Yogi Heroes and Poets

Natasha.Pomakoy

Description

This book provides a remarkable range of information on the history, religion, and folklore of the Nāth Yogis. A Hindu lineage prominent in North India since the eleventh century, Nāths are well-known as adepts of Hatha yoga and alchemical practices said to increase longevity. Long a heterogeneous group, some Nāths are ascetics and some are householders; some are dedicated to personified forms of Shiva, others to a formless god, still others to Vishnu.

The essays in the first part of the book deal with the history and historiography of the Nāths, their literature, and their relationships with other religious movements in India. Essays in the second part discuss the legends and folklore of the Nāths and provide an exploration of their religious ideas. Contributors to the volume depict a variety of local areas where this lineage is prominent and highlight how the Nāths have been a link between religious, metaphysical, and even medical traditions in India.
Preface

Introduction
David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz

Part I: Yogis in History

1. The Naths in Hindi Literature
Purushottam Agrawal

2. Religious Identity in Gorakhnath and Kabir: Hindus, Muslims, Yogis, and Sants
David N. Lorenzen

3. Drums in Gwalior: Maharashtrian Nath Heritages in a North Indian City
Daniel Gold

4. Influence of the Naths on Bhīma Bhoi and Mahima Dharma
Ishita Banerjee-Dube

Part II: Theology and Folklore

5. On the Magnitude of the Yogic Body
David Gordon White

6. Awakening Generosity in Nath Tales from Rajasthan
Ann Grodzins Gold

7. Matsyendra’s “Golden Legend”: Yogi Tales and Nath Ideology
Adrián Muñoz

8. What Should Mīnanāth Do to Save His Life?
Lubomír Ondračka

9. The Matsyendrasamִhitā: A Yoginī-centered Thirteenth-century Text from the South Indian Śāmbhava Cult
Csaba Kiss

Notes
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index

Sujets

• History of religions
• Hinduism

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438438924
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Yogi Heroes and Poets

HistoriesandLegendsoftheN¯aths

Edited by David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz

Yogi Heroes and Poets

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Y OGI H EROES AND P OETS Histories and Legends of the Nāths

E D I T E D B Y David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2011 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Kelli W. LeRoux Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Yogi heroes and poets: histories and legends of the Naths / edited by David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-3891-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Natha sect. 2. Yoga. I. Lorenzen, David N. II. Muñoz, Adrián. III. Title: Histories and legends of the Naths. BL1278.54.Y64 2011 294.5'436—dc22 2011004268

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Preface Introduction David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz Part I: Yogis in History

1. The Naths in Hindi Literature Purushottam Agrawal 2. Religious Identity in Gorakhnath and Kabir: Hindus, Muslims, Yogis, and Sants David N. Lorenzen 3. Different Drums in Gwalior: Maharashtrian Nath Heritages in a North Indian City Daniel Gold

4. The Influence of the Naths on Bhima Bhoi and Mahima Dharma Ishita Banerjee-Dube Part II: Theology and Folklore 5. On the Magnitude of the Yogic Body David Gordon White 6. Awakening Generosity in Nath Tales from Rajasthan Ann Grodzins Gold

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CONTENTS

7. Matsyendra’s “Golden Legend”: Yogi Tales and Nath Ideology Adrián Muñoz 8. What Should Mīnanāth Do to Save His Life? Lubomír Ondračka 9. TheMatsyendrasamִhitā: A Yoginī-centered Thirteenth-century Text from the South Indian Śāmbhava Cult Csaba Kiss Notes

Bibliography

List of Contributors Index

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Preface

uch scholarly work has been done in recent years on Sanskrit texts about M yoga philosophy and yoga practices. Fewer discussions have appeared on the religious sect that has been the main carrier of yoga traditions in India, the sect known as the Nath Panth or Kanphata Panth. The principal aim of this collection of essays is to help redress this imbalance with discussions about the history of the Nath yogis and about the vernacular folklore and poetry that they have produced. The primary source materials for the essays include folktales, songs, verses, didactic texts, and oral interviews and recitations. These sources were written or spoken in a variety of languages: modern Hindi, old Hindi, Rajasthani, Bengali, Oriya, and Sanskrit. The editors would like to thank all the contributors for their help in organizing the collection and editing their own essays. Thanks in part to the wonders of the Internet, it has been possible to efficiently assemble a team of scholars from several different countries: the Czech Republic, Great Britain, India, Mexico, and the United States. Short biographical notes on each of the contributors are found at the end of this book. Not all the authors of the essays have used diacritics to transcribe Indian words, but where diacritics are used they follow standard practice for the languages con- cerned. In most chapters, personal names and non-italicized words in Hindi or other vernacular languages appear without diacritics. However, words of these lan- guages written in italics (including book titles) do normally have diacritics. Sanskrit words (e.g.,haִtha yoga), usually do have diacritics, even when not in italics. Sanskrit words that are common in English sometimes appear in their common English spellings (e.g., Shiva, Shakta, Vishnu, Vaishnava, Krishna, Shankaracharya) but in

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PREFACE

essays using mainly Sanskrit sources appear in their more scholarly form with dia- critics (e.g., Śiva, Śākta, Visִ ִnu, Krִsִnִa, etc.). The non-aspirated “ch” sound in ver- nacular words is usually written as “ch” (e.g., Chand), but in Sanskrit words it is usually written as “c” (e.g., Candra). Palatal “ś” and cerebral “sִ” in non-italicized Hindi words are both usually written as “sh.” Much help has also been received from our colleagues in the Centro de Estu- dios de Asia y África of El Colegio de Mexico and from its administrative staff. We particularly would like to thank the director of the Centro, Benjamín Preciado Solís, and its administrative assistant, Adriana Villanueva. Many thanks also to Nancy Ellegate and her team at State University of New York Press.

Introduction David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz

All disciples sleep, but the Nath Satguru stays full awake. The Avadhuta begs for alms at the ten gates. —Gorakh Bānīpad53

he Hindu religious path or sect of the Naths is variously known as the Nath T Panth or the Nath Sampraday. Its followers are called Nath yogis, Nath Pan- this, Kanphata yogis, Gorakhnathis, and Siddha yogis, among other names. Some- times the termavadhūtais used, although this term is applied to ascetics of other Hindu groups as well. Most Nath yogis claim adherence to the teachings of the early yogi, Gorakִsanātha (in Hindi Gorakhnath). The school of yoga most closely associated with the Naths is the well-known one of haִtha yoga. In more general terms, the combined religious and yogic teachings of the Naths are called theNāth- mārga(the Path of the Naths), theYoga-mārga(the Path of yoga), or theSiddha- mata(the doctrine of the Siddhas). The termsiddhameans “someone perfected or who has attained [spiritual] per- fection.” A Siddha (from the Sanskrit rootSIDH, “to succeed, to perfect”) is an ascetic who has gained different perfections or “successes” (siddhis), the most famous being the eight magical siddhis achieved through intense yogic practice. The wordnāthornāthaliterally means “lord, master; protector, shelter,” and in the pres- ent context designates, on the one hand, a follower of the sect founded by or associ- ated with Gorakhnath and, on the other hand, someone who has controlled the

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