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The Fate of the Householder NathAuthor(s): Daniel Gold and Ann Grodzins GoldReviewed work(s):Source: History of Religions, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Nov., 1984), pp. 113-132Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062478 .

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Daniel Gold THE FATE OF THEand HOUSEHOLDER NATH

Ann Grodzins Gold

Susceptible to the thralls of women, wealth, and temporal rule,

Matsyendra, the most senior of the legendary Nath yogis, did not

perfectly exemplify the ideals of yogic asceticism. For as most Hindusknow, Matsyendra was tricked into becoming the consort of the queenof the city of women, where he happily forgot his yogic identity andsettled down to raise a family in regal comfort. But his illustrious

disciple Gorakh managed to change his sex, join a group of singinggirls, and penetrate the women's city. There Gorakh dramaticallyreminded Matsyendra of his true identity and rescued him from the

appealing snares of worldly life.In honoring Gorakh'syogic triumph over the queen's worldly attrac-

tions, this central Nath legend shows how ordinary Hindus as well asascetics may see greater value in the renunciate's path than in thehouseholder's family life. But in demonstrating how Gorakh must him-self become a woman to free his guru from woman and home, the storyreveals the complexity of the persistent Hindu tension between house-holder and renouncer, a tension seen by Dumont as crucial in the

development of Indian religion.' The complexity of this tension in

I Louis Dumont gives a nice presentation of the sociological implications of the

tension between householder and renouncer in "World Renunciation in Indian Reli-gions," a classic article reprinted in his Religion/Politics and History in India (TheHague: Mouton, 1970), pp. 33-60. The vitality of this tension in Hindu mythology is

brilliantly presented by Wendy O'Flahertyin Asceticism and Eroticismin the Mythologyof Siva (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), esp. chap. 7, "Shiva as Ascetic and

? 1984by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.0018-2710/ 85/ 2402-0002$01.00

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The Householder Nath

myth and life is further revealed in a continuing tradition of rural

Rajasthani Naths, who demonstrate values running strangely counter

to those displayed by Gorakh in the city of women.Gorakh's power to take a female form seems all the more formidable

given the awesome, ungentle image of the Nath yogi in the popular

imagination. The Nath is usually depicted not as an ascetic of the

clean-shaven, scholarly, asexual sort but as someone rougher andmore virile-though still most unhouseholderly. Shy of neither angernor intoxicants, with full beard and matted hair, he wears thick ear-

rings through holes bored painfully into his cartilages-the distinctive

mark of a Nath yogi.2 The stark religious practice at the root of this

popular image can be discerned in part from the texts in Sanskrit andHindi commonly attributed to Naths. For these display concerns not

only with the physical ascesis of hatha-yoga and a solitary concentra-

tion on spiritual sound but also, sometimes, with drugs and alchemy.3

Householder." The story of Gorakh's transformation into a woman follows a popularaccount by Rajesh Dikshit (ShrT Navanath Charitra Sagar [Delhi: Dehati Pustak

Bhandar, 1969], p. 138).2 In Nath Sampradaya (Varanasi:Naivedya Niketan, 1966),pp. 16-22, Hazari Prasad

Dvivedi discusses the images of Naths found in literarysources; Dikshit, pp. 19-32, givesa

digested popular picture.3 Several short Sanskrit texts treating hatha-yoga practice are attributed to Gorakh

(see YogabTja,ed. Keshava Ramchandra Joshi [Puna: Keshava Ramchandra Joshi,

1974], Amaraughasasanam, ed. Mukund Ram Shastri, Kashmir Series of Texts and

Studies 20 [Shrinagar: Government of Kashmir, Research Department, 1918], Goraksa-

paddhati, ed. Mahidhar Sharma [Bombay: Shri Venkateshwar Press, 1967], and Ama-

naska Yoga, ed. Yoganath Swami [Puna: Siddha Sahitya Samshodhan Prakashan

Mandal, 1967]). Of Gorakh's hatha-yoga texts the most important is the Goraksasataka,

"the hundred verses of Gorakh"; a text and English translation is given in GeorgeWeston Briggs, Gorakh Nath and the Kanphata Yogis (1938; reprint, Delhi: Motilal

Banarsidass, 1973), pp. 284-304; Fausta Nowotny offers a scholarly edition with a

German translation (Das Goraksasataka, Dokumente der Geistesgeschichte 3 [Cologne:

Dr. Karl A. Nowotny, 1976]). The best known hatha-yogic text of all is the Hathayo-gaprad7pika of Svatmarama, who in verse 4 acknowledges the favor of Matsyendraand

Gorakh (The Hathayogapradipika of Svatmarama [Adyar, Madras:Adyar Libraryand

Research Center, 1972], p. 5). References to internal yogic sounds are plentiful in the

vernacular Nath songs. Of the scholarly collections in Hindi, that of Barthwal,contain-

ing a modern Hindi commentary, is the most extensive (Pitambar Datta Barthwal, ed.,

Gorakh Bani [Allahabad: Hindustani Academy, 1971]). It can be supplemented by the

collections of Dvivedi; Mohan Singh, who offers some English translations with his

texts; and Kalyani Mallik, who also includes some important Sanskrit works (see Hazari

Prasad Dvivedi, ed., Nath Siddhom kTBaniyam [Banaras: Kashi Nagari Pracharini

Sabha, 1957]; Mohan Singh, Gorakhnath and Medieval Hindu Mysticism [Lahore:Dr. Mohan

Singh, 1937];and

KalyaniMallik, ed., Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati and

Other Works of the Natha Yogis [Poona: Poona Oriental Book House, 1954]). For a

Nath text devoted to alchemy and ayurveda, see Shri Janardan Shastri Pandey, ed.,

Goraksa Samhita (Varanasi: Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, 1978), vol. 2. Briggs,

pp. 251-57, gives a list of books known to Naths in his day. Nagendranath Upadhyayadiscusses the scholarly editions (Goraksanath: Nath Sampradaya ke Paripreksyamem

[Varanasi: Kashi Nagari Pracharini Sabha, 1976], pp. 43-52). In Kanphata: Unter-

suchungen zu Kult, Mythologie und Geschichte Sivaitischer Tantrikerin Nepal (Wies-

baden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1980), Gunter Unbescheid gives a useful bibliography.

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History of Religions

The works of the Naths in Sanskrit often show language that haslittle regard for classical canons,4 while their vernacular compositions

speak to the generally unlettered peasant classes from which many ofthem probably came. Of the diverse tantric traditions that flourished in

postclassical India, that of the Naths appears as one of the most unre-fined and closest to the people. Indeed, the legends of the "nineNaths"still provide ordinary Hindus with some of their most central concep-tions of the wonder-working yogi. Like the Siddhas in Buddhism, withwhom they were roughly contemporaneous, the Naths are presentedas

strongly individualistic yogis, often themselves unlettered, who-as inthe case of Gorakh and the singing girls-are ready to mix with com-

mon, even disreputable people.5"Nathism" has been recognized by some as a separate strand in

Indian popular religion, representing, perhaps, an ancient religioustradition alongside Vaishnavism and Shaivism.6 But in more recent

times, at least, Gorakh Nath has been identified with Shiva, and sincethe sixteenth century, Nath tradition together with Shaivism has be-come partially eclipsed in north India by Vaishnava devotion. Never-

theless, the Naths still remain vital today-not only through the textsand legends they have left but also in religious communities.

Rough-looking sadhus can still be met who say they owe allegianceto individual gurus in Nath tradition. But most of the more established

lineages have adopted Sanskritic ways and-save for their earrings-are largely indistinguishable from other respectable Shaivite ascetics.7

4 In a prefatory note in English to Goraksa Siddhdnta Sangraha (ed. Shri JanardanShastri Pandey [Varanasi: Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, 1973]), GopinathKaviraj writes: "The greatest defect in the Sanskrit writings of the sect is the frequentviolation of the rules of grammar, metric, etc .... The book is full of inaccuracies."

5 Nath tradition took shape alongside that of the Buddhist Siddhas in pre-IslamicIndia, but the Naths of legendary fame were probably preceded by the earliest remem-bered Siddhas. A Tibetan hagiographical collection treating Indian Siddhas has recentlybeen translated by James B. Robinson (Buddha's Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-FourSiddhas [Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1979]). On the historicity of Gorakh and otherearly Naths, see Briggs, pp. 228-50. Scholars speculate on the interpenetrationof Siddhaand Nath traditions, especially since some names found on the many lists of "eighty-fourSiddhas" and "nine Naths" are similar. Upadhyaya, pp. 7-42, discusses the lists andpresents a thorough review of the Indian scholarship on the relationship between the twotraditions.

6 See Charlotte Vaudeville, Kabir (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974),p. 88, n. 1.7 The math at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, the main Nath monastic center in the

Gangetic plain, is very prosperous and regularlyissues respectable publications, the mostnotable being Akshaya Kumar Banerjea's long, systematic presentation in English ofThe Philosphy of Gorakhnath (Gorakhpur: Mahant Digvijay Trust, 1962). Nineteenth-century travelers to Dhinodhar, the main monastic establishment in Gujarat, describedascetics much more intent on charity than on yogic practice (see L. T. Postans, "AnAccount of the Kanphatas of Dhinodhar in Cutch with the Legend of Dharamnath,Their Founder," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 5 [1839]: 268-71; and D. P.Khakhar, "History of the Kanphatas of Kachh,"Indian Antiquary 7 [1878]: 47-53).

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Yet in addition to Nath ascetics of different varieties, some of whomtake wives, there are also householder Naths integrated into Hindu

society as castes.8Naths as householders in village society face problems of changedifferent from those faced by the Naths of great monastic establish-ments. Instead of attempting to make their rough traditions look

respectable in brahmanic eyes, the householder Naths must keep their

traditions magically potent in the eyes of the peasant castes, who still

look to them for spiritual leadership. At the same time, these esoterictraditions must become personally meaningful for all those born as

Naths.

In effectively popularizing their esoteric traditions, householderNaths can come to know a variant of the tension between householder

and renouncer not reallyaddressed in the story of Gorakh in the city of

women. For the householder Nath is not like the individual Hindu

attracted by yoga who must then find a way somehow to subordinate

his family responsibilities to ascetic practice. He is, instead, happilyintegrated into Hindu society, yet somehow identified with a traditionof renunciate yogis outside it. Not a householder struggling to be a

yogi, he is a satisfied householder sometimes struggling with a yogic

identity. The hero of his popular epic, as we shall see, thus stands in

striking contrast to the model offered by Gorakh. But before we

examine the ways in which householder Naths deal with the contradic-

tions of their situation, we must first look more closely at just what

that situation is.

THE COMMUNALIZATIONOF NATH ESOTERICTRADITION

While the Hindu householder attracted to yogic practice may be

oriented toward a salvational goal standing beyond the social order,the yogic ways of the householder Nath inform his orientation toward

the rest of Hindu society. Communities who trace their origins to

ascetic traditions-the many Jogi castes, with whom the Naths of our

8 Briggs, pp. 46-51, discusses married yogis and castes of Naths. Some valuable

descriptions of castes of yogis and Naths can be found in the regional surveys (seeWilliam Crooke, The Tribes and Castes of the North West Provinces and Oudh

[Calcutta: Office of the Superintendant of Government Printing, 1896], 3:58-63; R. E.Enthoven, The Tribes and Castes of Bombay [Bombay: Government Central Press,

1920], 1:117-18, 3:103-4; Sirajal Hassan, The Castesand Tribesof H.E.H. the Nizam'sDominions [Bombay: Times Press, 1920], 1:278-85; H. H. Risley, Tribes and Castes of

Bengal[Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1891], 1:355-60; H. A. Rose, A Glossary ofthe Tribes and Castes of the North-West Frontier Province [Lahore: Government of

India, 1914], 2:388-89, 409-10, 3:165; Robert Vane Russel and Rai Bahadur Hira Lal,Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces[London: Macmillan, 1916], 3:252-54).

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study are sometimes classed,9 as well as Vaishnava mendicants-are

usually not counted as twice-born Hindus. Most Jogi castes probably

have their origins in communities of lowly ranked occupation whoadopted traditions of popular yoga during the medieval heyday of theNaths. And even though they call themselves Jogis (Hindi for "yogis"),these castes remain as low in the eyes of most Hindus as they have

always been.'0

Other groups may in fact have something of the origins in marriedascetics that they claim for themselves." For while Hindus do nomi-

nally give up their castes when they join an ascetic order, not all are

really ready to lead the renunciate life. Young boys were sometimes

adopted into monastic orders;and especially in Rajasthan-the area ofour study-able-bodied men were recruited into groups of warrior-ascetics without much regardfor their spiritual aspiration.12 Yogis stillidentified with ascetic orders are known to live with women in openviolation of older precepts.13And some of these, not to mention their

offspring, may well have eventually turned to the characteristicprofes-sions of some yogic castes. From simple begging, to singing religiousepics, to ritually warding off hail and pestilence-a highly valued

ability-these professions often appear as worldly adaptations of

ascetic ways.Doing research in a village in Ajmer District, Rajasthan,we encoun-

tered a group of Naths whose magical potencies were still well valued.Naths were invited to the village several generations ago, we were told,in order to practice their particular art of warding off locusts andhailstones when village crops were threatened. As inducement to settlein the village, the ruling landlord had deeded high-quality agriculturalland to the original Nath settlers. The migration of Nath families by

invitation to villages where their magical skills were in demand was a

9 The 1931 census of India lumps the Naths of Rajasthan together with Jogis. SeeB. L. Cole, Rajputana Agency: Report and Tables, Census of India, 1931, vol. 27(Calcutta: Government of India, 1931), p. 139.

10The best informed speculation in English on early Nath castes is to be found inVaudeville, pp. 81-89.

1 Thus the Kusle Yogis of Nepal find their origins in Kapali Yogi, banished from theashram of his guru Jalandhar Nath and condemned to a low entertainer's life (seeUnbescheid, pp. 131-35).

12On warrior ascetics in general, see John Nicol Farquhar,"The Fighting Ascetics of

India," John Rylands Library Bulletin 9 (1925): 431-52; and David N. Lorenzen,"Warrior Ascetics in Indian History," Journal of the American Oriental Society 98(1978): 61-75. W. G. Orr has paid particularattention to warrior ascetics in Rajasthan(see his "Armed Religious Ascetics in Northern India,"John Rylands LibraryBulletin 24[1940]: 81-100, and A Sixteenth-Century Indian Mystic [London: Lutterworth Press,1947], pp. 199-209).

13Briggs, pp. 46-47, notes instances of married yogis living among traditionallycelibate Nath ascetics.

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common pattern in the area, especially since the spells they employeddid not destroy locusts and hail but merely caused them to pass on tothe next

village'sland. Thus

every prudent villagewould have wanted

its Naths, and small Nath populations remain scatteredthrough manyvillages.

Competent farmers of their own land, and religious experts whosework affects the well-being of all, Naths today maintain a rank match-

ing the clean peasant castes. The Naths thus contrast with the Vaish-nava mendicants living in the village. For these, despite their priestlyfunctions in several temples, were known as beggars and thieves-amore frequent status of communities seen to derive from ascetic tradi-

tions. Accepted into village society, the Naths routinely interfeast withother clean agriculturalistsand observe most of their public rituals. Yet

the customs of their own that they do preserve give them a highly

ambiguous status in the eyes of their neighbors.

Though the Naths of the village do not wear the orange robes of the

renunciate, they-and they alone-are allowed to wear orange tur-

bans. And though seen primarilyas householder farmers, not sadhus,

they are still addressed respectfully as bheg dharT,"renunciate"14-

much as Rajputs are addressed as thakur, "lord," and brahmans as

pan.dit, "teacher." Just as brahmans hold the priesthood of majortemples, the Naths have a hereditary right to perform worship and

service at certain village shrines. Their inherited responsibilities also

include shrines in smaller neighboring villages without resident Naths,where they are regarded by their patrons as gurus and receive fixed

offerings of grain.Within the village, the shrines tended by the Naths stand out from

most others, which are usually oriented toward one or more sorts of

personal fulfillment-the procurementof

offspring,relieffrom

physicalor financial distress, success on a pilgrimage, salvation. Although Nath

shrines may also confer similar personal benefits, they are unique as

the first resort when natural disaster imperils the entire community.For the Naths perpetuatethe role of their forebearsas protectorsof the

village from pestilence. And though the advent of modern insecticides

has diminished the opportunities for Naths to display their virtuosity,we were still able to hear a doggerel Hindi incantation that was guaran-teed to scare away locusts. But while the living yogic force to which the

Nath is still seen to have access merits his neighbors' respect, his deathas a yogi disturbs them. For the burial practices of the Naths are

revolting to most villagers who stop to think about them, and their

funereal practices inspire fear.

14In Rajasthani, bheg dharTiterally means "someone wearing the costume (bheg)"ofa renouncer.

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Only Hindus of certain ascetic traditions-including Nath sadhus-

normally bury their dead; most Hindu householders are quickly cre-

mated. So the fact that the householder Naths are buried at all seemsstrange to the Hindus of the village. But some routinized, house-

holderly constraints on the burial practices give this strangeness a

gruesome aspect. A revered Nath sadhu is likely to be buried with

pomp, having his own tomb or at least a marked grave; the large and

prosperous Nath monastic community at Gorakhpur has a separateplot of land set aside as a graveyard.The householder Naths, too, burytheir dead together in a separate gravesite, which lies just outside the

village, next to their quarter. But the gravesite is small, and the dead

are buried without coffins, sitting up in a lotus position like yogis. Soafter successive generations old bones and silver jewelry are acciden-

tally dug up, and though Naths mention these discoveries casually in

passing, other villagersview them with disgust. Since the burialplace islocated so close to where they live, moreover, the Naths routinelytraverse it, a habit suggesting the unkempt yogi hanging about crema-tion grounds.

Thus, though perhaps ultimately linked to the respect paid to the

spiritualized bodies of individual yogis, the common gravesite of thehouseholder Naths has become a concrete reminder of their awesome

strangeness as a community. But the Naths' gravesite is not the mostfearsome indication of their strangeness. For however spooky and

gruesome they are in themselves, the Naths' burial practices are notseen as particularly dangerous to others. The Naths' transformation ofHindu funereal practices, on the other hand, is treated by the villagerswith the utmost caution.

On the twelfth day after death, Hindus all over India observe a rite

that puts the newly deceased into the ranks of previous generations ofancestors. Having joined the ancestors in their own realm, the deceasedwill no longer linger about his former home as a ghost and serve as asource of pollution to his family. The ritual, which marks the end ofdeath pollution, features balls made from grain and other auspiciousfoodstuffs that both representand nourish the dead.'5

Among most village castes this complex rite is performed in the

morning, after an all-night devotional sing, and followed on the after-noon of the twelfth day by a public feast. The Naths, too, hold a feast

15These rites, called sapindTkaranaor samyojana shraddha,arediscussed at length byDavid M. Knipe ("SapindTkarana:The Hindu Rite of Entry into Heaven," in ReligiousEncounters with Death, ed. Frank E. Reynolds and Earle H. Waugh [University Park:Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977], pp. 111-24); Ralph Nicholas ("Shraddha,Impurity, and Relations between the Living and the Dead," in Way of Life: King,Householder, Renouncer, ed. T. N. Madan [New Delhi: Vikas, 1982], pp. 367-79); andWendy Doniger O'Flaherty ("Karmaand Rebirth in the Vedas and Puranas,"in Karma

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on the afternoon of the twelfth day, to which other villagers will gladlycome. The same villagers, however, will go nowhere near the Naths'

song gathering, which has grown to include an element of secret ritualthat itself substitutes for the common grain-ball rite.

Unlike the songs of many devotional gatherings, those sung by the

Naths are restricted to a specific genre: the nirgun bhajan, "songs of

devotion to the Formless Lord." These songs often contain allusions to

yogic practice and, though appreciated by other villagers on different

occasions, are usually characterized as "deep"and "profound"-noteasily understood. The following song was recorded at a Nath funeral

gathering; in language both technical and poetic it describes the birth

of some primal yogi and his internal experience:

The son of theimmortal, adhu ndestructible:

Slowly n his heartan instruments sounded. [Refrain]

Theearthandtheskywere ashioned,ThenMountSumeru [1]

Thena diamondyogisproutedup,A sadhu n thesky. [2]

Through he crookedchannelThegurusent thejuicesdown

Wateringsusumna's fields. [3]

In thesefieldsaremanycropsAnd all of themtheyogiknew [4]

Through ribenTalls thegurudrop by drop,TribenT,herediamondeyesarefixed,

Andsee the threeworlds. [5]

Thegurushowseightlotusesandthirty-twopetalsTo the white-coloredoul. [6]

Thelightof that soul in the worldWillbe seenbyall. [7]

Ninedevis,tentemples-brother,payattention:Allaround s lifelessmatter, ilth; [8]

ThussaidGorakh, heascetic,one of the nineNaths.

He'llshowthe Sant'sname. [9]

Glory o HingLajMa!Glory o one'sGurudev!

and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, ed. W. D. O'Flaherty [Berkeley and Los

Angeles: University of California Press, 1980],pp. 3-37).

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Most of the technical terms appearing in the song above are found in

yogic traditions all over India: the lotuses of verse 6, centers of power

in the body; susumna (verse 3), the centralchannel of

energy flow; andtribenT verse 5), "three veins," where susumna intersects two otherchannels between the eyes. But the "crooked channel" of verse 3 (banknal in Hindi) is a term more specifically characteristic of Nath tradi-

tion, as is the stress on the sound in the heart, which in singing isreferred to again and again in the repeated refrain. Indeed, as yogicdescription, the song above bears a clear family resemblance to manyof those published in the available collections of Hindi Nath verse.

But the poetic imagery of the song also gives it a more distant family

resemblance to a tradition more widespread and vital in India today-that of the Hindi Sants, who, beginning with Kabir in the fifteenth

century, incorporated Nath esoteric techniques into a more devotional

piety. In fact, over much of north India it is the verses of Sants that

usually form the basis for the nirgun bhajan, the type of song identified

by village Naths as characteristically theirs. The village Naths them-selves recognize their kinship with the Sants, referringto them in the

song above (verse 9) and even at their funeral rite singing songs in amore devotional tone with signatures of famous Sants.

As in many Sant songs, in the song above, too, we see a concludinginvocation of the guru. But in the song above we also see the invoca-tion of a goddess who is never mentioned in Sant texts: Hing Laj Ma,the deity of the shrine at Hing Laj. Located in Baluchistan, Hing Lajhas been one of the most important cultic centers of the Naths ofwestern India. Though the area of the shrine is now in Pakistan andhence inaccessible to the village Naths, the ritual act around which thefuneral sing is focused still remains known as Hing Laj Ma Puja,

"prayerto Mother Hing Laj."In contrast to the ordinary Hindu, for whom the initial grain-ballrite creates a lasting place in the heavens, someone for whom the HingLaj Ma Puja is performed finds immediate and complete salvation.For the ordinary Hindu, subsequent offerings of grain-balls providesustenance for the ancestors as a group. At her puja, on the other hand,Hing Laj Ma is worshiped as a flame said to burn in water: a perfectimage of nonnurturedexistence.

Both rites are seen to be vital to the state of the soul after death, so

vital, in fact, that people to whom the rites will eventually become dueget anxious about their futureperformance.Thus, the ordinaryHindu'sconcern for sustenance in the heavens may add to his desire to propa-gate his lineage through sons. Someone involved in the Hing Laj Ma

Puja, for his part, is concerned about the preservation of the cult

group, called panth, "path."For anyone participatingin Hing Laj Ma

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Puja must have it performed for him at his death if he is not to become

a hungry ghost. And anyone even accidentally witnessing the rite is

understood to be one of its participants.We were thus not permitted to witness the rite, for no one could

perform it in America, and our restive souls would come back to haunt

the members of the panth. Most of what we know of Hing Laj Ma

Puja, then, we must surmise from the song accompanying it, which is

sung at no other time. For though our Nath informants were willing to

record the song for us (a tape recorder has no soul), they were reticent

about filling in the details.

The first five verses of the song enjoin those present to contem-

plate the self-existent flame and imbibe its darshan, "visible power."The flame was lit by Gorakh Nath, "remembering Macchinder"-

Matsyendra, his guru (verse 5); but in addition to sectarian Nath

heroes, the song also has a place for the idea of the Sant (refrain;verse 2) and the great Hindu gods (verse 4):

The flamebeginsto burn,OhSants,takedarshanTheflamebeginsto burn,OhSants,takedarshannow. [Refrain]

Allbeings n the worldshouldcontemplatehisflame,recite tsname,Praise hisflame'sgreatpower [1]

A Santlit thisflame; n it aremanySants.You seethem,youseemany n thisflame.It'sfilled withdiamondsand withpreciouspearls: ememberhis! [2]

Fromthis flametheimperceptibles made:remembert!In thisflamewill manbe made:remember nlythis!In thisflamearepalacesandbeauty. [3]

Yes,greatseersand munispraise t aloneThegreatest eersandmunispraise t aloneSee Brahma,Vishnu,andMaheshpraise t alone. [4]

GorakhYogilit theflame

RememberingMacchindar,Gorakh it theflame,O CrazyOnes,

Seeandrecognizehe trueword,mingle lame n flame. [5]

The next three verses refer more directly to cultic practices. Verse 6mentions a vine, which, we were told, indicates the linking of hands byall participants; this linking of hands is elaborated in verse 7. Verse 8

refersby name to the presiding guru and his special work of making an

elaborate grain design called pat. In the last verse, as is customary, the

singer identifies himself.

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Formthetrueword'svine;holdsingleness.Yes,form thistrue word'svine and hold one sound.Seize theessenceof all Sants,and

havingunderstood,ecite

thename. [6]

Threepersonsplacetheirhandsand hold a singlesound.Yes,threepersonsplacetheirhandsand holda singlesound,Release heirhands,moveback,recite he name. [7]

GoradhanNathis my guru,yes GoradhanNath is my guru.Hemadethepat fully,that trueguru,deeply.Yes,he madethepat fully,that trueguru,deeply [8]

UgmaNathsaid,payattention o thisthing.Theflamebeginsto burn,OhSants,takedarshan.Praise t, OhCrazyOnes,rememberheguru.Theflamebeginsto burn,OhSants,takedarshan. [9]

Victory o HingLajMa!

While the presiding guru of the puja, Goradhan, was a Nath calledfrom outside the village, and all the village Nath families were involvedin the panth, the panth itself reaches beyond the boundaries of theNath caste, including many members of those peasant castes who have

traditionally revered the Naths. A few members of these other castes,moreover, have through their personal qualities risen to positions of

respected elder in the panth. Thus, in examining the patterns of com-munalization of Nath esoteric practice, we must distinguish the wider

community of the panth from the caste of Nath householders. Each

presents its own characteristic developments. The panth, a voluntarycommunity, reveals what can happen when the private inner practicesof yogis become transformed into an inner ritual accessible to groups

of personally enthusiastic peasants. The householder Naths themselvesshow us both yogic custom transformed into caste tradition and indi-vidual guru-disciple interaction transformed into the role of a caste inHindu society.

Since the panth promises not sustenance in the other world butimmediate release from the round of life and death, those attracted tothe panth, like those traditionally drawn to be disciples of yogis, areinterested in salvation. Yet access to the salvational power offered inthe panth demands a different kind of commitment than access to the

salvational power of the guru. The lifelong, indeed, eternal relationshipof individual beings seen to exist between guru and disciple becomes,in the panth, the collective relationship seen to hold among the mem-bers of a secret society, all bound eternally to perpetuate its existence.

With the collectivization of the esoteric guru-disciple relationshipcomes a democratization of the well-defined line of authority from

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guru to disciple that this relationship entails. The disciple of the yogi is

supposed to obey him in everything, and it is in fact largely through

subordinating himself to the divinity in the guru that he sees himselfable to merge with the divine. Though some in the panth are reveredas

especially wise and well versed in esoteric lore, their authority is prac-tically limited to presiding over ritual. All members of the panth in

theory may take turns in leading songs-and there is no general corre-lation between expertise in singing and in yoga.

Democratization of practical authority then leads to a change in the

religiousvalue of the esoteric language in the songs-songs that anyonecan lead. For though singers in oral traditions do follow established

patterns, they are also likely to improvise, particularly in an ecstaticreligious atmosphere. Thus, esoteric language that in specific yogictraditions has definite referents in experience can now be used innova-

tively by singers who have no yogic experience at all. The inspirationthese singers receive is likely to lead to poetic vision sooner than to

yogic insight, and one revered elder explained some esoteric language(to us, anyway) in the most grossly sexual terms. In this way the

esoteric vocabulary that the yogi uses to help convey his experience to

hisdisciple

now becomes the basis forpolysemous poetic expressionthat each can interpretaccording to his inspiration of the moment.

For someone born within the Nath caste, the singing of esoteric

nirgun bhajans-however they are understood-presents a way of

identifying with a yogic heritage without necessarilybeing able to per-form yogic practice. The dominant form of personal piety for the

householder Nath then approaches the devotion to the Formless Lord

found in the continuing, popular Sant tradition-which itself acknowl-

edges Gorakh Nath as an elevated personage. At the same time, in

fulfilling their function as shrine priests-whom the typically icono-clastic Sants disdain-the householder Naths, like established Nath

renunciates, follow Shaiva practice, in some places tending images of

Shiva. Thus, in accommodating to peasant society the Naths adapt the

two forms of current, respectable Hindu practiceclosest to their roots.

Yet the Naths do not accommodate to peasant society at the expenseof their special status within it. They cling to their mysterious death

rites and claim access to magic power as yogis. Their exercise of magic

power in the world, however, clearly differs from that of yogi renun-

ciates. Individual renunciates, outside the social order, will now andthen grant worldly boons to persons afflicted with barrenness or ill

health. Householder Naths, a community within society, render theirmost essential aid collectively, to the village as a whole. They are seenless as gurus reveredby individual devotees than as members of a caste

valued by the entire village. All descendants of forebears invited to

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protect the village from pestilence, together they tend shrines to which

people continue to come first in times of natural disaster.

With his esoteric tradition having undergone such far-reachingtransformation, the householder Nath can still maintain his identity asa yogi while living as a householder in peasant society. But to the

villager thinking about, say, his Nath friend's fearsome funeral rites,the contradictions in the Naths' socioreligious status can appear highlyambiguous. These same contradictions can also prove problematic toindividual householder Naths.

THE PROBLEMOF THE HOUSEHOLDERNATH AND

THE DISTRESSOF RAJA GOPICHAND

By birth a protector of the village from natural disaster and an offi-ciant over rituals attended by many villagers, among the peasant castesthe householder Nath plays a role analogous to the brahman-whose

great sacrifices of old provided for the common good, and who con-tinues to officiate at personal functions today. In fact, in some ritualfunctions the Nath can replace the brahman.

We were told of the installationthirty

orforty years

earlier of anoracular deity at an unused shrine that now draws pilgrims from allover the region. On the auspicious night several devotees, including a

Rajput who told us the story, assembled at the shrine. The shrine waslocated in a field outside the village, and the brahman with whom thedevotees had arranged to perform the installation had failed to arrive.It was getting dark and a little scary: the men were out unprotected inthe fields with a powerful deity who was waiting for his worship to

begin. Suddenly those assembled could see an eerie flickering in the

distance, getting bigger as it approached. Frightened, most decided toforget about the brahman and retreat to a safe distance. Only our

Rajput informant held his ground.As the light grew closer it turned out to be a lamp carriedby Madhu,

a familiar village Nath, who was coming to take part in the ceremony.Observing that the appointed time had arrived but the brahman had

not, Madhu instructed the Rajputto performthe installation, assertingthat no brahman was necessary, nor was the usual complement of fivemen always called for on such occasions. The Rajput hesitated at first,

but then, submitting to the Nath's authority, performedthe ceremony.Although some later objected to the unorthodox nature of this installa-

tion, it was accepted as accomplished, and the shrine became a flour-

ishing place of power.In a pinch, then, the householder Nath can sometimes substitute for

a brahman, but the innate power of the two born ritualofficiants is not

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understood to be the same-for the power of each derives from adifferent source. The brahman'sderivesultimatelyfrom the Vedic seers

of the ancient past. To be pure enough to serve as a conduit for thepower of Vedic mantra it is enough for the brahman to be moderatelystrict in his personal hygiene and social interaction, and anyone ofnormal intelligence can learn to memorize the proper incantations.Hindu culture has long had a place for the punctilious, if rather dull,

brahman-personally uncharismatic, yet still qualified to performeffective ritual.16The ritual power of the householder Nath, on theother hand, has a source in the same yogic power that the legendaryNaths used in order to perform impressive miracles. These legendary

Naths, moreover, are still said to be wandering the earth today, andfierce-looking yogis remain a common sight at many well-frequented

pilgrimage places.While villagers certainly make a distinction between their own Naths

and Nath ascetics, the power of the one to performritualand the other

to perform miracles is seen to be continuous. Our Rajput informant

told us of a miraculous incident that occurred several years after he

had helped install the deity at the shrine, when people were asking for

proofs of its powers. The deity speaking through the possessed priest

replied that he would indeed give proof, but only to the man who hadhad him installed. So our informant, according to the deity's instruc-

tions, gathered together some specific offerings, including some iron

tongs for the deity's fireplace. At the appointed time, after the other

offerings were presented, the possessed priest commanded that the

tongs be put in place by some "bheg dharT."Our informant did not

know what to make of the statement. Though the term bheg dharT

could refer to village Naths-and the possessed priest often used it that

way-it could also refer to a real renunciate yogi. Which did the deitymean? Since the village Naths were close at hand, our informant

decided to summon one of them and get on with the ceremony-whenanother devotee noticed that a renunciate yogi was walking down the

road nearby. Our informant approached the yogi, who agreed to his

request without hesitation. And then, immediately after planting the

tongs in the fireplace,the yogi disappeared."Everyonewas amazed ... ;we were about forty or fifty people that day, but in the middle of them

all, he disappeared."

A householder Nath from the village might be grudgingly seen ascompetent to install the deity at a shrine through ritual, but he would

not really be expected to combine ritual and miracle like the ascetic

16 See Dumont's ideal-typal contrast between the brahman settled comfortably in theworld and the renouncer beyond it ([n. I above], pp. 43, 46).

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yogi. Nevertheless, the idea of a living tradition of miracle-workingascetics stands behind the ritual power the village Nath is seen to

possess. In contrast to the brahman, whose routinized mode of bring-ing the eternal power of the ancient sages into everydaylife has evolvedover millennia, the householder Nath is seen to draw on a type of

power that still flourishes in traditions of yogic asceticism today.Maintaining ascetic practice, moreover, is understood to augment theNaths' powers: one village Nath of the recent past used to sit in crema-tion grounds and became famous for his powers of clairvoyance;spellsfor scorpion stings are understood to gain potency through repetition,not mere memorization. Yet even when they want to, the village Naths

cannot seriously practice rigorous yogic asceticism while still raisingfamilies as their neighbors do. How is the householder Nath to under-stand his access to yogic power in light of the ideals set before him inthe image of the living renunciate? How is he to reconcile his life as ahouseholder with the potentials of his yogic identity?

A few exceptional individuals manage consciously to adapt their

particular circumstances to straddle the roles of householder andascetic. Ogar Nath, the keeper of one of the important local shrines,the seat of a famous ascetic of old, seemed to enjoy the best of bothworlds. His shrine, outside the village, was frequented by travelingsadhus, with whom he would indulge in both conversation and intoxi-cants. But inside the village lived his deceased brother's family, withwhom he could often be seen playing the uncle: talking to the womenof the house, fondling the children, and always sure of a home-cookedmeal. Respected as a celibate ascetic, however, he was not bound bythe restrictions of Hindu family life; so even when the family was underbirth pollution, Ogar Nath was exempt.

In Nath tradition the term Ogar (a Rajasthaniform of aughar)refersto a renunciate whose ears have not been cut for earrings, and thoughOgar Nath dressed like a sadhu, he did not wear the characteristic

earrings of the Nath yogi. He explained that the cartilageswere the siteof a nexus of bodily senses; thus, boring holes through the cartilageswould bring the senses under control and give inner peace. This wasthe state of the true renunciate, for which, however, he said he was not

ready. He was also not ready for the constant tension involved in

wearing the earrings, for if they should ever tear through the ear and

fall to the ground the yogi would be forced immediately to take "livingsamadhi"at that very spot-that is, to be buried alive.

Madhu, the same Nath whom we saw installing the deity at theshrine, either did not put stock in Ogar Nath's ideas about ear cuttingor had a higher regardfor his own spiritual state. For he both wore theNath earrings and lived as a householder with a family. Madhu did

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have a healthy terror of the earrings'death-dealing potential, though,and always traveledwith a scarf well-wrapped several times around his

ears and head.As a young man Madhu seems to have had aspirations differentfrom most others in his caste. He was one of the few in his generationto have learned the oral epic of Raja Gopi Chand, Jalandhar Nath's

disciple, and was the only one local people now knew who was capableof reciting the epic at length. And when the Rajput lord of one of the

nearby villages let it be known that he had some fine, polished-glass

earrings that he was ready to give to a worthy Nath, Madhu was readyto accept them. The ear-cutting ceremony was performed in all its

painful glory,17 and together with the earrings, the Raja also gaveMadhu some land and a well-not all of which, however, he was able

to keep. Today Madhu stands out from his caste fellows as a character

with an interest in caste traditions and access to a little magical

power-the only one among them whose ears are cut.

Madhu and Ogar Nath have moved in two different directions to

reconcile the householder's life with a renouncer's identity. Madhu, as

we have seen, is ready to install a deity at a shrine and is understood to

have thepower

to do it; he is, moreover, able to recite oral epic. Yet

people question his motivation in accepting the Raja's earrings,and he

is less respected for his personal qualities than is Ogar Nath, who

strikes a noble figure. For Ogar Nath knows yogic lore and resides at a

major temple to Shiva, which he recently had rebuilt through his own

donations and fund-raising efforts. Ogar Nath is a reveredsadhu, who,even though keeping up family ties, is seen to have stepped out of the

common social order. Madhu, on the other hand, is a landowningfarmer who has reverted to ways of the professional bard, a rather

demeaning occupation. At yearly festivals and specific invitation hewill sing the exploits of Raja Gopi Chand-often accompanied by his

grown son and usually expecting remuneration.

The epic of Raja Gopi Chand sung by Madhu is recited in different

versions by mendicant singers all over north India, from Bengal to the

Punjab. The story of the Raja's leaving his court to become a yogi

dramatically reveals the tension between householder and renouncer

that all householder yogis may feel, whatever their social status. It has

17 Ogar Nath emphasized the seriousness of the ordeal suffered by Madhu. Theoperation was performed by a specially trained yogi, while Madhu sat with his hands

under his knees so as not to clutch his ears in pain. In order to protect the cuts no sleep is

allowed for the first three days after the operation. After nine days the sticks of nTm

wood placed in the cuts just after the operation are changed. Only when the cuts are fullyhealed are earrings worn; the first pair are usually of clay. Though narrated to us as

history, this report sounds prescriptive. Compare Briggs, p. 32, some of whose descrip-tions correspond in essentials to Ogar Nath's.

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thus understandably become the core of probably their most wide-

spread popular epic. The most important scholarly transcriptions we

have of the tale were recorded in performance by nineteenth-centuryfolklorists. Even though the performers may have prided themselveson a yogic descent, they were probably from low castes of professionalentertainers.'8 Madhu's version, however, shows some touches thatseem especially to reflect the tensions of a living tradition of house-holder Naths nicely integrated into the middle ranks of Hindu society.

Gopi Chand was born, says Madhu, only because his mother

wrangled a boon from Shiva-despite the fact that there was no sonwritten in her fate. Through Shiva's mediation, one of the disciples of

the accomplished yogi Jalandhar Nath was granted to her as a son onloan. The terms of this loan stated, however, that after ruling over his

kingdom for twelve years Gopi Chand be returned to his guru. If GopiChand becomes his guru's true disciple, he will receive an immortal

body; but if he refuses to renounce the world, he will die.The story opens in the twelfth year of Gopi Chand's reign, with

Jalandhar Nath coming to collect his debt. Camping with his disciplesin the palace gardens, he sends a message to Gopi Chand's mother,who then breaks the news to

GopiChand of the circumstances of his

birth and the necessity of the moment. Gopi Chand questions her

closely and, having taken in the situation, acts at once. What does hedo? Accompanied by some trusty men he goes straight to the yogi'scamp in the garden, throws his former and future guru down a deepwell, and pushes in a huge stone after him. For good measure he thensends for seven hundred cartloads of horse manure from the royalstables and dumps them on top of the stone.

Needless to say, this rathercrude ploy gets him nowhere. As prophe-

sied, death's messengers come and start to drag him away with them.But just as they are pulling him through the sky, Jalandhar Nath,

18 Among householder yogis the epic of Raja Gopi Chand is rivaled only by that ofBhartrihari, his uncle. Transcriptions taken from bards' performances of the epic areoffered by George Grierson in "The Song of Manik Chandra," Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society of Bengal 47 (1878): 135-238, and "Two Versions of the Song of GopiChand," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 54 (1885): 35-55; and by R. C.Temple in The Legends of the Punjab (1884; reprint, Patiala: Government of Punjab,Language Department, 1962). Unbescheid, pp. 131-35, gives oral legends gatheredfrom

the Kusle yogis of Nepal. Dvivedi (n. 2 above), pp. 205-8, offers concise retellings inmodern Hindi of four versions of the story of Gopi Chand taken from written sources,some not easily accessible. Popular narratives are retold by Dikshit (n. I above),pp. 190-217, 355-56; and Mahapatra ("The Nath Cult of Bengal," Folklore 12 [1976]:376-96). We have also had access to an unpublished translation from the Bengali byKanika Sircar (Gopicander Pancali [University of Chicago, Department of South AsianLanguages, n.d., mimeographed]). For a note on the status of epic bards and howtranscriptions were made in the nineteenth century, see Temple, I:vii-xii.

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whose yogic powers were unaffected by Gopi Chand's crude maltreat-

ment, comes storming up behind them and challenges the servants of

King Yama: "Hey sister-fuckers, where do you think you're going withmy disciple?"'9 Jalandhar Nath's yogic authority prevailing, GopiChand returns to his body-which was being mourned in the palace-and revives, to the great joy of his mother, his sixteen hundred slave

girls, and his eleven hundred queens. But now chastened by this close

encounter with mortality, he admits that he must do as his mother had

told him in the beginning: renounce the world.

Renouncing the world is no mean feat for Gopi Chand, for his

possessions are multiply seductive. Not only is he attached to his thou-

sands of women and his magnificent palaces, horses, and elephants,but he also regretsthe loss of his personal luster, his beauty which must

be buried beyond recognition beneath a yogi's ash paste and rough

garment. Again and again Jalandhar Nath is called on to save GopiChand from the world for which he longs. Once, for example, GopiChand is recognized by his chief queen, who throws his daughter in his

lap. His attachment to his family then becomes so powerful that the

only way Jalandhar Nath can save him is by immediately reducinghim

to ashes-and laterreincarnating

him in anotherbody.Gopi Chand is not always so happy at being rescued like this and at

times appears distinctly ungrateful. In fact, suspects Gopi Chand,

maybe his guru does not really understand. Thus, when Jalandhar

Nath reproaches Gopi Chand for his perpetualensnarement in the net

of illusion, the guru receives this crude and pointed reply: "What do

you know of such things? You fell from the sky and have no mother

and father!" Having been on loan to the world for so many years, GopiChand presumes to know some truths to which his guru has no access.

This insolence of Gopi Chand toward his guru after so many years ofdiscipleship is certainly not found in other accessible versions of the

story, nor is the motif of Gopi Chand's being a yogi on loan. The idea

of a yogi on loan, however, seems to encapsulate nicely the predica-ment of the householder Naths among whom Madhu lives. Not born a

worldling who must then renounce, as in most other versions of the

epic,20Gopi Chand for Madhu is really a yogi who is born to partici-

pate in worldly life-while still owing something to his yogic origin.

Though fulfilling the terms of his debt may not be as painful for the

19A longer version of the story will appear in translation in Ann Grodzins Gold, "Life

Aims and Fruitful Journeys: The Ways of Rajasthani Pilgrims"(Ph.D. diss., Universityof Chicago, 1984), chap. 2.

20See Dikshit, pp. 192-93; Dvivedi, pp. 205-8; Mahapatra, pp. 378-79; Temple,

pp. 8-11; Unbescheid, p. 132.

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householder Nath as it is for Gopi Chand, will not he, too, somehowhave to own up to the responsibilities of his yogic identity?

Like Raja Gopi Chand, then, the householder Nath knows a conti-nuity of yogic and family identities that can be both confusing and

problematic. In most versions of the epic this continuity of identities

develops into a basis for dramatic pathos well exemplified in the figureof Gopi Chand's mother. Having borne Gopi Chand in her womb andraised him to manhood, she nevertheless knows his fate and urges himto leave the world. A renowned Indian scholar comments on the ironyof the scene:normally the first to dissuade her son from the renouncer's

path, the mother in the Indian home is perhaps the strongest focus of

family affection.21 For a community of born yogis, then, the noblefigure of Gopi Chand's mother can embody a painful union of the

healthy family affection they know and the powers of yogic asceticism

they may see as theirs to acquire. Indeed, in Bengali versions of the

tale, Gopi Chand's mother herself is a great yogini.22The strong and pivotal role of the mother in the epic of Gopi Chand,

however, stands in contrast to her role in the legends of other Nath

yogis. For when Naths other than Gopi Chand have miraculous births,they are likely to appear as well-developed ascetics, with women hav-

ing little positive to contribute to their origins at all. Jalandhar Nath,as Gopi Chand noted, "fell from the sky," and Gorakh Nath arrived inthe world as a twelve-year-old boy-and this on account of woman'sfickleness.

We are told that Matsyendra Nath, Gorakh's guru, bestowed someashes on a peasant woman who had besought him for a son. Butconvinced by her gossipy neighbors of the ashes' dangerous power, thewoman threw them into a pit of cow dung. Coming to visit the woman

twelve years later, Matsyendra finds out what she had done and isfurious. Nevertheless, a yogi's blessing must always bear its fruit, and

Matsyendra is able to summon Gorakh out of the cow dung, where hehad grown into a fine youth.23 Matsyendra, then, through his sacredash, becomes Gorakh's father in a very concrete sense, while the wombthat gave him nurture was nothing human but an earthy, amorphous,and peculiarly sacred pit of cow dung.

Gorakh would not forget his filial duty to his nonhuman parents.Gorakh's very name means "protectorof cows," and he had rushed to

save his guru-father from forgetting himself in the city of women. GopiChand, on the other hand, in order to remain with his eleven hundred

21Dvivedi, p. 205, writes: "This must be the unique occurrence in history of a motherherself encouraging her son to embrace renunciation."

22 See Mahapatra, pp. 378-82; and Dvivedi, pp. 206-7.23 We are following Dikshit, p. 119.

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wives and sixteen hundred slave girls, tries to kill his guru-by buryinghim in horse manure. This single-handed, decisive action on the part of

Gopi Chand is another distinctive touch of Madhu's Rajasthanitale: inmost other versions of the epic Jalandhar is dealt this ignominioustreatment through the plotting of Gopi Chand's wives.24Thus again,the Gopi Chand whom the villagers know does not conform to the

Hindu stereotype of the prospective renunciate ensnared by his ties to

woman and home; instead, Gopi Chand is fated to be a renouncer and

questions, indeed, rebels against his destiny.Not born of his guru from a pit of cow dung but attempting to kill

him in a pit of horse manure, not coming into the world as a twelve-

year-old through woman's fickleness and stupidity but as a royalinfant through a queen's desperate bargain, not saving his guru-fatherfrom the court of the kingdom of women but urged on by his powerfulmother to renounce the many women of his court-Gopi Chand

appears as a striking contrast to Gorakh, the archetypal Nath ascetic.

For as the hero of the popular epic of the householder Naths whom we

have described, Raja Gopi Chand seems to embody the conflicts of

their situation-one that inverts the tension between householder and

renouncer facedby

most Hindus. Thevillage

Nath'sattempts

some-

how to come to terms with his true identity through the communal life

he has evolved certainly seem more effective-if less dramatic-than

Raja Gopi Chand's frustrated exploits. Yet these attempts answer to

problems similar to those of the epic hero, problems that for individual

Naths can sometimes be just as painful and perplexing.

Oberlin College

24 Dikshit, pp. 198-200, has Gopi Chand bury Jalandhar Nath in horse manure after

the Raja's wives accuse the guru of an illicit relationship with Raja's mother, who visits

Jalandhar Nath as a disciple. Unbescheid's informants (p. 133) say that Jalandhar's

wives themselves put Gopi Chand in a deep hole in a stable. Temple's version (p. 16)has

Gopi Chand bury Jalandhar in filth (including horse manure) at the instigation of his

minister.

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