01From Adinath to Gorakh
The Naths count their line from Adinath, Shiva, to Matsyendranath and then Gorakhnath. A well-known katha tells how Matsyendranath was held by the pleasures of a kingdom of women, and Gorakh went in disguise as a drummer and woke his guru with the words “Jago Machhindar, Gorakh aaya”. Nath yogis wear large earrings through the cartilage of the ear, which gives them the name Kanphata, and keep a dhuni fire. The Goraksha Shataka and the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati in Sanskrit, and the Gorakh Bani in old Hindi, are handed down in his name.
02Gorakhpur and Gorkha
The city of Gorakhpur is named after him, and its Gorakhnath Math draws lakhs on Makar Sankranti, when devotees offer khichdi to the yogi. In Nepal the town of Gorkha takes its name from him; the Shah kings who united Nepal came from there and kept him as their patron, and the word Gurkha follows from it. Hatha yoga as later taught across Bharat leans heavily on the Nath texts.
