Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati

Author(s): Kalyani Mallik
Publisher: Poona Oriental Book House Poona

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popularly known as Nava-Natha. In this list we find the names of Adināth ( Śiva ) as Guru, then Matsyendra, Udaynāth, Dandanāth, Santoshnāth, Kūrmanāth, Bhavanārji and Gorakhnāth, the son of God.
From all other sources we find that Matsyendra is the guru at whose feet Gorakhnath spent twelve years and emerged as a great Yogi and mystic. The name of Matsyendra is very familiar in Bengal, as he was born in Eastern Bengal and preached in Kamarupa, Assam, where he was supposed to be ensnared by the queens of Kadali.
Gorakhnāth, the master Yogi, was known throughout the Northern and Western India in the eleventh century and later, he was held in great reverence in Sikkim, Nepal, Hardwar, Nainital, Gorakhpore, Benaras, in the U. P., the Punjab, Kashmir, Peshawar, Sind, Beluchistan, Cutch, Bombay, Rajputana, Orissa, Assam and Bengal. In the Punjab there is a famous temple in the name of Gorakhnāth, known as Gorakh - Tilla. The liberal Emperor Akbar is said to have been initiated into the secrets of the Yogis and he presented some villages with an annual income, for the maintenance of this
Tilla.
Gorakhnathis (followers of Gorakhnāth) also visit holy shrines of Gorakhnāth, Dharmanāth and others in far off places like Dhinodhar in Cutch, Koteśvar near Karachi in Sind, Hinglāj in Beluchistan and Devi Pātān in Nepal. Hinglāj is in the keeping of Muslims and considered to be beyond the confines of India. So on their return home from Hinglaj, the Yogis are branded on the upper part of the right fore-arm with the emblem of Siva-Shakti (Yoni-linga) at Koteśvar. Gorakhnāthis lost hold of Koteśvar to the Atits in the sixteenth century. The monastery at Dhinodhar is one of the most imporant centres in Western India, and in this place Dharmanāth, a disciple of Gorakhnath, carried out his penance for twelve long years. At Devi Pātān, the image of Matsyendra is worshipped. An annual car--festival is still held at Pātān in honour of Matsyendra, who is the guardian deity of Nepal. Matsyendra, though a Saivite, is worshipped in Nepal as an incarnation of Buddha as Avalokitesvar, the fourth divine Bodhisattva. But his Saiva image is also worshipped as