Juna Akhara

The Juna Akhara, also known as Shri Panchdashnam Juna Akhara, is a Shaivite sannyasi monastic order and the largest of the akharas recognized by the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, with a membership reported in the tens of thousands. Tradition credits its founding to the god Dattatreya, and holds that the philosopher Adi Shankaracharya reorganized the order as part of his restructuring of the Sannyasi tradition around Advaita Vedanta, with some accounts dating that reorganization to the seventh century and others to 1146. Before taking its present name, meaning old, the order was known first as Bhairav Akhara and then Dattatreya Akhara. It is best known for its Naga Sadhus, ash smeared renunciate ascetics who historically trained in armed defense of pilgrims and sacred sites alongside their ascetic discipline, and two subsidiary akharas, Avahan and Agni, are affiliated with it.