Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in
Indian religions.
James Mallinson, one of the few westerners to be named as a mahant,
describes the position of a mahant as a combination of an
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...
and a
brigadier.
Etymology
The
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
word comes from
Prakrit ,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
(
accusative case: ) meaning "great".
Hinduism
Other titles for the word ''Mahant'', serving in the context of a well known religious place, include priest or pundit—generally always being a
gyani or pastor.
Brahmins with Mahant surname are also found in
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...
region. They speak local dialects of Pahari and Hindi and read and write in Devanagari. They are vegetarians. The Mahant are monogamous and marriage is by discussion. They make their living from the temples. Their children however prefer other work such as for the government or private work.
In other branches of
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, the mahant is an ascetic who is the head and leader of the temple and has religious responsibilities as a preacher. Mahant is a title of
Bairagis and
Goswami
Goswami is an Indian surname. The Sanskrit compound Goswami may mean "lord of the senses" or lord of the Vedas (Go means Vedas). It is also pronounced as Gosains, Gossain, Gosain, Gosavi and Gossains.
Notable people with the surname or title Gos ...
s. However The post of Mahant can be achieved by a person of any caste, even today many castes are involved in the Mahant/joggi post.
Sikhism
In Sikh history, the mahants (
Gurmukhi
Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly ...
: ਮਹੰਤ; ''mahata'') were the hereditary managers who controlled and held the door keys of Sikh
gurdwaras. After the creation of the
SGPC and the
Nankana massacre involving Mahant Narayan Das, a law was passed handing over gurdwaras to reformer Sikhs.
Mahant
References
External links
{{Portal, Hinduism, India
* SGPC Glossary,
Mahant
"
Titles and occupations in Hinduism
Titles in India