The Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis, who criticised ritual and the caste system and helped popularise devotional religion, were active mainly in:

Between about the 9th and 14th centuries, groups called the Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis became popular in northern India.

Who they were:

• The Siddhas (also called Siddhacharyas) were teachers of tantric practice, many of whom wrote in early forms of Apabhramsha, Bengali and Hindi.
• The Nathpanthis were followers of the "Nath" tradition, associated with the yogi Matsyendranath and his disciple Gorakhnath.
• Gorakhnath is linked with "Hatha Yoga", a system of physical and breathing exercises meant to control the body and mind.
• The city of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh takes its name from him, and the Gorakhnath Math there is an important centre of the tradition.

What they taught:

• They criticised the rituals and other aspects of conventional religion and the social order.
• They rejected the authority of the caste system and of priests.
• They advocated renunciation of the world.
• They believed that the path to salvation lay in meditation on the formless ultimate reality and in realising oneness with it.
• They used simple, logical arguments, and their teachings were spread through songs and sayings in the language of ordinary people.

Their influence:

• Their ideas became very popular among the "lower" castes and ordinary people.
• Their criticism of ritualism and caste prepared the ground for later Bhakti saints of northern India, such as Kabir.
• NCERT history textbooks describe them as among the new religious groups that emerged in this period, alongside the Bhakti movement.
• Nath literature, such as the songs about Gopichandra and Maynamati, was popular in Bengal and other regions.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Tamil Nadu was the home of the earlier Bhakti saints, the Alvars and Nayanars.
• ✗Kerala and the Deccan had other religious movements, but the Nathpanthis and Siddhas are associated mainly with northern India.