Gorakhnath. Some members of this
community believed that perfecting
their bodies through yogawould make
them immortal. This idea appears in the
song through its description of
Gopichand’s mother Mayana, who has
power over Death himself. In some ver-
sions of the story Mayana’s religious pre-
ceptor is identified as a low-caste
sweeper, while in others it is the sage
Gorakhnath himself. Two versions of
this song have been translated by G. A.
Grierson in the Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, the first published in
1878 and the second in 1885.
Gopuram
In the Dravidastyle of temple architec-
ture, which was mainly prevalent in
southern India, gopurams are the ornate
temple gateways in the center of the
temple’s perimeter walls. Temples built
in the Dravida style tend to be shorter
than temples built in the northern
Indian Nagarastyle, but compensate for
this by stretching over vast areas, often
forming towns in their own right. There
are usually four gopurams, one for each
of the cardinal directions; in some cases
these gopurams are ten stories tall and
can be seen for miles from the sur-
rounding countryside. The gopurams
were originally fortified gateways built
to restrict access to the temple, but in
present times their function is more
decorative. By dominating the skyline
around the temple—much like spires of
Gothic cathedrals—gopurams are a
pronouncement about the power of
the resident deities (and their client
rulers); they have also helped to educate
the faithful, since they are usually
covered with sculptures detailing
mythological themes.Gora
(1267–1397?) Poet and saint in the
Varkari Panth, a religious community
centered around the worship of the
Hindu god Vithoba at his temple at
Pandharpur in modern state of
Maharashtra. According to tradition,
Gora was a potter, which by the stan-
dards of the time was a very low-status
occupation; Gora’s inclusion as one of
the Varkari saints helps underscore theGopuram
Towering gopurams mark the gateways to the Brhadeshvar Temple in Tanjore.