Yogi Naraharinath (born: Balbir Singh Hriksen Thapa, 1915–2003 CE) was a Nepali historian, writer and follower of the

Nath Natha, also called Nath (), are a Shaivism, Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism, Tantra and Yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent.

tradition of

Gorakhnath Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath (Sanskrit: ''Gorakṣanātha'') (Devanagari : गोरक्षनाथ / गोरखनाथ), c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu monas ...

Early life

Balbir Singh Hriksen Thapa was born on 28 February 1915 (

Bikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (ISO: ''Vikrama Saṁvata''; abbreviated VS), also known as the Vikrami calendar is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still also used in several Indian states and Nepal. It is a lunisolar calendar, ...

: 17th Falgun 1971) in Kalikot District (now located in

Karnali Province Karnali Province () is one of the seven federal provinces of Nepal formed by the new constitution, which was adopted on 20 September 2015. The total area of the province is , making it the largest province in Nepal with 18.97% of the country's ...

) to father Lalit Singh Hriksen Thapa and mother Gauri Devi as their second child. He belonged to

Khas Khas peoples or Khas Tribes, (; ) popularly known as Khashiya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, in what is now the South Asian country of Nepal, as well as the Indian stat ...

clan of Hriksen Thapa Chhetri who falls in Bhardwaj

Gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotr ...

of Hinduism. Naraharinath took his Upanayana ceremony at the age of eight. He later took ''

Sannyasa ''Sannyasa'' (), sometimes spelled ''sanyasa'', is the fourth stage within the Hinduism, Hindu system of four life stages known as ''ashrama (stage), ashramas'', the first three being ''brahmacharya'' (celibate student), ''Gṛhastha, grihast ...

'' (life of renunciation) in the Chandannath Temple,

Jumla District Jumla District (), is one of the ten districts of Nepal, districts of the Karnali Province, Karnali province of Nepal. This district has Jumla (town), Jumla as its headquarters, an area of ; it had populations of 89,427 and 108,921, respectivel ...

, where his guru named him Yogi Naraharinath. At the age of nine, he was enrolled into the Vatukbhairavanath Siddha Chandannath Bhasha Pathshala in Jumla, and later he migrated to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

aged eight and learned

Sanskrit language Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. He later became noted historian and saint of Gorakhnath tradition and resided at Mrigasthali, Kathmandu near the holy temple of Pashupatinath.

Writing career

He has written over 570 books of which 114 were published. His works includes collection and decryption of documents

Khas language Khasa Prakrit (also known as Khas Prakrit, Sanskrit Khasa, Himalayan Prakrit, Northern Prakrit, Khas Kura) is a Prakrit language of medieval South Asia and a common ancestor language of the Pahari languages, which includes Nepali, Kumaoni, ...

(ancient Nepali language) to readable Nepali which mostly included genealogies. According to Devmala Bansawali, he produced some claims regarding Victorian King

Vikramaditya Vikramaditya (Sanskrit: विक्रमादित्य IAST: ') was a legendary king as mentioned in ancient Indian literature, featuring in traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi, Vetala Panchavimshati'' and ''Singhasan ...

. He has also provided contributions to

Nepal Sanskrit University Nepal Sanskrit University () is one of the universities in Nepal. It was established in December 1986 and has its central office at Beljhundi in Dang district of Lumbini Province, Nepal. The university is 13 km away from the city of Ghorahi. A ...

at Dang. He was jailed for his political views on strong Hinduistic country and calling then ruling monarchy as weak. He also sent letter in

to Indian prime minister

Atal Behari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

requesting India to be declared a Hindu nation. He also believed liberty of religion and opposed non-allowance of non-Hindus at

Pashupatinath Temple Shri Pashupatinātha Temple () is a revered Hindu temple dedicated to Pashupati, a manifestation of the god Śiva. Located on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal, the temple is one of the oldest and most significant religiou ...

. He called the lord of the temple being common to all religions. He was also nicknamed ''Walking Pashupatinath'' by Swami Karpatri.

Death

He died aged 88 on 13th Falgun, 2059 B.S. at Gorakhnath premise of Mrigasthali, Kathmandu.

References

External links

Commemorative Stamp issued on Yogi Naraharinath
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naraharinath, Yogi Nepalese scholars Hindu ascetics Hindu saints 1915 births 2003 deaths Hindu yogis Hindu spiritual teachers 20th-century Nepalese historians Nepalese yogis People from Kalikot District Nepali language activists Navnath Nepali-language writers from Nepal 20th-century Nepalese writers 21st-century Nepalese writers