RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS. 191 



tions subsequent to that period, no account was preserved, until it was 

 converted into a Mohammedan mosque by AlX-addin. The temple, after 

 some interval, was re-built in a different situation by an association of the 

 followers of Gorakhnath, and this was possibly the period at which the 

 sect assumed its present form. A similar fate, however, attended this 

 edifice, and it was appropriated by Aurangzeb to the Mohammedan 

 religion. A second interval elapsed before a shrine was again erected 

 to Gorakhnath, when it was re-built on the spot on which it now 

 stands, by Buddhanath, according to instructions communicated to 

 him by Gorakhnath in person. The present temple is situated to the 

 west of the City of Gorakhpur, and attached to it on the south are three 

 temples, consecrated to Mahadeva, Pasupatinath, and Hanuman. The 

 inclosure also comprehends the tombs of several eminent members of 

 this communion, and the dwellings of the Mahant and his resident 

 disciples. 



Gorakhnath was a man of some acquirement, and has left specimens 

 of his scholarship in two Sanscrit Compositions, the Goraksha sataka 

 and Goraksha kalpa: third, the Goraksha sahasra Ndma is, probably, 

 of his writing. The celebrated Bhartrihari, the brother of Vikrama- 

 ditya, is said to have been one of his disciples, but chronology will not 

 admit of such an approximation. According to the authorities of the sect, 

 Gorakh is but one of nine eminent teachers, or Ndths. Of the perfect 

 Yogis, or Siddhas, eighty-four are enumerated ; but it is said, that there 

 have been many more, of whom several are still upon the surface of the 

 earth. 



The Jogis of Gorakhnath are usually called Kdnphatas, from having 

 their ears bored, and rings inserted in them at the time of their initia- 

 tion. They may be of any cast ; they live as ascetics, either singly or in 



