Hinduism - Who Was Matsyendranath?


According to legend, he was the master of the sage Gorakhnath and the founder of the Nathpanthis, a community of renunciant ascetics who are Shiva worshipers (bhakta).

Minanath is another name for Matsyendranath.

Matsyendranath obtained his training from Shiva himself, according to the Nathpanthi legend, by assuming the shape of a fish (the terms matsya and mina both mean "fish") and listening while Shiva was instructing his wife Parvati.

See George Weston Briggs, Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis, 1973, for more information on Gorakhnath and the Nath tradition.

Also see tantra.


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