BENARES (BANARASA, VARANASI) .....They have rosaries around their necks and glittering jugs in their hands—they cannot be called the saints of Hari, they are the Thugs of Benares (Varanasi).(Asa Kabir, pp. 476) He lives on the bank of Asi rivulet in Benares (Varanasi). (Gond Namdev, p. 873) It is

CHARPAT NATH, one of the yogis whom, according to the Miharban Janam Sakhi, Guru Nanak met on Mount Sumer, was a Gorakhpanthi recluse. Guru Nanak himself mentions his name twice in his compositions in the Guru Granth Sahib in his Si`dh Gosti and in another hymn in Raga Ramkali.

HARI LAL, BHAI, and his brother, Bhai Krishan Lal, Brahmans of Kashi who, disregarding caste prejudice and pride, joined the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Arjan. According to Bhai Kahn Singh, Gurushabad Ratandkar Mahdn Kosh, slokas in SahaskritT, a contemporary variety of Sanskrilized diction, were composed by

JAVEHAR MALI., BHAI, was a masand at Varanasi during the time of Guru Tegh Bahadur. Some of the Guru\'s hukamndmds or edicts issued to sangats of Banaras (Varanasi) and still preserved in Gurdwara Bari Sarigat, Varanasi, addressed him variously as Javehar Mall, Javehar Das or simply as Javehari. While

LOHARIPA, a Gorakhpanthi yogi, whose name occurs in Guru Nanak`s Sidh Gosti in the Guru Granth Sahib. The Sidh Gosti is a versified account of the Guru`s discourse with a group of Natha ascetics. Among them is mentioned Loharipa which is taken to be the Punjabi form of Luipa,

MACHHINDARNATHA (Matsyendranatha), also known as Minanatha, i.e. Fish-Lord, Minapa, Luipa (in Tibet), and Avilokitesvara (in Nepal), who flourished in the 10th century AD, was one of the eighty-four siddhas or Perfect ones of Tantric Buddhism. According to Tibetan-Buddhist belief, he was a fisherman who, while devoured alive by a

MADAN NATH, head of a band of Kanphata yogis, called on Guru Gobind Singh as he was visiting Thanesar in 1702. As says Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, the yogi was surprised to see Guru Gobind Singh in a warrior\'s dress and gave expression to his

VARANASI (25°20`N, 82°58`E), the holiest place of Hindu pilgrimage, has since ancient times, been one of the most important centres of Sanskrit learning. Guru Gobind Singh sent five of his Sikhs to Varanasi to study Sanskrit, and following them several centres for the study of Sanskrit and theology were