Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c5.83

c5.83

The Gūdara sometimes wears a ring, as do the Kānphaṭas.⁶ These mendicants are Śāivites, so-called because they carry a pan of metal in which is kept a small fire for the burning of scented woods at the houses of persons from whom they beg. They cry out, ‘Alakh, Alakh!’ Their peculiar garb consists of a large, round cap, a long ochre-coloured frock, and ear-rings like those of the Kānphaṭas, or cylinders of wood passed through the lobe of the ears, which they term *khecharīmudrā*, the seal or symbol of the deity, ‘of him who moves in the heavens.’ The Gūdara belongs to the Āughar sect of Śaivites founded by a Dasnāmī by the name of Brāhmagiri, through the favour of Gorakhnāth, who is said to have invested the ascetic with his ear-rings. The Gūdara sub-sect wears the ring in one ear, and in the other a flat copper plate with the footprint of Āughar or Gorakhnāth. Other groups wear rings of copper or of pewter in both ears.