Since the end of the nineteenth century, yoga has beenused by Indian gurus as a tool for highlightingIndia's philosophical and spiritual relevance in theworld. This trend has become a more explicitpolitical strategy in the last few years, sinceModi's government, capitalizing on the widespreaddiffusion of yoga practices in the world, decided toinvest in yoga as a form of soft power.

Considering the fact that today yoga attractsindividuals of all ages and social backgrounds, itcomes as no surprise that the order traditionallyassociated with it, the Nāth sampradāya, would try to fit into thisyogascape. This would mark an historicaldiscontinuity, as the practice of haṭha yoga,according to several scholars (see below), has beenabsent from Nāth practice for quite some time.

In this chapter I will briefly analyze the historicalrelationship of haṭha yoga and the Nāth sampradāya and then, usingethnographic data, evaluate the role that today thisform of yoga has among Nāths. To follow, after ashort theoretical overview on the role of yoga as asymbol of cultural nationalism and as aninternational practice, I will focus on two examplesof what I call the “re-appropriation” of haṭha yoga:the textually prolific work of Yogī Vilāsnāth, whois also engaged in proselytizing at theinternational level, and the more local activitiesof the Gorakhnāth temple of Gorakhpur organized byYogī Śivanāth, through a description of the yogaśivir (yoga camp)held in Gorakhpur on the occasion of the 2018International Day of Yoga.