Contemporary Nāth Yogīs are heirs to a long historythat, gradually, consolidated different asceticbranches into an institutionalized religious order(sampradāya), anddifferent groups into castes of householders.

The Nāth sampradāyatraces its origins to the founding figure ofGorakhnāth, a twelfth century Yogī around which muchhagiographical material accrued over the centuries,creating therefore, an exceptional stratification ofstories and legends that enriches, but alsoconfuses, our understanding of its historicaldevelopment. What seems clear, nonetheless, is thatfor centuries Nāth Yogīs (or those ascetics whowould go on to be labeled as such) have beenassociated with practices especially connected tothe obtainment of powers (siddhis) and of immortality. They werealso known as the “perfected” ones (siddhas), alchemists andpractitioners of a yoga (haṭhayoga) said to transform the body into a“diamond body” (vajradeha), eternal and immortal.

This reputation for supernatural feats made themoptimal gurus for those who wished to channel theirmagical skills to worldly ends. Nāth Yogīs, in fact,often played a prominent role in politicalvicissitudes, typically with a ministerial role aspreceptors and advisors of sympathetic kings,acquiring political influence over state andregional politics.

It is against this backdrop that the relationshipbetween Nāth gurus and political powers, andhouseholder Yogīs and social hierarchy, wasestablished but also reinterpreted over thecenturies.

Looking at the past and the present of the Nāth Yogīs,in this volume we decided to focus on the dimensionof power, both in its spiritual and its worldlyaspects, and explore the ways in which asceticnotions of power were and are used to promotepolitical, religious, or social changes. In order todo that, we place the transformations of the sampradāya in the largercontext of ideological shifts, new forms ofparticipation in the public/political sphere, newarticulations of religious belonging, newconceptions of caste mobility and, looking at thepresent day, the emergence of Hindu nationalism.

The contributions of this volume, therefore, highlightmoments of selfreinterpretation that are produced bythe sampradāya'sinteraction with different social milieus, and thatare expedient for enabling the order to adjust tonew requirements. In fact, it is not unusual forreligious leaders to adapt their traditions underthe influence of the historical period and thesocial and religious contexts in which theylive.