Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c8.32

c8.32

10. *Āipanth*. This panth is related to Colināth of the original Gorakhnāthī group,⁴ and is connected with both Bhushtāi and Karkāi, disciples of Gorakhnāth. Karkāināth is also known as Kanaknāth and Kaṅkhnāth. The followers of the two Yogīs last named are said to belong to schools of the Hethnāth. The Āipanthīs of Hardwār say that they were followers of Pīr Pārasnāth, and that they separated from them through the worship of Āidevī. They trace their origin back to a female disciple of Gorakhnāth, now known as Bimlā Devī. They explain this by saying that ‘Āi’ means ‘Māi’ (Mother, Goddess). They used to use ‘āi’ instead of ‘nāth’⁵ in their names, but five generations after Narmāijī they resumed the name of ‘nāth.’ Māināthīs probably sprang from this group. Five generations after Narmāijī, who himself lived several generations after Gorakhnāth, came Mastnāth, and from his time the members of this panth have been called ‘Nāthas.’ Narmāijī was born in Khot, now in Jīnd State. As a disciple of Gorakhnāth, then, Mastnāth cannot be considered as a contemporary of the great Yogī. Followers of Mastnāth are not very respectable, and only recently have they been recognized by the rest of the order. They carry a crooked stick which they use as an arm crutch.¹