Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in

Indian religions Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification o ...

. 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 head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

and a

brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Etymology

The

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

word comes from

Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

(

accusative case In grammar, the accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "he ...

: ) 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 A gyani or giani ( Punjabi: ਗਿਆਨੀ ) is an honorific Sikh title used by someone learned in Sikhism and who often leads the congregation in prayers, such as Ardas, or in singing (kirtan). The word means "knowledge" in Punjabi, being ...

or pastor. Brahmins with Mahant surname are also found in

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

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. In other branches of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, 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 and honorific title used by Brahmins and Hindu Asceticism, ascetics. It is also pronounced as, Gosains, Gosine, Gossain, Gosain, Gossai, and Gosavi. Notables Notable people with the surname or title Goswami include: ...

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 ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official scrip ...

: ਮਹੰਤ; ''mahata'') were the hereditary managers who controlled and held the door keys of Sikh

gurdwara A gurdwara or gurudwara () is a place of assembly and place of worship, worship in Sikhism, but its normal meaning is "place of guru" or "home of guru". Sikhism, Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths and rel ...

s. 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