Nātha Sampradāya

by

Adrián Muñoz

• LAST REVIEWED: 29 November 2018
• LAST MODIFIED: 20 August 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0210

Introduction

The religious order of yogis commonly associated with the legendary figure of Yogī Gorakhnāth (Gorakṣanātha in Sanskrit) is known as the Nātha Sampradāya, or Nāth Panth, meaning the “lineage,” “sect,” or “order” of the Nāths. The Sanskrit nātha means “lord,” “protector,” or “master,” and does not always refer to a member of the Nātha Sampradāya. Because this religious group is widely present in vernacular contexts, the Hindi form nāth will be often used here, instead of the Sanskrit nātha, except when dealing with Sanskrit titles or contexts. The origins of the order have been dubiously thought to go back as far as the twelfth or thirteenth century, when Gorakhnāth is believed to have founded the sampradāya, a matter of academic debate. Traditionally, it is believed that he has been born in each of the four different cosmic ages, or yugas. Nowadays, the Nāth Yogis can be easily distinguished from other ascetic groups by the visible earrings they wear in the cartilage of both ears, for which reason they are sometimes also known as “Kānphaṭa” yogis, an appellation that is sometimes seen as derogatory, since they prefer the term “Darśanī.” Some specialists identify two broad bodies of Nāths: an ascetic order and a householder order. The ascetic group is a renouncer troupe and can in turn be divided into wandering yogis (ramtā) or yogis residing in a monastery (maṭhdhārī). Although strongly based in some places in North India, they have been historically present in many other parts of South Asia as well, especially (but not limited to) Kathmandu, the Greater Punjab, parts of Afghanistan, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. Formally, the followers of the Nātha Sampradāya worship the Hindu god Śiva, the primeval and divine yogi, so that through the practice of yoga they seek to acquire immunity to bodily decay, immortality, perfection, and extraordinary powers. Sometimes, the worship is directed specifically to Bhairava, a fearsome form of Śiva. Throughout premodern India, the Nātha Sampradāya was known to practice hatha yoga, was often considered to be the founder of this practice, and was also conversant with other religious groups, such as Sufis, Buddhists, Vaiṣṇavas, and Sikhs. There is a large amount of textual production ascribed to Nāth figures (Matsyendra, Gorakh, Cauraṅgi, Bhartharī, Carpaṭa, for example). Interestingly, these texts were composed in both Sanskrit and vernacular languages (such as braj bhāṣā, avadhī, or khaṛī bolī), a somewhat uncommon phenomenon in South Asian religious traditions. This also accounts for the yogis’ immense geographic, social, and cultural intercourse with different groups, as well as their varied and complex identities.

General Overviews

There are few substantial overviews on the Nātha Sampradāya, but some works have proved to be important. Relevant information can sometimes be found in specialized works on yoga, on tantra, on bhakti movements, and on South Asian Sufism. The somewhat outdated work Briggs 2001, published originally in the 1930s, is probably the first general overview and the one that arguably inaugurated the field of Nāth studies. Already a classic, this volume is largely composed of ethnographic material, but also incorporates insight from some original sources, albeit often in an unsystematic and uncritical manner. Another classic, only published in Hindi, is Dvivedī 1996. Shorter than Briggs, it offers important insights into lineage formation, schools, and praxis. While trying to uncover questions of alchemical practices, White 1996 deals at length with important topics of symbolism, lineage, and history of the Nāths. Written in French, Bouy 1994 is a mandatory reading for those interested in yoga literature in Sanskrit and the wide influence of the Nāths. Djurdjevic 2008 construes the Nāth tradition through a comparative lens, exploring the resemblances between the yogis’ and Western forms of esotericism. Mallinson 2011 offers a brief critical synopsis of the Nātha Sampradāya, an analysis based on a text-critical approach. Bouillier 2018 collects some previously published material but offers more than just an anthology of previous work and competently functions as a valuable, critical overview. Several texts that discuss issues of Nāth history, literature, theology, practice, and hagiography have been collected in Lorenzen and Muñoz 2011. Bevilacqua and Stuparich 2022 is the most up-to-date collection of essays; with a multidisciplinary approach, the contributions involve sociological, historical, literary, and ethnographical analyses.

• Bevilacqua, Daniela, and Eloisa Stuparich, eds. The Power of the Nāth Yogīs: Yogic Charisma, Political Influence and Social Authority. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2022.

  This edited volume collects a handful of wide-themed discussions about the relationship of the Nāth Panth and political power, past and present, as well as the shaping of communitarian identities in different parts of South Asia. Especially important here is the first chapter, by Véronique Bouillier, that discusses the state of the art.

• Bouillier, Véronique. Monastic Wanderers: Nāth Yogī Ascetics in Modern South Asia. London and New York: Routledge, 2018.

  An excellent anthropological monograph that comprehensively discusses key questions of Nāth practice, organization, and identity, especially in the modern period and contemporary South Asia.

• Bouy, Christian. Les Nātha-yogin et les Upaniṣads: Étude d’histoire de la littérature hindoue. Paris: Éditions de Boccard, 1994.

  In French. One of the main arguments is that most texts now known as Yoga Upanishads are Southern elaborations of Northern hatha yogic sources, although they do not all deal with only this form of yoga. It also evinces the influence of hatha yoga on Advaita Vedantic circles, or even its adoption by Advaitin philosophers.

• Briggs, George Weston. Gorakhnāth and the Kānphaṭa Yogīs. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2001.

  Intended as a massive ethnography on the order of Gorakhnāth back in 1938, most of the scholarly work in the following years either follows or diverges from Briggs’s focus. It offers interesting data on the main geographical concentration of the Nāths; it also includes what is probably the first English rendition of a Nāth-related Sanskrit text on hatha yoga.

• Djurdjevic, Gordan. Masters of Magical Powers: The Nath Yogis in the Light of Esoteric Notions. Berlin: VDM Verlag Dr Muller, 2008.

  Extracted from the author’s 2005 doctoral dissertation, it responds to a new academic interest in studies on magic, occultism, and esotericism. It heavily relies on Nāth vernacular poetry.

• Dvivedī, Hazārīprasād. Nāth-Sampradāy. Ilāhābād, India: Lok Bhāratī Prakāśan, 1996.

  First published in the 1950s, this title offers very valuable information on the general outlook of the Nātha Sampradāya, although drawing heavily from Briggs 2001 (cited under General Overviews). It is less accessible, since it has been published and reissued only in Hindi.

• Lorenzen, David N., and Adrián Muñoz, eds. Yogi Heroes and Poets: Histories and Legends of the Nāths. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011.

  One of the very few collective and wide-ranging scholarly volumes on the Nāths to date, it includes chapters by a number of scholars on both historical and doctrinal topics. Because of its broad and multidisciplinary range, it covers issues of identity, practice, tradition, folklore, and textuality.

• Mallinson, James. “Nātha Sampradāya.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Vol. 3. Edited by Knut Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar, et al., 407–428. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.

  A knowledgeable inclusive overview of the Nāth order. It especially questions the long-taken-for-granted establishment of the order back in premodern India and instead argues for the organization of the order in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. The article gives interesting factual information about distinctive Nāth marks of identity, Nāth-related compositions, and particular places of Nāth activity.

• White, David Gordon. The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

  DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226149349.001.0001

  Already a classic, this enjoyable monograph has been continually reissued. It advocates for close ties between Nāth Yogis and alchemists in medieval and premodern India. The practice and imagery of hatha yoga would have fostered and motivated such contact, especially when it comes to visualizations of energies inside both the macro- and microcosm, and the transformation of base matter into pure, imperishable substances.