Bhartrihari

Bhartrihari was the eldest son in the family and, according to custom, inherited the entire kingdom. His reign was not very successful, he did not live up to the expectations placed on him. After the tragic death of all his wives, he met Gorakshanath, who showed him the illusory nature of the world by materializing his wives through his siddhis, and then dissolving them back into the void. Bhartrihari was so astonished by what he saw that he abandoned the throne and became a yogi, subsequently attaining many siddhis. There are several caves in Ujjain where he meditated.

Bhartrihari has gained the ability to materialize and dematerialize his body. Some Naths believe that in the future he will take a place among the Navanaths. The custom of performing parikramas of all the siddha-pithas before taking sannyasa came from Bhartrihari. This siddha is also a model of tyaga and vairagya (yogic renunciation and detachment).

One legend says that Gorakshanath once came to Bhartrihari’s kingdomi; everyone knew him to be a great mystic, possessing immortality. Bhartrihari hastened to Gorakshanath with a request for eternal youth, and in response, Gorakshanath gave him a pill. But Bhartrihari loved his wife Pingala so much that he gave her the pill to keep her young forever. However, Pingala gave the pill to her lover, the guard. The guard, in turn, gave it to a prostitute he had fallen in love with, who (since she considered her life to be suffering) gave the pill to Bhartrihari so that the king could live as long as possible. When the pill returned to him, Bhartrihari was amazed. He went to Gorakshanath and became his disciple.

In another legend, Bhartrihari was a hunter named Hun (Khoon). One day, he witnessed the wife of a hunter killed by a cobra perform a sati ceremony (self-immolation). Hun decided to test if his wife was ready for such an act, and sent her a message saying that he had died while hunting. When Hun returned, he saw only ashes on his wife's funeral pyre. He was so upset that he wandered around the campfire for several days and could not find peace. (According to one version, Rani Pingala, his wife, was Gorakshanath’s disciple; he gave her a flower and said that it would be fragrant while her husband was alive. When she received news of her husband's death, and the flower continued to smell fragrant, she realized that her husband was actually alive, but could not accept the thought that he doubted her love, and committed suicide.)

Gorakhnath appeared in that place and asked the king why he was grieving. The king replied that the reason for his grief was love for his dead wife. Then Gorakhnath threw down his begging bowl and, as it broke, began to cry, imitating the king's grief. Hun told the yogi that his loss was not as irreparable as his loss of the queen. Gorakhnath replied that he could easily resurrect his wife, while his bowl was lost, and that was far more tragic. He sprinkled water on the ashes of the funeral pyre. There were 25 (according to another version, 100) queens, all one as Hun's wife, Pingala, and they exclaimed: "Remain detached! Are you mad? It is unknown how many times we've been your wives, mothers, or sisters!" Upon seeing and hearing this, Bhartrihari stopped grieving and accepted Gorakshanath as his Guru.

However, he did not leave his kingdom. One day, while hunting, Bhartrihari came across a herd of 70 females and one male deer, but he couldn't catch the male. One of the females asked him to kill one of them, his wives, but not to touch the deer. But Bhartrihari was a kshatriya and could not kill a female. Then the female asked the deer to meet the king's arrow. He agreed on one condition: "Give my legs to a thief, so he can escape his life; my antlers to a yogi, so he can use them for nada; my skin to an ascetic, so he can worship it; my eyes to a beautiful woman, so she can be called mriga-naini ("with beautiful doe eyes" – a sign of a woman's beauty in India); and eat my flesh yourself." And so it happened.

Upon returning to the kingdom, Bhartrihari met Gorakshanath, who revealed to him that it was not just a deer that was actually killed, but his disciple. Bhartrihari exclaimed, "If only I had mystical powers and could resurrect him!"

Gorakshanath took a handful of earth and threw it at Bhartrihari, who immediately gained the necessary abilities and resurrected the deer. After that, Bhartrihari left the kingdom and accompanied Gorakshanath. But Gorakshanath refused to accept him as a disciple until he brought alms from his wives, treating them like his mothers; moreover, he should have practiced yoga for 12 years. Bhartrihari did so, he became an outstanding yogi and founded the Vairag-panth. And when he came to his wives for alms, he said, "From the king's point of view, you are my wives, but from the yogi's point of view, you are my mothers, and my Guru told me to call you that."

This legend is also connected with one of the materials used in the making of janeo in the Nath Tradition – a yogi's whistle is made from a deer's horn.