Part 30 - Bharatiya Sahityache Nirmate, Gorakshanath

[Full title: Bharatiya Sahityache Nirmate, Gorakshanath (i.e. Goraksha Natha, creator of Indian Literature)]

A “Sahitya Acadamy” publication by the above title which is a translation of an original book in Hindi by Narendranath Upadhyaya, the same translated into Marathi by M. B. Shah is a valuable contribution. As the name suggests it is about sage Gorakshanath^[1], who is considered as one of the powerful characters out of Navnaths (i.e. Nine Naths).

In chapter three with the title ‘Gorakshanathancha Sampraday aṇi Videshi Akramaṇ (i.e. movement or cult of Gorakshanath and Foreign Invasion), the writer has stated giving a reference of George Western Higgs from his book Gorakshanath and Kanphata yogis as:

As per a well-known story in Sindh, an important place for Nathpanthis is ‘Uderolal’ (name of the place). A young boy of twelve years of age from here was transformed into an armored knight riding a horse and set on a journey to punish the ruler of Thatta, a province of Sindh. This miraculous man is known by names such as Jinda Pir, Daryashah etc. (Shah 2006:29-30)

The above narration and the many references found in following literature show a striking similarity regarding the description of a miraculous child saint, a horse riding warrior and his preaching to the ruler of Thatta which support and reinforce the existence of Lord Jhulelal, which has been mentioned in the following literary sources.

• Gazetteers of Sindh by Aitken
• Gazetteers of Sindh by Huges
• Books by foreign writers: Schimmel, Aitken, Rev. Sherring, Rev. Miltenburg and Ansari

There are different opinions about the timeline of the existence of Gorakshanath on earth. A reference about dialogues between Gorakshanath and Lord Jhulelal is found in a book titled ‘Shri Amar Katha -Shri Jhulelalji’ described in the same chapter elsewhere. A reader would be curious to know the correlation between the timeline of those two personalities and any common factors.

Sage Gorakshanath is described in Hagiographies i.e. biographies of saints or highly revered person as the one who is more than a human teacher and someone to whom laws of time are not applicable. This means that he could have appeared on planet earth at different points in time. (Briggs 1938:249)

There are many examples in mythology and religious books about the characters capable of possessing the powers to appear on earth at any point in time.

These are described as ‘Siddhis’ or in simple words achievements due to the penance or a boon granted to that person. In mythology sage, Narada is a well-known character in possession of such powers. In the later part of the timeline as well such personalities are found and they are called ‘Siddhas’, capable of travelling to any place and cover any distance at will.

In chapter one, Gorakshanathancha Kal (Timeline of Gorakshanath) the writer has quoted eight points which can be used to determine the timeline of Gorakshanath. At Sr. No. 4 he has stated that the timeline of Matsyendranath (Meenpa) was middle of 9^th Century i.e. between 809 to 849 A.D. and he existed at the most till the end of 9^th Century. By quoting various references the author determines the timeline of Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath as the middle of the 9^th Century.

The common method for determination of timeline about a person or an event that is generally used is to find any references of it in a work of literature or to find if a person whose timeline is known has come in contact with a person in question whose timeline is to be determined. In this book, there are about eight such references which have been quoted to arrive at a conclusion.

From the above details, it can also be inferred that Gorakṣhanath being a disciple of sage Matsyendranath would be younger to his master (Guru) by a few years and his timeline could be stretched a bit longer than his master. However, in spite of this stretching of the timeline, the timeline of Gorakshanath does not seem to extend substantially. The time duration of one generation is stated to be fifteen to twenty years by the author. As per this calculation, it could be stretched by another fifteen to twenty years. In view of above, it becomes difficult to co-relate Sage Gorakshanath and Lord Jhulelal about their timeline. At the same time, it becomes evident that sage Gorakshanath appears to be senior to Lord Jhulelal in age. If one takes into consideration the quote by Briggs that Gorakshanath is described as someone who is beyond the laws of time and such entities would have appeared on planet earth at different times, it is likely that Lord Jhulelal and sage Gorakṣhanath could have met each other at some point of time. The meeting between the two seems to have been described in the book ‘Amar Katha’ which is similar to Puraṇas in nature.

The publications of ‘Sahitya Academy’ are well known in the literary world and are considered prestigious. They are referred to by scholars for research and are respected for their valuable contribution. The above publication has been found very interesting and throws some light on the timeline of two great personalities from the spiritual world of India.

It is noted that literature review is an essential and important part of the research. It helps to throw light on many aspects of the research and the researcher can benefit from the work already done by scholars as their work can be taken as reference. It could also help to take the research further by working more on the findings of the earlier scholars. The researcher could get some clues to go deeper into the subject.

As such the literature review would be an integral part of research and it could be compared with an open-ended book as there would be the addition of information from time to time with the publication of newer literature in the years to come. One can say that the more this tool is used with prudence, the benefits to the researchers would be undoubtedly more.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A disciple of Sage Matsyendranath, founder of the Nath tradition (Nath Parampara)