Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c7: Chapter Three
Gorakhnāth and the Kānphaṭa Yogīs c7
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- English
Chapter Three
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Yogīs vow not to engage in trade and not to take employment. So they are supposed to beg for their food. But this is by no means the universal practice. It is estimated that but one in one hundred begs; and at monasteries and at shrines where offerings and income are sufficient, the inmates do not have to go out to beg at all. Very often all that a Yogī may ask for is brought at once by willing devotees. Most of those who bring gifts are not immediate followers of the Yogīs. Certain Yogīs, called Darṣanīs, do not beg but remain in definite places, in the forest, at temples, in caves or at monasteries, where they are visited and worshipped.¹ While away on pilgrimage, it may be necessary for a Yogī to beg. If food is not available, they eat fruit and roots; and in some instances, if food is not given them they mix ashes from the dhūnī with water and drink it as a substitute.
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¹ *RTCCP*, vol. III, p. 250.
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As beggars they go from house to house crying, ‘Alakh, Alakh,’² but they do not sing. Some put on special clothes when they go out to beg.³ In Belgaon both men and women beg, carrying a begging bowl, and often a trident as well.⁴ They take both money and food.
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² Compare *Census of the Panjab, Report*, 1891, p. 118.
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³ See above, p. 12.
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⁴ See *Bombay Gazetteer*, vol. XXI, p. 185; *PNQ*, vol. II, paras, 404, 964.
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There is a difference of opinion amongst writers on the question of food; and Yogīs themselves do not agree about the matter. Sherring⁵ says that they accept food from all houses and all castes. Russell says that they beg only from Hindus.¹ Crooke,² on the other hand, said that they would not take food from lower castes, from whose hands respectable Hindus would not take food. Sherring³ says that they eat flesh. Tessitori and Crooke⁴ report that Kanphaṭas accept food other than beef and pork. Moshan Fani reported that they ate beef and pork, and that they killed and ate men.⁵ The practice evidently varies. In Kāṭhiāwār⁶ there are no restrictions on food and they will eat with any strangers who care to join them.
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⁵ *SHTC*, p. 262.
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¹ RTCCP, vol. III, p. 252.
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² CTC, vol. III, p. 158.
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³ SHTC, p. 262.
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⁴ CTC, vol. III. p, 158; ERE, vol. XII, p. 834.
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⁵ Dabistan, vol. II, p. 129.
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Their food consists of millets, rice, vegetables, fruits, fowls, goat’s flesh, mutton, fish, beef and pork. But not every one accepts all these articles of diet. By some the cow is considered sacred and the pig unclean.⁶ At Dhinodhar the chief food consists of millet and pulse. And these commoner foods of the people in general are the usual articles of diet.
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⁶ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. VIII, p. 155.
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One of the marks of the sect is the practice of charity. This is followed in Nepāl, in the United Provinces, in the Panjab and at Dhinodhar and in other places in the west. It is said that Dharamnāth began the practice at Dhinodhar in reaction to the neglect with which he was treated in Kacch.⁷ Begging was undertaken to secure means for feeding the sick and the suffering of every caste. Then, grants of land were made to the monasteries with this purpose in view.⁸ At present their income is used in entertaining strangers of all castes and creeds. At Dhinodhar two meals a day are served to all who come. High caste visitors receive their food uncooked; but low caste persons are served in the large dining hall, and Musalmāns and degraded castes in the garden.⁹ Special caldrons are provided for preparing the food. At Gorakhmandi, in Kāṭhiāwār, when the meals are ready, a servant of the abbot goes out and calls twice in a low voice: ‘Whoever is hungry, come. The abbot’s table is spread.¹ The ordinary food served is millet and red pulse. On special days, in August, *Gokal Atham*, and at *Nāurātri*, in October, rice and *lapsi* (wheat flour and molasses cooked in butter), and opium are distributed.² Oman³ reported that the throngs of men, women and children going to Ṭilla to the great festivals, are supplied with accommodation, food and coverings there. At Ṭilla they pride themselves on their practice of charity.
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⁷ See legend below.
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⁸ See IA, vol. VII, p. 51.
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⁹ Compare Bombay Gazetteer, vol. III, p. 86.
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¹ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. VIII, pp. 155, 156, 446 f.
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² Bombay Gazetteer, vol. V, p. 86.
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³ OMAS, pp. 264, 265.
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Gorakhnāthīs are under a vow of celibacy. At Dhinodhar the rule is strictly enforced. It was reported in 1880,⁴ that women were not allowed to enter the precincts of the monastery. In 1924, the author saw women doing menial work of various kinds there; but there was no reason to believe that the rule of celibacy was broken through their presence. At Devī Pātan and at Gorakhpur the rule is enforced that Aughars and Yogīs are not allowed to marry. And probably at most monasteries of the Gorakhnāthīs celibacy is enforced. At the maṭha in Benares, however, the residents (1924) married men who had their wives with them. And Kāśīnāth, who attended the temple of Kāl Bhāiroṁ (in Benares), lived in his own house in the city.
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⁴ IA, vol. VII, p. 51.
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It is possible that the rule of celibacy does not require absolute continence for, to cite one exception, Yogīs acknowledge the practice of *śākta* rites. It is difficult to state just how far the rule of continence is enforced. The reputation of Yogīs is not above reproach. Buchanan reported that though they were not permitted to marry, they were at liberty to communicate with whatever woman they pleased.⁵ Celibates are sometimes called *maṭhadārīs*, i.e. those who live in a monastery.⁶
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⁵ Martin, vol. II, pp. 484, 485.
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⁶ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. VIII, p. 185.
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Reports from various areas show that marriage is common amongst Kānphaṭas,⁷ and Census returns confirm this.⁸ The so-called secular Yogīs are numerous. In some instances Brāhmans are employed to perform their marriage ceremonies. Even in monasteries of repute the practice has been known. Buchanan, before 1838, reported married Yogīs living and teaching in the maṭha at Gorakhpur.¹
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⁷ E.g. Bombay Gazetteer, vol. XXI, p. 185.
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⁸ See pp. 4 ff.
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¹ Martin, vol. II, p. 484.
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At Gorakhmandi, both celibates (maṭhadārīs) and householders (gharbārīs) are found.² Married Yogīs are called also Bindi-nāgi, saṃyogī and gṛhasta. In the Himālayas many householders are found, and in some instances the pūjārī rights at their temples are kept in the family, being handed down from father to son.
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² Bombay Gazetteer, vol. VIII, p. 155.
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While the regulation that Yogīs who marry are not allowed to live in a monastery is not universally enforced, still, in many places gṛhastas are allowed neither to live at nor to eat in the monastery. At Tulsipur a well-known gṛhasta had his house, where (1924) he lived with his wife, adjoining the grounds of the monastery at Devī Pātan. Yogīs who marry are held in contempt by others, and, in some instances have to pay a fine before they are permitted to smoke with celibates.³ Married Yogīs continue to wear the ear-rings, the sacred thread, the clothes and other articles of the sect, and they may continue to practise Yoga.
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³ RTCP, vol. II, p. 410.
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In marriage, Yogīs hold to the caste from which they have come, in choosing a wife, and avoid marriage in the same sub-sect.
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In Almora there are householders of the Dharamnāth and Satnāth sub-sects. No rules require sons of gṛhastas to become Yogīs, but this happens; and such instances were discovered by the author in Naini Tāl and Almora. In the latter case a second son became a Yogī in order to secure his father's rights and property in a temple and a house belonging to the family, the eldest son being a munshi in the Cantonment in Almora. The third son was an Āughar.
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Householders engage in secular employments. In Almora are to be found milkmen, tailors and agriculturalists. In various parts of India Yogīs are engaged in weaving, cultivation, in peddling, as soldiers, and as money-lenders.⁴ In the Simla Hills, Yogīs burn the dead, and for every corpse receive four *annas* in money together with a plate of brass and a woollen or cotton cloth. They also receive grain at each harvest.
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⁴ See Tessitori, ERE, vol. XII, p. 834.
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The *Śiva Saṃhitā* allows success to householders. The last three verses of that work read: Therefore the Yoga should be performed by master Yogīs according to the prescribed rules. He who is satisfied with whatever he receives, self-controlled and unattached (to household affairs), even though he be an householder, is released through the practice of Yoga. Success for the masterful householders, who are attached to the practices of the Yoga, must arise by means of *japa*. Therefore, let the householder exert himself. Established in the house, with ample household, having renounced attachment and engaged in Yoga practice secretly, the householder sees (increasingly) the wonderful marks of success, and, having carried out my instructions, should enjoy (bliss).
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Women who have been initiated into the sect are numerous.¹ Those who are wives of Yogīs are of two classes, those who are themselves Yoginīs and those who are not. Both classes are common. In Kumaon and in Garhwāl, in 1924, the author saw women of both classes. Women may be initiated before or after their marriage. A woman who, before her marriage, has had her ears split is not married by the usual Hindu rites; the marriage in such cases being by purchase, a formal agreement having the sanction of the sub-sect. A feast is always given. On the other hand, the marriage of a woman, before she has been initiated, is by the usual Hindu ceremony (*śādī*). At Kāma, in Kumaon, in 1924, the mahant said that such a woman could not be initiated. From Rāwalpindī female Yogīs are reported.
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¹ For an account of women who have been initiated into the sect as widows see above, p. 34.
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A number of castes trace their origin to Yogīs. The records, however, are not always clear as to whether the Yogīs reported trace their origin to Gorakhnāthis.²
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² For the origin of Yogī castes see J. N. Farquhar’s paper, ‘The Fighting Ascetics of India.’
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In the Simla Hills, Yogīs form a sort of occupational caste, as just stated, burning the bodies of the dead and receiving certain perquisites for the service. From the fact that they take offerings made at death, Kanets and higher castes will not drink with them. They wear ear-rings, but rank below Kānphaṭas.¹
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¹ RTCP, vol. II, p. 399 n.; vol. III, p. 165.
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The Nāthas in the higher hills, where the worship of Śiva is prevalent, correspond very closely to the Yogīs of the plains. They practise little asceticism, but grow vegetables and perform certain semi-sacerdotal functions, taking the place of the acrāj (a class of Brāhmans) of the plains in the funeral ceremonies of Kanets and receive the clothes of the dead. They consecrate new houses and purify them when they have been defiled. They are a true caste. One or more in nearly every Nātha household has his ears pierced in honour of Śiva and is called Kānphaṭanāth. They are unclean and uncanny.
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In the Panjab, secular Yogīs are called Rāwal. They make their living by begging, fortune-telling, singing and similar means; they were originally, probably, Yogīs.² The Saṃyog of the Panjab is a true caste. In Kulu they are Nāthas; in Ambāla, Jogī Pādha; in Nābha, they are teachers of the children of Hindus; in Laharu they are of the Jāṭu tribe, part being secular, part celibate. Among them widow marriage is practised. The Saṃyog of Ambāla has twelve sections. (The Barahnāth sub-group.)³ In the Karnāl they are Hindus. They receive offerings made to impure gods, and form the lowest of all castes; they practise witchcraft and divination and are musicians.⁴ In Kāṅgra there are two groups, the Andarlā who are both Darṣanīs and Āughars and the Bāhirlā, all Āughars.⁵ These connect with Gorakhnāth through a legend concerning the sons of Macchendranāth. Once Gorakhnāth gave the boys each a goat to be sacrificed at a place where no one could see them. One actually performed the sacrifice; but the other reported that he could find no place where either man or bird or sun or moon would not be a witness. Gorakhnāth praised him and placed him close to himself, while the first was expelled from his presence. Thus arose the appellations ‘Andarlā’ and ‘Bāhirlā.’ Both of these divisions observe the usual Hindu customs, except that at death ceremonies the Bāhirlā give Brāhmans food but do not feast them; and at funerals blow a *nād* instead of a conch. Of the Darṣanīs some go clothed; others, unclothed, use ashes. The Naṅgas eat flesh and drink liquor, while the others do not.
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² RTCP, vol. II, p. 389.
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³ Some of the names are Āi, Dhaj, Sahaj, Hāit, Kanṭhar, Pāgal, Pāśupanthī, Rāwal. The third is apparently a remnant of a Vāiṣṇavite movement.
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⁴ RTCP, vol. II, p. 389.
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⁵ For sub-divisions see Rose, RTCP, vol. II, pp. 402, 403.
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The Yogī castes of the Central Provinces¹ rank as Hindus of the menial group, from whom no good Hindu would take either food or water. They accept cooked food from respectable castes; permit the marriage of widows, using their own priests² in the ceremonies; allow divorce and follow the social customs of the cultivating castes of the locality. They are divided into sub-sects which are determined according to occupation or profession, as follows: Barwa or Gārpagārī who ward off hail storms from the standing crops; Maṇihārī, pedlars who travel about to bazaars, selling various small articles such as hand mirrors, spangles and dyeing powder, coral beads, imitation jewelry, pens, pencils and other articles, securing pearls and coral from Bombay to sell in the villages; Rītabikanāth, who prepare and sell soap-nut; Patbina, who make hempen thread for gunny bags used in carrying grain on bullocks; and Ladāimār, who hunt jackals and sell and eat their flesh.³
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¹ *RTCCP*, vol. III, pp. 252, 253.
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² Those who are not Kānphaṭas employ Brāhmans.
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³ *RTCCP*, vol. III, pp. 252, 253.
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Reports on the Yogī castes of Bengal, who, as do those of Assam also,⁴ trace their origin to Kānphaṭas, are quite extensive. Buchanan⁵ traces the origin of this group in Bengal to one of two causes: either they belonged to the priesthood of the country during the reign of Gopicand, or, they were Śūdras dedicated to the religious life, degraded by Śaṅkara, who came with the Pālas from western India. Buchanan reports a tradition in North-eastern Bengal¹ to the effect that the Yogīs were formerly pupils of the great Śaṅkara, and that they took to drinking and were degraded. The legend of Gopicand² gives evidence pointing in this direction. For the Yogī, Hāḍī by name, who figures in that story was a sweeper (Dom) by caste. In Rangpur, Buchanan found low-caste Yogīs who were itinerant bards, who sang songs of Gopicand, who were descendants of the priesthood of the time of Gopicand.³ The same writer⁴ reported two divisions of Yogīs who did not intermarry. One were the Helayas, weavers and cultivators. Their women dyed thread and retailed turmeric, capsicum and other seasonings. The other division were the Theyayas, idle beggars who burned shells for lime. Some of these were cultivators. Both groups were eaters of impure food and drunkards who buried their dead. They were said to have been disgraced by Śaṅkara. They were illiterate. Elsewhere,⁵ Buchanan wrote that in eastern Bengal there was a caste of Yogīs who were weavers, lime burners, unskilled labourers, beggars and wandering singers. Some of them are now engaged in agriculture, some are goldsmiths, and some are found in the subordinate grades of Government service. In Rangpur they sing the cyclic songs of Gopicand.
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⁴ *District Gazetteer of Eastern Bengal and Assam*, 1910, p. 41.
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⁵ Martin, vol. III, p. 408.
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¹ *Martin*, vol. III, pp. 408, 536.
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² *JASBe*, vol. XLVII, Pt. 1, pp. 139 ff.
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³ *Martin*, vol. III, p. 408.
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⁴ *Martin*, vol. III, pp. 535, 536.
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⁵ *Martin*, vol. III, pp. 408, 534. cf. Hunter, *Statistical Account of Bengal*, vol. I, p. 69.
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According to Risley⁶ there are in Eastern Bengal two sub-castes of Yogīs, the Māsyas and the Ekadasīs. Between these two sections no marriages are arranged, and they do not accept cooked food from each other. But they drink from each other's water vessels. Their division is based upon differences in their funeral rites. The period of mourning for one group is thirty days (māsa), for the other, eleven (ekadasa) days. The division is based upon the further fact that some live upon an island and others upon the mainland.¹ The cultivating members of the caste form a distinct group called Hālwa Jugī. It is said that they were out-casted for abandoning the traditional occupation of weaving. There are legends accounting for the origin of these castes. The Māsyas were born from the unions of eight Siddhas with eight Śaktis created by Mahādeo. Another legend makes the Māsyas descendants of unions between Sannyāsīs from Benares and Vāiśya women. Again it is said that these Yogīs are descendants of pupils of Nāthas (Yogīs) and Brāhman widows, the latter being of the Nātha group, the former of the Śiva gotra (family, stock).
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⁶ *RTCB*, vol. I, pp. 355-61. Māsya Yogīs belong to South Bikrāmpur, Tipperah and Nookhale; Ekadasīs to North Bikrāmpur and Dacca. Those of Tipperah number some 68,000. See also, *District Gazetteer, Eastern Bengal*, Webster, 1910, p. 26.
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¹ The Sandīp division live on the island of Sandīp; the Bhuluānāth division on the mainland. This is a local distinction.
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Ekadasīs are descendants of Sannyāsīs from Benares and Brāhman women, or descendants of pupils of Nāthas (Yogīs) and Brāhman widows. The legends in both cases seem to be the same and to point to the Yogi-origin of the caste. Both groups bury their dead, the lips of the corpse being touched with fire by the son, or grandson. Both worship female ancestors at weddings, perform ancestral worship in their homes, wear the sacred thread, and read the Vedas. These Yogīs are weavers by caste, but are now taking up agriculture, lime-burning, goldsmith's work and subordinate grades in Government service.
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According to Crooke² the Māsya Yogīs, of the United Provinces, are found chiefly in Brindaban, Mathūra and Gokul; and their principal places of pilgrimage are Benares, Gāya and Sītākund in Chittagong.
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² ERE, vol. II, p. 494, article ‘Bengal.’
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The family of Dalāl Bazaar in the Koakhali district in Eastern Bengal, is now considered as the head of their race. In the middle of the eighteenth century Braja Ballabh Rāi, a Jogī, of this family was a broker (dalāl) and his brother Rādha Ballabh Rāi was appraiser (jashandār) of the English factory of Carpata on the Meghan River. The son of the former so proved a man of business that the Company, in 1765, bestowed on him the title and rank of Rāja and gave him a rent-free estate still in the family.¹
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¹ RTCB, vol. I, p. 356.
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The Dharmagharī Jugīs of Western Bengal are looked down upon by others. They ‘worship Dharma, Śītalā and other aboriginal deities.² They are beggars. They trace their origin to Siddhas. Some of their sub-caste names are Matsyendra, Gorḳṣa and Bṛbhāirab. The first two of these names are significant in pointing to relationships with Gorakhnāthīs. These Jugīs practise infant marriage, employ ing a caste member as priest; and allow neither the marriage of widows nor divorce. They worship Śiva for the most part, Viṣṇu to some extent. Some are Śāktas. They practise samādh-burial. Their social position is low. In 1881 the Jugīs in Bengal numbered more than 350,000.
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² RTCB, vol. I, p. 357.
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In the Nizām’s Dominions³ two divisions of the Gorakhnāthīs are found, the Davre and the Rāvals. Both were originally recruits from Marātha Kunbis, but now form independent castes. The Davre, who are of the Navanāth sect, derive their name from the drum (dabara) which they use in singing the hymns of Bhāirava. They are also known as Kumar Bharadī, from the name of a dance which they perform at the commencement of the marriage ceremony of their Kunbi (an agricultural caste) disciples. They admit only married Kunbis and others of higher caste. The recruits are mostly children, dedicated by parents to Bhāirava in fulfilment of vows. The initiation of the boy (or girl) takes place in the temple of Bhāirava at Sonārī, at about the ages of twelve. The lobes of the ears are split and brass rings are worn. The division consists of three exogamous sections. Marriage is usually early, widow remarriage is allowed, polygamy is practised and divorce is permissible. Brāhmans officiate at their weddings. Their gurus are Kānphaṭa Yogis. They are buried in a sitting posture facing east, and are carried to the grave in a cloth bag. The procession is accompanied by musicians. The body is smeared with ashes of cowdung; and bel leaves and flowers are offered. Water is poured into the mouth. Gāñja, tobacco, spirits and the food of the kind the deceased was fond of are placed in the grave. The chief mourner first throws in earth, and offerings of bel leaves and flowers three times and the grave is then filled up. Upon return to the home of the deceased, the mourners chew nīm leaves, wash their mouths and then go to their own homes. Davres rank just below Marāṭha Kunbis. They eat fish, fowl or mutton and drink spirits. There are mendicants amongst them.
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³ SCTND, vol. I, pp. 278 ff.
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The Rāval Jogī (Rāul, Śivjogī, Kaniālanāth Rāval) are very numerous, and like the other branch of the Gorakhnāthīs, recruit mostly from Marāṭha Kunbis, but from Mālis, Rājputs and others as well.
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For the ceremony of initiation a square of limestone powder is traced on the ground and about it are placed nine burning lamps made of wheat flour. The novice, after having bathed, takes a seat in the square, on a low wooden stool, and has his head shaved. His body is then covered with ashes of cowdung. A sacred thread of black wool consisting of nine threads and a rosary of one hundred and eight rudrākṣa beads are hung about his neck. His guru gives him a trident, a piece of cloth and an alms bag, and whispers in his ear a mantra. Ear-rings of conch shells are inserted. Their social customs resemble closely those of the Davre. The notable exception is the funeral rites. While following the practices already described, they dress the body in ochre-coloured clothes and burn camphor and incense before it. Four men carry the body, while a fifth holds his scalp lock. At the grave salt is thrown over the body. After the grave is filled up a mound is raised. A member of the funeral party stands over the mound, blows a conch and recites mantras for the benefit of the deceased. With the last syllable of the verse, each member of the party throws a handful of earth on the mound and then all return home. They mark their foreheads with ashes of cowdung. No śrāddha is performed. On the third and eleventh days a garland is hung from the roof of the house and over the water pot and a dough lamp is fed with ghī. A goat is killed and offered and a feast is held. They worship souls of ancestors on Nāgpañcamī.
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Both groups worship Bhāiroṁ and other Hindu gods, attend the Hindu festivals, follow Macchendranāth and Gorakhnāth and use the trident and the liṅga. They keep images of deceased ancestors. They rank below Kunbis. Only low, unclean castes will accept food cooked by Rāvals. They accept *kacca* food from Kunbis, eat flesh, except beef and pork, and drink spirits. They are mendicants, but some are cultivators, weavers and tailors.
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In Bombay¹ the Yogīs, also called Nāthas, have two divisions; the Gujarāt Jogīs, who are ascetics; and the Marāṭha Jogīs, including Karṇāṭaka and Kanāra Jogīs, who are both regular and secular. The secular groups are husbandmen and labourers. Some breed buffaloes and dogs, while others make and sell black stone vessels. The Marāṭhas have twelve endogamous divisions, Balgār, Berak, Bhorpi, Bombāri, Dawarjī, Jogār, Ker, Kindri, Kurub, Mendār and Murād. These twelve clans are named each after one of the twelve orders said to have been founded by Gorakhnāth, and no marriages between members of the sub-castes are permitted. Widow marriage is allowed. Polygamy is practised. They bury their dead, mourning for twelve days; otherwise they do not differ much in customs from those of the surrounding cultivating castes. They eat goats, sheep, hares, deer, wild pig and fowls and use spirituous liquors, smoke gāñja and eat opium. Boys are initiated at the age of twelve years. They are a wandering class, who carry their huts, made of matting set on bamboo poles, and goods from camp to camp on ponies and buffaloes. The men dress in ochre-coloured clothes, wear large, thick ear-rings of ivory, clay, bone, or fish-scale in the lobes of their ears and use rosaries of rudrākṣa beads. Their women wear petticoats and bodices and braid their hair, allowing it to hang down their back. Their favourite song is the legend of Gopicand.² Their chief gods are Gorakhnāth and Matsyendranāth. They practise sorcery and witchcraft.
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¹ ETCB, vol. II, pp. 103 ff.
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² Bombay Gazetteer, vol. VIII, pp. 456, 457.
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Nātha Gosavīs of Sāvantvāḍi (Kāṅkān) are allied to the Kāṇphaṭas. They slit the ear, wear pewter ear-rings and call upon Śrī Gorakh in connection with the blood sacrifice at weddings.³
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³ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. X, p. 419 and n. 1.
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Householders of certain villages in the Poona district wander from place to place carrying their huts and goods on ponies and buffaloes. They eat fish and the flesh of sheep, goats, hares, deer, wild pig and fowls, drink liquor and eat opium. They wear large thick ivory, clay, bone or fish-scale rings in the lobes of their ears, put on rudrākṣa rosaries, and sing songs of Gopicand. They bury their dead and exhibit other traits pointing to Gorakhnāth. Their chief gods are Gorakhnāth and Matsyendranāth.
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In Belgaon, wives of Yogīs wear a short-sleeved bodice and a cloth the corner of which is not passed back between the legs, a gold nose ring, a necklace of glass or of metal beads, a small, central gold brooch, and three sorts of ear-rings. While their husbands are living with them they have red lead in the parting of their hair and wear glass bangles and a lucky necklace. They are clean but lazy.¹ These Yogīs are really a caste, bound together by a social organization through which disputes are settled. Besides begging, they are engaged in cultivation, in which they are skilled. Their women help in sowing and weeding. They raise buffaloes and dogs.²
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¹ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. XXI, p. 185.
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² Bombay Gazetteer, vol. XXI, p. 155.
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In Berār³ the Nāthas comprise eighteen divisions, of which the recognized or regular sub-sects are Āudhut, Kānphaṭiya and Gorakhnāth. Among the heterodox are Udāsī, Kalbelī and Bharadi. They know seven other divisions, each identical with a Hindu deity, known as the nine Nāthas, Navanāthas. They trace their origin to Ādināth through Gorakhnāth and Matsyendranāth. Gorakhnāthis are considered of a higher order than the Kānphaṭiyas, for at a feast given by Gorakhnāth and Matsyendranāth each guest was given what he desired. The chosen dishes were all produced through the miraculous powers of the two Yogīs. Kānipā asked for cooked snakes and scorpions and was promptly hooted from the feast. (But Kānphaṭiya is not derived from Kānipā.) Kānphaṭiyas split the lobe of the ear, Gorakhnāthis the cartilage. The marriage ceremonies of Gṛhastas resemble those of neighbouring Hindus. The marriage dowry is one and one-fourth rupees. The married Yogīs are called saṃjogī, the celibates Yogī, or Jogī. They eke out their living by weaving coarse cloth, nawār, and blankets. They carry a bunch of peacock feathers with which they make magic passes over the sick, and act as fortune-tellers and makers of charms. Others keep on exhibition small performing bulls. The householders are followers of Gorakhnāth and Matsyendranāth. Their chief objects of worship at the Śivrātri are the carans of those two saints. The Bharadīs perform a ceremony in honour of Devī in which they beat drums and remain awake all night, hence their name. These Nathās recruit from all castes.
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³ See Kitts, Census Report, Berār, 1881, pp. 58 ff.
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Thurston¹ reports as Yogīs for South India, jugglers and beggars, mostly householders, who sell beads and keep pigs. They are snake charmers, who have no restriction as regards food, and cultivators, scavengers, robbers and destroyers of dogs. They keep widows in concubinage. Some of their women are professional tattooers. Like those in Berār, they wander about, carrying on donkeys the materials for their rude huts which they set up on the outskirts of the villages. They account for their condition as resulting from a curse that was imposed because of some slighting remarks made regarding Pārvatī’s breasts. These Yogīs claim superiority to Mālas and Mādigās. The caste is divided into exogamous sects. They will eat crocodile, field rats and cats. They carry a bag containing snakes. The Pāmula (the word means ‘snake’) is a Jogī.
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¹ TTCSI, vol. II, pp. 494 ff.
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In their betrothal ceremony, a small sum of money and a pig are given to the bride’s party. The pig is killed and a feast held, with much consumption of liquor. In the marriage ceremony the Kaṅgnas, which are tied by the maternal uncles to the wrists of the bride and groom, are made of human hair and to them are attached leaves of the *Alangium Lamarckii* and *Strychnos Nux Vomica*. On the way to the bride’s hut for the ceremony of the marriage, the groom’s party is stopped by a rope or a bamboo screen, which is held by relatives of the bride and others. After a short struggle, money is paid and the company proceeds. The marriage badge, a string of black beads, is tied around the bride’s neck, the bride and groom sometimes sitting on a pestle and mortar. Rice is thrown over them and they are carried beneath the marriage booth on the shoulders of their maternal uncles.
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Widows may remarry up to seven times.
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At puberty a girl is secluded in a hut made by her brother or her husband; and, on the last day of her isolation, her clothes and the hut are burned. The dead are buried, the corpse being carried to the grave wrapped in cloth. Before it is lowered into the grave all throw rice over the eyes and a man of a different sect places four annas in the mouth. Fire is also carried to the grave by the son and food is left there. Some place a chicken and a small portion of salt in the armpit of the corpse.
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The Jogī Puruṣa¹ is a recently formed caste that speaks Marāṭhi and Tulu. Their head monastery is at Kadiri but they have several other establishments. The individuals of the caste are disciples of the various maṭhas, and worship Bhāiroṁ and Gorakhnāth. There are both celibates and householders amongst them. The former wear rings of rhinoceros horn or of clay. The householders do not split the ears but put pieces of clay over the cartilage where it is usually split in initiation. They use the sacred thread to which is attached a whistle of brass, or of copper, or of silver. The whistle is used when the worshipper offers prayer to Bhāiroṁ. Brāhmans are employed for their marriages. The dead are buried in a sitting posture and a funeral feast is held on the twelfth day, a Brāhman priest officiating. Food is offered to crows and gifts are made to Brāhmans. The purificatory rites for the deceased initiate of Bhāirava (Bhāiroṁ) include worship (pūjā) at the grave each day from the third to the twelfth day. Some of these Jogīs are mendicants, others follow menial occupations, serving as coolies, peons and the like.
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¹ TTCSI, vol. II, p. 500.
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Bhaddarī² Yogīs and Nandī Jogīs in the west of the United Provinces, work as tailors and silk-spinners, and have several gotras with Rājput names (e.g. Chāuhān, Kucch-wāha, Gahlot).³ There is also a caste known as Ḍomjogī who are beggars. The Thārus, who live below the Nepalese hills, are divided into clans, one of which is known as Jogī.
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² Often Musulmāns. CTC, vol. III, p. 59.
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³ CTC, vol. III, p. 61.
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The tale goes that a Jogī once kept a Thāru woman as his mistress. Their descendants are known as Jogī-Thāru. They bury their dead, using a samādh. There is a group in Gorakhpur known as Kānphaṭa Ratannāth (Rathināth). Rathināth is worshipped by the Jogī-Thārus.¹
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¹ Knowles, *The Gospel in Gonda*, p. 213; CTC, vol. IV, pp. 386, 399.
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Another interesting group of Jogīs, who trace their origin to Gorakhnāth are the Sepalas. The following description of them is based upon a visit to one of their camps in the rainy season of 1924: The Yogīs, or Jogīs, who were encamped on the open plain, were protected from the weather by very poor, thin tents of country-made cloth. These shelters were pyramidal in shape, and were erected something like American Indian wigwams. The edges of the tents were about two feet from the ground, and the space below the edges was open on all sides. Furniture was scanty, and, altogether, conditions were of poverty. About the camp were a large number of donkeys, the Sepalas deriving most of their income from the sale of these animals. These Jogīs keep fowls and dogs also.
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But it is as snake charmers that they are of special interest. They go about in the cities and villages in the neighbourhood of their camps taking their snakes with them. These they charm with the music of their queer, gourd pipes (bīn). One of the first things that the Jogīs did, when the visitors reached their camp, was to show their snakes. They brought out their round, flat baskets, took off the covers and prodded the snakes with their fingers to drive them out. They had a good many black cobras, all very large and splendid specimens. One had been caught only the day before in the jungle. Soon after snakes are captured they are drugged and their fangs are removed. The men showed snakes of other kinds as well, one of a large variety, well marked, and another ‘two headed’ snake. This, they assert, has a head at either end of its body, one of which it uses one year, and the other the next. Some of the customs of these Jogīs are of interest.
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They wear in their ears very large rings. These are set in the lower part of the ears, contrary to the practice of the Gorakhnāthīs, and the holes for the rings are made with a large needle. All sorts of rings are worn, but the ones most valued are made of the bone of a certain ‘snake found in the hills,’ the *sālu sāmp*. They make offerings to Gorakhnāth at the time of the piercing of the ears. These Yogīs wear all sorts of beads, but especially the rudrākṣa, and the small, white ones obtained at Hiṅg Lāj. These latter they purchase in Hindustan, rather than undertake the long and difficult journey to the west. They do not wear a sacred thread; they allow their beards to grow long, twist them in two coils and wind the ends around their ears, much as Sikhs of the Panjab do; they wear their hair in a knot and over it wind a turban in a peculiar way, so that it looks as if it were going to topple over forward. They do not practise Yoga. Like other Yogīs, they bury their dead, placing the body in a sitting posture. They claim to worship Gorakhnāth, and are disciples of Kānipā, or Kānipāo, whose teacher was Jālandharipā.¹ It is said, however, that Kānipā was the son of Kinwār, who caught the fish from which Matsyendranāth was born. They are, as the above description indicates, householders, keeping their families with them in camp. While Yogīs of this class seem to be included among ‘the criminal tribes,’ who are under constant police surveillance, this particular group had, evidently, earned a good reputation; for, although they had many notes from officials showing that they had been under observation in the past, they were then free to go where they pleased. It is claimed that these Yogīs do not thieve. Their papers showed that they are great travellers and that they had been over many parts of India. Some of the gotras, family names, of the Sepalas are Gādaṛia, Tāṅk, Pheṅkṛa, Linak, Cāuhān, Tahliwāl, Athwāl, Sohtra and Bāmna.² They rank lower than Hindu Yogīs because they will take food from Musalmāns, and eat the flesh of the jackal. At Devī Pātan it was said that Sepalas eat snakes. These Yogīs are an unclean and ignorant people despised by almost every class of Indians, but feared and dreaded by many. Sepalas are sometimes, as ‘Kānipāos,’ reckoned as ‘halfpanth’ of the Gorakhnāthīs.¹
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¹ See *RTCP*, vol. II, p. 405.
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² E.g. so the Yogīs in Almora asserted.
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¹ See *RTCP*, vol. II, p. 409.
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It is of interest to compare descriptions of the Sepalas with those of castes of Yogīs in Bombay, Berār and the Nizām’s Dominions and in the south where many hints of relationship appear. In the account of the feast given by Gorakhnāth and Matsyendranāth, which determined the rank of sub-sect castes in Berār, Kānipā, whose disciples the Sepalas claim to be, asked, it will be remembered, for cooked snakes and scorpions, and was promptly hooted from the assembly.
Linked texts (1)
- Śivasaṃhitā — Sanskrit