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popularly known as Nava-Natha. In this list we find the names of Adinath (Siva ) as Guru, then Matsyendra, Udaynath, Dandanath, Santoshnath, Kurmanath, Bhavanarji and Gorakhnath, the son of God.
From all other sources we find that Matsyendra is the guru at whose feet Gorakhnath spent twelve years and emerged as a great Yogi and mystic. The name of Matsyendra is very familiar in Bengal, as he was born in Eastern Bengal and preached in Kamarupa, Assam, where he was supposed to be ensnared by the queens of Kadali.
Gorakhnath, the master Yogi, was known throughout the Northern and Western India in the eleventh century and later, he was held in great reverence in Sikkim, Nepal, Hardwar, Nainital, Gorakhpore, Benaras, in the U. P., the Punjab, Kashmir, Peshawar, Sind, Beluchistan, Cutch, Bombay, Rajputana, Orissa, Assam and Bengal. In the Punjab there is a famous temple in the name of Gorakhnath, known as Gorakh-Tilla. The liberal Emperor Akbar is said to have been initiated into the secrets of the Yogis and he presented some villages with an annual income, for the maintenance of this Tilla.
Gorakhnathis (followers of Gorakhnath) also visit holy shrines of Gorakhnath, Dharmanath and others in far off places like Dhinodhar in Cutch, Kotesvar near Karachi in Sind Hinglaj in Beluchistan and Devi Patan in Nepal. Hinglaj is in the keeping of Muslims and considered to be beyond the confines of India. So on their return home from Hinglaj, the Yogis are branded on the upper part of the right fore-arm . with the emblem of Siva-Shakti (Yoni-linga) at Kotesvar. Gorakhnathis lost hold of Kotesvar to the Atits in the sixteenth century. The monastery at Dhinodhar is one of the most imporant centres in Western India, and in this place Dhamanath, a disciple of Gorakhnath, carried out his penance for twelve long years. At Devi Patan, the image of Matsyendra is worshipped. An annual car-festival is still held at Patतुंn in honour of Matsyendra, who is the guardian deity of Nepal. Matsyendra, though a Saivite, is worshipped in Nepal as an incarnation of Buddha as Avalokitesvar, the fourth divine Bodhisattva. But his Saiva image is also worshipped as
