Paramahamsa Madhavdas

Paramahamsa Madhavdasji परमहंस माधवदासजी
Photo of the Bengali yogi Paramahamsa Madhavdasji, was shot some time between 1900 and 1920 but the exact date is unknown.
Personal life
Born	1798 Bengal
Died	1921 Malsar Malsar, near Baroda, Gujarat
Nationality	Indian
Known for	Pioneering modern yoga Hatha Yoga
Honors	Paramahamsa, Maharaj
Religious life
Religion	Hinduism
Order	Vaishnavism
School	Yoga
Religious career
Disciples Shri Yogendra Swami Kuvalayananda

Paramahamsa Madhavdasji (1798–1921) was an Indian yogi, Yoga guru and Hindu monk in the 19th century. He was born in 1798 in Bengal. He was initiated as a Sadhu (monk) and entered the order of Vaishnavism. He traveled across India on foot for nearly 35 years for knowledge of Yoga practice. His notable disciple includes Swami Kuvalayananda and Shri Yogendra.

Biography

He was born in 1798 to a Mukhopadhyaya family in Bengal in a small village near Shantiopur in the Nadia District of present-day West Bengal. He worked as a clerk in the judicial department but later quit the job. Paramahamsa Madhavdasji made efforts to learn different traditions. After travelling through Assam, Tibet, the Himalayas and various other places in India, he had an opportunity to have first-hand knowledge of Yoga techniques. He was also a follower of Bhakti order of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at the beginning and later to the Vaishnavism order influenced by Gauranga.

In 1869, Madhavdasji joined a large Sadhu community, who elected him as their leader at Vrindavan (now in Uttar Pradesh) in 1881. But Madhavdas was not satisfied with these activities among the sadhus. He was eager to reduce the sufferings of the commoner. Later, he came to Gujarat and started teaching Yoga Vedanta. he eventually settled down at Malsar village near Baroda on the banks of the Narmada River in Gujarat, where he tought the secrets of practicing yoga to a few selected and deserving disciples. At the age of 123, Paramahamsa Madhavadasaji died in 1921.

Madhavdas Vacuum

A noted researcher of Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center, Swami Kuvalayananda discovered the creation of negative pressure in the colon during Nauli, one of the Yoga kriyas for the first time in the year 1924. The discovery of a partial vacuum in the colon during Nauli was named Madhavdas Vacuum after Paramahamsa Madhavdasji by Swami Kuvalayananda.