Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c9: Chapter Five
Gorakhnāth and the Kānphaṭa Yogīs c9
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Chapter Five
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KĀNPHAṬAS visit the usual places of pilgrimage such as Prayāg (Tribeni), Benares (Kāśī), Ajudhya (Ayodhya), the source of the Godāvarī (Trimbak), Dwāraka, Hardwār, Badrināth, Kedārnāth, Brindaban, Pushkar, Rāmeśvar in the south, Darjeeling¹ in the north-east, Nepāl and Assam, Amarnāth in Kashmīr, and Hing Lāj in the west. They visit certain shrines of Śakti and temples of Śiva and Bhāirom. Their own particular shrines and monasteries are widely scattered over India.
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¹ Kamru Kanaccha [?] is it Kāmarūpa?
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It is best to study their places of special interest by areas; e.g. those in the Himālayas, in the United Provinces, in the Panjab, in Rājputāna, in Western India and elsewhere.
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In a monastery at CHANGCHILING, in Sikkim, there is a black, complex image one of the three forms of which, the more gaudily robed, represents Gorakhnāth.²
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² Temple, *Hyderabad, Kashmir, Sikkim and Nepāl*, vol. II, p. 212.
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At GORKHA in Western Nepāl, is found the cave temple of Gorakhnāth.³ It is ‘the sacred hearth of the Gurkha race.’ Landon describes it as ‘a little, crude sanctuary hidden in a cavern to which access is almost impossible except on hands and knees—the shrine of Gorakhnāth. Here beneath an overhanging stream, housed in the natural recesses of the rock and with little adornment beyond the ceremonial tridents, flags, halberds, trumpets, and other insignia of all such places of worship, is the image of the god.’⁴ The cave and the town get their names from Gorakhnāth who is said to have resided there. Hence the national name of Gurkhas.¹
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³ For a picture of this temple, see Landon, *Nepāl*, vol. I, p. 66. It is reproduced as the frontispiece in this volume.
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⁴ ibid., vol. II, p. 26.
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¹ See article, ‘Tribes, Clans and Castes of Nepal,’ by Capt. E. Vansittart, *JASBe*, vol. LXIII (1894) pp. 213 ff.
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About Kāṭhmāṇḍu centre a number of interesting places and shrines associated with the names Matsyendranāth and Gorakhnāth. The word Kāṭhmāṇḍu stands for ‘Kaṭh Mandir,’ or ‘Temple of Wood,’ a shrine built about 1600 A.D., by Lakṣmi in honour of Gorakhnāth.²
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² *The Gurkhas*, p. 25.
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At BĀGMATI, about three miles from Pātan (Kāṭhmāṇḍu), there is a temple of Matsyendranāth which is recognized by Gorakhnāthis.³ There is also here a temple of Śiva Paśupatināth which appertains to the Kānphaṭas.⁴ It is said that pilgrims to this place are never again born as a lower animal. The Nepalese Śaivite temples of Śambhunāth, Paśupatināth and others belong to the same sphere of interest as that of Matsyendranāth.⁵ At Kistipur there is a temple of Bhāirab and at Kāṭhmāṇḍu one for Kāl Bhāirab.⁶
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³ See Oldfield, *Sketches from Nepal*, vol. II, pp. 325, 326; *IA*, vol. IX, p. 169, note. For descriptions of these temples and places see also Kirkpatrick, *Kingdom of Nepal*, chap. vi and pp. 188 ff. For pictures and description see also Landon, *Nepal*.
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⁴ Oldfield, *Sketches from Nepal*, vol. I, p. 89., vol. II, p. 247; *BHCS*, p. 403. For description see also *IA*, vol. IX, p. 166, note; and Levi, *Le Nepāl*.
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⁵ See *Asiatic Researches*, vol. XVI, p. 471, note.
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⁶ See Landon’s volumes on Nepāl. His pictures of the various temples are most excellent.
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At the temple and monastery of Ratannāth at SAWĀRI KOṬ, ‘Cangra Tāṅg Pahār,’ is an image, or stone, which is supposed to contain the spirit of Gorakhnāth. The Kānphaṭas of this place have an intimate relation to those of Devī Pātan, the monastery at the latter place being under the authority of the former.⁷
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⁷ See below, p. 95.
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In the Kumaun and Garhwāl Hills Kānphaṭas are found at various shrines of Bhāiroṁ. Such places of worship are often connected with the residences of particular Yogīs.
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At ŚRĪ NAGAR, in Garhwāl, Gorakhnāth is worshipped as an incarnation of Śiva, and there is an establishment of Kānphaṭas at that place.¹ At this town the author (1924) found nothing of consequence. There were a few gṛhastas scattered about in the neighbourhood. Below Śrī Nagar there is a cavern dedicated to Gorakhnāth, which contains his image, gilded. The figure is about six inches high. The yoni-liṅga is also found in the cave, and in front is a temple of Bhāiroṁ. The pūjārī there claims that the cave used to be an important temple of Gorakhnāth; but that it was filled with river-sand during the Gohnā Lake flood of 1894; and that, although it was dug out later, it has ceased to attract as much attention as formerly. The shrine consists of three recesses in the rock. It is evidently neglected by pilgrims. The panth is Rām ke.
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¹ Aitkin, vol. II, p. 808.
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In Nāini Tāl, at the temple of Nandi Devī, where there is also a temple of Bhāiroṁ, Kānphaṭas are sometimes found. A Yogī there in September, 1924, whose name was Siṅhārnāth, was of the Kaplāni panth. He claimed to have been born in a family of gṛhastha Yogīs.
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In Almora, above the temple of Nandi Devī, is the residence of a gṛhastha Yogī of the Dharamnāth panth. Attached to his residence is a small temple of Bhāiroṁ. The Yogī, Devnāth by name, who (1924) was pūjārī at this place, also served in the same capacity at the adjoining large temple to Mahādeo. This temple of Bhāiroṁ is a small, square building with a low, flat roof, surmounted by a small pinnacle, such as is common in these hills. The building contains a number of trisules and images of Gaṇeśa and Bhagavatī.
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Another Yogī, Rāmnāth of the Dharamnāth panth, has a house and shop in the bazaar, to which is attached a temple of Bhāiroṁ. The place is two or three hundred years old. The temple contains an image of Bolanāth,² the head only, with a similar image of Bhāiroṁ by its side, and an image of Gaṇeśa. These and many trisules painted red, as are the images, rest on a platform. Here also are a conch shell and the usual brass lamps. Many flowers are offered before the images. In the temple are found also a fan of peacock feathers, a yak-tail brush, several conch shells and a śāligrām. In the veranda is the usual temple bell. The building, which is not very large, has a flat roof and is surmounted by a pinnacle. By the side of the temple, at the right, are two ancient samādhs, both square, with pyramidal tops, surmounted by the yoni-liṅga symbol. They date from the reign of the Chānd Rājas. Behind the temple and to the left are two very old, low samādhs, on which the yoni section only, of the symbol, remains.
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² ‘One of the rājas of Almora, in the lower Himālaya, had two sons, one of whom fell into evil ways, and when he was disinherited his younger brother, Gyān Chand, succeeded. Many years after, the elder brother appeared in the guise of a religious mendicant and Gyān Chand procured a gardener to slay him and his pregnant Brāhmani mistress. The dead man became a Bhūt or evil spirit, and is now worshipped as Bholanāth, ‘innocent lord,’ a title of Śiva, of whom, by and by, he will become a manifestation. His mistress and
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Near the Dāk Bungalow, in Almora, is another private establishment. The temple contains small images, about a foot high, of Bhāiroṁ and Pārvatī, carved in a slab of stone, and one of similar size of Gorakhnāth; the latter exhibiting the large ear-rings greatly exaggerated. The temple contains the usual collection of objects. One liṅga is arranged with a water jar above it so that water may fall continually upon it. The jar was empty. Here the father, though still alive, has been superseded by his son, also a Yogī, as pūjārī. These Yogīs are of the Satnāth sect. The endowment consists of one village.
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Kāma, a village not far from Dwārahāt, is the seat of the pīr of the Almora district. His name was (1924) Pīr Gopināth, and he belonged to the Dharamnāth panth. The village in which he lives is the property of the sect. The temple, which is in the house of the pīr, is dedicated to Nāgnāth. The pūjārī is a brother of the pīr. A section of the village is occupied by the families, not Yogīs, who cultivate the fields. The tradition at Kāma is that when the Gorkhālīs conquered Almora they built the fort and levelled the parade ground at the town of Almora. This was done on the site occupied by
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her unborn child also became bhūts and are particularly dangerous to gardeners. A small iron trident, the emblem of Śiva, represents him, and it is placed in the corners of the peasants' huts to guard them against any sudden calamity.'—Crooke, *Religion and Folklore of Northern India*, p. 160.
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the monastery and cemetery of the Gorakhnāthīs. In the process of levelling, many of the graves of the Yogīs were destroyed and many ear-rings and other emblems of the sect were unearthed.¹ A new cemetery was was provided outside the town for the Yogīs, and their establishment was moved to the royal village of Kāma.
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¹ But the Gurkhas revere Gorakhnāth.
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HARDWĀR has a number of places belonging to the Gorakhnāthīs. A cave, or subterranean passage, is associated with the Kānphaṭas.
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The establishment of the Āipanthīs is large and, apparently, wealthy.
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The monastery of the Daryāpānth has some ten or twelve Yogīs in residence. In 1924, the mahant was a minor in charge of a guardian. The author saw a large gathering of many classes of ascetics at this establishment, who had come to a distribution of gifts and food by a rich man, on the full moon of December.
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The members of the Twelve-Panth organization have an establishment with good buildings in Hardwār.²
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² See chap. two for an account of this organization.
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In the jungles about ṚIṢIKEŚ (Hṛṣīkeśa, Lord of the Senses) on the Ganges, above Hardwār, where Rāma underwent penance to wipe out the sin of having slain Rāvaṇa, adepts are supposed to live as hermits.
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Among the lesser places of interest in the United Provinces may be mentioned the shrine of the Bhartṛharīs in the fort at CHŪNĀR.³
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³ CTC, vol III, p. 60. It is said that the saint spends part of each day there and the remainder of his time at Benares.
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There is a small, evidently decaying establishment of the Gorakhnāthīs at ALLAHĀBĀD. It consists of two temples of Bhāiroṁ, one of Mahādeo, a small monastery and one samādh. During the rainy season of 1924 there were one Rāwalpanthī and one Bhartṛpanthī in residence. The monastery is subject to Gorakhpur.
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The old town of Jhausi, opposite Allahābād on the Ganges, preserves an old tradition concerning Gorakhnāth, and Nevil says that Rāja Harbong of that place owed his downfall to the Yogī and his teacher. An older account states that the kingdom was in great disorder. Harbang had ordered that both valuable and ordinary articles should be sold at the same price. ‘This induced the great Gorukhnāth when on his travels to take up his abode for a time at Harbongpur, although his teacher, Muchhander, counselled retreat. Not many days after their arrival a murderer was to be executed but escaped, whereupon the rāja, in a rage, ordered that the two largest men in the crowd should be hung in the place of the criminal. The two largest men happened to be Gorukhnāth and Muchhandernāth; who took counsel together, and, when brought to the gallows, quarrelled for precedence. The rāja, struck with the strangeness of this proceeding, inquired the cause, and was informed by Muchhander that they had ascertained from books and learned paṇḍits that whoever should first be hanged that day would go immediately to Paradise. “If that be the cause,” said the rāja, “the fate is too good for either of you. I’ll hang first, if you please,” and he was hanged at his own request. The devotees, shocked at the atrocities which took place in Harbongpur after his death, reduced it to ruins.’
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Important monasteries and shrines of the Gorakhnāthīs are situated in Gorakhpur, Tulsipur and Benares. Those at the two former places are in a flourishing condition; but the Kānphaṭas of Benares seem to be losing ground.
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Three places in Benares are connected with the name of the Gorakhnāthīs; the famous Lāṭh of Bhāiroṁ, the temple of Kāl Bhāiroṁ and Gorakhnāth kā Ṭilla.
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At the Staff, or Lāṭh, of Bhāiroṁ, Kānphaṭas used to officiate as priests of Śiva. The Lāṭh is no longer in the possession of the Yogīs, having been sold about sixty years ago. The report is that the mahant kept a mālin (a woman of the gardener caste) and was addicted to gambling. Through his loss of character, and debt, he had finally to dispose of the shrine. Worship at the place is now in the hands of a widow who does not belong to the sect. The Lāṭh is situated in the Adampura ward in the northern part of the city. It consists of a huge, copper-covered stone liṅga, painted red. It is about eight feet high and about two and one half feet in diameter, is situated on a large, high, stone platform and is surrounded by a wall. Eight small platforms surround the liṅga. To the south of the main platform is a tank. On the west of the Lāṭh is a small, red bull. The copper-covered shaft which constitutes the liṅga is the portion of a broken Aśokan pillar which remains above ground. The pillar was thrown down during the riot of 1809.¹ This liṅga is visited by Yogīs, especially at the Puran Māsa of Badan Śudi.
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¹ Smith, ERE, vol. II, p. 466; Crooke, ERE, vol. VI, p. 701; Nevill, Benares, p. 253; Wilkins, Modern Hinduism, p. 94; Mukerji, Aśoka, p. 85.
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The temple of Kāl Bhāirom in the city is an important place of meeting for Yogīs, and is a famous shrine.
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The third place of interest is the old Gorakhnāth kā Ṭilla, situated near the municipal gardens in the city. This place was built by Rāja Mān of Jodhpur,² and was well endowed. But, along with the Lāṭh of Bhāirom, the endowments were nearly all lost through gambling and profligacy, and there now belong to it but a few inferior Yogīs, some married. The pūjārī in 1924 was Bastināth. The whole establishment, which is on a hill, or elevation, fully one story high, is reached by a flight of steps and is surrounded by rooms on all four sides. Below the level of the platform on two sides are houses or rooms. The principal temple faces east. The platform is made of stone slabs.
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² c. 1748 or 1803 (?). Or by Rāja Mān Sinh, of Gwālior, who died in 1518?
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The temple, with its veranda, is built of red sandstone. In the room of the veranda there is a bell. In the temple veranda, which is surmounted by a dome, octagonal in shape, is a bell. And on each side of the veranda are four fluted pillars. The two next to the temple doors are painted white. The temple itself is square with a composite pyramidal roof surmounted by a trident. On the wall on both sides of the door are pictures, that on the left being of a woman, that on the right of Śiva as a Yogī, with the big ear-rings. Over the door are an image of Ganeśa and tridents painted red. In the inset of the wall on each side of the door is a picture of Bhāirom, that on the left being of White Bhāirom, that on the right of Black Bhāirom. Both have large ear-rings. Inside of the temple, on the platform, are ten conch shells of various sizes, besides the caran of Jālandharnāth. Behind this is a picture of Kālī. The platform in the temple is three feet high. There are also on the platform a fan of peacock feathers and a red cushion with white beads upon it. In front of the platform are two tall horns of bronze and a small brass stand supporting brass bells, small stone liṅgas and śālagrāmas, and a stone from the Narbada with a caran painted upon it. A peacock-feather fan is found in a niche in the wall on the left, and a lamp similarly on the right. There is also a lamp on a tall, wooden stand.
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Built against the temple on the north side is a small shrine containing the yoni-liṅga. It is about four feet high, including the spire. On the south side is a somewhat larger shrine, about ten feet high, dedicated to Śiva.
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Behind the temple are quarters in which a single gṛhasta Yogī lives. South of the temple is the well, and beyond that, the kitchen. In the row of rooms to the north of the temple is the dhūnī, under a veranda.
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On the platform of the temple, at the south-east, close to the temple is a sthān of Bhāirom with trisules, and a small image in relief on a stone slab, painted red.
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On the front, or eastern border of the platform are four small shrines of red sandstone. The one at the south-east corner is a samādh containing the yoni-liṅga. A bell is hung in the roof. The next shrine contains the caran of Gorakhnāth. There is a bell in the roof. In the third is a bull and a yoni-liṅga. There is a bell in the roof. Fourth, in the north-east corner, is a samādh containing a yoni-liṅga and a black liṅga on a stone slab with a snake over it. The roofs of the corner shrines are dome-shaped, of the other two, pyramid-shaped.
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North-east of the principal temple, but down a flight of steps, is a temple of Mahādeo. It has a flat roof.
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There is a samādh in the street outside the boundaries of the monastery.
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The whole elevated area is faced with stone slabs and is substantial.
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The number of Yogīs in the establishments in Benares is decreasing. Formerly they were powerful and respected. In 1884, they numbered 159, of whom 63 were women.¹ They had two *akhāṛās*, one at Gorakhnāth kā Ṭilla (in Benares), and one at Kāl Bhāiroṁ.² They owned the Kāl Bhāiroṁ temple also. Their present low estate is due to disintegrating conditions which were allowed to creep in amongst them.³
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¹ Fisher and Hewett, *Statistical, Descriptive and Historical Account of the North-Western Provinces of India*, vol. XIV, Pt. I (Benares), p. 56.
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² Nevill, *District Gazetteer, Benares*, p. 93.
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³ Information based upon a letter from the Tahsildār of Benares, dated November 25, 1924.
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The most important centre of the Kānphaṭas in the United Provinces is at GORAKHPUR,⁴ a city named after the shrine of Gorakhnāth.⁵ It was to this place, as they say, in the *Tretā* age, that Gorakhnāth came from the Panjab.⁶
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⁴ Wi, p. 215; Nevill, *District Gazetteer, Gorakhpur*, p. 239; FORL, p. 347.
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⁵ Compare, *Imperial Gazetteer*, vol. XII, p. 342.
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⁶ Wi, p. 215.
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The shrine is old. The first temple is said to have been built there in the *Tretā* age and it was dedicated to Śiva.⁷ Tradition has it that Gorakhnāth found there an old shrine of Gorakṣa, a deity of great renown in Nepāl, and made it famous.⁸ Popular report puts the founding of the city by Gorakhnāth in A.D. 1400. It is also said that when Gorakhnāth came to this place he found only a tank, *Mānsorāwar*, in a jungle with fine trees all about it. He remained there a long time. It is possible that both the name and the fame of Gorakhnāth may be traced to this place.
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⁷ BIC, vol. II, p. 1,235.
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⁸ Alexander, *Statistical, Descriptive and Historical Account of the North-West Provinces of India, Gorakhpur*, p. 371.
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It is claimed by some that Gorakhnāth was buried in Gorakhpur.⁹ Others say that he was buried in the Panjab. Still others insist that he never died, but that he is now living with Siddhas and Nāthas on Mount Kāilāsa.
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⁹ Tessitori, *ERE*, vol. XII, p. 835.
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The original shrine was converted into a mosque by Ala-ud-Din (1296–1316). Then a shrine was built in a nearby place by Gorakhnāthīs. Aurangzeb (1659–1707) converted this also into a mosque. Afterwards, on the present site, a third shrine was built by Buddhānāth.¹ According to tradition, Gorakhnāth himself gave the specifications. The present buildings were erected about A.D. 1800. The shrine has recently been enlarged. In the summer of 1924, the roof of the shrine was raised. Photographs show it both as it appeared before the alterations, and as it is today.
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¹ Wi, p. 215.
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The present site occupies an area of about five acres. There are, besides the grounds containing the shrine, two gardens and a cattle-shed (gāo-śāla). The shrine is situated west of the city of Gorakhpur, in Purāṇa Gorakhpur, north of the railway.
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The place of chief interest at this holy site is the shrine of Gorakhnāth. This is a rectangular building with a veranda all around it. The parapet, both around the veranda and around the flat roof (before the alterations were made) of the main structure, is finished in open work. The veranda supports are rounded, double pillars with rounded arches, scalloped. The whole building is whitewashed and is decorated in colours. The plinth, which rises about two feet above the ground, has a front of fifty-one and one-half feet and a depth of thirty-eight feet. The veranda is about eight and one-half feet wide. The shrine faces east. It is not a tomb. It contains the gaddi of Gorakhnāth on which rests his caran. This is covered with flowers daily. Beside the gaddi are peacock-feathered staves wound with red and white cloth, and hand bells. There is generally a group of Ṭhākurs at the right of the gaddi. The lamp at the right has been burning for a long time, they say since Gorakhnāth’s day. There is no liṅga in the shrine. In the veranda are the usual temple bells.
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On the west face of the shrine is an image of Kālī.
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In front of the shrine and at the right of the door is a liṅga, painted red. Stuck up in a line on each side of this and clustered around it are tridents, the arms of Bhāiroṁ, whose station, as guardian of the shrine, is here. The tridents are painted red. Many tridents are buried beneath the platform. They were offerings to Bhāiroṁ. Behind this armoury of tridents is the block of wood where goats are sacrificed.
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Worship is conducted at the shrine three times a day. During the midday worship, to the beating of drums and the ringing of the temple bells, the pūjārī circumambulates the shrine, walking in the veranda, with his right side towards the inner shrine. He then opens the door and the worship is completed before the caran.
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There is a large number of buildings in the enclosure that contains the shrine of Gorakhnāth. They are all in good repair, attesting the prosperity of the monastery. North of the shrine is a temple of Mahādeo. Directly east of this is a thatched shed housing the dhūnī of Gorakhnāth. East of this is a temple of Paśupati containing a four-faced liṅga; and still further east is a temple of Hanumān; and then a large pipal tree with a platform built around it. North-east of the main enclosure is a temple of Haṭh Devī, a śakti shrine, in front of which, under a tree, is a platform where the hair of the first shaving ceremony of infants is offered.
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Directly in front of the shrine of Gorakhnāth is a covered samādh with a liṅga in it; and in front of this a platform, having three liṅgas and a covered liṅga, all samādhs. Still further east is a square building, with coloured pictures on its walls, containing three samādhs, each having a liṅga. The pictures on the walls are of both Śaivite and Vaiṣṇavite significance; Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs and the hooded serpent are represented.
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At the south-east corner of the main shrine is a stone platform, or throne, where mahants are ‘made’; and where they sit in state once a year, at the time of the Dasehra Festival, to receive offerings.
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Further to the south-east of the shrine in another samādh, with a liṅga¹ in it; still further east is a temple to Mahādeo; then comes a decorated building containing a samādh; and beyond this, eastward, the samādh of Gambīrnāth.
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¹ As in each instance above this is the usual yoni-liṅga.
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South of the shrine, on the southern boundary of the area, is the monastery.
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Behind the shrine, in the south-west corner of the enclosure, is the stable. In the rear of the shrine is another samādh; and the whole area north-west of the shrine is taken up with samādhs, some of which are of masonry work, four being covered, but most of which are rounded mounds of earth covered with a plaster of cow-dung and clay.
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Just outside of the grounds, to the south-east, is a huge, recumbent figure of Bhīmsen.
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West of the compound which encloses the shrine of Gorakhnāth is a large garden with a residence in it. There is also on the south side of the compound a garden with a resident in it. During the litigation, which began in the summer of 1924, concerning the succession to the gaddi these residences were occupied by rival claimants to the pīr-ship.
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Worship is performed on some of the samādhs in the evening, when lamps are lighted and incense is burnt.
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The monastery is important, since its establishment is traced back to Gorakhnāth. Pāngārkar says that Gorakhnāth placed his guru bhāi, a fellow teacher, in charge of Gorakhpur.¹ There are connected with the establishment about one hundred Yogīs and a few Aughars. This is the headquarters of the sect in the United Provinces. The mahant is chosen by vote after the nomination of the previous pīr has been announced.
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¹ Śrī Jñāneśvaramahārāja Carita, p. 60.
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At present all the residents of the monastery are celibates. Martin reported that several teachers living in the establishment were married and that they lived there with their families. In his day, the prayers of the mahants were considered especially efficient in restoring children to health. This belief still prevails. The Yogīs now use a large nummulite, obtained at Nagar Thaṭha, in Sind, to insure easy delivery to women. The ‘white stones’ are washed in water and the liquid is then given to the women to drink.² Martin reported that inmates of the monastery acted as sages for a few Śūdras in the worship of Śiva.
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² The mahant, in 1924, presented the author with a ‘white stone,’ or nummulite, which he had used for this purpose.
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The endowment of the establishment at Gorakhpur consists of eight villages together with parts of others. Their grounds and their villages are held rent-free.
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There is still another important establishment of the Gorakhnāthīs in the United Provinces.
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The Devī Pātan temple, and the monastery adjoining it, both under the control of the Kānphaṭa Yogīs, are situated on a small hill close to the town of TULSIPUR, in the Balrāmpur State. It is not far from the foothills of the Himālayas and the borders of Nepāl.
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The site of the temple of Devī Pātan is one of the fifty-one¹ pīṭhas, or places celebrated as spots on which the dismembered limbs of Durgā (Sati) were scattered.² When Viṣṇu cut her to pieces, and her dismembered body was strewn over the world, as Śiva, distracted, carried her body about, her right hand fell at this place and sank into the ground. The word, Pātan, refers to this event, for the word is derived from the Sanskrit pāt, from the root pat, meaning to fall, to sink. Pātāla, from the same derivation, is the name of the regions under the earth, the lower regions. The word also means a hole in the earth. Pātāla is the abode of the Nāgas or dragons. The Devī Pātan is also called Pātaleśvarī. Another legend makes this the place where Sītā disappeared into the earth. After Rāma had rescued her from Rāvaṇa, she was accused of unfaithfulness. Her purity and fidelity were attested by the ordeal of fire. She then returned to Ayodhyā with Rāma. Later, at the clamour of the crowd, Rāma sent her into exile under the old accusation. There, in the hermitage of Vālmīki, she bore two sons to Rāma. They grew up in the forest and there learned the *Rāmāyaṇa*, the epic of Rāma’s deeds, which Vālmīki had composed. Years after he had exiled Sītā, Rāma performed the great horse sacrifice. During the ceremonies, hermit youths recited this poem, over a period of twenty-five days, in the presence of Rāma and his court. At last Rāma recognized the youths as his sons. He, therefore, sent for Sītā, asking her to re-affirm her innocence and to return to the palace. She came before the great assembly, where with clasped hands, bending low her face, and speaking in a voice choked with sobs, she said: ‘As I, even in mind, have never thought of any other than Rāma, so may Mādhavī, the Goddess of the Earth, grant me a hiding place.’ Thereupon, ‘suddenly cleaving the earth, a divine throne of marvellous beauty rose up, borne by resplendent dragons on their heads; and, seated on it, the Goddess of the Earth, raising Sītā with her arm, said to her, “Welcome to thee!” and placed her by her side. And as the queen, seated on her throne, descended to Rasātala, a continuous shower of flowers fell down from heaven on her head.’¹
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¹ Some of the pīṭhas are as follows (see Sen's Saṭi, pp. 104, 105): Devī Pātan, where her right hand fell. Valley of Jawālamukhi, where her tongue fell. Sugandha in South Bengal, her nose fell. Labhpur, her lips fell. Janasthāna in the Deccan, her cheeks fell. Hing Lāj in the West, her forehead (crown of her head) fell. Benares, her ear drops fell. Ujjāin, her elbow fell. Kāmākhyā in Assam, her organs of generation fell. Calcutta (Kālighāṭ), her great toe (left foot) fell. Faljur (Jaintia Parganas), her left leg fell. Somewhere in ‘Sylhet (or Kashmir?)’ her neck fell. Ukule Ghāṭ (or Kālighāṭ?), her fingers fell.
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² For the story read Saṭi, A Mythical Story, etc., (1916) by C. D. Sen. There are many accounts of this event in the literature of India. More exactly the members were scattered over Assam and Bengal.
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¹ Quoted in Griffith, *The Rāmāyaṇa of Valmīki*, vol. V, p. 326, from E. B. Cowell in *Academy*, No. 43, but using the word Rasātala (Receptacle of the Waters) for Hades. The word rendered ‘dragon’ is ‘nāga.’ It may be of interest to note that Janaka, father of Sītā, is spoken of as a master Yogī and as a man intimately connected with the origin of Yoga. See *Bhakta Mālā*.
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The hillock on which the temple stands is a very ancient religious site, undoubtedly one of the oldest seats of Śāivite worship in northern India.² The oldest cycle of legends referring to the place relate to characters of the *Mahābhārata*, especially to Karna. A shrine to ‘Rāja Karan’ still exists on the slope of the hill. Another group of legends refers to the dishonouring of Devī at the hands of a rāja of the Panjab. After her body had been dismembered, her right hand fell at this spot and sank into the ground. In this story there is, evidently, a confusion of the older story, about the dismembering of the Devī’s body, and later elements, possibly Musalmān. A temple was erected here by Ratannāth, a disciple third in descent from Gorakhnāth. The site is still under the authority of the monastery Ratannāth at Sawārikot in the Nepalese Hills.
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² See *Gazetteer of Oudh*, 1877, pp. 367-70.
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In the time of Aurangzeb, or in the fifteenth century as some say, the temple was despoiled by a Musalmān officer. The avenging of the death of this soldier is the basis of the legend explaining the practice of spilling the blood of suckling pigs on the grave of a Musalmān, near the site of the temple of Devī Pātan. It is said that two temple guards, Sumer Dhar and Mūl Cand, brought the despoiler to his death.
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The site of the temple is extensive, and the elevation on which it stands was once occupied by a fort. Tradition connects this with the name of Rāja Karan, Karna of the *Mahābhārata*. There are here also an ancient temple and a very old well.
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The two places of interest, both of which are objects of attention at the annual fair, or mela, held toward the end of the spring season, are the temple of Devī Pātan, with its monastery, and the grave of the Musalmān referred to above.
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The present temple, is, in a general way, built around the older building said to have been erected by Ratannāth. And on a block of red sandstone enclosed in the present edifice is an inscription containing the name of Gorakhnāth.¹
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¹ See Nevill, District Gazetteer, Gonda, subject ‘Devi Patan.’
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The core of the temple is of red sandstone. It is probably a portion of the older temple. It may be seen from the doorway, and at various places in the shrine. But the present temple which is built around the older one is white. The spire is of white marble, surmounted by a gilded umbrella. The temple faces east. It is rectangular in shape, and the central shrine is surrounded by a wide veranda. In front of the temple is a broad platform of stone. The interior is dark, there being no windows and only one door, which is small and made of brass. Within is an image of Devī, painted red, before which offerings, including the heads of sacrificed goats, are made.
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In the west face of the temple is an image of Bāl Devī, the goddess who grants children. Here the hair of the first shaving of a child's head is offered. And it was here that, in 1924, the young prince of Balrāmpur was brought. Before the goddess, his head was shaved, and the hair was then offered to her. On the walls about the image, as in similar shrines and in other places generally, small figures resembling children are drawn in black. These pictures are drawn, ceremonially, by women desiring children; or, in cases where all of a mother's children are girls, in the hope that she may obtain a son. Some of the figures are ornate.
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In the veranda on either side of the door of the temple are the large kettle drums which are used in the daily worship. Several large bells are hung in the veranda.
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In front of the temple, on the stone platform, is the block where goats are sacrificed;¹ and a pit where a hom, or fire, is kept burning on special occasions. On the edge of this platform are two large, stone lions, facing the temple. At the left, but behind these, is a long rack on which are hung temple bells, six in number, some of considerable age. Behind the bells, to the east, is a shed used for rest and as an eating place. At the north-east corner is a spot sacred to Nāgnāth. On it are a small image of a hooded serpent, a fragment only, and some other bits of broken images. Worship is conducted here, especially at the Nāgpañcamī festival.
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¹ Knowles, *Gospel in Gonda*, p. 116, says that the priests who sacrifice the goats and buffaloes are Yogīs of Thāru origin. Thārus are a jungle people living in the forests on the borders of Nepāl. They are particularly clever in using the cleaver with which the heads of animals for sacrifice are severed at a single stroke.
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Close to the temple on the east and south, and scattered over the site at various distances, are numerous samādhs or tombs of Yogīs. Some are old and out of repair. Over most of these graves are masonry platforms surmounted by the yoni-liṅga symbol. These very numerous graves attest the age and importance of the monastery.
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On the east side of the temple, beyond the shed, is a huge pipal tree with a platform around it. On its south side is a small, raised platform sacred to Kāl Bhāiroṁ, with a large number of tridents (*triśul*) beside it. Close by this shrine is the small, domed structure called Rāja Karan’s building, and containing an image of that ancient hero.
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Still further east is a temple of Śital Mātā, the goddess of smallpox, of which the Yogīs are pūjārīs. Beyond this temple are more samādhs. Beyond this is an old temple to Mahādeo or Śiva.
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On the north side of the main temple is a stake where buffaloes are sacrificed. Towards the north, a long flight of steps leads down to an ancient tank.
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The monastery is situated north-east of the temple, and some of its buildings are close up to the temple site. There are between thirty-five and forty Yogīs in residence as a usual thing. The dhūnī, or Yogī’s fire, is housed north-east of the temple, in a portion of the monastery. The Government Forest Department makes an annual grant of 250 wagon-loads of wood for this dhūnī.
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South of the temple site a road leads through a bazaar to the grave of the Musalmān.¹ In front of the tomb, under a tree, is an oval stone on which pilgrims dash out the brains of suckling pigs and then carry the bleeding animals into the tomb to let the blood drip on the Musalmān’s grave. The pigs for this purpose are purchased in the bazaar near the tomb. Hindus of caste, even Brāhmans, it is said, perform this rite.
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¹ His name was Mirza.
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Near the tomb is a platform in which a broken stone is set erect. This is the place of Hulikā Devī, the goddess of the Holi. The pūjārīs of the goddess are Yogīs. In fact, in all the places of worship round about the temple of Devī Pātan, as well as in the temple itself, the pūjārīs are Gorakhnāthis.
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There are samādhs in this neighbourhood also.
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There is an approach to the main temple from the east by a low flight of steps.
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Great interest at Devī Pātan centers around the annual mela, or religious fair, which occurs early in April. Then the desecration of the tomb of the Musalmān is carried on with feverish haste by many people. Suckling pigs are purchased, carried to the tank at the north of the temple, and dipped three times in the water. The worshipper then receives a ṭīkā or mark, from a priest, and carries the pig to the round stone in front of the tomb, going around the site of the temple, not crossing the temple area. At the round stone the act described above is performed, and the bleeding pig is carried into the tomb. However, the mela is not the only occasion when pigs are thus sacrificed, for it is a regular practice at the tomb.
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The mela is an occasion of special worship at the temple. The sides of the stairway on the east are lined with stalls in which are sold the sweets and flowers which make up the simple offerings to Devī. Besides these, offerings of cocoanuts goats and buffaloes are made. It was reported that in 1871, 20 buffaloes, 250 goats and 250 pigs were sacrificed daily during the fair.¹
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¹ *Gazetteer of Oudh*, vol. I, p. 370. Knowles, *Gospel in Gonda*, p. 173, estimated that 22,000 animals were sacrificed there in 1886. It was calculated that one animal a minute was sacrificed from sunrise to sunset every day for a week.
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Across the small stream to the west of the temple site is the large bazaar where horses and other animals are brought for sale. This fair is especially noted for the Nepalese ponies that are brought to the market. On the east of the temple hill is laid out a large, temporary bazaar where wares of all kinds, from beads and trinkets to pots and cloth, are sold. The usual holiday group of merry-go-rounds, ‘ferris’ wheels, snake-charmers, and other entertainers is found at the fair.
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The rājas of Balrāmpur are patrons of the fair and of the temple. The State levies a tax on all sales in both bazaars. As many as 75,000, even 100,000, attend the fair.²
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² Nevill, *District Gazetteer, Gonda*, p. 193; *Gazetteer of Oudh*, vol. I, p. 370.
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The annual fair at Devī Pātan opens with the arrival of the pīr, or abbot, from the monastery of the Kānphaṭa Yogīs at Sawārikot, or Dāṅ Cangra, in Nepāl. This place is sixty miles from the temple.¹ At the Ratannāth monastery each year a mahant, or pīr, is chosen, who with the pīr chosen the previous year, goes in procession in Devī Pātan. The former goes in front, carrying a stone liṅga, said to contain the spirit of Gorakhnāth. Attendants carry a large, red umbrella, with a handle covered with sheet-silver, silver maces, tridents with flags, a kettle-drum covered with a red cloth, and yak-tail fans. A long peculiarly-shaped horn is also carried in the procession. The pīr stops from time to time to receive the offerings that the crowd have to make. At such times the stone liṅga is garlanded again and again. All along the way the people cast offerings of all sorts in their path, and the pīrs are under a constant bombardment of sweets. It is considered fortunate to secure bits of the offerings that have been made. Consequently there is a great scramble for the offerings, as well as to make them. Chickens, sweets, flowers and other articles are ‘presented,’ and then carried away as possessing special sanctity and magic powers, by those who have brought them.
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¹ These bits of information are based upon local statements.
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On the outskirts of Tulsipur, about a mile from the temple, the procession is met, in the early morning of the first day of the mela, by a company of soldiers and a military band belonging to the State of Balrāmpur, and a little farther on by a company of village watchmen, in uniform. Besides the escort, a large crowd follows the visiting pīrs.
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At the foot of the steps leading to the temple from the east, the visitors are met by the local mahant, or abbot, of Devī Pātan, and the pīrs and their attendants are conducted to the temple and are seated on the platform on its eastern side. Their arrival is greeted with the blowing of horns, the ringing of bells and the beating of drums. The visiting company remains four days. Each evening of their stay an elaborate ceremony is performed when prasād, food offered to the pīrs, is distributed. This exercise is preceded by the regular beating of drums and the ringing of bells for about half an hour. During this ceremony, the two pīrs sit opposite to each other, on the eastern platform, the recently appointed one having charge of the stone liṅga from Sawārikot. The umbrella, the maces, the tridents and the horn are in use. The constantly changing crowd casts a continuous shower of sweets on the carpet where the pīrs and attendants are sitting. The chief pīr wears a two-handled knife in his girdle (a symbol of distinction) and carries a carved bamboo staff in his hand. All about the temple are Kori-Camārs playing musical instruments (saraṅgī) and beating drums. These are temple attendants. There are many men about, dressed as women, who carry trays and beg.
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In the veranda of the temple, worshippers make the circuit of the shrine, going with their right hand next the temple. Men and women, in the excitement of the crowd, become ‘possessed’ by the Devī, called Bhagavatī, and dance, clap their hands and ‘prophesy’ what should be offered to the goddess. Whatever is thus suggested is presented to her.
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But the temple is not without worshippers at other times. Worship is carried on with great regularity on the temple site. Very early in the morning and again in the evening a simple service is held when a visit is paid to each samādh in the place. In the morning, after bathing, the pūjārī offers Ganges water, sandalwood, rice, bel leaves, flowers and milk at each grave. He may add sweets and burn incense. In the evening milk is offered, with incense and sweets, and a lamp is lighted.
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In connection with the noon-time worship of Bhāiroṁ, the guardian of the temple, the pūjārī, goes around the platform and shrine of the god, his right hand towards it. Then after pouring out water, he offers to the god a plate heaped with rice, afterwards throwing the food to dogs. (Bhāiroṁ is accompanied by a black dog).
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The evening worship and prasād at the temple is preceded by the regular beating of the kettle-drums and the ringing of the temple bells for about half an hour. The temple doors are then thrown open and the offerings are made.
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The monastery at Devī Pātan has been famous for its adepts in the Haṭha Yoga. It owns, besides its own site, nine villages which are tax-free. It has a considerable income from offerings. The mahant, in 1924, was Harināth of the Bāirāg Panth to which the Ratannāth pīrs belong.
Linked texts (4)
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit
- Chunar
- Gorakhpur