Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Note on Transliterations
- Introduction
- 1 Current Research on Nāth Yogīs: Further Directions
- 2 Powerful Yogīs: The Successful Quest for Siddhis and Power
- 3 Kingly Corruption and Ascetic Sovereignty in the Telugu Account of the Nine Nāths
- 4 In Siddhis and State: Transformations of Power in Twentieth-Century Gorakhpur Temple Publications
- 5 The Search for the Jugi Caste in Pre-Colonial Bengal
- 6 Back When We Were Brahmins: Historical and Caste Critique Among Bengali Householder Nāths
- 7 Shades of Power: The Nāth Yogīs in Nepal
- 8 Yogī, Paṇḍit, and Rāṣṭra-Bhakta: Some Reconstructions of Yogī Naraharināth’s Religious Career
- 9 The Evocative Partnerships of a Monastic Nāth Temple in Contemporary Rajasthan
- 10 Towards a Nāth Re-Appropriation of Haṭha-Yoga
- Index
7 - Shades of Power: The Nāth Yogīs in Nepal
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 November 2022
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Note on Transliterations
- Introduction
- 1 Current Research on Nāth Yogīs: Further Directions
- 2 Powerful Yogīs: The Successful Quest for Siddhis and Power
- 3 Kingly Corruption and Ascetic Sovereignty in the Telugu Account of the Nine Nāths
- 4 In Siddhis and State: Transformations of Power in Twentieth-Century Gorakhpur Temple Publications
- 5 The Search for the Jugi Caste in Pre-Colonial Bengal
- 6 Back When We Were Brahmins: Historical and Caste Critique Among Bengali Householder Nāths
- 7 Shades of Power: The Nāth Yogīs in Nepal
- 8 Yogī, Paṇḍit, and Rāṣṭra-Bhakta: Some Reconstructions of Yogī Naraharināth’s Religious Career
- 9 The Evocative Partnerships of a Monastic Nāth Temple in Contemporary Rajasthan
- 10 Towards a Nāth Re-Appropriation of Haṭha-Yoga
- Index
Summary
Abstracts
Śrī Siddha Bhagavantanāth was a Yogī of the Nāthsampradāya whoappeared on the scene in 1773 CE in Salyan, WestNepal, and went on to have a stellar career as oneof the most trusted advisors of PṛthvīnārāyaṇaŚāh, ruler of Gorkha. Bhagavantanāth's miraculoushelp in war campaigns, diplomatic services, andpolitical advice was opulently rewarded with landgrants and the post of central overseer (maṇḍalāi) of all Yogīs inthe newly founded and still expanding kingdom ofNepal. These benefits allowed him to establish twomonasteries: Rānāgaũ in Salyan and Śrīgāũ in Dang.Using newly discovered historical documents, thischapter examines the development of these monasticsettlements, the economic and social power theyrepresented, and their dynamic relations with thestate.
Keywords: Nepal, royal patronage,institutionalization, power struggles, succession,inscriptions/historical documents
In revisiting what is known about the early history ofthe Nāth Yogīs in Nepal and contrasting what isknown about them from the time of the Malla kings(1200-1768/69) with the information we have from theperiod of Śāh and Rāṇā rule (1768-1950), the presentchapter will attempt to shed light on the different“shades” of power and power relations evidencedamong Nepalese Yogīs. In the first part, based on are-reading of the available epigraphic sources, itwill be shown that in the Kathmandu Valley the closelinkage between the Yogīs and the king, which isclearly attested for later periods and has beenrepeatedly projected by scholars onto the moreremote past, only came into existence slowly. Thesecond part of the chapter deals with the specialrelation of the Śāh kings from Gorkha to theirtutelary deity Gorakṣanāth, and briefly describesthe stellar career of Siddha Bhagavantanāth, a Yogīfrom West Nepal, who has already been studied in thepioneering works of Günter Unbescheid (1980) andVéronique Bouillier (1991a and b). Finally, thechapter discusses new pertinent documents, some yetunpublished, thus providing updated informationabout the development of Bhagavantanāth's lineage,including a demonstration that the support andprivileges granted by the temporal powers to thislineage for more than a century were notopen-ended.
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- The Power of the Nath YogisYogic Charisma, Political Influence and SocialAuthority, pp. 197 - 226Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2022