Avahan Akhada

At a glance

• Family — Shaiva Sannyasi — Dashanami order
• Iṣṭa-devatā — recorded in the tradition as Siddh Ganesha; other accounts within the same tradition give Gajanan Dattatreya
• Head seat — Kashi (Varanasi), with branches at Haridwar and Prayagraj
• Tradition holds — revived in 546 CE — the akhada's own parampara
• Known for — its close and long-standing alliance with the Juna Akhada

The order and its name

The word āvāhana means the invocation — the act at the start of a puja by which the deity is invited to be present in the image. It is the opening move of worship, and it names an akhada that has stood among the seven Shaiva houses for as long as the tradition records them.

Avahan is closely allied to the Juna Akhada, and in practice the two move together at the Mela in the matter of processions, camp and precedence. The Agni Akhada is bound to Juna in the same way, so that the three together form one of the standing blocs of the Shaiva side.

Two records of the deity

On the question of Avahan's iṣṭa-devatā the tradition does not speak with one voice. The scholarly listing of the Dashanami akhadas and their tutelary deities gives Avahan's as Siddh Ganesha. Other accounts within the same tradition record it as Gajanan Dattatreya — a form in which Dattatreya, the deity of the allied Juna Akhada, is joined with the elephant-faced aspect.

Both readings are old and both are held by people within the parampara. Rather than pick one and present it as settled, this page records that the sources differ. It is the kind of small honest gap that a living tradition of many centuries naturally contains, and covering it over would serve nobody who came here to learn.

At the Kumbh

Avahan processes in its Peshwai and bathes in its appointed place in the Amrit Snan order, in the bloc it shares with Juna. Its camps at the Mela cities follow its seats: Kashi as the head office, with Haridwar and Prayagraj as the working centres for the melas held there.