The Gosains consider their founder to have been Shankar Acharya,
the great apostle of the revival of the worship of Siva in southern
India, who lived between the eighth and tenth centuries. He had four
disciples from whom the ten orders of Gosains are derived. These are
commonly stated as follows:
1. Giri (peak or top of a hill).
2. Puri (a town).
3. Parbat (a mountain).
4. Sagar (the ocean).
5. Ban or Van (the forest).
6. Tirtha (a shrine of pilgrimage).
7. Bharthi (the goddess of speech).
8. Saraswati (the goddess of learning).
9. Aranya (forest).
10. Ashram (a hermitage).
The names may perhaps be held to refer to the different places in which
the members of each order would pursue their austerities. The different
orders have their headquarters at great shrines. The Saraswati,
Bharthi and Puri orders are supposed to be attached to the monastery at
Sringeri in Mysore; the Tirtha and Ashram to that at Dwarka in Gujarat;
the Ban and Aranya to the Govardhan monastery at Puri; and the Giri,
Parbat and Sagara to the shrine of Badrinath in the Himalayas.
Dandi is sometimes shown as one of the ten orders, but it seems to
be the special designation of certain ascetics who carry a staff
and may belong to either the Tirtha, Ashram, Bharthi or Saraswati
groups. Another name for Gosain ascetics is Abdhut, or one who
has separated himself from the world. The term Abdhut is sometimes
specially applied to followers of the Maratha saint, Dattatreya,
an incarnation of Siva.
The commonest orders in the Central Provinces are Giri, Puri and
Bharthi, and the members frequently use the name of the order as
their surname. Members of the Aranya, Sagara and Parbat orders are
rarely met with at present.