The Nath Sampradaya (Nath Panth) is a diverse South Asian religious and yogic tradition especially associated with revered teachers such as Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath. It includes Shaiva devotion, yogic discipline, teachings transmitted through gurus, and communities of both renunciants and householders. Some Nath groups emphasize monastic life; others preserve household, regional, or vernacular forms of practice.
The tradition is not one uniform organization with a single set of beliefs or a historically uncontested founder. Traditional narratives link its origins to primordial gurus, especially Shiva as Adinath, while historical scholarship examines the formation of identifiable Nath communities in medieval South Asia. An introduction should respect both the tradition's self-understanding and the limits of historical evidence.