Birth Story Of Lord Navnath

The Navnath , also spelt as Navanatha and Nao Nath, are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of the nine gurus is based.They are worshipped collectively as well as individually. The Navnath Sampraday believes Rishi Dattatreya, an incarnation of the Hindu trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to be its first teacher. The nine teachers, collectively known as Navnaths, are considered representative of great teachers in this tradition or parampara.

1. Machindranath or Matsyendranath

2. Gorakshanath or Gorakhnath

3. Jalandharnath or Jalandernath also known as Jan Peer

4. Kanifnath or Kanhoba

5. Gahininath also known as Gaibi Peer

6. Bhartrinath or Bhartarinath or Raja Bhartari

7. Revananath

8. Charpatinath

9. Naganath or Nageshnath

10. Ranchhod Nath

1) Macchindranāth-is a saint in a number of Buddhist and Hindu traditions. He is credited with composing some of the earliest texts on hatha yoga. He was one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas and considered the guru of Gorakshanath, another important figure in early hatha yoga. He is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists, and is sometimes regarded as an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara. Matsyendranatha is the founder of the Nath sampradaya and a central figure in Hatha and certain tantric traditions of yoga. Matsyendra was born under an inauspicious star. This warranted his parents to throw the baby into the ocean. It is here that the baby was swallowed by a fish where he lived for many years. The fish swam to the bottom of the ocean where Shiva was imparting the secrets of yoga to his consort, Parvati. Upon overhearing the secrets of yoga, Matsyendra began to practice yoga sadhana inside the fish's belly. After twelve years he finally emerged as an enlightened Siddha. This is the origin of his name 'Lord of the Fishes' or 'He Whose Lord is the Lord of the Fishes'. Other versions of the legend exist, including one in which Matsyendra was born as a fish and turned into a siddha by Shiva.

The temple of Macchindranāth lies in the southern part of the Patan Durbar Square since 1673.