Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c5.100

c5.100

A third ‘thread’ is worn by some Kānphaṭas. Special regulations go with its use. For example, while wearing this cord, and the other paraphernalia that go with it, the Yogī may neither sit nor stand still but must go out, as soon as he has put it on, and beg.⁵ This cord is called hāl mataṅgā. It is made of three strands, each of eight threads, plaited with the twist to the right into a bobbin cord.⁶ One end is finished with five tails, and the other has a bell, like a large, brass sleigh-bell, attached to it. Sometimes strips of red cloth are woven into the cord. The ‘thread’ is reckoned of various lengths, nine, eleven and one-half¹ or twenty-three cubits;² and is of about the diameter of a lead pencil, although it may be considerably larger.