JNANESWAR MAHARAJ OF ALANDI 

NATH SAMPRADAYA

According to legends, Adinath was the founder of this great Nath Sampradaya that attracted the intellectuals more than the laymen. This Adinath who founded this was no other than Lord Sankara. It happened that Sankara once gave a series of discourses to Parvathi on philosophical subjects, on the shore of kshetra sindhu. He then explained all about the mysteries of man and Nature, deeming the shore was the fittest place, and secrets of creation and means for salvation would be secrets for ever, not knowing that the aquatic animals could listen to them also. Lord Mahavishnu desiring to learn them entered the belly of a fish and heard the entire discourse. He mastered. Matsyendranath born to that fish became the chief acharya to spreading that philosophy and became its founder too. It is believed that he was the avatara of Avalokitesvara and the founder of Kaulamarga. It is nothing more nor less than the Advaitic philosophy of acharya Adi Sankara. It caught the imagination of both scholars and laymen soon. As he moved from place to place on this mission and established his new creed through the miracles he made for the benefit of the afflicted now and then out of humanitarianism, it spread fast and took deep roots. His followers grew in large numbers. With a wide net-work of several branches, it covered soon almost all the states. During the desaparyatana, Matsyendranath came to saptasringi mount Pitying the mutilated Chaurangi - another name for Sarangadhara, the son of Rajarajendra who ruled from the present Rajahmundry, he sprinkled water from his Kamandal. 

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