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AGHORA: A BRIEF HISTORY
It is not always easy to sort out the various traditions that constitute the Hindu pantheon; nonetheless, a look at the cosmological structure of divinities in Hindu theology helps to place a particular tradition in its larger philosophical and historical context. In the Hindu under standing there exits the formless Brahma or Brahman a single entity from which the creation emanated, and into which it all dissolves ultimately. The desire of Brahman to create the world brought forth its creative energy, conceptualized as a feminine energy, which led to the emergence of the Hindu trinity Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the one who destroys so that the world can be created afresh. These three are the primary gods of whom only two are worshipped by most Hindus, but it is also understood that their powers are animated by the feminine creative principle, the goddess, who is worshipped either on her own or as a consort of each one of these gods in her various forms and with various attributes.
The two gods of the trinity most worshipped by Hindus are Vishnu, and Shiva. The worshippers of Vishnu are vaishnavas, and the worshippers of Shiva are shaiva. The worshippers of the Goddess are Shakta, although elements of Shaktism can be found in both Vaishnava as well as shaiva traditions; the degree of its prevalence depends upon the proclivities of the particulates sub tradition of these two primary streams. Brahma’s worship is not so widely prevalent; in fact, there exists only major active temple to Brahma in all of India, at pushkar in the state of Rajasthan. Historically, the worship of Vishnu is a result of the primacy attained by the brahmanical Vedic religion after the Aryan advent into India, while shaiva Shakta traditions are generally regarded as being prearyan, indigenous to the land, representing traditions which have greatly influenced other streams of worship within Hinduism, and which have themselves become modified with the passage of the centuries. Yet, one of the primary gods described in the Vedas is Rudra, considered by many to be a prearyan deity, also regarded as an earlier conception of the God shiva of the Hindu Trinity.

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THE SHAIVA SHAKTA TRADITION
Aghora represents a tradition which, in the present day, can be placed within the Shiva Shakti school of thought. Without going into the debates about the finer nature of its myriad streams, we will take a broad look at the Shaiva Shakti tradition as enunciated by scholars based on the writing sources derived from derived from various scriptural texts consisting of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the puranas that describe the number of shiva and his relation to Shakti. For example, the rig vada (approximately 1200 BCE) describes a fiery and terrifying God named Rudra, a god who is fierce but who provides blessings and rules benevolently over herbs. The rudradhyaya chapter of the yajur Veda describes rudra’s auspicious form, which is innately united with his feminine power, and is called Shiva (shiva). Within this description, shiva is embellished with the adjective Aghora. According followers of the tradition, the illustration implies that Rudra is shiva and shiva is aghora, a Sanskrit word which is known as ‘Aughar’ in the present times. Another name for Rudra Shiva in the rig Veda is pashupati, a god who protects the sheep, cows and horses. Agama and Tantra scriptures consider Shiva and Shakti to be inseparable. The illustration mentioned above from the yajur Veda leads to the conclusion that Rudra is Shiva only because he is inseparably joined with the feminine Shakti, Aghora. A huge cornucopia of Tantra literature has been composed to expand upon Rudra’s Shiva /Aghora from. It can be said that worshippers of Rudra’s Shiva or Aghora from are, interestingly, Shakti worshippers. Aughars, observers of the Shiva Shakti tradition, therefore, are regarded as a personified embodiment of Rudra, auspicious form, which is in constant union with his feminine power Shiva other scriptures mention several names for Rudra, namely Sadashiva, Ishana, Tatpurusha, Aghora, Vamdeva, Sadyojata, Harparvatirupa, Neelkanth, Ardhanarishwar pashupati, Neelagreeva, and chadeshwar. Quite commonly Shiva is attributed with five faces namely sadyojata, vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpursh with air and Ishana. Each one of these faces, according to the vishnudharmottara puruna, is associated with one of the five constituent elements of the cosmos. Sadyojata is associated with the earth element, vamadeva with water, Aghora with fire, Tatpursh and air and Ishana with space. When these five faces of Shiva are thought of in conjunction with these five constituent elements of the cosmos, then emerge the five name of shiva which are widely known today, namely Mahadeva which represent the earth, Bhairava which represents fire, Nandi representing air, Uma, for water and sadashiva, space.
Based on the specific doctrinal inclinations of practitioners, in the context of the various forms of shiva, ancient scriptures delineate four major shaiva sects named, pashupati, kapadaman and kapalika, or pashupati, Shaiva kalamukh, and kapalika. 6 The major literature of these four shaiva sects is known collectively as shaivagam. This literature, though, is sometimes further locally subdivided in the regions where they became popular, such as pashupata though, propounded by nakulish or lakulish, popular in Gujarat and the rajputana in the 3rd or 2nd century B.C., Shaiva siddhanta, revered in the Tamil region of south India, vir shaiva thought known in the Karnataka region of south India, and the prettyabhigya thought, which was centred in Kashmir and which is said to have been propounded primarily by the son of Rishi durwasa a sage by the name of Tryambak. All these name of Shiva and the various sects associated with them mentioned in the Vedic, tantric and puranic literature point to the fact that the populace worshipped rudra or shiva in various forms though a large part of India over the centuries, leading too many different traditions of Shiva Shakti worship. One amongst these was that of Aghora.

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The Aghora Tradition
Followers of the aghora tradition in the city of Banaras believe that this tradition was started by the god Shiva himself, and was propounded further by jagadguru Dattatreya (a historical figure who may have lived about 4000 years ago by some estimates, also mentioned in the epic Ramayana as the son of Rishi Atri and his wife Anusuya, Baba kaluram (during king Harishchandra’s time in ancient India), and by baba Kinaram since the 17th century. Chaturvedi, in fact, mentions several well known personalities from Hindu scriptures as having been a part of the Aghora tradition. These include, until the 10th century C.E., vishwamitra (said to be the mantra seer in the Kaushika Sutra of the Atharva Veda), Vamadeva, (a propounder of the left handed path of tantra and an important personality in the epic Ramayana), vashishtha (the guru of the Raghu lineage in the Ramayana), vashishtha (the guru of the Raghu lineage in the Ramayana, and regarded to be a worshipper of goddess Tara), Queen churala (wife of king shividhwaj mentioned in the Yogavashishtha), emperor vikramaditya (a popular king whose stories are still widely read in the Sanskrit text vetala panchavinshati), Aghoracharya (mentioned as having lived 1300 years ago, a personality popular with the Buddhist lamas in Tibet), Bhairavacharya (said to be the guru of king pushpabhuti, mentioned in Banabhatta’s Harsharita), and Abhinavagupta (the chief propounder of the Kashmir group of agamas said to have lived around the 10th century C.E. ).8 Chaturvedi also mentions sarvanand Thakur (born about 600 years ago in Mehar village of Tripura), Avadhut nagalingappa (born in the Nizam kingdom in 1860), and Aghoracharya of tarapeeth, Bamakhepa.

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THE F0UR SHAIVA SECTS
Let us consider the aforementioned four shaivite traditions to trace, very briefly, how scholars have shown their development. Mishra writes that shrikanth propounded the Shaiva School of thought where the living being is regarded as a pashu, a bound animal, who can realized it’s shiva nature by transcending the limits set by illusion. Here shiva is Brahma, the ultimate cosmic reality that can be found by meditation and other ascetic practice. Regarding the Pashupata School. U. p. Shah. Notes that some sources such as the epic Mahabharata, the shiva purana and the tantraloka ascribe this school to shrikantha (seen as an incarnation of shiva), while others consider it to have been established by Lakulisha or Nakulisha. He writes that lakulisha was the twenty eight and last incarnation of shiva, born into a Brshman family at kayavarohana (modern karvan) in the Baroda district of Gujarat. Images of lakulisha holding a staff in his left hand, a vase in the right hand and a bull looking up at him have been found from Ujjain dating back to the third or second BCE. He also states that the Lakulisha sect spread as far as to Kashmir, Nepal, Assam and Orissa. The reason for its popularity could have been that both celibates and householders could join it; there were no caste restrictions on who could be a member, some of their meditative practices included laughter, dance and music. Shah writes:
The Lakulisa pasupatas maintained their individuality by dress, by philosophy, and by mode of worship. Like other Saiva ascetics, they smeared their bodies with ashes wore a loincloth, kept matted hair, and wore the sacred thread. They used yogapatta, rosary beads, neck ormaments, armlets and bracelets or unlike other monks, the ascetics of the Lakulisa sect black dress....
David Lorenzen mentions that the pashupatas were the predecessors of the kalamukhas, and hold lakulisha in high esteem. They also smear ashes on their body and carry a staff. The kalamukhas seem to have been a part of the shaiva scenario from the 11th to the 13th centuries in the Karnataka region of south India. He cites sources that mention pashupatas and kalamukhas to have originated in Kashmir and then to have migrated to the Karnataka region. They had a very strong presence in this region and were divided into two main sub groups, the Shakti parishad and the simha parishad.
Regarding the kapalikas lorenzen writes that they seem to have originated in the Deccan or south India somewhere around the 5th or 6th century but became extinct by the 14th century. Most probably, they were assimilated into other shaiva tantric traditions such as the kanphatas and the Aghoris. The kapalikas are understood to have followed a socially transgressive, left hand path based on tantra, which included use of panchamakaras. As compared to the staff carried by the kalamukhas, the kalamukhas, he states, carried a trident. The kapalika worship also included eating from a skull bowl and offering of wine to the gods. They too eschewed caste principles and regarded mere initiation as sufficient to start one off right on the spiritual path. Lorenzen notes the description of Bhairavacharya, a kapalika ascetic, from the harsha charita of Banabhatta: Bhairavacharya, the saint who befriended Hara’s ancestor pushpabhuti, was also from south India (daksinatya) and also performed a tantric ritual appropriate for a kapalika. One of his three disciples, karnatala, was a dravida, and another, Titibha, carried a skull begging bowl (Bhairava, the form of the kapalika) in a box made of kharjura wood. Bhairavachya’s name indicates that he worshipped shiva as Bhairava, the form of the god held in especial esteem by tantric groups such as the kapalikas. Bana introduces him as the great Saiva saint named Bhairavacharya, almost a second over thrower of Daksa’s sacrifice, who belonged to the Deccan, but whose powers, made famous by his excellence in multifarious sciences, were like his many thousands of disciples, spread abroad over the whole spehere of humanity.
Lorenzen further explains that in the legend of the Dakshya’s sacrifice ceremony had been disrupted by shiva himself, and that shiva kapalin or kapaleshwara is the divine archetype of the kapalika ascetic. It is doubtful if kapalikas were ever so organized as to have lived in large, organized groups; rather, they are thought to have been individual ascetics roaming the countryside practicing their unorthodox religion. Dr. Dharmendra Brahmachari shastri points to the Rudrayamala Tantra story of how the sage vashishtha tried hard to attain enlightenment following the path propounded in the vedas, but did not succeed. He was then directed by the goddess to follow the path propounded in the Atharva Veda, and the one followed by the Buddhists, to realize the knowledge of kula (the kundalini energy). Followers of the Aghora tradition consider this to be a very important story because, as Shakta tradition consider this to be a very important story because, as Shastri writes, the main sources of this tradition can be traced back to the Atharva Veda and Brahmans, sutras and Upanishads associated with it, but that their practice are influenced and modified by Shakta Tantra and Buddhist Sahajayan schools of thought. These have found a place in the Aghora tradition in a highly transmuted form. Historically, the most important centres of aghora teaching have been mount Abu in Rajasthan and Girnar in Gujarat in western India Bodhgaya in Bihar and in many parts of Assam in eastern India, kashi in north India which has a large temple to kapaleshwar and at Hingalaj in sindh.
Today there are two main streams of Aughar saints namely Himali and Girnali. Since Himalayas are and regarded as an abode of God Shiva, the himali stream believes the Aghor tradition to have originated in the Himalayas and is say to have been propounded by gorakhnath. The second stream, Girnali, regards Dattatreya, the son of Rishi Atri and his wife Anusuya, as the propounder of the tradition. At Girnar is the most holy pilgrimage place for aghoris, called Datta paduka and Kathmandalu Tirth. Baba Kinaram, the founder of the Kinaram Sthal in Banaras, to have been initiated into the Aghor tradition by Dattatreya at Girnar.
While it is certainly difficult to pinpoint any single source for the preponderance and continuation of an ancient stream of philosophy and practice such as that of Aghora, especially since followers of this tradition, consider that God Shiva was the founder of this tradition it is worthwhile to look briefly at the two traditions which do seem to have carried it forwords. As mentioned, one can be said to be the jagadguru Dattatreya tradition, the other, that of Guru Gorakhnath.

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Dattatreya
There are many stories about the birth of Dattatreya. One tale found in the Markandeya purana tells that there was a Brahmin named kaushika who had fallen from his sacred path. His pious wife, Shandili, still loved and venerated him. Kaushika used to frequent a prostitute, and one day, when kaushika did not have any more money, she killed him out of her house. The heartbroken kaushika came home and his wife tried to make him happy. He asked her to take her to the prostitute’s house. As Shandili was doing so, though a set of accidental circumstances, her husband was cursed by Rishi Mandavya to die at sunrise. Shandili, who had great spiritual power due to her piety, stopped the sun in its tracks. That led to the whole business of the world come to a screeching halt. The gods went to Vishnu for advice in this matter and were directed to seek help from Anusuya, the wife of Rishi Atri. Anusuya persuaded shandili to let the sun progress on its course, thus returning life back to the world, while at the same time saving Shandili’s husband from death. The gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were so pleased with Anusuya that they asked her to request a boon. She asked that the tree gods be born from her womb as her children. The gods agreed in time she had son’s soma, an incarnation of Brahma Datta, an incarnation of Vishnu, and Durwasa, an incarnation of shiva. Datta renounced all attachment and took refuge inside a lake, but his followers waited for him outside for a 100 celestial years. To dissuade them datta came out of the lake with a beautiful lady. His followers were not dissuaded. Datta then proceeded to drink wine with the woman. Even that did not help. Finally, datta was pleased with their devotion and gave them the knowledge of the absolute.
The Bhavisyat purana narrates the story differently. The wives of the three gods are envious of Anusuya’s piety and ask their husbands to test her. The gods go to her ashram and demand that she serve them food while nude. Anusuya sprinkles holy water on them and turns them into babies, and proceeds to serve them in her Lap. When the three gods do not return, their wives then go to her and beseech her to give their husbands back. In return, Anusuya asks them to be born as children from her womb. Later on, the tradition of Dattatreya developed to include worshippers from both the Vaishnava and the shaiva traditions. As joshi write:
In the bhagavata purana, Dattatreya is considered to be Yogapatta. His school is not a stereotype, is still developing. The idea of trinity has developed fully into the form of Dattatreya, in the present form, is worshipped as an incarnation of all the three principle gods of the Hindu pantheon, viz. Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. His triple nature is shown either by three heads or six hands. This school has always stressed the idea of equilibrium the idea of synthesizing the two opposites very effectively and positively...The need of the times becomes, as it were, the main problem before the school and their promulgators though the side is never forgotten. In Shree Guru Datta upasana, the paduka pooja been given main importance. ‘Shree Guru Charitra’ is originally written by Avadhoot Guru Dattatreya himself and one shouldn’t have any doubts as regards this.
As is evident from the passage above, it is in Dattatreya that all of the trinity can be perceived. He is a figure worshipped equally by the vaishnavas, the shivas and shaktas, for he is also said to have developed all the schools of tantra that exist.

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Gorakhnath
Regarding the influence of Gorakhnath’s tradition on the Aughars, George Weston Briggs writes:
Aughars are followers of Gorakhnath who have not undergone the final ceremony of having their ears split. A legend is current, which serves to justify them in not completing initiation. Once two Siddhas (perfect yogis) tried to split the ear of a candidate who had been at Hing Laj; but they found that the slits closed as fast as they were made. So they gave up the attempt. Since then Aughars have dispensed with the custom. Briggs lists several legends of gorakhnath. One story says that formless creator, produced gorakhnath from the sweat of his own breast. Another legend from Nepal states that shiva recited the yoga doctrine to parvati once while they were at the seashore. Matsyendranath, the future guru of gorakhnath, was a fish in the sea at that time and heard the teachings. At that time he gave a woman something to eat with the promise that she will bear a son. The woman something to eat with the promise that she will bear a son. The woman did not eat the substance but cast it upon a dung hill instead. Twelve years later Matsyendra passed by the same spot and asked to see the child. When he heard what the woman had done they searched in the dung heap and discovered a boy of twelve years. That boy was named gorakhnath and Matsyendranath became his spiritual master. Briggs cites another version of this story from the tahqiqat I chishthi, where a devotee of shiva desirous of off spring received ashes from Shiva’s sacred fire. The devotee’s wife was to swallow the ashes but she, instead, threw it upon a dung hill. Eventually a child was found there who was named Gorakhnath by shiva.
Gorakhnath is supposed to be a true siddha, a perfect yogi with power over his own body and mind, over people as well as over gods. In fact, there is even a legend where Dattatreya and Gorakhnath are portrayed as playing at power. Briggs cities from Dabistan: the record of a contest of power between gorakhnath and a sannyasi, datateri, in which Gorakhnath disappeared in the water in the shape of a frog. But the sannyasi was able to find him and bring him forth. Then Datateri concealed himself in the water and Gorakhnath in spite of all his searching could not discover him, for he had become water, “and water cannot distinguished from water”.
Many attempts have been made by scholars to find the exact dates when gorakhnath existed. Some relate him to kabir, some with madhusudan saraswati, and some with jnana Deva:
The age of Gorakhnath or of his Guru Matsyendra is not known with certainty. The tradition connecting him with kabir (1500AD.) and with Madhusadana saraswati (1700AD.) is not probably of any historical value. But jnana Natha, alias jnana Deva, who is usually assigned to the thirteenth century, mentions his own spiritual pedigree in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita in which Gorakh Natha appears as his third predecessor thus: Adinatha, Matsyendra Natha, Gorakh Natha, Gahini Natha, Nivrtti Natha and jnana Natha. This would place Gorakh in the beginning of the 12th century AD. This date agrees with the tradition which makes Gorakh and Dharmanatha contemporaries and Dharmanatha is generally assigned to the 12th century A.D. But there are other views according to which Goraksa lived in 500 .A.D. or 700 A.D. 100 A.D.
However, Briggs even cites source that dates him back to 78 C.E. It is significant to note here that legends of Gorakhnath place him as hailing from Punjab, Bengal, and even Nepal(Gorkha the name of the place where he blessed the king of Gorkha who became the king(Prithivi narayan Shah) of Nepal. His Guru Matsyendranath(who resided in Nepal) is believed to be the Buddhist yogi Avalokiteshwara or padmasambhava, and their stories form substantial part of the Buddhist tantric lore. Shastri is of the opinion that aghora and sarbhanga traditions have sprung from the prevedic streams of thought are supported by Vedic tents, and are mediated by the tantra scriptures and Buddhist tantric principles. The philosophical tenets of the Buddhist Siddhas, such as the concepts of shunya (void) shunyalok (the world of nothingness), sahaj (natural easy), and khasam (husband), moon, sun, samras (‘constant flavour’), and so on, are found in ample evidence in the Aghora and sarbhanga literature as well. The tendency to contradict fossilized social traditions of Hindus as well as of Muslims, seen among Aghora and sarbhanga ascetics, is also found amongst the Buddhist Siddhas. The tendency towards infinite faith in guru, and non reliance, Buddhist siddha tradition, and the Aghora Sarbhanga traditions. The use of panchamakaras is found amongst Buddhist Siddhas as well as Aghorasarbhang ascetics. In the Buddhist tradition, pragya is a form of Shakti and Shakti is the primary goal of worship in tantra. Within the Buddhist traditions three exits a unique sub stream of tantric Buddhists whose philosophy and literature are very similar to the shaiva Shakta tantric literature. Thus, it appears that the Agamas and tantras influenced Buddhism, and the tradition of Buddhist Siddhas influenced the Aghora and sarbhanga traditions.
Like shastri, scholars like Mishra find ample evidence of the fundamental building blocks of Aghor philosophy and practice not only in the vedas, Upanishads and the puranas, but also into tantras of the shaiva Shakta tradition, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. He considers Aghora to be a ‘unique’ tradition, which cannot be subscribed exclusively to either the Dattatreya or the Gorakhnath tradition. In his opinion it is an ancient and valuable link not only between the Dattatreya and the Gorakhnath traditions, but also an important link between the tantra practices and philosophies of the Hindu and the Buddhist streams.
Since Aughar seekers have elements of tantra in their practice, and as their dress, appearance and behavior resemble that of the ascetic shiva, they are also called Avadhut, ascetics who wear necklaces of bones, live naked, and apply either ashes from the cremation ground or the paste of red sandalwood on their body, carry a staff, or deerskin or shiva’s hourglass drum in their hands. In fact, the words Aughar, Avadhut and Aghora are often used interchangeably for the same kind of Shakti worshipper. Some even think that it is impossible to be an Avadhut without being an Aughar. Seekers of the kinarami tradition use clay utensils and live a seek imposed life of poverty. They wear white, saffron or khaki clothes. They also wear a red loincloth, a jhool (a one piece long shirt made from rags) and a lungi, while some also go about without clothes. Shastri explains that Baba Kinaram and his followers regard a true saint to be an Avadhut. Etymologically this word implies ‘one who is discarded’. But followers of this tradition do not use it as this adjective, but as an adverb, which implies ‘one who controls his senses and desires, and discards this illusory world’. In a sense, an avadhuta acts as discarded by the world, which is to say that his life and behaviour are unique: they are of this own making. The word can call him names; criticize him, but all that matters not to him. He lives in the world, but he is not of it.

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BABA KINARAM
The biography of Baba Kinaram, founder of the kinaram Sthal in Banaras, gives important clues to the lifestyle, practices, and powers of Aughar saints. Baba kinaram was born in the ramgarh village near Banaras in a year 1620 according to the vikrami calendar (approximately 1563 CE). He is regarded as a spiritually enlightened person who had taken a physical form to complete what he did not finish in his last life. According to the custom of that time, despite his resistance he was married when he was just twelve years old. However three years later, a day before he had to go and bring his wife to her married home, he insisted on eating a dish of boiled rice and milk, a dish considered particularly on such occasions because this dish is used only in death rituals. The next day his family got the news that his wife had died the night before. This made the people wonder about how he came to know of his wife’s death in advance. He neither enjoyed the chores of the home nor was his heart into getting educated. One day, disenchanted with home life, he set out to wander and reached karo village in Gazipur district, where saint’s shivaram of the Ramanuja sect lived. Kinaram devoted himself to his guru’s service and was later initiated by him.
Shivaram Ji was a householder saint and when his wife died he decided to marry again. Kinaram did not like this and told him, “Maharaj if you bring another wife, I will find another guru”. Shivaram asked him to leave and kinaram walked away. He reached the village Naidih where he saw an old woman sitting alone, crying. On asking the reason for her sorrow she told him her son had been taken away by the zamindar’s henchmen because he couldn’t pay the taxes due. Baba kinaram went to the zamindar’s place and asked him release the boy. The zamindar find, if you can pay me the amount that is due, you can pay me the amount that is due, you can free the boy. Baba kinaram asked the landlord to dig the ground where the boy had been standing, when did so, they find a whole treasure-trove of money. The zamindar not only frees the old woman’s son but also paid his respects to baba. The old woman was so impressed by this deed of kinaram that she insisted he keep her son with him. Kinaram had no option, and he started his journey towards Girnar with his companion, the boy named Bijaram.
At Girnar, kinaram went alone to the top of the to meditate, and it is said he not only met with guru Dattatreya there and received divine knowledge from him, he was also initiated into the Aghor tradition by him. He wrote the essence of that knowledge in a book called the viveksar. Baba kinaram came down from the mountain and went to junagadh with Bijaram. It was the year 1724 by the vikram calendar (approximately 1668 CE) and something very interesting happened when Bijaram went out seeking alms according to his ascetic practice. He was caught and imprisoned by the Muslim ruler of junagadh. Bijaram saw that the jail was full of ascetics and seekers who were all made to grind grain on hand mills. There were 981 hand mills in the jail and Bijaram also got one. When Bijaram did not return, Baba kinaram, in his meditative state, discovered the reason for, it and thus himself went begging for alms in the city; he too was caught and put in jail. He looked at the hand mills gives to him in the jail and asked it to move. Nothing happened. Then he struck the hand mill with his staff and all the 981 mills began to move by themselves. When the ruler got to know of it, Baba kinaram was bought before him with his disciple Bijaram. The ruler showed his respect to kinaram and presented him with some gems as a gift. Baba kinaram popped two or three of them in his mouth and then spat them out saying, “These are nether sweet nor sour”, implying, of what use were these to him. The ruler asked Baba kinaram to give him another chance to serve him. Baba kinaram said okay, if that is what you want then give two pounds of flour in my name to even ascetic and seeker who comes into your town. The ruler agreed and by Baba kinaram’s blessing he got children to continue his lineage.
From junagadh baba kinaram went into the Himalayas where, after a long time spends ascetic practices, he came to the city of kashi and reached the cremation ground at Harishchandra Ghat. An Aughar saint by the name of Baba kaluram used to live there. His particular trait was to converse with and to feed chick peas to the skulls of the corpses waiting to be cremated. Baba kinaram was amazed to seeing this, but using but his own yogic power his prevented the skulls from answering Baba kaluram. Baba kaluram found out what had happened through his divine vision and Baba kinaram asked him to stop playing and go to his designated place. Baba kaluram said he was very hungry; could kinaram feed him some fish? Baba kinaram look at the river Ganges and said, “Ganga, give me a fish”. He said and this, and big fish jumped out of the water onto the river bank. Baba kinaram roasted it and the three of them had a meal. As they moved forward Baba kaluram pointed to a corpse floating in the river and said, look, that corpse is coming our way”. “Baba kaluram said “sir, that is not corpse, it is alive”. Baba kaluram challenged him saying “if it is alive, call it here”. Baba kinaram yelled out to the corpse from the river bank. The corpse floated to the bank and then stood up. Kinaram asked him to go home. When the mother of the corpse who had been brought alive heard of this miracle she came to kinaram and said, “Maharaj, you give him a new life, from today he belongs to you”. Baba kinaram took that man with him and named him Ramjiyawanram. This incident is supposed to have happened around 1754 vikram samvat (approximately 1698 CE). After seeing all that baba kinaram had done, baba kaluram revealed his divine form to him and took him to Krin kund at shivala in kashi, and told him this was Girnar, and that all places of pilgrimage were present here. One belief is that Baba kaluram initiated him at krin kund with the Aghor mantra, the other belief being that he was already initiated into the Aghor tradition by Guru Dattatreya at gimar. From that time onwards, Baba kinaram begin to live at krin kund. He established four Vaishnava ashrams in the name of his first guru, and four more Aghor ashrams in the name of his second guru. He is said to have relinquished his mortal frame in 1771 (1714 CE) at the age of 151 years.
Gupta mentions several other stories related the life of Baba Kinaram. One story relates an episode from the life of a barren Brahman woman who used to serve an old saint. She asked the saint for children but the saint told her that children were not destined in her fate. One day she met Baba kinaram and when she asked him to be blessed with children; he hit her with his stick four times. In due course she gave birth to four children. Another story Gupta mentions narrates an episode that took place in Darbhanga with the Maithila Brahmans. Kinaram, with a cat on his shoulder, riding a donkey reached Darbhanga and asked the Maithila Brahmans to give up their food restrictions. The Brahmans, naturally, were curious and asked him to show his authority by bringing their dead elephant back to life. Baba kinaram threw his cat on the elephant and made his donkey kick the dead elephant. The elephant stood up and the Maithila Brahmans began to eat meat and fish from that day on. Yet another story takes kinaram to Surat in Gujarat:
Kina Ram was also a defender of women. One day in Surat, Kina Ram found out that the people of the village were planning to throw a young widow and her illegitimate child into the sea. Kina Ram forbade them to do it but they insisted, saying that she was a corrupt woman. Kina Ram said, “Okay, but only if you throw the father of the child along with her. Just give me the word and I will name him for he is here and is one of you.” All of the men walked away with heads bent in same. Kina Ram ordered the woman to live near the tomb of Nar Singh. Later on, a tornado destroyed Surat city, and to this day it is said that the people there fear the name of Kina Ram. The theme of Kina Ram as the protector of fallen women persists in Banaras as well, where he has been looked upon as the patron saint of prostitutes. Even as recently as the 1950’s the prostitutes and nautch girls used to make offerings the sthala once a year.
Another story tells of Baba Kina Ram’s arrival at a religious feast organized by Baba Lotadas of Banaras, to which all saints of the city but kinaram had been invited. Kinaram went to the venue anyway and the vegetarian dishes on the plates of the guests turned into fish, while water in their cups turned into wine. Lotadas came out to investigate and found kinaram sitting outside. He invited to come inside and with the use of a mantra; kinaram turned the food back to its original state. Lotadas began to serve baba kinaram but all the food that he poured from his sacred magical pot into Baba kinaram’s skull bowl disappeared instantaneously. Lotadas apologized to Baba Kinaram and everyone feasted well. Gupta narrates another interesting story dealing with Raja Chet Singh of Banaras and Baba Kinaram:
One day Raja Chet Singh was sitting in his place when Kina Ram passed by wearing one wooden sandal with a dancing bell attached to it. The Raja, who loved music and dance, taunted Kina Ram by saying “What does a sadhu have to do with dancing bells?” Kina Ram replied “What do you have to do with rulership?” He then cursed Chet Singh that his lineage would be barren and that before long he would have to abandon his beautiful palace; nothing would be left except shitting pigeons. A few years later warren Hastings drove Chet Singh across the river and until 30 years ago, no heir was born to the family. Today it is said that the present Maharaja of Banaras had to ask the forgiveness of Avadhut Bhagwan ram in order to break the curse and obtain his son.