1

Nth Yogs encounters with Islam1

Vronique Bouillier

Nth Yogs rarely appear in the Indian press. However the last days of september
2014 have seen the Gorakhpur monastery (Uttar Pradesh) and its mahants in front
pages. First the mahant Avaidyanth, known for his leadership in the Rm janma bhmi
movement, passed away and then his successor Adityanth was inthronized among a
crowd of political leaders from the Hindu right. Adityanth who was the founder of the
Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth movement very active in the communal riots of 2007, is now
facing a FIR (First Information Report) from the Election Commission for his hate
speeches during the september 2014 bypoll campaign, targeting the Muslims for their
so-called 'love-jihad' ( allegation that Muslim youths lure Hindu girls into relationship
for conversion )2. If the links between the Nth Yogs and the political powers are not
necessarily a new phenomena3, the Hindutva and anti-Muslim turn of the important
monastery of Gorakhpur are not in the line of the Nth tradition.
The Nth Yogs constitute an ascetic aiva sectarian movement (samprady) who
claims Gorakhnth as founder4. Generally dated from the 12th century, Gorakhnth is
credited with many Sanskrit treatises on Haha Yoga and vernacular aphorisms on
doctrine and practices. Even though the sect was probably organised later on around an
institutional framework called brah panth, the twelve panths and its network of
monasteries, the Nth Yogs had a great importance on the pre-modern socio-cultural

1 An earlier version of this text has been published under the title : "Dialogue entre les
Nath yogis et l'islam", in Denis Hermann/Fabrizio Speziale (eds.), Muslim Cultures in the
Indo-Iranian World during the Early-Modern and Modern Periods, Berlin, Klaus Schwarz
Verlag, Institut Franais de Recherche en Iran, 2010, pp. 565-583. It has also been
presented at the 22nd European Conference on South Asian Studies (Lisbon University,
25th-28th July 2012) in the Panel Yogis, Sufis, devotees: religious/literary encounters
in pre-modern and modern South Asia , organised by Heidi Pauwels. With many thanks
to the participants and referees for their comments and suggestions.

2See http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Yogi-Adityanath-Love-jihad-will-be-a-
bypoll-issue-in-UP/articleshow/41164779.cms

3They have been close advisers to rulers especially in Rajasthan and Nepal and a few of
them have been involved in electoral politics since the 1920s.

4On the Nth Yogs see Bouillier 1998 and 2008. For a synthetic overview, Bouillier
2011 and Mallinson 2011, and a bibliographical survey in Bouillier 2013.
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world of Northern India and remained active members of the community of Hindu
ascetics.
At the opposite of the recent trend of the Gorakhpur monastery, this article
intends to illustrate the close relationships between Nth tradition and Islam : how the
encounters between Nth Yog ascetics and Muslim figures (be they Sufs or conquerors)
and between both traditions and beliefs had a deep impact on the Nths themselves and
on their position in the Indian religious landscape. The Muslims were not always the
Others.
Many recent studies have documented the encounters between Muslims (mainly
Sufs) and Nth Yogs, from the Muslim side. Since the groundbreaking works of Rizvi
(1970) and Digby (1970, 2000) who discovered and reported the many narratives in
which Sufs claim their superiority, both spiritual and magical, over the Yogs, several in-
depth studies have been devoted to the different modes of appropriation by the Suf
milieux of yogic texts and practices dealing with Haha Yoga, and especially with the
techniques of breath control and the practices related to kualin or awakening of
female energy inside the body (and correspondences were looked for in Muslim and
yogic conceptions of the body)5. My paper will consider the other side, the encounters
between Nths and Muslims, from the Nth point of view. It will look for the
participation of Muslims in the Nth Jog tradition as said Carl Ernst in his 2005 seminal
article (2005: 38), and this to the point that we can talk with Nile Green (2007), in a
parallel with the Hindus Naqshbands described by Darhnhadt (2002), of Suf Yoga
and Muslim Yogs .
However modern historiography insists on questioning the idea of fixed
ascriptive religious identities and takes interest in the construction of religious
categories and in overlapping or shared identities6. Various scholars have shown how

5See Cashin (1995), Ernst (1996,2003, 200), Bhattacharya (2003-2004), Green (2007),
Hatley (2007). An extreme situation is related by Thomas Dahnhardt concerning the
Hindu branch of the Naqsband, where the first Hindu disciple, Ramacandra Saksena,
used broadly in his texts a parallel terminology drawn from both traditions (2002:
213), in what Dahnhardt calls a true spiritual synthesis (262), a cross-cultural
sdhan (330).

6See for instance David Gilmartin and Bruce B. Lawrence eds, 2000, Peter Gottschalk,
2001, Dominique-Sila Khan, 1997 and 2004. Many sacred figures of north India are
endowed with a dual or even more complex identity. Among them is Satya Pr, the
 3

our present vision of Hinduism and Islam is the result of a long and complex
historical process. They have also suggested that, in this process, the part played by
charismatic individuals was essential and that religious affiliation was second to
personal allegiance7.
Nth Yogs participated to this denial of fixed categories ; they blurred the
borders in a dialogical process where they combined elements borrowed from the two
traditions. Their mixed references is made explicit in the description given in the
Dabistn (around 1655) which sees the Yogs as able to join the two groups: When
among Muslims, they are scrupulous about fasting and ritual prayer, but when with
Hindus, they practice the religion of this group. None of the forbidden things is
prohibited in their sect, whether they eat pork according to the custom of Hindus and
Christians, or beef according to the religion of Muslims and others (in Ernsts
translation 2005 : 40).
They even went claiming in some of their sayings, as we shall see, that they are
nor Muslims nor Hindus but Yogs . An anecdote told by Badn (end of 16th
century) suggests the same and shows how this specificity was inscribed in space: His
Majesty [Akbar] [had] built outside the town [of Agra] two places for feeding poor
Hindus and Musulmans, one of them being called Khairpura, and the other Dharmpurah
[...] As an immense number of Jogs also flocked to this establishment, a third place was
built, which got the name of Jogipurah (quoted in W. Pinch 2006 : 51).
The article will focus on two levels where this lack of concern for incompassing
religious labels manifests : the doctrinal vernacular texts and the Nth hagiographic
tradition. Besides some well known verses of the Gorakhbn will be given a
presentation and a traduction of the main passages of a rather surprising text edited

Bengali saint also worshipped as Satya Nryan (see Tony K. Stewart, Alternate
Structures of Authority: Satya Pr on the Frontiers of Bengal, in Gilmartin and Bruce
eds., op. cit. pp. 21-54).

7As Gilmartin and Lawrence said: Individual religious differences between Muslims
and Hindus (as between other generic religious categories, like Saiva and Vaisnava,
Sunni and Shia) were framed by their operation within a pervasive structure of
personalized religious authority [...] This is not to say that marks of generic Hindu or
Muslim identity were insignificant. But since religious virtue and spiritual power were
embodied preeminently in holy individuals, religious identity was defined primarily in
relation to individual teachers, masters, or Sufi exemplars (2000: p. 18).
 4

under the name of Mohammad Bodh by Nth authorities of today. This text,
intended for Muslim Yogs, will be confronted with legendary narratives known from a
larger audience, which present ambiguous encounters with Muslim characters.

THE TEXTUAL TRADITION : GORAKHBN AND MOHAMMAD BODH

The collection of vernacular poetry attributed to Gorakhnth (dating perhaps

from the 13/14th century even though no manuscript older than 17th century has been
found 8) and called Gorakhbn, contains several verses alluding to the peculiar place of
the Nth Yogs as neither Hindus nor Muslims, but different and superior, closer to the
ultimate truth that the two other creeds are vainly looking for. For instance these well
known passages:
- sabd 14: By birth [I am] a Hindu, in mature age a Yog and by intellect a
Muslim (quoted in Lorenzen 2011: 21, who sees here a clear recognition of
three separate religious traditions ) ;
- sabd 68: The Hindu meditates in the temple, the Muslim in the Mosque //
The Yog meditates on the supreme goal, where there is neither temple nor
mosque (id. 22) ;
- sabd 69: The Hindu calls on Rm, the Muslim on Khud, the Yog calls on the
Invisible One, in whom there is neither Rm nor Khud ;
- sabd 4: Neither the Vedas nor the [Muslim] books, neither the khns nor the
bns. All these appear as a cover [or the truth] // The [true] word is manifest in
the moutain peak in the sky [i.e. the Brahmarandhra]. There one perceives
knowledge of the Ineffable (id.: 23) ;

8 Cf D. Lorenzen 2011: 20-21 : The only decent scolarly edition of this literature is the
collection edited by P.D. Barthwal in about 1942. Many more Gorakh bn (sayings) exist
in manuscripts [] The best estimate is that the earliest surviving Gorakh bn probably
date from the thirteenth or fourteenth centurie or even later. It is also likely that they
have been somewhat altered in the process of transmission from manuscript to
manuscript . The Gorakhpur monastery continues to publish editions of the Gorakhbn
grounded on Barthwals recension (cf. ed. by Rm Ll Srivstava 2025 and 2051 V.S.).
See also the variants in the manuscripts edited by Offredi, 1991, 2002.
 5

- sabd 6 : Neither the Vedas nor the Shastras, neither the books, not the Koran,
[the goal] is not read about in books. // Only the exceptional Yog knows that
goal. All other are absorbed in their daily tasks (ibid.)

Other verses of the Gorakhbn claim the glory of Mohammad and recognize the
accuracy of his message. For instance the sabds 9 to 11 : sabd 9 allude to the pure
message of Mohammad who showed the way of loving God, who never caused any
violence since his weapons were the power of the divine words of love (Barthwals
commentary), sabd 10 develops the point: By the sabad he killed, by the sabad he
revived : / Such a pr was Mohammad. / O qz, stop pretending / Such a power is not in
your body / (in Djurdjevic 2008: 92). Sabd 11 mentions the kalm as eternal,
immortal words of Mohammad.
According to Purushottam Agrawal (2011), XXth century literary critics
discovering the Hindi works of the Nths, and especially the Gorakhbn, were quite
conscious of the religious position of the Nth Yogs. Agrawal quotes Ramchandra
Shukla claiming that Gorakhnths theistic pursuit (sdhan) had some attraction for
the Muslims as well. He could clearly see that God-oriented Yoga can be proposed as a
common sadhana for both Hindus and Muslims (in Agrawal 2011: 9), and quotes also
Barthwal operating an enthusiastic reconstruction of Gorakhnth as an instrument of
Hindu-Muslim unity (id. 12).
Lorenzen, drawing a comparison between Gorakhnths and Kabrs writings and
positions, stresses : In the Gorakh-bn, Gorakh [] claims the possibility of
maintaining a composite religious identity (2011: 49). He states : It is clear that
Gorakh and Kabr rejected both Islam and Hinduism, as commonly practiced, and sought
to construct a religious identity that allowed them to straddle both religious traditions
to somehow be both Hindu and Muslim and neither, all at the same time. (2011: 20).
The relationships between Gorakh and Kabr have been extensively commented
(Vaudeville 1974, Offredi 2002, Lorenzen y Thukral 2005, Lorenzen 2011) 9. Their
ambivalence (Pauwels 2010) manifests itself in the parallels between some verses of

9Their legendary encounter leads to the dialogue Kabr-Gorakh k gosht (Lorenzen y

Thukral 2005). Close to the joint Muslim and Kabrpanthi samdhis of Kabr in Maghar
(Gorakhpur dst.), a small sacred enclosure is said to contain Kabrs dhn where,
according to the caretaker, the encounter between the two saints happened.
 6

the Gorakhbn and the Kabr-Granthval 10 or expresses ironically in the way the
Granthval parallels the abd 69 of the Gorakhbn but includes the Yogs in his
rejection: The Jogi cries : Gorakh, Gorakh ! // The Hindu invokes the name of Rm, //
The Musulmn cries : Khud is One ! // But the Lord of Kabr pervades all (KG, Pada
128, 7-8, quoted in Vaudeville 1974: 88).

The Mohammad Bodh

Close to to some verses of the Gorakhbn, a short passage in a recently published

book (2005) under the authority of the Yog Mahsabh, deserves attention. This book,
written in Hindi by Yog Vilsnth, himself secretary of the Mahsabh in Haridwar, and
entitled r Nth Rahasya ( the secrets of r Nth ) is a compedium of mantras to be
recited during specific rituals11. A passage in the last section of the book is entitled
Mohammad Bodh, Mohammads wisdom 12.
This short passage (approximately fifty lines) is made of verses which have to be
recited during the Ramadan month. The text gives the following precise indications on
the context :
Where you do your sdhan (practice, meditation), install an image of
Gorakhnth, a statue or his footprints or a kala [pot] in the name of r Nth.
During the Ramadan month, every day, after having worshipped Sri Nth, recite
the Mohammad Bodh. Seat, say the mantra appropriate to your posture, then the

10Whatever we think about the difficult question of the historical influence (Lorenzen
2011). As wrote Heidi Pauwels : Although Gorakhnth undoubtly predated Kabr,
records of Gorakh-bn in Hindi are later than for Kabr and may well already have
incorporated bhakti elements. Thus it is tricky to determine who reacts to whom
(2010: 7)

11Yog Vilsnth, general secretary of the Pan-Indian Nath Yogi association whose main
office is based in Haridvar, devotes much of his time to researches on Nath traditions
and promotion of the samprady. He has published many books and pamphlets in Hindi
and has developped recently a network of personal disciples in Russia.

12A similar compedium of mantras and comments has been published in Sirohi by Yog
Sav Nth Smn (without date but including a preface by Avedyanth dated 2004). It
includes also a Mohammad Bodh which contains a few slightly different verses, but does
not mention the circonstances where the Bodh has to be recited.
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Goraka gayatr13, then recite the Mohammad Bodh nine times. Then say the guru
mantra one hundred eight times.
Do this ritual three times every day, at dawn, midday and sunset. At dawn, before
sunrise, after reciting, make an offering of milk and ro (bread 14) then eat it
yourself. Then from sunrise to sunset, abstain from any food or drink. At midday,
recite the Bodh nine times again and set a fruit offering. At dusk, after sunset,
recite again nine times then prepare a sweet khici [mix of lentils and rice]. At
night after the rising of the moon, eat khici and midday fruits. During the day
eating, smoking, and taking alcohol is prohibited. One should eat only after seeing
the moon. Behave this way for twenty-nine days. On the thirtieth, the day of Mth
Id [sweet Id or Id al-Fir, the last day of the Ramadan], recite the Bodh only three
times. Also this day give food and clothes as daki to a faqr or a r Nth15. Give
to the poor and to all living beings.
This way, having said the Mohammad Bodh altogether seven hundred eighty six
times [the numerological equivalent to the Basmala, the formula In the Name of
Allah], you shall obtain what you desired. (Vilsnth Yog 2005: 526-527, my
translation from Hindi).

What says then the Mohammad Bodh, or Mohammads Wisdom , a title which
alludes, for a Nth audience, to the Gorakh Bodh, one of the most widely known texts
attributed to Gorakhnth ? In the rendering of Yog Vilasnth, the text is highly hybrid,
elliptical, probably compiled nowadays from fragments of older sources, in prose but
keeping traces of former versification (inner rhymes, word inversions, alliterations and
phonic repetitions). Yog Vilasnth does not give his sources, however the Hindi of

13Whose text is given in the same manual and which begins with the same three
invocations as the Mohammad Bodh : sat namo de / guruj ko de / om guruj.

14Ro, a thick bread cooked in the ascetic fire of the Yogs (dhn), an offering specific to
the Yogs and most often dedicated to Bhairav.

15I.e. a Yog of the Nth sect. We should note here the equivalency between the Nth
ascetics and the Muslims Fakrs as recipients of daki or liturgical gift.
 8

the texte appears to include many vernacular archaisms16. He adds moreover a

translation or a commentary in Hindi and between brackets of the terms he considers
specific to the Muslim tradition and which he keeps in Urdu or Arabo-Persian17.
Looking closely at the text, one sees that many verses appear quite similar to
Kabrs poems. The many remarks on Kabrs language made by Charlotte Vaudeville
(1959 : 19-21) and Linda Hess (1983, 1987) are equally valuable for the Mohammad
Bodh. Both insist on the peculiarities of Kabrs archaic, unsystematic language forms
and obscure expressions (Hess 1987: 145). And Linda Hesss study of Kabrs Rough
Rhetoric (the title of her 1987 article) applies perfectly to Mohammad Bodh. She insists
on the mastery of the vocative : Kabr is primarily adressing his reader, he provokes
him, questions him, he pounds away with questions, prods with riddles, stirs with
challenges, shocks with insults, disorients with verbal feints (id. 148). Several typical
patterns depend on repetition with variation (153) ending with a sudden conclusion
or a shooting question .
The formal, stylistic closeness between the Mohammad Bodh and the Bjak goes
to the point of including many parallel verses, a clear indication of a shared universe
which strikes the internal dimension of the spiritual quest and its unicity far from
religious cleavages. 18
However let us note the paradoxical use of a Kabrian, nirgu style, text in order
to obtain satisfaction of desires through ritual repetition ( Having said the Mohammad
Bodh 786 times, you shall obtain what you desired ).

The text begins with series of equivalences :

16With many thanks to all those who generously helped to understand this complicated
text: particularly Dominique-Sila Khan and Harshvardan Singh Chauhan, Mushirul Hasan
and Abdul Bismillah, Catherine Servan-Schreiber and Azhar Abbas

17In my English translation, the explanations and translations in Hindi given by Yog
Vilsnth in the text will figure in brackets. In square bracket I will give the (mostly)
Urdu word as written in the main text, and my commentary when I find it useful.

18There is also a text in the Kabrpanthi literature which is known as Granth Muhammad
Bodh, an imaginary dialogue between the Prophet and Kabr. Yusuf Husain in a
groundbreaking book published in French in 1929 gave some extracts of this text, the
style of which is quite different.
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Salutation [de19] to the True Name, Salutation to the Guru. Om Guruji ! Alh
bismill (devt)20. Ram is Rahim. Om is Mohammad. The head is the mosque
(mandir, temple), the skull is madr (kom, sect or community)21. The ear is the
Quran (uddh granth, the holy book). The eye is the prophet (paigambar)22. The
nose is kabar (samdhi)23. The mouth is Makk (siddh sthal, a pure place). The
hand is the Excellent24. The stomach is hell (Agni)25. The foot is the Messenger 26.
The body is pure [pk translated by suddh]. The benefactor is God [Khud]
(devt). The understanding [akal, arabic aql] is the pr (gur). The mind is the
disciple (cel). The body is the martyr 27. Anger is forbidden [harm] (beiman y
pp, indignity or sin). Greediness is wrong [galt].

19de, order, instruction, is also the common term of greeting among the Nths. In
square brackets, the word given in the text and eventually my explanation.

20The formula God in the name of God (Allh here written erroneously Alh) is
explained by Vilasnth in the text itself in brackets as devt, i.e. a god, (where we would
rather have expected var)

21The meaning is uncertain : madr can mean axis but the translation by kom, from
arabic qaum, community, could be an allusion to the tradition of Shah Madr and the
Madrs, well known for their proximity with the Nths.

22The word nab of arabic origin is explained by the word paigambar of persian origin,
both being however used in Hindi.

23The word kabar, from arabic qabr, is translated here by the word which applies to the
tombs of the Hindu ascetics.

24Hazrat, excellency, majesty. A title given to the Prophet or to the Saints, here
explained as mn mnyat dene vle, who gives value to honour .

25The persian word dozakh which already means both hell and stomach is glossed by the
name of the Hindu God of fire.

rasl, in arabic messenger or prophet is explained as the primordial book ,

26

making an equivalence between the message and the messenger?

27ahd, a well known arabic term, curiously explained here by a less known arabo-
persian term qurbn designing the sacrificial victim.
 10

Following this series of equivalences, the text offers some general advice for good
behaviour, with perhaps enigmatic allusions to local legends such as From the pot fell a
fly. He took it out and ate the food offered by the badh .
But the most interesting passages deal with religious categories or religious differences,
i.e. with Muslims, Hindus and Nths.

Think to these two words. Who is a kfir28, who is a corpse [murdr]. We are not
kfir, we are fakr (mahtm) who are seated on the lakeshore [sarvar ke tr]29.
Stand in dread of doing theft, adultery, bad behaviour.
Do the worship of the Awake One. People bring badness from the world. Why to
say kfir ? Kfir is the one who gives abuses and does not fear Allh. Do not accept
money in the name of God. O Muslim, keep always the vision of death []. Never
stop reciting the holy kalm (uddh prrthan, the pure prayer)30. Do not accept
evil. He who is Muslim turns away from Hell and goes to Paradise. Thanks to Bb
dam, Mohammad is born from the womb of mother Amy. From the pot fell a
fly. He took it and ate the food of the badh. He was facing the badh of the
sultanate. Bb Ratan Hj told the kalm about the Excellent. Vlaikam salm, o
brother, banish darkness from your heart. White is the dress of death. To die is
going towards God31. In Mohammad recognize the mother, in the accomplished
man [siddhak, sic] recognize the pr.

28Kfir, the usual term for the unbelievers , i.e. the non-muslims, is glossed here as
nce karma karne vl, the one who acts disgracefully, a moral statement reinforced
in the following verses and often found in the reformist literature, for instance among
the Dadupanthis such as Garib Ds (1717-1778): Kafir is one who gives no charity, /
one who quarrels with the saints [...] // He who sacrifices animals. / A kafir is a
worshipper of idols // A kafir steals crops, kills the peacock, / and is addicted to tobacco
and other intoxicants (Nonica Datta 1999: 43). The play on words kfir/fakr is also
quite common.

29 An allusion to the ocean of life that the fakr intends to cross ?

30kalim or shahda, the Muslim confession of faith: La-ilha ill-llh. There is no other
God than God.

31? Marn hak hai jn. Haq, the True One, one of the names of Allh (al-aqq) but the
gloss in brakets is hiss, part, portion, which is also one meaning of haq but looks here
out of context. The sentence is unclear.
 11

Where to put the feet, where the head ? On this side the feet, on that side the
head32.
Say Rm Khud. 33 [ ] Doing haq haq (all ko pukr-prrthan karn, call to
prayer to Allh), the mull (niyamse namz pahne vl, the one who teaches
prayer according to the law) spoke, he made the call to prayer heard at the
mosque. The thirtieth day of the fast, he shed blood 34. Look, you will not even
find a mustard seed. Gorakh says that God is inside every one. It is not through
ablutions [vaz] that one becomes pure, to call for prayer does not give a good
reputation35. The Hindu prays in a temple, the Muslim in a mosque36, the fakr
prays to the One, where it seems to be two, Bb dam and Bb Hav37. In Makk
or Madne make offerings, give the first bread to a fakr. If you dont give bread,
the vessel will split, the griddle will break. The fakr plays with the breath of his
own mind.

32An allusion to the position of the body in the grave ? In Muslim India, the dead bodies
are buried with the head north, the face turned towards west (towards Mecca).

33This sentence and the next are often found in Kabr. Cf. Bjak, sabda 10 : one says
Rm, if not Khud (Y. Husain 1929: 58), as well as in the Gorakhbn (sabd 68/69, cf.
ante).

34Cf. Kabrs Bjak, sabd. 10 : The Turk prays, fasts and says loudly the bismillah. How
can he attain paradise, he kills a chicken every evening (Husain 1929: 58). My
translation relies on the word khn (tison roje khn kare th), blood, killing , however
Yog Sawai Nths version has khb, which allows perhaps to join the two sentences : he
has looked for the full thirty days and not even found a mustard seed, r, the mustard
seed being the image of the infinitesimal (cf. Kabr: He makes the mountain stay in the
mustard seed , Husain 1929: 89)

35 What is the use of making ablutions and purifications, of washing your face ? What is
the use of prostrating oneself in the mosque ? If you say your prayers with a sly
(deceitful) heart, what is the use of making the pilgrimage to Kaaba ? Kabr quoted in
Vaudeville 1959: 73.

36The same statement is found in the Gorakh-bn and in the Sant tradition. See
Nmdev : The Hindus pray in temples, the Muslims in mosques. [Namdev] follows the
Name, who has neither temple nor mosque (in Husain 1929: 121).

37Here is an allusion to the Absolute, to his Unicity in which disappears the opposition
between male and female, to the union of iva and akt as seen by the Nth Yogs.
 12

Who calls you Hindu, hit him ! Muslim also is Nth38. In the puppet made of the
five elements [panctattva k ptl] plays the Invisible One [...]
We are born neither Hindu nor Muslim39. Follow the six darana, Rahmn40. We
are intoxicated with God41. He who has killed somebody has to stay away. He who
takes the name of Allh will be like the Prophet, by Allh.
I have to repeat the kalm. Without kalm there is nothing. Look and search for
what is inside the kalm. Why do namz ? It is like standing without namz. You
keep fasting, why not search inside yourself? You went to Makk, why not make
your heart Makk?42 If with a pure heart you make your residence in the eye of
the Immaculate Lord, then all around you will be Makk. Whom to call black,
white ? Inside, outside, there is only one Lord [maul] (mlik). [Whatever] the
face or the appearance of the Lord, He takes all forms. The veil which screened
has opened. Look to whom you want, the guru of the Hindus, the pr of the
Muslims. All are fakrs of Bb dam. Burn a Hindu stretched out, bury a Muslim
stretched out. In between make the seat of a r Nth43. If one of them stands up,
give him two kicks44. There are one hundred and eighty thousand sons of Brahm
and Mohammad took the name of Mtak Nth (the Lord of death). This way ends

38A clear affirmation of being a Nth as encompassing and transcending both religious
identities.

Here also many examples in Kabr such as : There is neither Turk nor Hindu in the
39

mothers blood and the fathers seed , Bijk, ramain 40 (Husain 1929: 59).

40The Compassionate, one of Allahs title. It is possible to read the sentence as We

follow the six darana and are compassionate .

41The arabic rabb (the Lord, God) is explained as plne vl khud, the God who
protects.

42Same in Kabr : Why go in pilgrimage to Mecca ? [] it is in the heart that you have
to search (Bjak, sabda 97 in Husain 1929: 60)

43 The text stresses here the specificity of Nth funeral practices. They are buried in
sitting position when Muslims are buried stretched out and Hindus cremated.

44? uske do do kutke lag djiye : I am not sure about the meaning of kutke which has
been explained to me both as kicks and as pet ( pet them twice ), the idea being
perhaps to go against the Hindu and the Muslim who may be opposed to the Nth
position.
 13

the Mohammad Bodh. Sri Guru Gorakhnth, seated at the rivershore in Aak45,
taught Mohammad. Hail to r Nthj gurj. de. (Vilsnth Yog 2004: 524-
526, my translation from Hindi)

Muslim Yogs

Who are these Muslim Yogs who have to pray in this way during Ramadan ?
The same book, r Nth Rahasya, gives the list of the twelve panths or branches which
constitute the sect, then adds that some other groups have to be counted as well as
some Muslim Yogs [] conjurer housholder jogs, practicising magic and tantra-
mantra (Vilasnth 2004: 535).
They are also quoted in gazetteers and censuses46, for instance in the Tribes and
Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Provinces (Rose 1919). In the section
Jogi the authors give a sort of catalogue, detailed but quite confused, of the various
Nth branches, their traditions and legends. Among the branches they mention three
main groups of Muslim Jogs : The Bachhowalia is a group of Muhammedan Jogis [...]
They are chroniclers or panegyrists, and live on alms [...] Originally Hindus, they adopted
Islam and took to begging [...] Another Muhammedan group is that of the Kal-pelias as
the disciples of Ismail are sometimes called [...]The Rawals, however, are the most

45 Aak ( obstacle ) or Attock is a natural ford on the Indus, the only place where one
can cross the river. But for caste Hindus, who are not supposed to cross the Indus at
all, Attock has traditionally symbolized this taboo (with many thanks for this precision
given by the anonymous referee). Gorakhnath seated in Attock is precisely at the border
between Hindustan and Muslim land ; being symbolically in between two worlds, he
would teach Mohammad.

46 The Censuses data are difficult to deal with because of the lack of precision of the
listed categories. The 1901 Census for instance distinguishes four groups thus
described: Faqir, Hindu (436.803) / Jogi, Hindu (659.891) / Jogi, Muhammadan (43.139)
/ Natha, Hindu (45.463). These data would concern the whole of India. On his part
Briggs (1973 : 5) states that in 1891 : of the Yogs reported in the Panjab, 38.137 were
Musalmns (which would suppose a huge decrease between 1891 et 1901 at the level
of India, but rather means that the categories are irrelevant). Crooke (1975 : 63) for the
North-Western Provinces, gives the following distribution of the Jogis according to the
Census of 1891 : Aughar (4.317), Gorakhpanthi (13.133), Others (60.937),
Muhammadans (17.593). However, even though we do not know precisely whom and
how they classify, these data show how widespread was this occurrence of Muslim
Yogs.
 14

important of the Muhammedan Jogi groups. Found mainly in the western districts they
wander far and wide [...] Their name is said to be a corruption of the Persian rawinda,
traveller, wanderer (1919 : 407-408). These mentions are repeated by G.W. Briggs,
who adds to the list the Jfir Prs, well known in Punjab, Kanphatas, followers of
Ranjha. (1973: 71).
About Bengal S.B. Dasgupta remarks how popular and common were the Nth
songs or versified stories, especially among the Muslims, which gave birth to what he
calls Muslim yogic literature (1973: 370)47. He adds (id. : n. 2, 369) : In the United
Provinces the Yog singers are generally called Bharthars or Bharthars. They sing the
song of Gop-cnd [...] They are by religion Mahomedans. They seem to be descendants
of their Yog forefathers and have inherited their Yog songs as well.

Going beyond these recurrring but imprecise references, C. Servan-Schreiber was

the first scholar doing researches on a group of Muslim Yogs, the Bhartrhari Jogis of
Uttar Pradesh48. They are musicians and singers, householders but also itinerant. They
take then the garb of Yogs (ochre clothes, fire-tongs, begging bag) except the ear-rings
which they dont wear, and go wandering according to a precise and regular spatio-
temporal cycle which takes them to Muslim shrines as well as Hindu temples. They sing
the epics of the Nth tradition, especially Gopicand and Bhathari, and contribute to the
maintenance of the Nth religiosity in their area. They sing their repertoire for the
Shaiva festivals and for the life cycle rituals, often for the funerals where they chant
nirgu songs which stress the vanity of the world and praise renunciation. However,
being Muslims, these Jogis obey the five commands of the Islamic law, and follow the
calendar of the Muslim festivals (1999: 29), and, as Muslim fakirs, caretakers of
cemeteries or small shrines, they receive the gifts consisting of money, bedding, clothes

47 See also Cashin 1995, Bhattacharya 2003-2004, Hatley 2007.

48 However Shashank Chaturvedi has just completed his PhD on Religion, Culture and
Power: A Study of Everyday Politics in Gorakhpur, where he describes the difficult
situation of the community in growing regional communalism (mss. pp. 162-166). See
also Paramita Ghosh, The Hungry Artist , Hindustan Times, April 04, 2010,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/News/The-hungry-artistes/Article1-
526809.aspx (access 3/10/14). With many thanks to Shashank Chaturvedi for giving me
access to his thesis.
 15

which have to be made at the end of mourning or for the festival of breaking of the fast
(id. 31).

LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS

The Mohammed Bodh concerns a few number of specific Yogs, those who, as Muslims,
embody the openess of the samprady, its blurred boundaries. However more familiar to
the mainstream Nth Yogs are the many narratives which function as carrier of
sectarian identity and allow for the transmission of shared values embodied by heroic or
saintly figures. Among them, some well known heroes are characterised by a somewhat
ambiguous relation to Islam.

The blessings of Yogs

Yogs are known for their efficient and dangerous curses, as it is exemplified in the
episode in Ratannths hagiography where he turns all the emperors soldiers into
women (Bouillier 1998), or in Mastnths role in nothing less than the collapse of the
mighty Mughal Empire, in his interactions with the person of h lam II (White 2001 :
152).
The Yogs blessings are however as much sought after as their curses are dreaded. A
few stories tell about such relationships between a Nth Yog thaumaturge and a Muslim
wordly leader. And in such stories it appears that the protection or the boon granted by
the Yog is done irrespectively of the current religious divide between Islam and
Hinduism . Even the Muslim conquerors whose reputation is the worst among the
current proponents of oppressed Hinduism have benefited from blessings given by the
Nth Yogs.
This blessing figured in the life story of three Nath heroes whose legends are distinct
but related, which testified probably of a common geographical and socio-historical
background : the slow islamisation of the North-West Indian world from the 10th
century onwards. Besides their common territorial anchorage and their initiatory links,
the three heroes, Gg, Ratan, and Buddhnth, shared a similar position regarding their
links to a Muslim sovereign. All three secured the victory of a Muslim conqueror thanks
to their blessings. In the case of Gg, his encounter with Muhammad Ghuri was
 16

posthumous. The Afghan sultan passed close to Gogamedhi where was Ggs samdhi,
but the place was in a poor state and Muhammad Ghuri promised the one buried in the
samdhi that he would build a sanctuary if he was victorious. He kept his promise but
gave the samdhi the Muslim shape it still has today49.
The legend does not mention over which enemy Muhammad Ghuri wanted
victory. Was it Prithvi Rj Chauhan in Bhatinda ? In this case Gg would have added to
the blessing already given by Ratannth. Local legends tell of the visit paid by the Ghuri
to this most revered saint of Bhatinda in order to get his blessing for the war he was
waging against Prithvi Rj, the last Hindu rj of Delhi, who would be finally killed there
in 1192. Even the narratives collected among the Nth Yogs (see Bouillier 1997) insist
on the protection given by their saint Ratannth to someone who would be the first of
the Muslim rulers. Another episode showed Ratan quenching the thirst of the whole
army of the conqueror with the water contained in his begging bowl in order to show
the Muslim sovereign the greatness of yoga ! In some versions of the legend, the
anecdote is linked to Mahmud of Ghazni, whithout any afterthought for his reputation of
iconoclasm.
The third case concerns a certain Buddhnth, successor of Kynth and in the
spiritual lineage of Ratannth. Here also the story is about a key episode of the military
history of the Muslim dynasties : the third battle of Panipat in 1761 between Ahmad h
Durrn and the Maratha armies. The encounter between Buddhnth and Ahmad h
was preceded by a meaningful episode : a group of Sayyids who accompanied Ahmad
h had wanted to take possession of the monastery founded by Kynth and whose
present mahant was Buddhnth, because the monastery was locally called dargh and
because his founder Kynth was known also under the name of Kyamuddn. The fight
which followed between the Sayyids and the Yogs attracted the attention of Ahmad h
who asked God to arbitrate: Oh Allah ! Who are the true devotees ? Give me, God, the
knowledge. To whom must I give the dargh ? . After a miracle performed by
Buddhnth, Ahmad h decided in favor of the Yogs and gave to Buddhnth the title of
True Pr (Satya Pr). He then asked him for his blessing and the favour of being

49 According to one of the oral versions I collected in Gogamedhi (both in the dargh and
in the Nth monastery close by), besides various booklets and K7 sold at the place,
which present slightly different versions of Ggs story (see Bouillier 2004 for the
evolution since the version collected by Richard Temple in 1885).
 17

victorious in his future battle. Buddhnth answered : This God who preserved the
darghs honor, your honor this God will preserve . These words were understood as
foretelling Ahmad hs victory in the Panipat battle. Buddhnth and the Kynths
dargh received generous grants from the conqueror 50.
These efficient blessings given to Muslim conquerors by charismatic ascetics are,
in my opinion, irrespective of any religious identity dimension. The relationship
between the Yogs and the Muslim sovereigns or conquerors has no ideological
background, it is part of the type of relationships the Yogs had always maintained with
political powers: relationships of exchange between spiritual and worldly protection,
between supernatural powers and wordly material gifts, in sum, a mutual legitimation.
The Muslim rulers partake in the same universe and do not despise the powers of the
Yogs nor their favours. However the somehow peculiar status of the Yogs I mentioned
could facilitate their recognition.

Yogs with dual identity

I will here only briefly summarize the main characteristics of Ratannth which I
profusely analysed elsewhere (Bouillier 1997, Bouillier and Khan 2009) and which were
brilliantly described in the seminal article written by Horovitz (1914). Ratan is known
under the double identity of Ratannth and Hjji Ratan, both identities supported by an
elaborate corpus of narratives. The Muslim accounts of Ratans life make him both a
contemporary of Prophet Mohammed and an agent of Mahmud Ghaznis victory (1192
CE), his extraordinary lifespan being a boon granted by the Prophet. His tomb in
Bhatinda can be dated from the early thirteenth century. The Nth Yog version of the
narratives sees him as a Nepalese prince, directly initiated by Gorakhnth and founder
of a Nth monastery in Southern Nepal. However, both sets of narratives refer to each
other, a few Muslim versions alluding to Ratans Nepalese royal background and the
Nth Yogs glorifying his successes and his many devotees in Muslim countries.
As told by the Yogs, the same Ratannth was at the origin of the birth of
Kynth, having miraculously created him from the ashes covering his body. Irritated

50The story of Buddhnth figures in a pamphlet printed at the gurudhm ram in Delhi
and written by Pr Premnth with the title of iva Goraka (1982), see Bouillier and
Khan 2009.
 18

by this showing off, Gorakhnth is said to have banished Ratan into Muslim areas to
convert the people there. Nothing much is known about Kynth (Briggs 1938: 66)
except in the dissident Yog tradition called Har r Nth (Bouillier and Khan 2009)
which situates Kynths birth and subsequent settlement on the bank of the river
Jhelum at Bhera, where he founded a monastery under the care of the lineage of his
disciples, among whom came Buddhnth. Stories circulate about his death, or rather his
disappearance, since both Hindu and Muslim devotees put claims on his bodily remains
and found only his clothes to bury. Muslims referred to his place as a dargh and called
him Kyamuddn. And to seal his double identity, an inscription on the wall says: For
the Hindus a gur, for the Muslims a pr We are all the fakrs of Bb dam .
To take a geographically different example let us mention Rj Bkshar and his
two shrines in Gwalior (Gold 2011). Known as bagh savrkar (hence Bkshar), the one
who rides a tiger, as he is figured in the few paintings decorating the shrines, he is
recognised both as a Sufi of Gulbargha and as a Nth Yog called Caitanyanth who
disguised his true identity in fear of Aurangzeb. And the shrines bear testimony to this
dual identity even in their names : an inscription across the street reads r pr sheb
rje bkar mahrj dargh (mandir) . On the shrine itself we find : r pr sheb rje
bkar mahrj dargh Gwalior and in smaller characters underneath and preceded by
a svastika : satguru caitanyanth rj bkar mahrj . However, close to a side
window, it is written : r pr sheb rje val dargh on a green board adorned with
the islamic symbol of the star in the crescent of the moon. This juxtaposition of
appellations and symbols shows how the worshippers, who are mostly Hindus, perceive
and respect the dual nature of Rj Bkshar, a fact also manifested in the inside
arrangement of the shrines and the performances of the rituals.

Yogs with shifting identity

The case of Gg whose posthumous blessing I described earlier is quite interesting

for the casual way religious identities are treated. Gg was a Rajput hero, a Chauhan
warrior whose amorous life and victories on the battle field conformed to the standards
of a true Ksatriya. However his birth was due to a blessing of Gorakhnth whose disciple
he became. Gg was a renouncer-king torn apart between two worlds : the warriors
 19

life, its duties and pleasures, and the renunciatory quest of ultimate truth. The resolution
of the dilemma happened in a strange way: by him becoming Muslim !
The story is that after a bloody battle where he was obliged to kill his own cousins,
his mother cursed him and banished him from the palace and from his wifes bed.
Renouncer by force, he decided to die and invoked Gorakhnth, asking the Earth to take
him. We have then different variants : Either the Earth refused saying she takes in only
the Muslims and that Gg has to be initiated into the creed of Islam (Temple 1885 :
I, 208 ; Rose 1919 : I, 179), or Gorakhnth refused to give him the samdhi gyatr, the
mantra of final absorption, since he has given him life (oral version given at the
Gogamedhi shrine). In both cases, Gorakhnth sent Gg to Ratan Baba to get initiation
to the kalim (the Muslim profession of faith), thus to become Muslim and have the
possibility of being buried.
In this narrative, the kalim is presented as giving access to a death which is seen as
the ultimate step in the Yogc quest as the words samdhi gyatr suggest, samdhi being
the grave of the Yog but also the final accomplishment of the yogic path. We may talk
here more of initiation to Islam than of conversion, the kalim being more like an
effective mantric formula. It is the islamised Gg that his Gogamedhi sanctuary
embodies51 .

Yogs from Muslim background

One of the most elaborate stories concerns Han Bhaang (or Phaang). Published in
Yogva (1998, 23 : 210-211, my translation), the publication of the Gorakhpur mah, it
explains that :
The Nthsiddha Han Bhaang was bdh of the Afghan country of Balkh-
Bukhr. While traveling, he reached India and the land of Tryambakevar. There
he had the vision of the Nine Nths. He took refuge in Gorakhnth and asked to be
liberated from the illusions of the world. I want to practise yogsdhan, initiate
me. Full of compassion, Gorakhnth told him : you must first stay here twelve

51 However, the new booklets sold at the shrine now present a different version. There is
no more question of Gg turning Muslim, a fact which is however mentioned but
strongly denied, in the communalizing India. On the contrary he is now presented as a
true Hindu hero fighting cowardly Muslim enemies who hide themselves behind a herd
of cows, which of course Gg does not attack.
 20

years and do tapasy. Then you will be qualified to get dik. Relinquish all
worldly desires. At the end of the twelve years, Gorakhnth made him his
disciple and gave him the name of Mtaknth. He gave him the duty to take care
of the meals. One day Han Bhaang forgot to put salt in the dl (lentil soup) and
before bringing Klbhairavs52 meal, he tasted it. The god turned his head away.
Admitting his fault he asked for forgiveness. The Lord tied up the cooking pot
around his neck and sent him away. In such a guise he went to settle in a cave in
Karnataka.

G.W. Briggs gives fascinating accounts of the same legendary core : one revolves around
akkarnth and a low caste rj 53 :
akkarnth, disciple of Gorakhnth, in his wanderings, came to a land ruled by a
low-caste rja, who seized him and ordered him to cause a rain of sugar, on pain
of torture. akkarnth performed the miracle and then buried the rja alive.
Twelve years later the Yog returned and found the king a skeleton, but restored
him to life and made him his disciple and cook. [] On day [the rja] took out
some of the pulse he was cooking and tasted it. Bhairom chanced to appear that
day in person and refused the food. The reason was discovered and the rja was
punished by by having the pot (ha) hung about his neck (1973: 70).

This oppressive rj is not presented here as Muslim. But the Muslim reference is
nevertheless present since Briggss narrative continues with the following mention :

52Bhairav is often the main deity worshipped in Nth shrines. He has food prepared for
him every morning, which may include a substitute for blood sacrifice. The duty
imparted to Han Bhaang is thus an important one, especially as Bhairav is not very
easy to deal with !

53A Rajasthani version of the H Varag legend is given by Daniel Gold (1999) : the
Nth guru in this case is Gehl Rwal : The bdshh, impressed by Gehls many
miracles, asked to become his disciple. Gelh agreed with conditions. Since the
bdshh was a Muslim he really had to become pukka, fully developed, here taken in its
more etymologiclly precise sense as thoroughly baked. Gehl put a little unbaked jug
(h) around the bdshhs neck. When this is baked, he said, youll be my disciple;
otherwise, youll remain a Muslim. The bdshh was then buried in the earth, and
twelve years later dug up; the jug had hardened and he was renamed H Varag
Nth (1999 : 153).
 21

Sakkarnth had no disciple, so, on his deathbed, he called a Musulman, Jfir by

name, made him his disciple, and advised him to take only uncircumcised
Muslims into his following. The Yogs are employed as Hindu cooks [sic], and
belong to the Santnth sect. The order today recognizes only Musalmns and they
do not eat with other Yogs (id. 71)
The ambiguity around the religious identity of H Varag is cleared up in
another version given by Briggs where the name of the bdh is given as Aurangzeb !
This echoes the trend of the Yogs to enlist the greatest Muslim figures, among
whom Mohammad himself, as mentioned in the Dabistn ( on Jogis and their
doctrines ) : Their belief is that Mohammad (to whom be peace) was also a pupil and
disciple of Gorakhnath, but, from fear of the Muselmans, they dare not declare it ; they
say that Baba Rin Haji, that is Gorakhnath, was the foster-father of the Prophet, who,
having received the august mission, took the mode of Yog from the sublime road of true
faith ; and a great many of them agree with the Musulmans in fasting and in prayers and
perform several acts according to the religion of that people (Mubed 1993: 129).
This is also the conclusion of the Mohammad Bodh : r Gur Gorakhnth, seated
at the rivershore in Attock, taught Mohammad .
The name of Mtaknth (lord of death) given to such prestigious recruits as
Mohammad or the bdh/ Aurangzeb can perhaps be interpreted as an allusion to the
practice common to Muslims and ascetic Yogs, the burial. Nath Yogs, whose aim is to
attain immortality, consider the grave as a place of continuous extase, as the word
samdhi (refering both to a state of profound meditation and to the tomb) suggests. To
be underground may be considered by the Yogs as a metaphor for initiation leading to
immortality : the bdh has to be cooked underground (in the Golds version, cf.
note 52) before being admitted among the Yogs, numerous stories present a hero such
as Gg asking for being swallowed by earth or staying underground for twelve or more
years, and the disjointed Mohammad Bodh text introduces the person of
Mohammad/Mtaknth just after the passage about funeral practices. Burial as rebirth
give Muslim heroes as well as Nth Yogs the power to vainquish death.

CONCLUSION
A text like the Mohammad Bodh and the widespread popularity of such figures as
Gg or Ratan show the closeness and easy encounter between the Nths and the
 22

Muslims. They shared common references and they could partake in the same universe.
We may even think that fluid boundaries with Islam were part of the religious identity
of the Nth Yogs : first their religious identity was not homogenous and second, they
were not looking for homogeneity, they were on the contrary cultivating their composite
nature. Claiming being above sectarian divisions, and in a way superior to, they were
open and inclusive.
The last decades in India have seen growing distrust of such fluidity and mixity.
Nth Yogs do not stay apart of this trend : we have seen the Ggs story modified (note
51), the writer of the iva Goraka, inheritor of the mixed tradition of the Har r Nth
claiming now a santan54 identity, the Muslim Jogs abandoning their song tradition and
no more welcome at the Gorakhpur monastery, and of course the same monastery of
Gorakhpur trying to take the leadership of the samprady and enlist it in joining the
ranks of Hindu fondamentalism. However I do hope that the sad conclusion expressed
by Shashank Chaturvedi - The language of emancipation and liberation is alien to this
world, of which these Jogis are vestiges (2014 : 165)- will remain limited. Nth Yogs
do not submit easily to common directives or institutions, each of their places has its
own tradition and each Yog is own opinion. The heroc figures of the Nth lore with
their fluid identity are still the common ground on which rests the sense of belonging in
the samprady and even the publications of the Gorakhpur mah continue to narrate the
stories of Han Bhaang and Ratan. And both versions of the Mohammad Bodh (edited
by Yog Vilsnth and by Yog Saw Nth) have been parts of books published under the
patronage of the leaders of the Yog Mahsabh (the pan-Indian association of Nth
Yogs) .

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