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FOREWORD
I have great pleasure in drawing the attention of the scholars and philosophers interested in the Yoga system of philosophy to this collection of 10 works of the school of the system known as that of the Nātha Yogis or Kānphātā Yogīs, which the learned Dr. Kalyani Devi Malik has edited on procuring MSS. thereof from far and near with great assiduity and to which she has prefixed a well-thought out and thought-provoking thesis on the historicity and dates of the principal personalities whose names are associated with the origin and development of the cult of the said Yogis, and added a comprehensive synopsis of the contents of each work, made more interesting and instructive by the supplementation of critical notes.
She has, by doing so, rendered a great service to the cause of Indian culture in its spiritual aspect because the Nātha Yogis continue in an uncorrupted form the ancient Hathayoga tradition, whose origin goes back to the proto-historic times when there lived the great Siddhas of the Māheśvara sect like the great sage Pāņini, who have left behind for the benefit of civilised man, wonderful works on such scientific subjects as grammar, linguistics, mathematics, medicine, classical music etc., based on intuitive knowledge acquired by a singular devotion to the humanistic ideals and at great personal sacrifice. Dr. Gopinath Kaviraj had, in the first quarter of this century, published in the Prince of Wales Sarasvati Bhavan Text Series two works of that sect of secondary importance. namely Gorakşa-siddhanta-sangraha and Siddha-siddhānta-saṁgraha. The former thereout is a 17th century work made out on the basis of extracts drawn from 60-65 works and the latter is a summary of the Siddha-siddhānta-paddhati of Nityanāth, who flourished long after Gorakşanātha whose achievement in the matter of the revival of the Siddhā tradition is comparable with that of Siddha Vasugupta in the matter of that of the Kāśmir Saivism and of the great philosopher Samkara in that of the Advaita Vedānta. The former contains some extracts from the
