Yogi Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath,[3] c.

early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, saint and

one of the earliest poets of Bhojpuri,[4] who was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic
movement in India.[5] He is considered as one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath. His
followers are found in India at the place known as Garbhagiri which is in Ahmednagar in the state
of Maharashtra. These followers are called yogis, Gorakhnathi, Darshani or Kanphata.[6]
He was one of nine saints also known as Navnath and is widely popular in Maharashtra, India.
[7]
 Hagiographies describe him as more than a human teacher and someone outside the laws of time
who appeared on earth in different ages.[8] Historians state Gorakhnath lived sometime during the
first half of the 2nd millennium CE, but they disagree in which century. Estimates based on
archaeology and text range from Briggs' 15th- to 12th-century[8] to Grierson's estimate of the 14th-
century.[9]
Gorakhnath is considered a Maha-yogi (or great yogi) in the Hindu tradition.[10] He did not emphasise
a specific metaphysical theory or a particular Truth, but emphasised that the search for Truth and the
spiritual life is a valuable and normal goal of man.[10] Gorakhnath championed Yoga, spiritual
discipline and an ethical life of self-determination as a means to reaching samadhi and one's own
spiritual truths.[10]
Gorakhnath, his ideas and yogis have been highly popular in rural India, with monasteries and
temples dedicated to him found in many states of India, particularly in the eponymous city
of Gorakhpur.[11][12]