ABSTRACT
The Sri Math was established in the 1980s in Varanasi on the steps of Pancaganga ghat, the place where Ramanandi tradition says Ramananda once had his asram. By the nineteenth century, Ramanandi tradition had fully accepted the claim that Aurangzeb had destroyed the asram and that only the carana paduka of Ramananda was saved from the demolition and kept at Pancaganga ghat. The Sri Math Trust consists of eleven members with decisional power who form the Executive Samiti. Although the Trust is organized under a president, who is the Jagadguru, it is written that the ownership of the place is in the hands of the Samiti. The Sri Viharam is an asram/dharmsala located close to Kabir Chowra, a few kilometers from the Sri Math. The Jagadguru's nominal ownership of the Sri Math and the Thakur Harit Madhav Mandir temple links him with "original" spots connected to the life of Ramananda.
