The Nāth order is traditionally associated with
the practice of yoga and → Tantra, certain varieties
of which are said to have originated from their
first gurus, Matsyendra and Goraksa, but today ̣
few pursue . Despite their
founder’s reputation as its first teacher, almost no
Nāths practice Hatha Yoga (see ̣ → Yoga). The initiatory,
funereal, and other important rituals of
the order are tantric, with the goddess Bālā/
Tripurāsundarī being the focus
of worship, but for many ascetic Nāths, their daily
religious observance consists of living a renunciate
life and worshipping the order’s deities and
gurus in a manner consistent with typical North
Indian → bhakti.
Matsyendranath is associated
with both the Pūrvāmnāya and Paścimāmnāya
(“Eastern” and “Western”) transmissions of Kaula
Tantra, as well as their later southern variant
Nath Sampradaya_ Nāth Sampradāya 5
known as Śāmbhava, and a variety of texts associated
with these traditions are attributed to him.
He is mentioned in → Abhinavagupta’s approximately
1000 CE Tantrāloka as a Siddha by
the name of Macchanda whose consort is called
Kuṅkuṇāmbā (“The Goddess from the Konkan”).
This and the provenance of the texts of the cults
associated with him (see below) indicate that
Matsyendra lived in southern India, probably the
Deccan, in the 9th to 10th centuries. He is said to
have reformed the practices of the Kula, which
were associated with → yoginīs living in cremation
grounds thirsty for blood and other bodily fluids,
into the slightly tamer practices of Kaulism Matsyendra’s cult, as evinced
by the 13th-century Matsyendrasaṃhitā, still
involved sexual and other unorthodox practices.
Nāth tradition and legends found in a number of
texts including the Matsyendrasaṃhitā and the
early 15th-century Maithili Goraksavijaya ̣ maintain
that Matsyendra’s disciple Goraksa further ̣
reformed Matsyendra’s licentious ways, rescuing
him from ensnarement in the land of women.
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