In this lecture, Mr. Bankar will talk about his recent findings regarding the hagiographies of Nātha and Vajrayānī Siddhas. The earlier studies made by several researchers are largely based on the textual material available from a wide range of languages like Sanskrit, Tibetan, Hindi, Punjabi, and Bengali. But the biographical anecdotes and other data available in old Marathi literature (13th – 15th century CE) have not been used to the extent they deserve.

These literary sources give us legends of several personalities associated with the Nātha sect and Vajrayāna Buddhism such as Gorakṣanātha, Machīndranātha/ Matyendranātha, Cauraṅgīnātha, Luipā, Virupā/ Virupākṣa, Kānhapā, Jaḷāndharī/ Jāḷāndhara Rasasiddha Nāgārjuna, Kaṇerī (Āryadeva), Bhartṛuharī, Goviṁdacaṁdra/ Gopicaṁda, Ghoḍācūḍī/ Ghoṛācolī. Some hagiographies of these Siddhas are also visually depicted in the form of stone sculptures or paintings available from Maharashtra.

This lecture is a small endeavour to rediscover and discuss several such mystic stories which are fossilised in various sources from early medieval Western India.

This is a free event, but booking is required. See our other upcoming events at the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies here, including another talk by Mr. Bankar.

Speaker Biography

Mr. Amol N. Bankar is an Indian researcher working in the domains of Epigraphy and Numismatics with his prime focus on pre-modern Maharashtra. Mr. Bankar has contributed more than 30 articles in numismatics and epigraphy in leading Journals of National and International repute. He had also received a scholarship from University of Oxford for the year 2018 for his research in Indian Numismatics. In the last few years he has been studying hagiographies of Nāthasiddhas and writing a monograph on the 'The Nāthasiddha tradition of early medieval Maharashtra.'