Week 276: Yogi Naraharinath, Hindu Presence in Gilgit-Baltistan, Aesthetic
03/30/2025 - Modern Hindu Content
Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: Yogi Naraharinath, Hindu names from historical digs in Gilgit-Baltistan, and an Aesthetic!
Person Highlight: Yogi Naraharinath
Yogi Naraharinath (1915-2003) is a Hindu religious figure from Nepal revered as “Rashtra Guru” (teacher of the nation).
He was born as Balbir Singh Hriksen Thapa on February 28, 1915, in Lalu village, Kalikot, Nepal as the second son of Lalit Hriksen Thapa and Gauri Devi. At eight, he went through his Upanayana ceremony and later became a sanyasi at Chandannath Temple in Jumla, where his guru gave him the name Yogi Naraharinath. His lineage of gurus (the Nath Sampradaya) traces back to Lord Gorakhnath, who is the spiritual guide also followed by the current Chief Minister of India’s Uttar Pradesh province, Yogi Adityanath. He studied Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures in Nepal, India, and even what is now Pakistan, earning degrees in Vedic studies from Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar in 1942.
Amongst the topics he studied: Siddhantakaumudi, Mahabhasya Prathamanhika, and Vakyapadiya Brahmakanda, Kavyaprakash, Kadambari Purvraddha, Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda, Shatapatha Brahmana, Taitiriya Brahmana, Aitareya Brahmana, Tandya Brahmana, and Gopatha Brahmana. He was fluent in Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali, and a handful of other Indo-Aryan languages (possibly Punjabi).
During his time in India, he also served in the Indian Independence Movement and also the Cow Protection Movement, advocating for a ban on cow slaughter, and repeatedly was jailed due to his part in cow protection protests. When India gained independence in 1947 he was offered awards and employment for his part in the freedom struggle, but he refused them and returned to Nepal to serve his country, settling at Mrigasthali, part of the Pashupatinath pilgrimage trail.
He was appointed as the Pir Mahant of Gorakhnath Math in 1947 by Prime Minister Mohan Shamsher Rana. This position gave him state recognition and allowed him to influence religious and cultural activities. During this time, he began traveling extensively across Nepal, collecting historical manuscripts, genealogical records, and archaeological artifacts. He carried these materials to Kathmandu for preservation, earning him the title "Itihas Anveshak Himmanav" (History Explorer Snowman).
He also fought foreign attempts to purchase land in Nepal, wrote on the history of Nepal, and worked to preserve Nepali and Hindu heritage and historical sites. Despite his contributions, he faced political persecution during Nepal's Panchayat era. This era was a political system in Nepal from 1961 to 1990 where political parties were banned and placed all governmental power, including power over the Council of Ministers and Federal Parliament, under the sole authority of the king; a de facto absolute monarchy. In 1977, he was detained after being accused of anti-national activities. His belongings, including historical manuscripts, were destroyed in a fire set by the government, ironically the same government who clearly benefited from the work he did to preserve Nepali heritage. He was also tortured in jail, forced to drink water mixed with lead dust. He then left Nepal for India for some time, but still continued to write. The below diagram from Biograph Nepal outlines how prolific of a writer that he was:
Source: https://biographnepal.com/religious-persons/biography-of-yogi-naraharinath
Yogi Naraharinath returned to Nepal after the end of the Panchayat system in 1990, following the establishment of a multiparty democracy. His return marked a renewed phase of activism and spiritual work. He resumed his efforts to preserve Nepal’s cultural and historical heritage, focusing on nationalism, Hindu philosophy, and environmental conservation. Yogi Naraharinath passed away on February 25, 2003 (B.S. Falgun 13, 2059), at the age of 88. Following Nath tradition, he was buried in a seated posture near his ashram in Mrigasthali.
History Highlight: Hindu Presence in Gilgit-Baltistan
We are currently reading through the book “Lords of the Mountains: Pre-Islamic Heritage along the Upper Indus in Pakistan” by Harold Hauptmann. The full book is available as a 431 page PDF here: https://library.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/93988/9783968222691.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Much of this book concerns the area of Gilgit-Baltistan, an area of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), where Hindus were genocided out of the area during partition. In the pre-Islamic era, that area was a meeting place for various Iranic and Indic cultures and a center for Buddhism and Hinduism. Archaeologists have found many Hindu names in archaeological sites in the area, and this is a snippet from page 216.
Aesthetic: Sarchu Hindu Temple
