An Indian term for a Hindu holy man or ascetic — typically a member of one of the Shaivite monastic orders, often a wandering renunciant who has left household life behind to pursue spiritual practice. Gosains historically played important social and economic roles in South Asia, sometimes functioning as merchants, moneylenders, or soldiers alongside their religious identities. The word appears frequently in colonial-era Indian history and literature, and remains in use in religious and ethnographic contexts in India today.
A gosain sat at the temple gate, ash-smeared and still, a small fire burning before him.
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(India) A Hindu holy man.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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