The naked monks
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why would someone live publicly nude for their faith? In parts of India, Jain monks belonging to the Digambara sect permanently renounce all possessions, including clothes. These monks walk naked for hundreds of miles across India as part of their spiritual journey.
Journalist Rajesh Joshi explores this unique spiritual practice, meeting fully fledged monks and disciples on the path to total nudity. While walking with them across the countryside, Rajesh learns about the danger these monks face, and he speaks to villagers to find out what they think of these naked monks whose numbers have unexpectedly grown in recent years. We also speak to female Jain followers to understand how they feel about the nudity they witness.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:13.0 | There seems to be some commotion at the temple door. |
| 0:16.6 | I think the monk is coming out and some of the devotees are running towards him to seek his blessings. |
| 0:22.9 | Everyone wants to touch his feet and talk to him. |
| 0:26.3 | And they are now following the monk in a little procession out of the village. |
| 0:46.3 | It's about 2 p.m. and I have joined this group of 50 to 60 people walking through the narrow lanes of the village. In the middle of the procession is the monk in his 50s. |
| 0:50.3 | He is walking barefoot and carrying a peacock feather duster in his hand. |
| 0:55.0 | And he is completely naked. |
| 0:58.0 | The party following the monk also includes some barefoot young women in their 20s and 30s. |
| 1:05.0 | They are all covered from head to toe in white saries, |
| 1:08.0 | but the monk doesn't at all seem to be self-conscious about his nudity. |
| 1:16.7 | This is the documentary from the BBC World Service, with me Rajesh Joshi. |
| 1:21.8 | And for this edition of Heart and Soul, where we explore personal approaches to spirituality |
| 1:26.6 | from around the world. |
| 1:28.5 | I am in Bada Gown, a sleepy village, one our drive north of India's capital, New Delhi. |
| 1:34.2 | I'm meeting Muni Pranamya Sagar, a Jain monk and his followers, to find out why someone would |
| 1:40.4 | renounce everything, including the clothes, for their faith. |
| 1:45.4 | I spoke to the barefoot monk as he walked. |
| 1:50.5 | We must have walked two or two and a half kilometers from the Badagown Temple. |
| 1:55.2 | How much further will you be walking today and what will be the next stop and the one after that. |
| 2:04.3 | The daily schedule varies from day to day. |
| 2:07.5 | I have to walk for nine kilometers, |
... |
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