Mahasiddha Kṛṣṇapāda, the Great & Rongzompa

Atiśa (980–1054) considered Rongzompa to be an incarnation of the Indian ācārya Kṛṣṇapāda, the Great.

Mahasiddha Khanapa… Kānhapa / Krsnācharya (nag po pa): “The Dark Master”/”The Dark-Skinned One”....Kṛṣṇācārya, Kṛṣṇāpāda, Kānhupāda, Kānphā, Kaṇha-pa, Kāṇha, ācārya Caryāpa, Kaniphanāth, Kānarī-nāth?, Kānupā....Kanhapa (Krishnacharya), the "Dark Siddha";

The Mahasiddha Kanhapa (Krsnacarya), The Dark Siddha......The Legends of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas (Grub thob brgyad bcu tsa bzhi'i lo rgyus) by Mondup Sherab orally dictated by Abhayadatta Sri (12th c.) and Vajra Songs: the Heart Realizations of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas (Grub thob brgyad bcu rtogs pa'i snying po rdo rje'i lu) by Vira Prakash, translated by Keith Dowman with Bhaga Tulku Pema Tenzin; introduction and commentaries by Keith Dowman; cover and 20 line drawings by H. R. Downs; published by the State University of New York Press, Albany, NY., 1985,

"Kanipa Nath.......The great Siddha yogi Kanipa was one of most remarkable personalities amongst the Māhasiddhas of the Tantrik traditions of India and Tibet. In different stories he appearing under various names, as Kṛṣṇācārya, Kṛṣṇāpāda, Kānhupāda, Kānphā, Kaṇha-pa, Kāṇha, ācārya Caryāpa, Kaniphanāth, Kānarī-nāth?, Kānupā and more. It is seems as the established historical fact that he was the chief disciple of the Natha Siddha Jalandhar Nath, and live at the same period of time with the Guru Goraksh Nath, whom he have met few times. He appeared as the remarkable and powerful yogi in the Indian Śaiva tradition of the Nātha yogis and in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of the Vajrayana Māhasiddhas. The both traditions agree that he was prominent Siddha yogi and at the same time paṇḍita (highly learned man), and had lot of disciples.".....The Great Natha Siddhas

"Guru Goraksh Nath......Gorakshanath (also known as Gorakhnath) was an 11th to 12th century Hindu Nath yogi, connected to Shaivism as one of the two most important disciples of Matsyendranath, the other being Caurangi.....Traditionally, Guru Gorakshanath is believed to have been born sometime in the 8th century, although some believe he was born hundreds of years later. He traveled widely across the Indian subcontinent, and accounts about him are found in some form in several places including Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Punjab, Sindh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Assam, Bengal, Kathiawar(Gujarat), Maharashtra, Karnataka, and even Sri Lanka......

"Judith Simmer-Brown (2001: p. 127), in her exposition of the charnel ground conveys how great mahasiddhas in the Nath and Mantrayana Buddhadharma traditions such as Tilopa (988–1069) and Gorakṣa (fl. 11th – 12th century) yoked adversity to till the soil of the path and accomplish the fruit, the "ground" (Sanskrit: āśraya; Wylie: gzhi) of realization....."..... (2001). Dakini's warm breath: the feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism.

"The Nath tradition is a heterodox siddha tradition containing many sub-sects. It was founded by Matsyendranath and further developed by Gorakshanath. These two individuals are also revered in Tibetan Buddhism as Mahasiddhas (great adepts) and are credited with great powers and perfected spiritual attainment......The establishment of the Naths as a distinct historical sect purportedly began around the 8th or 9th century.....

"There exist three principal legends about him considerably different from each other, one which was circulating as oral tradition amongst the Nātha Yogis and in the form of folklore tales, and second was presented in the book Caturaśīti-siddha-pravṛitti amongst the stories of eighty-four Mahasiddhas under number 17. The third variation of his biography was presented by Lama Taranatha in two of his books ‘The Seven Instruction Lineages’ and ‘The Live of Kṛṣṇācārya/Kāṇha’. ".....https://sites.google.com/site/nathasiddhas/kanipa-nath

"Most extensive account of his life was given by the famous Tibetan historian Lama Tara Natha in two his works, ‘The Seven Instruction Lineages’ and ‘Live of Kṛṣṇācārya/Kāṇha’, which vary in details from above mentioned. In the book The Seven Instruction Lineages author says that popular belive existed at his time among Tibetans was that Kṛṣṇācāri was born in the country called Karṇa, while in accordance with the oral tradition existed amonst Natha Yogis at that time, he was born in the city Pādyanagar, which also was called Vidyānagar (Vijayanagar). ‘Furthermore, as Vidyānagar is quite close to Karṇa, the early Tibetan accounts appear to be quite similar to the Indian oral accounts’. In accordance with old traditions of Indians he was of the Brāhmana caste, and old Tibetan tradition says that he was of Ārya (noble) family.".....The Great Natha Siddhas

"Tara Natha says that there was even existing prophesy of Buddha about the incarnation of Kṛṣṇācāri. In accordance with it, he would be born in country Uruvica (Uruviśa), which is in accordance with Taranātha’s guru Buddhagupta Nātha, the same with Odivica, the country which close to Bengal (modern Urissa). Prophesy further saying that there was not yogi equal to him in Jambu-dvīpa (the Indian sub continent) before, not it will happen in future.

It says that he would have six disciples, which would trancend the existence of their bodies and attain Mahāmudrāsiddhi. Few letters of his name were also predicted by that prophesy. Names of those six disciples it is said were Bhadrapāda, Mahila, Bhadala, the novice Tshem.bu.pa, Dhamapa and Dhumapa. Some say that Bhadala, Bhadra or Bhadrapāda were identical. Instead of them they add Eyalā or yoginī Mekhalā and Kamakhalā) or Bande.

In his other book Five historical Works of Tāranātha, the author gives more detailed biography of Kānhapā. It is said that his birth place to be in Eastern India, in the Kingdom of Gaura in an area called Oruviśa, near Bengal. .....In accordance with book Śrīnāthatīrthāvalī, composed by Raja Mansing of Jodhpur in 19th century, there exist place situated on Kalaśācal mountain in Rajastan, connected with his name. It is told that he performed his penance there. His twelve years long penance were mentioned in Caturaśīti-siddha-pravṛitti, but without defining the exact place where it has taken place."

".... the Vajrayana tradition of Tibet and Sahaja tradition of Bengal place him quite high in the list of their acaryas (teachers) and reverently call him ‘Paṇḍit-ācārya’and ācārya Caryāpa. .... First list shows the lineage of transmission which was accepted by Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, in accordance with the book ‘History of Buddhism in Tibet’ by Sumpa-mkhan-po-Yeshes.

In accordance with it, first stands name of

(1)Dorje Chang, who also known as Deity Vajradhara, after him comes (2)Vajrapāni, who is another celestial Guru.

Then comes

(3) Mahasiddha Saraha, folloved by names of (4) Nāgārjuna, (5) Śavari, (6) Lūipa, (7) Vajraghaṇtā, (8) Kacchapāda, (9) Jālandhara, (10) Kāṇha, (11) Guhya, (12) Vijayapāda, (13) Tilopa, (14) Nāropa, (15) A newar Phum-mthing the greater,

(16) Ngag-dVang-Grags-pa or Ngag-dVang-Phyūg, (17) Ngag-gi-dVang-phyug, (18)gLag-Skya-Shes-rab-brtregs, (19) Sakyapa Hierarh Phag-pa...."

"On the basis of existing historical evidence, some researches have expressed the view that there was existing not only one Kṛṣṇācārya, but two or even three of them. In accordance with some of Tibetan sources, Kṛṣṇācārya shown as being direct or indirect disciple of Kānhupā. Lama Taranatha also mentioned existence of ‘yonger Kṛṣṇācāri’."

" In the lineage of Hevajra transmission, in accordance with Taranatha,

first comes name Śākyamuni, then Indrabhūti, Mahāpadmavajra, Anaṅgavajra, Saroruha, Indrabhūti younger, Jālandhara, Kāṇha, Bhadrapa, Tilopa and Naropa...."

" The most puzzling question about these two yogis is: ‘How is it happened that they became famous as being two of the most prominent Śaiva yogis and Vajrayana Mahasiddhas at the same time?...It seems that key point to settle this matter can be found in the Hevajra Tantra, the practices of which both of them were practicing. The text of this tantra presently available in form of many different manuscripts, few of which were published by different scholars. One of most famous of them is the text of Hevajra Tantra, with commentary by Kanhupa called Hevajra-pañjikā or Yoga-ratnamālā, which was published in 1959. After closely examining it, one can see that this Tantra, although being Buddhist by declaration, in reality included many Śaiva elements of worship, and those of them which were related to Kapalika practices in particular. ".....https://sites.google.com/site/nathasiddhas/kanipa-nath