Gopichand

Princely protagonist of The Song of
Gopichand, an allegorical adventure
that is much beloved throughout
northern India and has even spread to
Bengal where it is called The Song of
Manik Chandra. The story tells of the
trials of Gopichand, who loses his kingdom through the vicissitudes of fate
but eventually regains it after numerous trials and setbacks. Aside from the
song’s story, it is also embedded with
the ideas of the Nathpanthis, an ascetic
community supposedly founded by
255
Gopichand
Gorakhnath. Some members of this
community believed that perfecting
their bodies through yoga would make
them immortal. This idea appears in the
song through its description of
Gopichand’s mother Mayana, who has
power over Death himself. In some versions of the story Mayana’s religious preceptor is identified as a low-caste
sweeper, while in others it is the sage
Gorakhnath himself. Two versions of
this song have been translated by G. A.
Grierson in the Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, the first published in
1878 and the second in 1885.