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Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c16: Chapter VIII: Legend and History

Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c16

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Chapter VIII: Legend and History

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Another obscure religious cult, that has influenced the growth of Bengali literature to a considerable extent from an ealry period of its history, is Nāthism. As an All-India religious movement Nāthism enjoyed and is still enjoying immense popularity and it influenced the growth of many other modern Indian literatures in the early and the middle periods. The religious and literary history of Nāthism in Bengal is, therefore, intimately connected with that of many other provinces of India as also of the Himalayan regions like Nepal and Tibet. There are many yogic texts in Sanskrit either directly ascribed to the Nāth-gurus (mainly to Gorakh-nāth), or somehow associated with the cult. The Nāth literature in the vernaculars consists mainly of longer narrative poems of the nature of ballads and also stray songs. A general survey of the nature and extent of Nāth literature with particular reference to Bengali will be found in the Appendix (B).

(i) Origin of the Nāth Cult

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The problem of the origin and development of the Nāth cult in India, including the Nāth movement of Bengal, is as yet shrouded in the mist of legends and myths. From the heaps of traditional accounts it is possible for us only to form an idea of the extent of popularity which the cult enjoyed and is still enjoying in the soil of India; but no definite history of its origin and development can be constructed with the data that we have at our disposal. We have, however, made it clear on several occasions that the historical study is not our primary concern,—we are rather interested in the religious contents relating to our literature; but as the mythical and semi-historic accounts will help us to a great extent to understand the religious nature of the cult, we propose to make here a brief study of them.

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The Nāth cult is essentially a yogic cult; but among the innumerable yogic sects of India the cult is characterised as the Nāth cult due mainly to the fact that its stalwarts generally bear the title of ‘Nāth’, and the word Nāth has been dealt with in some of the standard Sanskrit texts as a philosophic concept for a state of supreme existence. Various theories are current among scholars as to the nature and origin of this cult. Some take it to be essentially a crypto-Buddhist or an esoteric Buddhist cult, which later seceded from the Buddhist fold and transformed itself into a Śaivite cult. Others, on the other hand, are of opinion that the Nāth cult is essentially a Śaivite cult, which, in course of its evolution, was assimilated within esoteric Buddhism and it is for this reason that we find in it a hotchpotch of esoteric Buddhism and yogic Śaivism. But before indulging in such speculations we should first of all be sure of what the Nāth cult stands for. The Nāth cult seems to represent a particular phase of the Siddha cult of India. This Siddha cult is a very old religious cult of India with its main emphasis on a psycho-chemical process of yoga, known as the Kāya-sādhana or the culture of body with a view to making it perfect and immutable and thereby attaining an immortal spiritual life.

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To escape death, as we shall see, was the central point round which grew the details of the Siddha cult, and the Siddhas in general hold “that death may either be put off *ad libitum* by a special course of restrengthening and revitalising the body so as to put it permanently *en rapport* with the world of sense, or be ended definitively by dematerialising and spiritualising the body, according to prescription, so that it

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The Siddha cult of India.

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disappears in time in a celestial form from the world of sense, and finds its permanent abode in the transcendental glory of God.'"¹ This Siddha school seems to be closely associated with the Indian school of Rasāyana and it is sometimes held that the Siddha school was originally based on the theories and practices of the Rasāyana school.² This Rasāyana school has been accepted as a school of Indian philosophy in the Sarva-darśana-saṃgraha of Sāyaṇa-Mādhava. The school is styled there as the Raseśvara-darśana and the doctrines of the school are explained with reference to well-known texts on Rasāyana. The school is, however, recognised here as a Śaivite school. Rasāyana or alchemy is an ancient science of the pre-Christian origin having immense popularity in different parts of the world. In India, however, instead of being purely a chemical science, it developed theological speculations and already in fairly old medical texts we find references to the view that siddhi or perfection can be attained by making the body immutable with the help of Rasa (i.e., some chemical substance). There is a popular tradition that the Siddhas were "a band of death-defying theriacal and therapeutic alchemists indebted in all respects to Bhoga, a pre-Christian Tāoist immigrant from China, who, in his methods of keying up the body of impure matter through 'reverberation' and 'projection' to the pitch of practically cancelling demise, merely sought to promulgate the lesser athanasic precepts of Lao-tse, since the vital objective of the Tāo-Teh-King is the transfiguration of the immortalised ethereal body into a permanent garment of celestial virtue, in order to fit it to associate to eternity with the Tāo."³

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¹ Vide, The Doctrinal Culture and Tradition of the Siddhas by Dr. V. V. Raman Śāstri, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.A.S., M.R.A.S., in the Cultural Heritage of India, Sri Ramakrishna Centenary Memorial, Vol. II, pp. 303-319.

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² For the details of the fundamental points of similarity between the Nāth school and the school of Rasāyana, see infra, Ch. IX, Sec. V.

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³ Dr. Raman Śāstri, Loc. cit.

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Patañjali, the great exponent of yoga, who flourished most probably some time between the second and the sixth century A.D.,¹ says in the *Kaivalya-pāda* of his yoga-aphorism that *siddhi* can be attained even by the application of herb or medicine (*auṣadhi*).² In the commentary on this aphorism Vyāsa and Vācaspati say that this *siddhi* by *auṣadhi* refers to the schools of yogins who attained perfection with the help of Rasāyana.³ We shall presently see that the *Rasa* of the Rasāyana school was replaced, in the cult of the Nāth Siddhas, by the nectar oozing from the moon situated in the Sahasrāra and the whole chemical process was changed into a psycho-chemical process of Haṭha-yoga. From the above it seems plausible to hold that the *siddha mārga* evolved gradually from the ancient school of Rasāyana. The theory of the Sun and the Moon as expounded by the Nāth Siddhas⁴ and the principle of being immortal by drinking the nectar oozing from the Moon are found explained in the second Brāhmaṇa of the Bṛhad-jābālopaniṣat.⁵ Of course the Bṛhad-jābālopaniṣat is not one of those Upaniṣads that are recognised by scholars to be authentic and fairly early in origin, and therefore the occurrence of the principles of the Nāth cult in this text may not help us much in ascertaining the exact time when these doctrines were prevalent; but the fact will at least hint at an antiquity of the tradition. What we can be sure of on this point is that the science of Rasāyana was accepted much prior to the advent of Patañjali by a section of yogins for the attainment of the immutability of the body and for the attainment of many other supernatural powers and that escape from death through the perfection of body was regarded by these yogins as the highest achievement in religious life. As this is essentially the position held also by the Nāth Siddhas, the history of the Nāth yogins may be traced back to a period prior to Patañjali.

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¹ See *History of Indian Philosophy* by Dr. S. N. Dasgupta, Vol. I.

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² *janmauṣadhi-mantra-tapaḥ-samādhijāḥ siddhayaḥ* |

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³ *auṣadhibhiḥ asura-bhavaneṣu rasāyanely evam ādi etc.* | *Comm. of Vyāsa.* *auṣadhi-siddhim āha—"asura-bhavaneṣu" iti* | *manuṣyo hi kutaścin nimittād asura-bhavanam upasamprāptaḥ kamaniyābhir asura-kanyābhir`upanitam rasāyanam upayujyājara-maraṇatvam anyāśca siddhir āsādayati ihaiva vā rasāyanopayogena* | *yathā māṇḍavyo muniḥ, rasapayogād¹bindhyavāsī iti* | *Vācaspati.*

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⁴ *Vide infra.*

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⁵ *Vide infra.*

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From the above discussions it will be clear that any hypothesis about the possibility of the Nāth cult being originally an esoteric Buddhist cult and seceding from Buddhism in course of time to assume a Śaivite air is based purely on a misconception of the fundamental nature of the cult. Such a misconception arises also from the reliance on some popular traditions current in Eastern India. In Eastern India, particularly in the Himalayan regions (in Nepal and Tibet), many of the traditions of the Nāth Siddhas got mixed up with those of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas. The reason for such a mixture and confusion is not very far to seek. If we analyse and examine the different schools of esoterism, which go by the name of Tāntric Buddhism, or Śāktaism, or Śaivism, we shall find that in their composite practical nature they contain mainly two elements : one is the paraphernalia of rites and rituals of a heterogeneous nature, which are neither Hindu nor Buddhistic in origin, but represent a common stock of heritage to all the popular religious systems of India; the other element is the element of yoga in its various forms, which also is a common heritage. We have hinted before¹ that at different periods in the history of Indian religion these paraphernalia of practices together with the various yogic elements got themselves associated with the different schools of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, giving rise to the different esoteric schools. This fact has been responsible for so much mixture and confusion among the views and practices of these esoteric schools.

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¹ Supra, introduction.

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Reasons for the misconception of the crypto-Buddhistic origin of the Nāth cult.

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If we are to recognise any fundamental philosophy in the Hindu Tāntric systems, we should say that it is the philosophy of Śiva and Śakti with all ontological and cosmological speculations on them; and we have seen before that all the yogic practices of the Tāntric Buddhists have also grown with the fundamental ideology of Prajñā and Upāya, which is essentially the same as that of Śiva and Śakti. The traditional belief of Hinduism is that Śiva is the original instructor of all yoga,—the Tāntric Buddhists also believe that Lord Buddha, or rather lord Vajra-sattva (or Hevajra, or Heruka), who is conceived just as Śiva, is the original instructor of all secret yoga. The traditional belief of the Nāths is that Ādi-nāth is the first in the list of the chronology of the Nāths,—and all secrets of yoga proceed from him. This Ādi-nāth is none but Śiva of the Hindus¹, and Buddha, in the form of the Vajra-sattva, of the Buddhists; and as a matter of fact we frequently come across the epithets of ‘Ādi-nātha’ and ‘Bhūta-nātha’ applied to the Vajra-sattva or Hevajra in the Buddhist Tantras as they are frequently applied to Śiva in the Hindu Tantras. We have also pointed out that some of the important Buddhist Tantras are introduced as a dialogue between the lord and the compassionate lady just as in many Hindu Tantras, and according to the literary traditions of the Nāths also, we find that Matsyendra-nāth (the first among the human Gurus) received the secret of yoga in the form of a fish when it was being disclosed to the Goddess in a castle on the Kṣiroda-sea. The theory of the Sun and the Moon of the Buddhists has correspondences in the Nāth cult. It is because of the general similarities of this nature that Tāntric Buddhism seems allied to the other yogic sects. The final state of yoga is called the Sahaja state or Sahaja-samādhi or Śūnya-samādhi by the Buddhist Sahajiyās and this idea is to be met with also in the literature ascribed to the Nāths. In the two versions of the *Akula-vīra-tantra*¹ (authorship attributed to Matsyendra-nāth) we find a detailed description of the state of Sahaja; there it is defined as a state of perfect equilibrium, which transcends all our perceptual knowledge with positive and negative attributes. In that state of perfect quietude the yogin becomes one with the whole universe and realises a non-dual existence. In such a state "He himself is the goddess, himself the God, himself the disciple, himself the preceptor; he is at once the meditation, the meditator and the divinity (meditated upon)."² It is very easy to see that this Sahaja is the same as the Sahaja described in the Buddhist Tantras and the Buddhist Dohās and songs. In the vernacular literature of the Nāth cult we frequently meet with this conception of Sahaja, particularly in the old Hindi text *Gorakh-bodh* and in similar literature of Carpaṭi and other Siddhas.³ In the *Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā* (which is a standard text on Haṭhayoga) we find that the Buddhist theory of the four kinds of Śūnya, viz., Śūnya, Ati-śūnya, Mahā-śūnya and Sahaja-śūnya (or Sarva-śūnya)⁴ is associated with the four stages of sound produced through yogic practices.⁵ Again, the Nāth literature (including the Sanskrit and vernacular texts) is sometimes characterised by a spirit of heterodoxy and criticism similar to that of the Tāntric Buddhists. It is found further that in the texts ascribed to the Nāths holy places of pilgrimage located within the human organism are described under several categories, viz., Pīṭha, Upapīṭha, Kṣetra, Upakṣetra, Sandoha, etc., and this is the custom also with the Buddhist and the Hindu Tantras.¹ As for the technical yoga terminology, it can be said that they have been common to all the esoteric yogic schools.

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¹ Cf. sakaler pradhān siddhā bandiva bholā-nāth. | Gopi-candrer Sannyās, by Sukur Mahammad (C.U.), p. 397.

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¹ See *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya*, edited by Dr. P C. Bagchi, Calcutta Sanskrit Series, No. III.

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² *svayaṃ devī svayaṃ devaḥ svayaṃ śiṣyaḥ svayaṃ guruḥ |* *svayaṃ dhyānaṃ svayāṃ dhyātā svayaṃ sarvatra devatā ||* (*Akula*, A, p. 26) *sa brahmā sa hariścaiva sa rudraś caive'śvaras tathā ||* *sa śivaḥ śaśvato devaḥ sa ca somārka-śaṅkaraḥ |* *sa viśākhyo mayūrākṣo arhanto budham eva ca ||* *svayaṃ devī svayaṃ devaḥ svayaṃ śiṣyaḥ svayaṃ guruḥ |* *svayaṃ dhyānaṃ svayaṃ dhyātā svayaṃ sarveśvaro guruḥ ||* (*Akula*, B, pp. 116-118). Vide Dr. Bagchi's introduction, pp. 55-56.

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³ See the text of the *Gorakh-bodh* as quoted by Dr. Mohan Singh in his work on Gorakhnath and also similar literature of the mediæval yogic saints illustrated at the end of the same text.

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⁴ Vide supra, pp. 51-53.

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⁵ Vide, *Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā*, Iyangar's edition (4. 70-75),

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¹ Vide, Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya, introduction, p. 57.

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The most important thing common to all schools of esoterism is the culture of the body or Kāya-sādhana through the processes of Haṭha-yoga. We have seen before that though Kāya-sādhana was not the final aim of the Buddhist and the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyās, the process of Kāya-sādhana was regarded in both the sects as an indispensable accessory for the realisation of the Sahaja-nature as supreme bliss or supreme love.

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The fact of such a similarity and mixture has been responsible for the frequent association of the Nāth cult with the cult of the Tāntric Buddhists in myths and legends. But judging from the literary records and the legends and traditions still prevalent among the yogins of the Nāth order it appears that the Nāth cult has grown with a general air of Śaivism. It is noticeable that not only is there the tradition of Mahādeva or Śiva being the original instructor of the cult, but that Gorakh-nāth, the most renowned and most important yogin of the sect, has frequently been identified with Śiva or deified as such. The deity of the cult, where traditional or iconographic record of the deity is available, is found to be Śiva; the places of pilgrimage of the yogins of this order² are generally of Śaivite importance and the temples there often contain an image of Śiva or the phallic symbol of the lord. Again in dress and other accessories the Nāth yogins are depicted just like images of Śiva, who himself is the greatest of yogins. The Siddhas of the Nāth cult are sometimes described in vernacular literature as fond of intoxicants like Siddhi and Gāñjā just as Śiva is.¹ ‘Vam, Vam’ is the peculiar mystic sound of the Nāth yogins as it is of Śiva himself. It is also noticeable that in the Vallāla-carita the priests of the Yogī caste of Bengal have been spoken of as rudraja brāhmaṇa (i.e., Brahmins deriving their origin from Rudra or Śiva),—and as a matter of fact the Yogīs of Bengal even in the present day speak of themselves as belonging to the Śiva-gotra (i.e., the Śiva-lineage).²

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² For detailed descriptions of such places see Briggs, Chs. V and VI.

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¹ As a typical instance we may cite the following description of Hāḍiphā or Jālandharipā in the version of the Gopi-candrer Sannyās by Sukur Mahammad:—

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² Vide introduction to Mayanāmatir Gān by Dr. N. K. Bhaṭṭaśāli, p. iv.

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But inspite of all these, the general similarity in tone and practice has been responsible for the confused identification of the later Buddhist apostles with the Nāth yogins, and it may be probably for this reason that Matsyendra-nāth, who is taken to be the first of the human exponents of the Nāth cult, has been deified in Nepal as Avalokiteśvara, and even at the present day the Buddhists of that land hold annual procession in honour of the deified Matsyendra-nāth.

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Confusion about the Nāth Siddhas and the Buddhist Siddhācāryas. It is also perhaps for this reason that Matsyendra-nāth is identified in Tibetan traditions with Lui-pā (or Luyi-pā), who is generally taken to be the first among the Buddhist Siddhācāryas.³ In the Sanskrit commentary on the Caryā-song No. 21 we find a quotation of a few lines

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³ Vide introduction to the Bauddha-Gān-O-Dohā by MM. H. P. Śāstrī.

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takhane āniyā dila siddher jhuli ||
sooā kuclā siddhā haste kari nila |
sooā maṇ dhutrār phal tāthe miśāila ||
sooā maṇ kuclā siddhā ekatra kariyā |
mukhe tule dila nāth śiva nām liyā ||

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(C. U. edition, Part II, pp. 431-432).

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(composed in the language similar to that of the Caryā-songs), which is ascribed to Mina-nāth (commonly accepted as identical with Matsyendra-nāth)¹ and MM. H. P. Śāstrī, on the evidence of it went so far as to say that the Nāth yogins (who, according to MM. Śāstrī, flourished some time before the Buddhist Siddhācāryas) also composed Bengali songs exactly in the manner of the songs of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas. The hazardous leap involved in the inference of MM. Śāstrī seems to be too long to justify his inference. Of course, we have already seen that many Sanskrit texts and Hindi texts are ascribed to Gorakh-nāth, who has even been recognised as the first prose-writer in Hindi (or Panjabi),² but we cannot be sure that the heap of literature (either in Sanskrit or vernacular) ascribed to Gorakh are not spurious texts, somehow belonging to the Gorakh sect and bearing traditional traces of some of the doctrines of the cult.

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¹ kahanti guru paramārthera bāṭa | karmma karaṅga samādhika pāṭa || kamala bikasila kahiha ṇa jamarā | kamala madhu pivivi dhoke na bhamarā || Ibid, p. 38.

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² In Bengali, however, though we have vernacular literature on Gorakh-nāth there is no vernacular text ascribed to Gorakh-nāth; here there is no tradition whatsoever of Gorakh-nāth being an author of Bengali literature at any time.

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The general similarity among the esoteric yogic sects of the later Buddhists and the Śaivites seems to be responsible also for the tradition that many of the Siddhas of the Nāth cult, including the most renowned Gorakh-nāth, hailed from the Buddhist fold as seceders. According to the evidence of Tāranāth the name of Gorakh-nāth, when he belonged to the Buddhist fold, was Anaṅga-vajra. MM. Śāstrī says that the Buddhist name of Gorakh-nāth was Ramaṇa-vajra.³ It is said that the Nepalese Buddhists are much displeased with Gorakh-nāth and hate him as a seceder.⁴ In the index of the Pag Sam Jon Zang Mr. S. C. Das says,—

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³ Vide introduction to the *Buddha-Gān-O-Dohā* by MM. Śāstrī, p. 16.

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⁴ Ibid.

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“ Gaurakṣa—a cowherd, who being initiated into Tāntric Buddhism became the well known sage Gaurakṣa, whose religious school survives in the yogee sect, who go under the designation of Nāth.”¹ Though we are not quite sure of the history either of the Nāths or of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas, yet a consideration of the general circumstances lead us to believe that all these traditions have more confusion for their genesis than historical facts. We may note here also the queer suggestion about the identification of Gorakh with Ārya Asaṅga, or even with Nāgārjuna, the well known Buddhist scholar.² Whatever might have been the history of the origin and development of the Nāth cult and the cult of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas, the fact is that Mīna-nāth, Matsyendra-nāth,³ Gorakṣa-nāth, Jālandharī and Cauraṅgī-nāth, who are the most prominent among the Nāths, were all included in the list of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas and were sometimes credited with some works on esoteric Buddhism, which were translated into Tibetan.

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¹ Pag Sam Jon Zang, Index, p. ix.

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² Vide Introductory note by Mr. Daljit Singh to the *Gorakh-nath and Mediaeval Hindu Mysticism* of Dr. Mohan Singh (p. xiii).

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³ In the Tibetan as well as in the Indian traditions Mīna-nāth and Matsyendra-nāth are sometimes held to be different, while according to the Bengali tradition the two are generally held identical.

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Dr. B. M. Barua suggests⁴ that “ in the Nāthism of Bengal as in that of other places, one may trace the recrudescence and continuity of the doctrines and practices of the Ājīvikas, who were a factor, as noted before in the religious history of Bengal.” The points of similarity between the Ājīvikas and the Nāths may, according to Dr. Barua, briefly be noted thus:—

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⁴ *Religious History of Bengal* other than Hindu (unpublished).

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(1) Both sects recognised three supreme Personalities in their religious tradition, the Ājīvikas : Nanda-vatsa, Kṛśa Sāmkr̥tyāyana and Maṣkarin Gośāla ; the Nāths : Mīna-nāth, Matsyendra-nāth and Gorakṣa-nāth.

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The Nāth Siddhhas and the Ājīvikas.

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(2) Both sects admitted singing and dancing as two important modes of religious expression.

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(3) Both sects believed that in order to reach the human state a soul must pass through eighty-four hundred thousand stages.

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(4) Both aspired after *Ananta-mānasa* or *Sahasrāra* as the highest condition of soul reachable through Haṭha-yoga, in which Prāṇāyāma or control of the vital wind is the essential feature.

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(5) Both were Caturangis (*Caurangis*) in the sense that their religious life was to stand the fourfold test of ascetics, viz., *parama-tapassitā* (great privation), *parama-lukhatā* (great austerity), *parama-jegucchitā* (great loathsomeness to wrong-doing), and *parama-pavivittatā* (great aloofness from the world).

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(6) Both were worshippers of the Parama-śukla, Avadhūta or Nirañjana type of the soul.

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In criticism of the views of Dr. Barua we may say that though there may be some important points of similarity in some of the views, practices and traditions of the Ājīvikas and the Nāth Siddhas, there seems to be no similarity in their theological speculations. The Ājīvikas were indeed wandering saints, who would often have recourse to some of the important Haṭha-yogic practices; but these Haṭha-yogic practices were no monopoly of any particular religious sect; they were and still are important factors in the practical aspect of many of the Indian religious systems. It is a particular theological system growing round these important Haṭha-yogic practices that have given a distinctiveness to Nāthism as a religious sect. The tenets of the Ājīvikas are not yet clearly known; but as far as they are known, they do not seem to represent any close resemblance with the speculations of the Nāth Siddhas.

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The similarity in the tradition of three supreme personalities, of which Dr. Barua speaks, is indeed noticeable, and the tradition of the Tri-nāthas is still current in many parts of East-Bengal and North-Bengal and there are still extant religious functions which are generally accompanied by popular songs in honour of the Tri-nāthas. In these functions, however, the Tri-nāthas have frankly become the trinity.¹ About the second point we beg to say that though we find that Gorakṣa-nāth transformed himself through his yogic power into a dancing girl and rescued his preceptor from the country of Kadali by dancing and singing,—that seems to have been a mere trick to enter into the country of women, and as such need not be recognised to be any important religious mode of the Nāths. Of course the episode of the captivity of Mīna-nāth in the land of Kadalī and his rescue by Gorakṣa may allegorically be interpreted as the bondage of the human soul² through worldly pleasure and its redemption through practices of yoga, and in that case the dancing and singing of Gorakṣa in the form of the dancing girl may be held important as a religious function; but from a study of the fundamental tenets or the yogic practices of the Nāths it does not seem to be the fact that dancing and singing were any important function of religious expression with the Nāth yogins. Many Kānphat yogins are, however, found begging from door to door singing songs,—but this singing seems to be simply the profession of a beggar—and nothing more. About the third point we may note that the number eighty-four, as we shall presently see, was held to be a mystic number not only by the Nāths, but by various other schools and we find enough of it in popular literature, both Sanskrit and vernacular. The fourth and fifth points are noteworthy inasmuch as the Ājīvikas like the Nāthas were wandering yogins who emphasised processes of Haṭha-yoga and were also great ascetics. The sixth point is not, however, clear to us.

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¹ The present writer may speak of one function in honour of the Tri-nāthas in some parts of East-Bengal. The function is known as Tennāther Melā (the congregation of the three Nāths) and is generally held with the purpose of preventing some family calamity and of gaining prosperity for the family or for an individual. In the function, however, the three Nāths are confusedly identified with the trinity, viz., Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva and three pipes of Gāñjā are offered to them, which are then smoked. In the songs, however, the Tri-nāth is regarded, as one deity.

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² There being the Upaniṣadic analogy between the fish (mīna) and the human soul.

(ii) Traditions of the eighty-four Siddhas and the nine Nāthas

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All yogins, who have attained perfection in the practice of yoga, were honoured with the general epithet of Siddha, or Siddhā (as in the vernacular). The Buddhist Sahajiyā yogins of much renown are commonly known as the Siddhācāryas and the apostles among the Nātha yogins are also called Siddhas; it is for this reason that there has been a popular confusion of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas and the Nātha yogins in the chronology of the Siddhas. Through such a confused amalgamation has arisen the tradition of the eighty-four Siddhas. In the lists available we shall find that some of the Buddhist Siddhācāryas and Nātha yogins have been included indiscriminately. This tradition of the eighty-four Siddhas is very important inasmuch as the tradition is found frequently mentioned in the vernacular literature of different periods. In the Varṇa-ratnā-kara¹ we find a list of the eighty-four Siddhas, where the names of seventy-six Siddhas really occur.² In the first chapter of the *Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā* we find a list of yogins, who are called the Mahā-siddhas.¹ We find here many of the important names common with those found in the list given in the *Varṇa-ratnā-kara*. This tradition of the eighty-four Siddhas is very popular in Tibetan Buddhism also. Albert Gruenwedel has given the full list of these eighty-four Siddhas from data available from the Tibetan sources.² This list of

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¹ MS. preserved in the R.A.S.B. No. 4834; author Kavi-śekharācārya Jyotirīśvara, who was a court-poet of King Hari-simha Deva of Mithilā, who reigned from 1300-1321 A.C. Vide introduction to the Baudha-Gān-O-Dohā by MM. Śāstrī, p. 35.

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² The list gives the names as follows:—(1) Mīna-nāth, (2) Gorakṣa-nāth, (3) Cauraṅgī-nāth, (4) Cāmari-nāth, (5) Tanti-pā, (6) Hāli-pā, (7) Kedāri-pā, (8) Dhoṅga-pā, (9) Dāri-pā, (10) Virū-pā, (11) Kapāli, (12) Kamāri, (13) Kāṇha, (14) Kanakhala, (15) Mekhala, (16) Unmana, (17) Kāṇḍali, (18) Dhovī, (19) Jālandhara, (20) Ṭoṅgī, (21) Mavaha, (22) Nāgārjuna, (23) Dauli, (24) Bhiṣala, (25) Aciti, (26) Campaka, (27) Dheṇṭasa, (28) Bhumbhari, (29) Bākali, (30) Tujī, (31) Carpaṭi, (32) Bhāde, (33) Cāndana, (34) Kāmari, (35) Karavat, (36) Dharma-pāpataṅga, (37) Bhadra, (38) Pātali-bhadra, (39) Palihiha, (40) Bhānu,

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¹ The list includes the names of the following Siddhas:—Ādi-nātha, Matsyendra, Śabara, Ānanda-bhairava, Cauraṅgī, Mina, Gorakṣa, Virūpākṣa, Bileśaya, Manthāna, Bhairava, Siddhi, Buddha (Siddha-bodha, see *Bhāratavarṣīya Upāsaka-sampradāya*, Vol. II, pp. 136-137), Kanthaḍī, Koraṇṭaka, Surānanda, Siddha-pāda, Carpaṭi, Kānerī, Nityanātha, Nirañjana, Kapālī, Bindu-nātha, Kāka-caṇḍīśvara, Ahvaya (Maya ?), Allāma, Prabhu-deva, Ghoḍā-colī, Ṭiṇṭiṇī, Bhānukī, Nāradeva, Khaṇḍa-kapālika and others. See *Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā*, Ch. I., verses (5-9) (Iyangar's edition).

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² The list available through the Tibetan sources is as follows:—(1) Lūhi-pā (Matsyendra or Matsyāntrād), (2) Lilā-pā, (3) Virū-pā, (4) Ḍombi Heruka, (5) Śabara (or Sabari), (6) Śaraha (or Rāhula-bhadra), (7) Kaṅkālī, (8) Mina (or Vajra-pāda), (9) Gorakṣa, (10) Cauraṅgī, (11) Viṇā, (12) Śānti (or Ratnākara Śānti), (13) Tanti, (14) Carmari (or Carmāra), (15) Khadga, (16) Nāgārjuna, (17) Kṛṣṇa-cārī (or Kānha-pāda, Kanapa, Karana), (18) Kāṇera (Kāṇarī, or Āryadeva), (19) Sthagana (or Thagana), (20) Nāḍa-pā (or Yaśobhadra), (21) Śāli-pā (or Śṛgala-pāda), (22) Tilo-pā (or Tailika-pāda), (23) Chatra, (24) Bhadra (or Bhāde), (25) Dvikhaṇḍī (or Dokhaṇḍī), (26) Ajogi (or Yogi-pāda), (27) Kaḍa-pāda (or Kāla), (28) Dhovī (or Dhombhi), (29) Kaṅkaṇa, (30) Kambala (or Kamari), (31) Ṭeṅki (or Ḍamgi), (32) Bhade (or Bhandhe, Bhāṇḍārī), (33) Tandhī (or Tandhe), (34) Kukkuri, (35) Cubji (or Kusūli), (36) Dharma, (37) Mahī, (38) Acintya (Acinta, Acinti), (39) Babhahi (or Bhalaha), (40) Nalina, (41) Bhusuku (or Śānti-deva), (42) Indra-bhūti, (43) Megha-pāda (or Meko), (44) Kuṭhārī (or Kuṭhālī), (45) Karmāra, (46) Jālan-dhari, (47) Rāhula, (48) Gharbari (or Gharma-pāda), (49) Dhakari (or Ṭokri), (50) Medinī, (51) Paṅkaja, (52) Ghaṇṭā (or Vajra-ghaṇṭā), (53) Yogī, (54) Celuka (or Caluka), (55) Vāguri (? Guṇḍarī), (56) Luñcaka (or Lucika), (57) Nirguṇa, (58) Jayānanda, (59) Carṣaṭi (or Pacari, Pācala), (60) Campaka, (61) Viṣaṇa (or Bhikhana), (62) Bhali (or Telī, Tailī), (63) Kumarī (or Kumbhakāra), (64) Cārpaṭi (or Javarī), (65) Maṇi-bhadrā, (66) Mekhalā, (67) Maṅkhalā (or Kaṅakha), (68) Kala-kala, (69) Kanthaḍī (or Pantaī), (70) Dhahuli (or Dauḍī), (71) Udhali (or

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(41) Mina, (42) Nirdaya, (43) Savara, (44) Śānti, (45) Bhartṛhari, (46) Bhiṣaṇa, (47) Bhaṭi, (48) Gagana-pā, (49) Gamāra, (50) Meṇurā, (51) Kumārī, (52) Jīvana, (53) Aghosādhava, (54) Girivara, (55) Siyārī, (56) Nāgavāli, (57) Bibhavat, (58) Sāraṅga, (59) Vivikidhaja, (60) Magara-dhaja, (61) Acita, (62) Bicita, (63) Necaka, (64) Caṭala, (65) Nācana, (66) Bhilo, (67) Pāhila, (68) Pāsala, (69) Kamala-kaṅgārī, (70) Cipila, (71) Govinda, (72) Bhīma, (73) Bhairava, (74) Bhadra, (75) Bhamarī, (76) Bhuru-kuṭi.

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the Siddhas has also been discovered in Java and has been published by Van Manen from Holland.¹ The tradition is very popular also in the South.²

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¹ *Vide* B. S. P. P.—The Presidential Address of MM. H. P. Śāstrī, B S. 1329.

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² *Vide* Dr. Raman Śāstrī, *loc. cit.*

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We are not, however, prepared to give any historical credit to the list of these eighty-four Siddhas or even to the tradition of the eighly-four Siddhas. If we just examine the lists of these eighty-four Siddhas it will appear that they are anomalous lists containing names of many Buddhist Siddhācāryas who flourished during some time near about the tenth to the twelfth century A.D., and within the list of these Buddhist Siddhācāryas the names of the most reputed Nāthas have been incorporated for reasons discussed before. This tradition of the eighty-four Siddhas is occasionally referred to in the Nātha literature of Bengal as well as in the Santa literature and Sūfī literature of Western and Northern India.³ It has been rightly held by some scholars that this number eighty-four is rather a mystic than a historical number, and for ourselves we have sufficient reason to be convinced of the purely mystic nature of this number. The significant mention of this number eighty-four is found in the belief of the Ājīvikas, who believed that soul must pass through eighty-four hundred thousand stages before attaining the human state.⁴ In the *Maitrāyaṇī*

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³ Sometimes the number of the Siddhas is said not to be merely eighty-four, but eighty-four million, and that shows that the mystic number became mythical, at least so far as the vernacular poets were concerned.

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⁴ Cf. *The Vijak of Kabir* by Ahmad Shah, Sākhi, No. 257, p. 209. *Digha-nikāya*, Vol. I., p. 54.

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Uḍḍiya), (72) Kapāla, (73) Kila, (74) Puṣkara (or Sāgara), (75) Sarva-bhakṣa (or Sābhikṣa), (76) Nāga-bodhi, (77) Dārika. (78) Puttali (or Putuli), (79) Panaha (or Upaṇāhi), (80) Kokilā (or Kokili), (81) Anaṅga, (82) Lakṣmīṅkarā, (83) Sāmudra (or Samuda), (84) Bhali-pā (or Byāḍi or Byāli). *Vide*, introduction to the *Śūnya-purāṇa* by Dr. Shahidullah, pp. 3-4; Kalyāṇa (an article Caurāsī Siddha Tathā Nātha-sampradāya by Bhagavatiprasād Siṃhaji) Yogāṅka number.

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*Upaniṣat* we find mention of eighty-four thousand states of birth.¹ In some of the Tantras and Purāṇas also we find reference to the eighty-four lacs of *yonis* or births in different states;² The number of the Buddhist *dhamma-khandas*, (i.e., *dharma-skandha* or branches of doctrines, division of the *dharma* or scripture) is eighty-four, or rather eighty-four thousand. It has been said in the Pāli text *Gamḍha-vaṃsa* that those scholars, who will write commentaries, notes etc. on the Pāli texts containing the eighty-four thousand *dhamma-kkhandas*, or will cause others to write such works, will gather immense merit equal to the merit derived from building eighty-four thousand shrines, constructing eighty-four thousand images of Buddhas, establishing eighty-four thousand monasteries. It has further been said that he, who makes a good collection of the sayings of Buddha, or causes others to do it, and who scribes, or causes to be scribed the sayings of Buddha in the form of a manuscript, and who gives or causes others to give materials for preparing such a manuscript and to preserve it, will amass immense virtue equal to that, which is gathered by building eighty-four thousand shrines and erecting eighty-four thousand monasteries.³ Statements of similar nature are also found in later Buddhistic texts.⁴ In the Pāli text *Anāgata--vaṃsa* we find that when Maitreya, the future Buddha, will renounce the world, moved by universal compassion, eighty-four thousand friends, kinsmen and princesses will follow him,

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¹ Third *prapāṭhaka*.

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² *Tantra-tattva*—by S. C. Bhaṭṭācārya, Vol. I, pp. 21-22. There is also the popular belief of eighty-four *Kuṇḍas* (bowel-shaped vessel) in the city of Yama in which the convicted are doomed.

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³ *Gamḍha-vaṃsa*, (last Chapter).

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⁴ *Guṇa-kāraṇḍa-vyūha*, p. 41, pp. 76-77. In this connection see also *Amitāyur-dhyāna-sūtra*, The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XLIX.

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*Cf. emata dharmar barata avahela jehi jan |*
*caurāsi kuṇḍeta jam ta pele tatakhan ||*
*Śūnya-purāṇa, Ṭikā-pāvana, p. 52.*

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and eighty-four thousand Brahmins, versed in the Vedas, will also accompany him. The mystic nature of the number eighty-four will also appear from the fact that the commonly accepted number of the yogic postures (*āsana*) is said to be eighty-four in the Yogic and Tāntric texts; and it has sometimes been held that the number of the yogic postures are eighty-four million because of the fact that the number of the different stages in the evolution of a creature is eighty-four million,¹—and of these eighty-four million only eighty-four are prominent, and so they are described in detail. As a matter of fact, we do not find even these eighty-four *Āsanas* described anywhere, only a few of them being described in the Yogic and Tāntric literature. We may also note that sometimes the number of the beads in the rosary of a Kānphaṭ yogin is also eighty-four. In the *Skanda-purāṇa* we have detailed description of the eighty-four *Śiva-liṅgas* (i.e. phallic symbols of lord Śiva) in eighty-four consecutive chapters.² All these taken together will convince one of the mystic nature of the number eighty-four, and this will justify the doubt about the historical nature of the tradition of the eighty-four Siddhas.

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¹ *Gorakṣa-paddhati* (verse 8); *Gorakṣa-saṃhitā* (verse 7); *Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā* (2. 1-2) etc.; *Sundara-dāsa* (*Sundara-granthāvalī*, Vol. I, p. 41).

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² *Skanda-purāṇa*, *Avantya-khaṇḍa*, *Caturaśīti-liṅga-māhātmya*.

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Side by side with the tradition of the eighty-four Siddhas we find the tradition of the nine Nāthas.³ In the ceremonies on the occasion of the initiation into the order of Kānphaṭ yogins there is the

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³ ‘The sixty-four yoginis, the fifty-two heroes, the six ascetics, the eighty-fou, Siddhas, the nine Naths, paid homage (to Nanak)’—*Janam-sakhi of Bābā Nanak*—Trumpp, prefatory remarks, p. vii. Cf. also :—‘By having heard (his name) the Siddhas, Pirs, Gods and Naths (have been made),’—*Japa*, 9, Trumpp. ‘Remembering that name the nine Naths of spotless emancipation, Sanak and the others were saved. To which being attached the eighty-four Siddhas and Buddhas (and) Ambarik crossed the water of existence;’—*Panegyric of Amardas*, Trumpp, p. 700.

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The tradition of the nine Nāthas.

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custom of worshipping the nine Nāthas and the eighty-four Siddhas.¹ But even in this tradition of the nine Nāthas, there is no agreement among the lists, and all sorts of mythical accounts are found concerning them. In the *Ṣoḍaśa-nitya-tantra* quoted in the *Gorakṣa-siddhānta-saṃgraha* we find mention of the nine Nāthas who are said to have preached the Tantras in the different ages. In the *Tantra-mahārṇava* (quoted in the same text) eight Nāthas are said to be residing in the eight directions and one in the centre. These Nāthas are Gorakṣa-nātha in the east (residing in the forest of Jagannātha ?), Jālandhara in the northern region (Uttara-patha, in a forest near Jvālā-mukhī ?), Nāgārjuna (in a forest near Godāvarī in the south ?), Dattātreya in the west (to the west of the river Sarasvatī ?), Devadatta in the South-West, Jaḍa Bharata in the North-West, Ādi-nātha in the land of Kurukṣetra in the Midland and Matsyendra-nātha in the South-East in a land near the sea-coast.² We notice further that the Kāpālika-school was introduced by the Nāthas and there are twelve personalities, to whom was revealed the truth of this school. They are, Ādi-nātha, Anādi, Kāla, Vaikālika, Karāla, Vikarāla, Mahākāla, Kāla-bhairava-nātha, Vaṭuka, Bhūta-nātha, Vira-nātha and Śrī-kaṇṭha. Again, twelve are the apostles, who are said to be the founders of the cult (*mārga-pravartaka*),—they are Nāgārjuna, Jaḍa-bharata, Hariścandra, Satya-nātha, Bhima-nātha, Gorakṣa, Carpaṭa, Avadya, Vairāgya, Kanthādhārī, Jālandhara and Malayārjuna.³ In another list we find the following names of the nine Nāthas; Gorakṣa-nātha, Matsyendra-nātha, Carpaṭa-nātha, Maṅgala-nātha, Ghugo-nātha, Gopī-nātha Prāṇa-nātha, Sūrat-nātha and Cambanātha.¹ These Nāthas are believed to be immortal demigods and preachers of the sect for all ages, and it is also believed that they are still living in the Himalayan region ; sometimes they are regarded as the guardian spirits of the Himalayan peaks.²

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¹ Briggs, p. 33, p. 136.

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² Vide *Gorakṣa-siddhānta-saṃgraha*, pp. (44-45). Note that the ninth Nātha in the *Īśāna-koṇa* is not described.

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³ *Śabara-tantra*, quoted in the *Gorakṣa-siddhānta-saṃgraha*.

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¹ The Legends of the Punjab, by R. Temple, pp. 18-19, Vol. I, referred to by Briggs, p. 136. In another list again many of the nine Nāthas are identified with the Hindu gods. Thus (1) Oṃkāra Ādi-nātha (Lord of Lords) is identified with Śiva, (2) Shelnātha (Lord of the Arrow Shaft) with Kṛṣṇa or Rāmacandra; (3) Santosa-nātha (Lord of Gratification) with Viṣṇu, (4) Acalacambhunātha (Lord of Wondrous Immortality ?) with Hanumāna or Lakṣmaṇa; (5) Gajabali Gaja-kaṇṭha-nātha (Lord of the Elephant's strength and Neck) with Gaṇeśa Gaja-karṇa; (6) Prajā-nātha, or Udai-nātha (Lord of the People ?) with Pārvatī; (7) Māyā-rupī Macchendra-nātha, Guru of Gorakha-nātha, (8) Gathepinde Ricayakari (?), or Naraṇthar, Śambhu-jaiti Guru Gorakha-nātha; (9) Jñāna-svarūpa or Purakh-Siddh Cauranjwenātha, or Purān Bhagat. Briggs, pp. 136-137. Almost a similar list of the nine Nāthas has been given by Kitts. It runs as follows :—Oṃkāri-nāth, Viṣṇu Samtok-nāth, Viṣṇu; Gajboli, Gajāna (Gajānāna ?), Hanumān; Acaleśvar, Gaṇpati; Udayanāth, Sūrya; Pārvatī Prem, Mahādeo; Santhanāth, Brahmā; Gyāniji Siddhacewarng Jaggnāth; Māyārūpi Matsya. Ibid, p. 137.

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² In the Yogi-sampradāya-viṣkṛti, referred to before, we find an account of the incarnation of the nine Nārāyaṇas as the nine Nāthas. Here, however, popular imagination seems to have run riot. It is said that towards the end of the Dvāpara-yuga the earth was heavy with sin, and the attention of Mahādeva, the Lord Sovereign, was drawn to the fact. Moved to pity the Lord at once sent sage Nārada to Badarikāśrama, where the nine Nārāyaṇas (who were the sons of Ṛṣabha-rāja) of the name of Kavi-nārāyaṇa, Kara-bhājana Nā°, Antarikṣa Nā°, Prabuddha Nā°, Avirhotri Nā°, Pippalāyana Nā°, Camasa Nā°, Hari Nā° and Drumila Nā° were holding discussions on self-knowledge. Nārada intimated to the Nārāyaṇas the will of the lord, who would have the Nārāyaṇas come down to the world to preach the secrets of yoga to people so that they may be liberated. The Nārāyaṇas went to Vaikuṇṭha to take counsel from Viṣṇu as to how to carry out the will of lord Śiva. Viṣṇu, accompanied by the Nārāyaṇas, went to Kailāsa to receive instructions from the Lord, and with His instructions the nine Nārāyaṇas incarnated themselves in the form of the nine Nāthas, viz., Matsyendra, Gorakṣa, Gahini, Jvālendra, Kāriṇa-pā, Carpaṭa, Revana, Bhartṛ and Gopi-candra. It was settled that Matsyendra would be initiated by the Lord Himself, Gorakṣa, Carpaṭi and Revana by Matsyendra, Gahini by Gorakṣa; Jvālendra would be initiated by the Lord,—Kāriṇa-pā, Bhartṛ and Gopi-candra by Jvālendra. (Vide Ch. I.).

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In this connection, however, we may take note of the different accounts given about the chronology of the Nātha-gurus. The chronology

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The Nātha-gurus.

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according to the Mārāṭhi tradition may be illustrated with the help of the following chart :¹—

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¹ Vide, Śrī-jñāneśvara-caritra by Mr. Pāṅgārakara (Chapter on Guru-sampradāya), pp. 60-78.

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[Figure: Ādi-nātha

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Uma Matsyendra Jālandhara-nātha

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Gorakṣa-nātha Cauraṅgi- Kanipha- Maināvatī nātha nātha (Mother of Gopī-cānd)

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Gaini-nātha Carpaṭi-nātha.

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Nivṛtti-nāthá.

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Jñāneśvara Sopāna-deva Muktā-bāī.]

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According to the chronology of Bahiṇā Bāī Ādi-nātha (Śiva) taught the secrets of Yoga to Pārvatī and Matsyendra managed to hear them; Matsyendra taught them to Gorakh-nātha, he to Gahini, Gahini to Nivṛtti-nātha, he to Jñāneśvara, Jñāneśvara to Sac-cid-ānanda and further to Viśvambhara, he to Rāghava (Caitanya), he to Keśava-caitanya, and Keśava to Bāvāji Caitanya, he to Tokobā (Tukārāma) and Tokobā to Bahiṇā Bāī (1700 A.D.).² Another chronology runs thus :—

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² Briggs, loc. cit.

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[Figure: Śakti

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Śiva

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Ude (Second of the nine Nāthas, founder of the Pantha of the 9 yogins.)

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Rudragan

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Jālandhar (who was an evil spirit, restored to reason and initiated).

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Matsyendra Jālandhari (Pā)

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Bhartṛ-nātha Kānipā (Bairāga, son of Rājā Bhoja) | Siddha-saṅgarī

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Gorakh-nātha Paṅgal (Rewal) Nima-nātha Pārasnathpūj Sivotora | Sons of Matsyendra (both Jainas)]

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Various lists of the nine Nāthas are found also in the literature of the Santa poets. It will be easy to see from the above that as no strictly historical importance can be attached to the lists of the eighty-four Siddhas so also no historical importance can be attached to these chronologies of the Nātha-gurus.

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According to the accounts found in Bengali, Mīna-nāth or Matsyendra-nāth (the two being held identical according to the Bengali tradition) and Jālandharī-pā (more commonly known as the Hāḍi-siddha) were the direct disciples of Ādi-nāth or Śiva; Gorakh-nāth was the disciple of Mīna-nāth and queen Mayanāmatī (mother of Gopī-cānd) was the disciple of Gorakh-nāth; Kānhu-pā or Kānu-pā was the disciple of Jālandharī-pā or Hāḍi-siddha,¹ who also initiated King Gopī-cānd to the yogic order. Kānu-pā had his disciple Bāil Bhādāi. Many of the Nātha Siddhas are referred to also in the *Dharma-maṅgala* literature. Sahadeva Cakravartī, as we shall see, made a regular mixture of the legends of the Nātha literature and the Dharma literature. In many other texts of the Dharma literature we find the prominent Nātha Siddhas and also other sages descending on earth, along with the various gods, on the occasion of some ritualistic and sacrificial ceremonies held in honour of the Dharma-ṭhākura. In the *Dharma-pūjā-vidhāna* we find the custom of worshipping many of these Nātha Siddhas along with some gods, goddesses and demi-gods of the Dharmites.² The most prominent names, which we come acoross in the legends of the Nātha literature of Bengal, are (1) Mīna-nāth, (2) Gorakh-nāth, (3) Jālandharī-pā, (4) Kānu pā, (5) Maināmatī and (6) Gopi-cānd. Various are the legendary and mythical accounts that have grown round the names of these personalities in Nepal, Tibet, Bengal and in various other provinces of India. We need not enter into the details of these legends or the controversies of the historical and geographical questions pertaining to them; a brief survey of the various accounts will, however, be found in the appendix (C).

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¹ Bengali account of the Nātha-gurus.

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² *tave yadi pṛthivite yāila har-gaurī |* *mīna-nāth hāḍiphāe karanta cākari ||* *mīna-nāther cākari kare jati gorakhāi |* *hāḍiphār sevā kare kānāphā jogāi ||* *Gorakṣa-vijaya*, p. 10

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² *Dharma-pūjā-vidhāna*, p. 133.

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