Book cover of Yogi Heroes and Poets

Book description

This book provides a remarkable range of information on the history, religion, and folklore of the Nath Yogis. A Hindu lineage prominent in North India since the eleventh century, Naths are well-known as adepts of Hatha yoga and alchemical practices said to increase longevity. Long a heterogeneous group, some Naths…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Yogi Heroes and Poets as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

What I like about this collection of essays on the Nāth Yogis is its breadth and diversity: scholars from five countries engage historical, religious, philosophical, folkloristic, textual and anthropological fields of pertinent inquiry. The reader is left with a feeling of truly coming closer to understanding the Nāths, once a very influential religious denomination that often considers itself separate from the dominant Hindu and, to a lesser degree, Muslim environments.

I admire the sense of self-esteem and self-identity displayed, for example, in the ideas about the inner worlds, the whole cosmos contained within the Yogi’s body, as described in David…

From Gordan's list on the Nāth Yogis.

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