Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c5.181

c5.181

Like most Indian ascetics, Kānphaṭas have a number of necessary accessories. Among these is the *dhūnī*, or fire, consisting of a smouldering log of wood (or more than one), sometimes in a hollow pit. Whenever he takes up his abode he lights his fire, provided there is not one already at the place. At all important shrines and monasteries such fires are found, some of which have been kept burning for long periods of time. The *dhūnī* at Dhinodhar, and those at Gorakhpur, Ṭilla and Pāe Dhūnī in Bombay are famous because of associations with Dharamnāth, Gorakhnāth and others. These have been kept burning for centuries. It is an interesting fact that the Forest Department of Government supplies two hundred and fifty bullock carts of wood annually for the *dhūnī* of Bhāirom at the shrine of Devī Pātan. Householders of the Kānphaṭas keep a *dhūnī* in their houses.³