Matsyendranath

According to tradition, the guru of the
sage Gorakhnath and the founder of the
Nathpanthis, a group of renunciant
ascetics who are devotees (bhakta) of
the god Shiva. He is also known as
Minanath. According to the Nathpanthi
tradition, Matsyendranath received his
teaching from Shiva himself, by taking
the form of a fish (in Sanskrit, the words
matsya and mina both mean “fish”), and
eavesdropping while Shiva was teaching
his wife Parvati. For further information
about Gorakhnath and the Nath tradition, see George Weston Briggs,
Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis,
\1973. See also tantra.