Yogi heroes and poets: histories and legends of the Nāths

249 Pages·2011·5.757 MB·English

by  Lorenzen, David N., Muñoz, Adrián

RELIGIOUS STUDIES / ASIAN STUDIES Yogi Heroes and Poets
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This book provides a remarkable range of information on the history, religion, and U
folklore of the Na¯th Yogis. A Hindu lineage prominent in North India since the eleventh Ñ
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century, Na¯ths are well-known as adepts of Hatha yoga and alchemical practices said to Z
increase longevity. Long a heterogeneous group, some Na¯ths are ascetics and some are
householders; some are dedicated to personified forms of Shiva, others to a formless god,
still others to Vishnu.
The essays in the first part of the book deal with the history and historiography of the
Na¯ths, their literature, and their relationships with other religious movements in India.
Essays in the second part discuss the legends and folklore of the Na¯ths and provide an
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exploration of their religious ideas. Contributors to the volume depict a variety of local O
areas where this lineage is prominent and highlight how the Na¯ths have been a link
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between religious, metaphysical, and even medical traditions in India.
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“There is no book on the market now that can compete directly with this volume. It brings
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out new data for a fresh understanding of the religious landscape of medieval India.”
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— Pashaura Singh, author of Life and Work of Guru Arjan
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“Yogi Heroes and Poets expands our knowledge of historical, textual, and ethnographic
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issues related to the Na¯th Yogis. These essays provide a strong sense of the context that
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helped them emerge, as well as their later evolution.”
— Gurinder Singh Mann, author of The Making of Sikh Scripture N
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DAVID N. LORENZEN is Professor of Asian and African Studies at the College of
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Mexico. He is the author or editor of several books, including Praises to a Formless God:
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Nirguni Texts from North India, also published by SUNY Press, and Who Invented Hinduism:
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Essays on Religion in History. ADRIÁN MUÑOZ is Associate Professor of Comparative
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Religion at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Histories and Legends of the Na¯ths
SUNY
P R E S S
NEW YORK PRESS Edited by
David N. Lorenzen Adrián Muñoz
and
lorenzen hc.indd 1 9/9/11 12:35:56 PM
Yogi Heroes and Poets

Y H
OGI EROES
P
AND OETS
Histories and Legends
of the Nāths
EDITED BY
DavidN.LorenzenandAdriánMuñoz
PublishedbyStateUniversityofNewYorkPress,Albany
©2011StateUniversityofNewYork
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Nopartofthisbookmaybeusedorreproducedinanymannerwhatsoever
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ProductionbyKelliW.LeRoux
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Yogiheroesandpoets:historiesandlegendsoftheNaths/editedbyDavidN.
LorenzenandAdriánMuñoz.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-4384-3891-7(hardcover:alk.paper) 1.Nathasect. 2.Yoga.
I.Lorenzen,DavidN. II.Muñoz,Adrián. III.Title:Historiesandlegendsof
theNaths.
BL1278.54.Y642011
294.5'436—dc22
2011004268
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction
DavidN.LorenzenandAdriánMuñoz ix
PartI:YogisinHistory
1.TheNathsinHindiLiterature
PurushottamAgrawal 3
2.ReligiousIdentityinGorakhnathandKabir:
Hindus,Muslims,Yogis,andSants
DavidN.Lorenzen 19
3.DifferentDrumsinGwalior:MaharashtrianNathHeritages
inaNorthIndianCity
DanielGold 51
4.TheInfluenceoftheNathsonBhimaBhoiandMahimaDharma
IshitaBanerjee-Dube 63
PartII: TheologyandFolklore
5.OntheMagnitudeoftheYogicBody
DavidGordonWhite 79
6.AwakeningGenerosityinNathTalesfromRajasthan
AnnGrodzinsGold 91
v
vi CONTENTS
7.Matsyendra’s“GoldenLegend”:YogiTalesandNathIdeology
AdriánMuñoz 109
8.WhatShouldMīnanāthDotoSaveHisLife?
LubomírOndračka 129
9.TheMatsyendrasamִhitā:AYoginī-centered
Thirteenth-centuryTextfromtheSouthIndianŚāmbhavaCult
CsabaKiss 143
Notes 163
Bibliography 199
ListofContributors 219
Index 221
Preface
Much scholarly work has been done in recent years on Sanskrit texts about
yoga philosophy and yoga practices. Fewer discussions have appeared on the
religious sect that has been the main carrier of yoga traditions in India, the sect
known as the Nath Panth or Kanphata Panth.The principal aim of this collection
of essays is to help redress this imbalance with discussions about the history of the
Nath yogis and about the vernacular folklore and poetry that they have produced.
Theprimarysourcematerialsfortheessaysincludefolktales,songs,verses,didactic
texts,andoralinterviewsandrecitations.Thesesourceswerewrittenorspokenina
variety of languages: modern Hindi, old Hindi, Rajasthani, Bengali, Oriya, and
Sanskrit.
Theeditorswouldliketothankallthecontributorsfortheirhelpinorganizing
the collection and editing their own essays. Thanks in part to the wonders of the
Internet,ithasbeenpossibletoefficientlyassembleateamofscholarsfromseveral
different countries: the Czech Republic, Great Britain, India, Mexico, and the
UnitedStates.Shortbiographicalnotesoneachofthecontributorsarefoundatthe
endofthisbook.
NotalltheauthorsoftheessayshaveuseddiacriticstotranscribeIndianwords,
but where diacritics are used they follow standard practice for the languages con-
cerned. In most chapters, personal names and non-italicized words in Hindi or
other vernacular languages appear without diacritics. However, words of these lan-
guageswritteninitalics(includingbooktitles)donormallyhavediacritics.Sanskrit
words(e.g.,haִthayoga),usuallydohavediacritics,evenwhennotinitalics.Sanskrit
words that are common in English sometimes appear in their common English
spellings (e.g., Shiva, Shakta, Vishnu, Vaishnava, Krishna, Shankaracharya) but in
vii
viii PREFACE
essays using mainly Sanskrit sources appear in their more scholarly form with dia-
critics (e.g., Śiva, Śākta, Viִsnִu, Kִrִsnִa, etc.).The non-aspirated “ch” sound in ver-
nacular words is usually written as “ch” (e.g., Chand), but in Sanskrit words it is
usually written as “c” (e.g., Candra). Palatal “ś” and cerebral “ִs” in non-italicized
Hindiwordsarebothusuallywrittenas“sh.”
Much help has also been received from our colleagues in the Centro de Estu-
diosdeAsiayÁfricaofElColegiodeMexicoandfromitsadministrativestaff.We
particularly would like to thank the director of the Centro, Benjamín Preciado
Solís, and its administrative assistant, Adriana Villanueva. Many thanks also to
NancyEllegateandherteamatStateUniversityofNewYorkPress.
Introduction
David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz
Alldisciplessleep,buttheNathSatgurustaysfullawake.
TheAvadhutabegsforalmsatthetengates.
—GorakhBānīpad53
The Hindu religious path or sect of the Naths is variously known as the Nath
Panth or the Nath Sampraday. Its followers are called Nath yogis, Nath Pan-
this, Kanphata yogis, Gorakhnathis, and Siddha yogis, among other names. Some-
times the term avadhūta is used, although this term is applied to ascetics of other
Hindu groups as well. Most Nath yogis claim adherence to the teachings of the
early yogi, Gorakִsanātha (in Hindi Gorakhnath).The school of yoga most closely
associated with the Naths is the well-known one of haִtha yoga. In more general
terms,thecombinedreligiousandyogicteachingsoftheNathsarecalledtheNāth-
mārga (the Path of the Naths), the Yoga-mārga (the Path of yoga), or the Siddha-
mata(thedoctrineoftheSiddhas).
Thetermsiddhameans“someoneperfectedorwhohasattained[spiritual]per-
fection.” A Siddha (from the Sanskrit root SIDH, “to succeed, to perfect”) is an
ascetic who has gained different perfections or “successes” (siddhis), the most
famousbeingtheeightmagicalsiddhisachievedthroughintenseyogicpractice.The
wordnāthornāthaliterallymeans“lord,master;protector,shelter,”andinthepres-
entcontextdesignates,ontheonehand,afollowerofthesectfoundedbyorassoci-
ated with Gorakhnath and, on the other hand, someone who has controlled the
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