Yogi Heroes and Poets

Book excerpt: 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.