More than three-fourths of the women at the Juna Sannyasini Akhara hail from Nepal, where widows from the upper castes are encouraged not to remarry.

BBC: Group of Juna Sanyasini Akhara dancing in a ring

For one, though the presiding deity of the Juna Order for men is Dattatreya, (a three-faced minor god) we are thinking of incorporating Dattatreya's mother Anusuya as our presiding deity.

BBC: Group of Juna Sanyasini Akhara dancing in a ring

Part of his popularity flows from being one of the first Westerners to be initiated into the secretive Juna order of monks, the largest of the 13 powerful sects that control religious affairs at the Kumbh festival.

BBC: The foreign Hindu monks at India's Kumbh Mela