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Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c27: Appendix (C): An Account of the Prominent Figures in the Nāth Literature of Bengal

Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c27

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Appendix (C): An Account of the Prominent Figures in the Nāth Literature of Bengal

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In the Nāth literature of Bengal the most important figures are (1) Mīna-nāth, (2) Gorakh-nāth, (3) Jālandharīpā, (4) Kānupā, (5) Gopī-candra and (6) Mayanāmatī. Various accounts, mostly legendary in nature, are found about these important personalities; let us give a brief sketch of them in the following pages.

(i) Mīna-nāth

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In all the traditions about the Nāths, Mīna-nāth or Matsyendra-nāth figures as the first of the human Gurus. In many of the standard texts on yoga Matsyendra-nāth has been saluted as the Ādi-guru. In the yogic texts the names of Matsyendra, Gorakṣa, Jālandhara, Cauranghī and others are commonly found as the stalwarts of Haṭha-yoga, and some yogic practices are specially associated with the names of some of these yogins.¹ References to Mīna-nāth and Gorakṣa-nāth and some other Nāthas are also found in some of the Tāntric texts.² Mīna-nāth and Matsyendra-nāth (with all the other variants of the name)³ seem to have been identical, and they came to be two perhaps in course of time. In the Nāth literature the word *Nātha* (which originally means ‘the lord’) has sometimes been used with an ontological significance and there is sometimes a tendency to interpret the names of the Nāthas, particularly of Matsyendra and Gorakṣa, as some transcendental states of mind or soul attainable through the practice of yoga. Abhinava-gupta in his *Tantrāloka* speaks of Macchanda-vibhu and explains it as one who tears the fetters of bondage.¹ Prof. Tucci cites one instance from Durjaya-candra’s commentary on *Catuṣ-pīṭha-tantra*, where *prajñā* is spoken of as *makara-mīna*.² In the Hindi text *Gorakh-sār* (which is a loose Hindi translation of the *Gorakṣa-śataka*)³ Macamḍara has been explained as one who has controlled his mind, who has known the truth of the six Cakras (nerve-plexus), and who shines in the unflickering lustre of his soul.⁴ Traditionally, however, Mīna-nāth has variously been associated with fish, and that perhaps because of his name (as Gorakh-nāth is with the cow, Kukkurī-pāda with the dog, and so on). We have seen that

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¹ Cf. Matsyendrā-sana, Gorakṣā-sana, Jālandhara-bandha, etc.

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² Sylvan Lévi, *Le Népal*, Vol. I, referred to by Dr. Bagchi.

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³ The popular name is Mīna-nāth in Bengali, Matsyendra in Sanskrit and Machamdar in Hindi and Panjabi (Cf. Mocandar in Bengali). The variants of the name found in the *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya* (which is ascribed to Matsyendra-nāth) are Macchaghna-pāda, Macchendra-pāda, Matsyendra-pāda, Mīna-pāda, Mīna-nātha, Macchendra-pāda Matsyendra, Macchindra-nātha-pāda. (See Introduction by Dr. Bagchi).

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¹ *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya*. Introduction by Dr. Bagchi, p. 7.

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² MS. preserved in the Library of the Mahārāja of Benares and accessible to the writer through the courtesy of the royal family.

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³ MS. No. 300, p. 1(a).

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⁴ *Cf.* also :—

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rāgāruṇam granthi-bilāva-kīrṇam
yo jālamātāna-vilāna-vṛtti |
kalombhitaṃ bāhyapathe cakāra
stān me sa macchanda-vibhuḥ prasannaḥ || (1.7)

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In commenting on the verse Yayaratha says—*sa sakala-kula-śāstrāvatārakatayā prasiddhaḥ*.

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macchāḥ pāśāḥ samākhyātāś capalāś citta-vṛttayaḥ |
cheditās tu yadā tena macchandas tena kīrtitaḥ ||

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ityādy uktyā pāśa-khaṇḍana-svabhāve macchandaḥ, etc., p. 25. (Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies, No. XXIII, Vol. I.) Also see Introduction to *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya* by Dr. Bagchi, p. 6.

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lākh caurāsī raba paravarai |
soi karim je eli karai ||
gorakh soi gyāmn gami gahai |
mahādev soi man kī lahai ||
sidha soi jo sādhai iti |
nāth soi jo tri-bhuvana jiti ||
*Kabīr-granthāvalī*, *Padāvalī*, No. 327.

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Mina-nāth received instructions on yoga from Ādi-nāth in the form of a fish.¹ In another legend Matsyendra is said to have come out as a boy from the mouth of a fish.² Mina-nāth is known also by another name, *viz.*, Macchaghna³ which means ‘a killer of the fish’ and as a matter of fact he has been spoken of as a Kaivarta or a fisherman by caste.⁴ According to the *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya* Matsyendra, though originally a Brahmin by caste, came to be known as Matsyaghna as he acted like a fisherman in Candra-dvīpa first by killing a big fish and discovering the text containing the sacred knowledge from the belly of the fish and by once more rescuing it (the text) by killing the fish that had once more eaten it up. This tradition is also responsible for the location of Mina-nāth in Candra-dvīpa, which is generally taken by scholars to be some coastal region of East-Bengal.⁵ In the pictorial representations of the Siddhācāryas, available in Tibet and Nepal, Mina-nāth is always associated with the fish,⁶ and somewhere he is found eating the intestines of a fish.⁷

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¹ The sheat-fish according to the Bengali tradition

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² *Vide Yogi-sampradāyāviṣkṛti*, Ch. II.

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³ *Cf. Macchanda of Abhinava-gupta*. It seems to be a confusion with some colloquial variant of the name Matsyendra.

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⁴ *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya*. Paṭala xvi (22-37). See also introduction, pp. 8-9.

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⁵ MM. H. P. Śāstrī identifies this Candra-dvīpa with the Candra-dvīpa of the district of Bakergunj. Dr. Bagchi is disposed to identify it with the Sundwip in the district of Noakhali. (See B. S. P. P., B. S. 1329, No. 1; also Introduction to *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya* by Dr. Bagchi, pp. 29-32).

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⁶ See B. S. P. P., B. S., 1329, No. 2; also *Kalyāṇa*, *Yogāṅka*.

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⁷ The Tibetan synonyms for Matsyendra-nāth (or Lui-pā with whom he is generally identified) can be restituted in Sanskrit as *matsyodara* or *matsyāntrāda* ("the eater of the intestines of a fish," Lévi, *Le Népal*, I, p. 355, referred to by Dr. Bagchi). Lui-pā is also described in the *Pag sam jon zang* as a Buddhist sage sprung from the fisherman caste, who was a disciple of Śavari-pā. In the same work Machendra is said to be the incarnation of Mahādeva as a fisherman in the womb of a fish at Kāmarūpa (*Vide* Dr. Bagchi, pp. 22-23).

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Cf. *matsya-rup dhari tathā mina mocandar |*
*ṭaṅgir lāmāte rahe bogāl sundar ||*
*Gorakṣa-vijaya*, p. 13.

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According to all the traditions Gorakh-nāth is the disciple of Matsyendra-nāth. In Bengali Nāth literature we find occasional reference to another disciple of Matsyendra of the name of Gābhur-siddhā.¹ We have discussed before the Bengali legend of the down-fall of the great yogin Mīna-nāth being seduced by the women of the country of Kadalī. The story has its variant in the story of Matsyendra-nāth being captivated by the two queens of Ceylon (Sangal). The yogin was leading a domestic life in the company of the queens and was ultimately discovered by his disciple Gorakh, who entered the palace as a fly.² Matsyendra then left Ceylon, but took with him the two sons, viz., Pāros-nāth and Nim-nāth, who were born to them, and the two sons became the founders of the Jain religion.³ According to the Nepalese and Tibetan traditions, as we have noted before, Matsyendra-nāth is identified with Lui-pā, who is regarded as the Ādi-guru among the Buddhist Siddhācāryas. As S. Lévi describes in his *Le Népal*, Matsyendra is identified with Avalokiteśvara Padma-pāṇi. There is the legend that Gorakṣa once came to Nepal in search of his Guru Matsyendra; but as the mountain was difficult of access he had recourse to the stratagem of binding the nine nāgas under a turtle and sat on them. Consequently, the sky becoming cloudless, there was drought in the valley for long twelve years. Then Bandhu-datta, the Guru of Narendra-deva, the then King of Nepal, went to mount Kapotala with the king to bring Avalokiteśvara or Matsyendra. They propitiated Matsyendra with worship. Avalokiteśvara was then cleverly brought to Nepal, imprisoned in the form of a black bee and installed in pomp in a place called Bugama. There then followed rain in abundance and thus the country was saved. The Brahminical version, however, narrates the story somewhat differently. Once Gorakṣa-nāth went to Nepal, but he got offended with the people of the country as he was not warmly received. He imprisoned the clouds and put them under his seat for twelve years; consequently there was drought and famine. Fortunately Matsyendra chanced to come to Nepal at the time and, while the Guru was passing by, Gorakṣa stood up to show him respect and thus the clouds were let loose and there was rain in abundance, which saved the whole country. Matsyendra thus in the form of Avalokiteśvara Padma-pāṇi commands universal respect in Nepal still to the present time and is still worshipped in the land with much reverence.¹ There is the celebrated annual procession of Ratha yātrā (a procession with Matsyendra as Avalokiteśvara on a decorated chariot) in honour of this popular god.² Matsyendra has, however, been deified in later times in many other places and the images of Matsyendra and his favourite disciple Gorakṣa are found in some shrines of the Nāthists,—and the foot-print of these two demi-gods are also worshipped in some places by the Kānphaṭ yogins. The peculiar custom of having the ears split is also sometimes traditionally believed to have been introduced by Matsyendra-nāth and many are the legends that are associated with such a tradition. There is another tradition which makes Matsyendra-nāth the founder of Kāma-rūpa-mahāpīṭha of the so-called Arddha-trayambaka-maṭha, which represents the fourth or Kaula order of Tāntric worship. Again there is a legend recorded in the Gorakṣa-kimaya-sāra, which makes Matsyendra-nāth identical with Mahā Viṣṇu Sāṅga, whom some scholars are inclined to identify (though on insufficient ground) with the old Viṣṇu-svāmī.

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¹ Cf. *ek sisya yāche mor jati gorakhāi* | *āra sisya āche mor gābhur siddhāi* || Gorakṣa-vijaya, p. 130. Again, *mithu kāle nā dekhilām gābhur sidhār mukh* || Ibid, p. 116.

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² In the Bengali legend he entered the city of Kadalī as a dancing girl.

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³ Vide Dr. Bagchi's Introduction to *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya*, p. 15; Briggs, p. 233. For details and variants of the story see Briggs, pp. 72-73.

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¹ According to the Nepalese tradition Mīna-nāth is the younger brother of Matsyendra and is worshipped almost with equal pomp.

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² For a detailed description of this procession and other religious functions in Nepal in honour of Matsyendra see Briggs, pp. 144-145, pp. 231, et seq.

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Attempts have been made to fix up the approximate time of Matsyendra. The time of his advent has been held in the Nepalese tradition synchronous with the reign of Narendra-deva, who flourished in the seventh century A.D., but as the alleged synchronism cannot be historically relied upon because of the extremely mythical nature of the whole tradition, the time of Matsyendra cannot be fixed up with reference to it. Dr. P. C. Bagchi, however, has attempted to fix the date sometime in the tenth century with reference to the date of the manuscript of the *Kaula-jñāna-nirṇaya*. The mention of Matsyendra (as Macchanda) by Abhinava-gupta, who lived towards the beginning of the eleventh century approximately confirms this date. Again the tradition of the identity of Matsyendra with Lui-pā (who flourished in the tenth century)¹ will also put Matsyendra to the same century. The time of Gopī-cānd will also ascribe some such time to Matsyendra.² Many of the traditions taken together will strengthen the belief that Matsyendra, the first Nāth Guru flourished at the latest in the tenth century A.C., perhaps earlier.

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¹ Supra, pp. 227-228.

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² Infra, pp. 457-459.

(ii) Gorakh-nāth

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Though Mīna-nāth or Matsyendra-nāth was the first of the Nāth Gurus, the most celebrated Nāth Guru was Gorakṣa-nāth. All Indian traditions of later days make him the incarnation of Śiva, who is the divine source of all yoga. It is believed, and there seems to be a considerable amount of truth in the belief, that it was Gorakh, who popularised, if not introduced, the principles and practice of yoga throughout the length and breadth of India. As in the case of Mīna-nāth, the name Gorakṣa-nāth has frequently been explained docetically. Thus in the hymn of Gorakṣa-nāth by Śrīkṛṣṇa in the *Rāja-guhya* it has been said,—" By the letter 'ga' is implied the qualified nature, 'ra' indicates the form and beauty, by 'kṣa' is implied his nature as imperishable Brahman,—salute be to that Śrī-gorakṣa."¹ He is the supreme Brahman of the Brahmans, the gem on the crown of Rudra and others,—and the three worlds are made by him. He is the totality of all the qualities,—he is at the same time the absence of all the qualities,—he resides in qualities in his unqualified nature,—he is both formless and with form. He is worshipped by the gods (in heaven), by men on earth, and by the Nāgas in the netherland. He is all alone, eternal and free from the fetters of existence, he is the supreme Brahman and the imperishable divine lustre. The sky is his temple decked with various gems, and the all-good lord is there with boons of safety and security. He is saluted by Brahmā, Viṣṇu and other gods,—by the sages and other ordinary people and also by all the Siddhas, who are of the essence of knowledge."² Such docetic descriptions of Gorakṣa-nāth are also found in the *Śrī-gorakṣa-sahasra-nāma-stotra* (hymns of the thousand names of Śrī-gorakṣa) of the *Kalpa-druma-tantra* and also in the *Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa*.³ Bengali literary traditions make him the purest and strongest of all the *yogins*. The erotic charm even of goddess Durgā herself was repeatedly put to shame by the purity and strength of his character. Most of the renowned mediaeval saints, who composed songs in vernaculars, paid homage to this great Yogin along with Matsyendra, Carpaṭa, Bhartṛ, Gopī-cānd and others. Kabīr refers to Gorakh several times in his poems and there

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¹ *Gorakṣa-siddhānta-saṃgraha*, p. 42.

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² Ibid., p. 43.

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ga-kāro guṇa-saṃyukto rā-kāro rūpa-lakṣaṇaḥ |
kṣa-kāreṇakṣayaṃ brahma śrī-gorakṣa namo'stu te ||
Quoted in the *Gorakṣa-siddhānta-saṃgraha*, p. 42.

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goes the tradition in the Hindi work *Gorakh-nāth-kī-goṣṭhi* that Kabīr met Gorakh and held religious discourse with him. A similar tradition is found in the *Janam Sākhi* of Bābā-Nānak, where it is said that Nānak met Gorakh-nāth and Mātsyendra-nāth and held religious discourse with them. It is further said that when, in course of his long wanderings as a Yogin, Nānak went to Ceylon he was mistaken for Gorakh-nāth.¹ Dādū refers to Gorakh and the doctrine of the innumerable Siddhas. Gahini-nāth of the twelfth or thirteenth century acknowledges Gorakh to be the great teacher of Pipā; Guzrati poets also mention Gorakh with reverence. Kṛṣṇa-dās, a Guzrati poet, sings of Mucchandra and Gorakṣa as two Jaina saints.² Rajjabji, a Rājputanā saint of the nineteenth century, mentions Gorakh with reverence. If we take account of the literature of Nāthism in all parts of India, we shall find that everywhere traditions hold Gorakh to have been the supreme of all the Gurus.

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¹ See *Janam Sākhi*, Trumpp's translation.

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² Dr. Mohan Singh, op. cit., p. 8.

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So widely popular has been the great saint Gorakh-nāth among many of the Yogi-sects of India, for a long time comprising a decade of centuries, that countless traditions have grown round the figure of the great yogin, and Mr. Briggs has taken the trouble of collecting many of these traditions in his work *Gorakh-nāth and The Kānphaṭ Yogis of India*.³ From these heaps of wild legends, which are often contradictory to one another, and which have grown more with a belief in the divinity of Gorakh, it is now impossible to construct any historical account of the life and teachings of the saint. Traditions generally agree to hold him to be the disciple of Matsyendra. Matsyendra, we have seen, was most probably a saint of the tenth century A. C.; Gorakṣa then must also be placed sometime in the tenth century, or at least in the first half of the eleventh century. Traditionally Gorakh is regarded by the orthodox Kānphaṭ yogins to be unborn and deathless; he is the immortal saint, believed to be living still now in some hilly region of the Himalayas. Gorakh has sometimes been held to be the Guru even of the triad, viz., Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, and there is the story of Viṣṇu’s creating the world in the primordial water from a handful of ashes from the eternal fire (dhuni) of Gorakh in the netherworld (Pātāla). There are also stories of Gorakh’s fighting with many goddesses in different Śākta centres and the goddesses in every case had to bend their heads before the mighty Yogin.¹ Various are the legends even about his birth in the human form. We have seen that in the Bengali work Gorakṣa-vijaya he is said to have come of the matted hair of Mahādeva.² There is also the story of his being born on a dung-hill from a quantity of ashes, which was given by Mahādeva to a barren lady to swallow in order to have a child, and which was thrown away in disregard on a dung-hill. Yet another legend would make him born of a cow by Mahādeva. Apart from these legendary accounts traditions would show that he was born in some low caste family.

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³ See also the work of Dr. Mohan Singh.

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¹ For many such stories see Yogi-sampradāyāviṣkṛti.

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² Cf. jaṭā bhedi nikalila jāti gorakh-nātha | siddha jhuli siddha kathā tāhār galāta ||

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There are controversial legends about the birth place of Gorakh. The mythical account says that he lived in the Punjab at Peshwar (?) in the Satya (kṛta) yuga, at Gorakhpur in the Tretā yuga, at Hurmy beyond Dwārakā in the Dvāpara yuga and at Gorakhmari (Gorakhmandi) in Kathiawar in the Kali yuga. It is also said that Gorakh appeared in the Kali yuga in the form of the Śeṣa Nāga. According to the Nepalese tradition Gorakh lived at Gorakh in Western Nepal in a cave. The cave and the town are said to have obtained their name from Gorakh-nāth, and even the national name *Gurkha* is sometimes explained with reference to Gorakh. Others would again make Gorakh-nāth the original inhabitant of Gorakhpur in U. P., and the name of the city is also explained with reference to the name of the saint. As a matter of fact Gorakhpur is one of the most important centres of the Kānphaṭ Yogis even to the present day. Some Nepalese tradition would again hold that Gorakh came to Kāṭhmuṇḍu from the Punjab. He is again claimed as a saint of Oudh. The monks of Gorakhpur hold that he came to the United Provinces from the Punjab, and that his chief seat was at Ṭilla, in Jhelum. Traditions in Kacch (Sindh) would have him in the Punjab. Yogis at Nasik hold that Gorakh went from Nepal to the Punjab and thence to other parts of India. Dr. Mohan Siṅgh holds that Gorakh was an original inhabitant of some place round the area of Peshwar. But from the preponderance of traditions and from the importance which all the Kānphaṭ Yogis attach to Ṭilla in Jhelum of the Punjab, it will appear that Gorakh was an original inhabitant of the Punjab, at least a considerable portion of his life-time was spent in the province. But at the same time it seems that Gorakh travelled throughout the whole of India and legends associate his life and activities with Afganistan, Beluchistan, the Punjab, North-Western Provinces, Sind, Guzrat and Maratha in the west, north and south, and with Ceylon in the extreme south, with U. P. in the middle, and with Nepal, Assam and Bengal in the east.

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In the Nāth literature of Bengal Gorakh-nāth figures prominently as the disciple of Mina-nāth and the preceptor of queen Mayanāmatī, mother of king Gopī-cānd. But in the literature of the other vernaculars " Gorakh is said to have been the teacher of Puran, son of Salbahan of Sialkot; of Bharthrihari, step brother of Vikramaditya of Ujjain; of Raja Gopi Chand of Ujjain, Rangpur, Dharanagri, or Kanchanpur; of queen Lunan Chamari and queen Sundran of Assam (or Orissa?); of Ranjha of Jhang; of Gugga Pir of Rajputna; of Baba Ratan of Peshwar; of Dharmanath, who migrated to Western India; of king Ajaipal and Venapal; of Kapila muni and Balnath; of the holy Prophet Muhammad; of Madar; of Luharipa; of Ismail, a Siddha; of Ratan Sain, the hero of Padumavati by Jayasi.'¹ The tradition of Gorakh's holding religious discourse with Kabīr and Nānak, the most important poets of the Santas and the Śikhs respectively, have already been mentioned. All these traditions convince one only of the extent of popularity which Gorakh has been enjoying in the religious history of a vast country like India.

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¹ Dr. Mohan Singh, op. cit., p. 7.

(iii) Jālandharī-pā

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So far as the Gopī-cānd legend is concerned, Jālandharī-pā figures as the most important as he was the Guru of Gopī-cānd himself. Jālandharī and Matsyendra were direct disciples of Ādi-nāth and as Matsyendra was destined by goddess Durgā to be snared by the women of Kadali, Jālandharī-pā was destined, as desired by him, to lead the life of a sweeper (which was the work of a Hāḍi) and enjoy the company of queen Mayanāmatī. In the Nāth literature of Bengal Jālandharī-pā is better known as Hāḍi-pā.² It may be noticed in this connection that while Mīna or Matsyendra and Gorakṣa generally bore the title of Nāth with their name, Jālandharī (or Hāḍi-pā) as also his disciple Kānu-pā bore the title of ‘ pā ’³ (and seldom Nāth) with their names. It is perhaps because of this fact that Jālandhari-pā has been traditionally held to be the introducer of the ‘Pā’ sect among the Kānphaṭ Yogins. He has also been held responsible for the practice of splitting the ears. It is said that when king Bhartṛ was initiated by Jālandhari into the Yogi-cult, the former asked for some distinctive mark,—and the splitting of ears and wearing long ear-rings were the distinctive marks which he was allowed to have.¹ The Augharī sect of yogins also trace their origin to Jālandhari.

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² In the Gorakṣa-vijaya we find that this Siddha originated from the bone (hāḍa) of Mahādeva and hence the name Hāḍi-pā. But the more plausible reason for the name seems to be his desire to take up the meanest profession of a Hāḍi (a very low class people with the general occupation of the sweeper), if, however, that would allow him a chance to enjoy a woman like goddess Durgā.

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³ This pā is, however, nothing but the colloquial form of the Sanskrit word pāda commonly used as a mark of reverence with the names of the Siddhācāryas. The use of pāda as a mark of reverence is found in many other religious sects also. The form phā as in Hāḍi-phā, Kānu-phā, etc., seems to be nothing but the East Bengal dialectal aspirated form of pā.

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¹ Briggs, p. 9.

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According to the Tibetan tradition Jālandhari is identical with the Buddhist Siddha Bāla-pāda, who was born in Sind in a rich Śūdra family. He courted Buddhism and was practising yoga in the province of Udayana. Thence he went to Jālandhar of the Punjab and was henceforth known as Jālandhari.² He travelled from Jālandhar to Nepal and thence to Avanti, where he made many disciples including Kṛṣṇā-cārya. He then came to Bengal in the guise of a Hāḍi, performed miracles, and was recognised by queen Mayanāmati, who made her son king Gopi-cānd his disciple. Gopi-cānd, however, took the Siddha to be a cheat and the Siddha was buried alive and was rescued later on by his disciple Kṛṣṇācārya after twelve years.³ This legend of Jālandhari being buried alive by king Gopi-cānd (at the instance of his queens and minister) and his rescue by Kṛṣṇācārya is found in all the traditions,—Bengali, Hindi, Marathi and Tibetan. In the Gorakṣa-vijaya we find that Kānu-pā was informed of the sad plight of the Guru by Gorakṣa-nāth. In the thirty-sixth song of the Caryāpadas we find Kānhu-pāda (or Kṛṣṇācārya-pāda) mentioning Jālandhari-pā as his Guru. We are loathe to believe that this Jālandhari-pā and Kānhu-pā of the Buddhist fold are identical with the Nāth Siddhas of the same name. Jālandhari is said to have been the Guru also of king Bhartṛhari of Ujjain, whose renunciation of the royal wealth and enjoyment to take the vow of a yogin is associated with the same popular pathos as that of king Gopī-cānd. In Western India songs on Bhartṛ are as truly popular as those on Gopī-cānd. Other traditions, however, make Bhartṛ the disciple of Gorakh.

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² We find mention of some Jālandhar-gaḍ in the Dharma-maṅgala literature (cf. Māṇik-gāṅguli, p. 70; Dvija Rām-candra, MS. C. U. No. 2464, p. 2) which seems to be some native state in Bengal.

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³ Vide, a note on the Antiquity of Chittagong compiled from the Tibetan works Pag Sam Jon Zang of Sumpa Khanpo and Kahbad Dun Dan of Lama Tāranāth by S. C. Das, (J.A.S.B., 1898.)

(iv) Kānu-pā

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Kānu-pā¹ was the worthy disciple of Hāḍi-pā. Like Mīna-nāth and Jālandhari Kānu-pā was destined for the city of Ḍāhukā² in the south, where he would have the opportunity of enjoying a woman like Durgā in her amorous guise. Though there is thus the indication of the fall also of Kānu-pā, we do not get any account of his fall in any of the stories either relating to Gorakh-nāth or Gopī-cānd. On the other hand we find that Kānu-pā once met Gorakh in his way, informed him of the fall of his Guru Mīna-nāth in the country of Kadali and was in his turn informed by Gorakh of the sad plight of his own Guru Hāḍi-pā, who was buried under the floor of the stable by king Gopī-cānd. Kānu-pā at once hastened to the city of Gopī-cānd (in Meherkul or the city of Pāṭikā)³ and rescued his Guru by devising various means. All the poets are, however, silent as to what happened to Kānu-pā after the rescue of the Guru. In the Gopī-cander Sannyās by Sukur Mahammad there is, however, further indication of Kānu-pā’s trials in the city of Ḍahukā with the curse from his own Guru Jālandharī, with whom he (Kānu-pā) played false in order to save Gopi-cānd from the wrath of Jālandharī. It was further decreed by the Guru at the supplications of Mayanāmatī that Kānu-pā would be rescued from his trials in the city of Ḍahukā by his disciple Bāil Bhādāi. But nothing whatsoever is heard of Kānu-pā in the literature. Those stories of the rescue of Jālandharī by his disciple Kānu-pā are also found in the legends of Western and Northern India,—but there Kānu-pā seems to be more commonly known as Kānari-nāth.

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¹ Kānu-pā is variously named as Kānuphā, Kānphā, Kāhnāi, Kānāi, Kāluphā, Kālaphā, etc., all of which are dialectal variants of the Sanskrit name Kṛṣṇa-pāda.

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² The city is also called Ḍāhurā, Vahaḍi, Ḍārāv, etc.

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³ For these cities and the controversies over their identification in different parts of East Bengal and North Bengal see the introduction to the Gopī-candrer Gān (C. U.) by Mr Viśveśvar Bhaṭṭācārya.

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The question as to whether the Kānu-pā of the Nāth literature is identical with the Kānhu-pāda, or Kṛṣṇācārya-pāda of the Caryā-songs has rightly attracted the notice of scholars.¹ We have already noticed the important fact that Kānu-pā of the Caryā-songs has, at least in one place, spoken of Jālandharī-pā as his Guru. But inspite of this coincidence, the identity of the two is still now a matter of speculation. Again, even in the esoteric Buddhist field we find that many Tāntric works including the important commentary on the *Hevajra-tantra* (known as the *Hevajra-pañjikā* or *Yoga-ratnamālā*) are ascribed to Kṛṣṇācārya, and we have nothing to be sure that the authors of all these works are the same; on the other hand there is reason to believe that there were more than one person of the same name belonging to the Buddhist fold. Rai S. C. Das, Bahadur in his edition of the *Pag Sam Jon Zang* has given short accounts of at least three Kṛṣṇācāryas; of these one of the Kṛṣṇācāryas had his disciple in Bhāde, who has been included in the lists of the eighty-four Siddhas. This Bhāde has undoubtedly given rise to Bāil Bhādāi of the Bengali Nāth literature.

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¹ See Hājār Bacharer Purāṇ Bāngalāy Siddhā Kānupār Git O Domhā by Dr. M. Shahidullah, Dacca Sāhitya Pariṣat Granthāvali, No. 10.

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(v) Gopi-candra or Govinda-candra

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Almost all the legends about Gopi-candra or Gopi-cānd describe him as a powerful king of Bengal. But literary records of Bengal do not agree on the point of localising the kingdom of Gopi-cānd. On the whole two conflicting claims are found; according to some versions of the songs the locality of the whole story of Gopi-cānd is North Bengal in or near about the district of Rangpur, while in many other versions the locality is said to be in the district of Tippera. As a matter of fact the topographical references found in some of the versions lead us to North Bengal and there are traditions in those parts of North Bengal of Gopi-cānd’s being a king of the vicinity; but the topographical references in some other versions will again lead one to think that the locality must be somewhere in the district of Tippera in East Bengal.¹ The fact may be that the empire of Gopi-cānd extended over parts of East Bengal as well as of North Bengal and hence are the traditions in both the places. The legend of Gopi-cānd has already been described. We shall deal here very briefly with some of the questions pertaining to the probable time of his reign. He was perhaps a Gandha-baṇik (literally a seller of perfumes) by caste, and the tradition of his family relation with Cānd Beṇe, the important merchant that figures in our early and mediaeval literature, will also corroborate this tradition. According to the version of Bhavānī-dās Gopi-cānd left no posterity; while local traditions both in Rangpur and Tippera show that he left a son Bhava-candra or Udaya-candra by name. According to the Hindi and Marathi tradition Gopi-cānd had a sister of the name of Campāvatī, who, after Gopi-cānd had taken his vow of Sannyāsa, tried to dissuade him,—but was at last herself convinced of the superiority of the yogic life.¹ European scholars like Buchanan Hamilton, Glazier and Grierson held that the family of Gopi-candra was somehow related to the family of the Pāla kings of Bengal. Some hold that Māṇik-candra, who was the father of Gopi-candra, was the brother of Dharma-pāla, and after the death of Māṇik-candra there followed war between Dharma-pāla and Mayanāmatī, mother of Gopi-cānd, and Gopi-cānd inherited the throne after Dharma-pāla had been defeated and killed; some again hold that Dharma-pāla was the brother-in-law of Mayanāmatī. Grierson, however, held that Māṇik-candra was not the brother, but some rival of, or native prince under the sway of king Dharma-pāla. This theory of the relation of Gopi-cānd or his father with Dharma-pāla has been discarded by scholars, as no credible evidence on the point is available. Of the few important historical documents available on Gopi-cānd we may consider first of all the rock-inscription of Tirumalai placed by Rajendra-cola of the Deccan. According to this inscription Rajendra-cola defeated Dharma-pāla of Daṇḍabhukti, Raṇasūra of Southern Rāḍha, Govinda-candra of Vaṅga and Mahīpāla of Northern Rāḍa. We have seen that Gopi-candra is also wellknown as Govinda-candra, and Vaṅga would originally mean East Bengal, and there is also the tradition, as we have seen, of Gopi-cānd being a king of East Bengal; associating these facts together it may be presumed that king Gobinda-candra, referred to in the Tirumalai inscription, is the Gopi-cānd of the Nāth literature. Rajendra-cola flourished in the first quarter of the eleventh century; if the identity of the Govinda-candra of the inscription and that of Nāth literature be accepted then Gopi-cānd or Govinda-candra may be taken to have flourished in the first half of the eleventh century; and this fixing of time approximately tallies, we have seen, with the time of Matsyendra-nāth, who might have flourished in the tenth century.

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¹ For the discussion on the Topography see Mr. V. Bhaṭṭācārya’s introduction to C. U. edition. See also B.S.P.P., 1328, No. 2,

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¹ Cf. Yogi-sampradāya-viṣkṛti, Ch. 42. Cf. also the Hindi version of the Gopi-cānd song, B.S.P.P., 1328 No. 2, p. 52.

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The discovery of three copper-plates in the districts of Faridpur and Dacca in East Bengal, containing the genealogy of some Candra-dynasty of East Bengal, has thrown a flood of light on the question of the identification of Gopī-cānd. The genealogy of the Candra-dynasty, found in these inscriptions, runs as follows :—

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Pūrṇa-candra

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Suvarṇa-candra

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Trailokya-candra

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Śrī-candra

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According to Durlabh Mallik the father and grand-father of Māṇik-candra were Suvarṇa-candra and Dhāḍi-candra respectively. Dr. N. K. Bhaṭṭaśālī has tried to explain Dhāḍi-candra as referring to Pūrṇa-candra. According to the Marathi and Hindi tradition Tilak-candra or Trailokya-candra was the father of Gopī-candra. Again Mayanāmatī herself has sometimes been spoken of as the daughter of Tilak-candra. On the whole the names of Suvarṇa-candra and Trailokya-candra are found common in the inscriptions and in the Nāth literature and this has led scholars to suppose that Gopī-candra came out of the Candra dynasty of East Bengal. Experts have given their opinion that these copper inscriptions belong to the tenth or eleventh century A. C., and therefore Gopī-cānd might have flourished some time near about this time. Another fact to be considered in this connection is that Deva-gaṇa, grand-father of Bhadreśvara, who again was the father of Sureśvara, well-known author of the Śabda-pradīpa, was the court physician of king Govinda-candra; Sureśvara flourished probably in the latter half of the eleventh century,—his great grand-father Deva-gaṇa then flourished perhaps sometime in the second half of the tenth century or in the first half of the eleventh century. But the difficulty is that there is nothing to be sure that the Govinda-candra referred to by Sureśvara in the introduction of his work is identical with the Govinda-candra or Gopī-cānd in question.

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(vi) Mayanāmatī

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Before we conclude the chapter we should say a few words about Mayanāmatī, who is important not only as the mother of king Gopī-cānd, but also as a woman well versed in yoga and having miraculous power thereby. In some of the versions she is said to be the daughter of some king, Tilak-cānd by name, and her name in her childhood was Śiśumatī (and Suvadanī according to another version). According to the Tibetan tradition she was the sister of Bhartṛ, the king of Malvar, mentioned above. A modern author Candra-nāth yogin speaks of her as the Dharma-bahin of king Bhartṛ of Ujjain.¹ In the Hindi version of the story of Gopī-cānd she is said to be the daughter of Gandarva-sena of Dhārā-nagar. From her very childhood she showed signs of possessing wonderful yogic capacities and this attracted the notice of the great yogin Gorakh-nāth, who initiated her into the Nāth cult. Gopī-cānd, we have seen, once cast serious aspersions against the mother and the legend of the curse of goddess Durgā towards Hāḍi-pā to be enthralled in the city of Mehera-kula in the company of queen Mayanāmatī, lends some support to such a suspicion; but the suspicion of the son was stoutly denied by the mother and the poets have also very cleverly handled the situation. Mayanāmatī is depicted in the Nāth literature as a Tāntric Ḍākinī, which means the woman of mystic wisdom. As the Ḍākinī is deified in the Tantras as the goddess of mystic wisdom, or some sort of a demi-goddess having mystic wisdom as well as supernatural powers, so Mayanāmatī has also been deified in later times as some one midway between a witch and a goddess and she has also sometimes been identified with Caṇḍī or Kālī, and she is still now worshipped in some parts of North Bengal with animal sacrifice by priests belonging to the Rāja-vaṃśa caste. Mr. V. Bhaṭṭācārya has presented us with one of the interesting songs that are recited on the occasion of the worship of Mayanā-buḍi.

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¹ Yogi-sampradāya-viṣkṛti, Ch. 39.

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