married, family-based, but retaining sampraday, guru lineage, tilak and gotra.
• Gotra — गोत्र: A patrilineal clan identity tracing descent from an ancient rishi, used in marriage matching and rituals.
• Tilak — तिलक: The forehead mark identifying a Vaishnav's sampraday — the urdhva-pundra, drawn upward, not across.
• Sampraday — सम्प्रदाय: An authenticated line of transmission — guru to disciple — carrying a specific Vaishnav philosophy and practice.
• Akhada — अखाड़ा: An organised order of sadhus with its own lineage, discipline, property and place in the Kumbh procession.
• Mahant — महंत: The head of a math, temple or akhada branch, responsible for seva, property and succession.
• Math — मठ: A monastic institution that houses sadhus, preserves a lineage's teaching and runs temple seva.
• Guru Parampara — गुरु परम्परा: The unbroken chain of teachers through which initiation and teaching are transmitted.
• Tulsi Mala — तुलसी माला: The neck-bead and japa mala made of tulsi wood worn by initiated Vaishnavs.
• Ekadashi — एकादशी: The eleventh lunar day of each fortnight, observed by Vaishnavs with fasting and extra worship.
• Diksha — दीक्षा: Formal initiation by a guru, giving the disciple a mantra, tilak, mala and place in the sampraday.
• Kumbh Mela — कुम्भ मेला: The great pilgrimage gathering at Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik where the akhadas assemble.