Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c7.41

c7.41

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.