Gorakshanath and his precept Matsyendranath are revered through out India as an paragon of the mentor-disciple relationship.

Matsyendranath is known in many stories and legends in traditional Puranas and other literature. He is known by many names. However, some of the common features are as follows : He came to know of Yoga through Shiva without any human mentor. He was contemporary to Jalandharnath. Gorakshanath was amongst his most prominent disciples. Matsyendranath was once carried away in the colonies of Yoginis at Kadaliban,where he was misled to lead a life full of carnal and other kinds of desires. Gorkshanath successfully rescued him from the yoginis.

It is difficult to arrive at a conclusion regarding the place of the incidence. There are various claims about him. Some of the scholars claim that Matsyendranath and Meenanath were one and the same. Similarly, some of the scholars claim that Tibetan Luipa and Matsyendranath are one and the same person.

Timespan of Matsyendranath : He is claimed to have existed in eighth to ninth century as the earliest as and not later than 1015.

Since he is mentioned in Kauladnyananirnaya, he can not be placed after 11th century. Since it consists of legends of Matsyendranath, he must have existed about a century before 11th century. The Minapa of Tibet (who was presumed to be the Matsyendranath himself) existed during the reign of Devapal in Tibet, during 809 – 849 A.D. Since Jalandharnath existed during the same period. Dr.Dhere opines that it is only the mention of Abhinavgupta which seems to be reliable, and period of Gorakshanath can be ascertained as the 11th century.

Works of Matsyendranath : It can be classified into two groups.

Akulveer Tantram: In two different versions it consists of 91 and 142 verses respectively.
Kulananda Tantram: It is in the form of conversation with Bhairava-devi. It consists of 60 verses in Sanskrit.
Dnyanakarika:It consists of 3 chapters and 87 verses.

Yogavishaya: It consists of 33 verses
Other assorted works: There are some references claiming a Sanskrit work named Matsyendrasamhita.

Meditation during the period of Goraksha : It consisted of Kapalika, Vajrayana, Yoga tradition, Jain sidhdha types of meditations and practices allied with it.(The chapter describes them in detail)

Time of Goraksha :
Many researchers claim the time of Goraksha to be from 8th to 14th century as follows:
Dr.Shahidulla: 8th century
Dr. Mohan Singh: 8-9th century
Dr. Bagachi: 9-10th century
Pt. Sankrutyayana: 9th century
Haraprasadshastri: 9th century
Dr. Dwiwedi: 10-11th century
Dr. Badathwal: 11th century
Dr. Farkuhr: 12th century
Prof. Briggs: 12th century
Shri Ramchandra Shukla: 11-13th century

The opinions restricting to 11th and 12th century are worth the consideration. Allauddin destroyed the temple at Gorakhapur in 13th century. An inscription at Somnath in 1287 refers to Gorakshanath. Thus the evidences indicating his existence after 1287 A.D. need not be considered. ‘Tantraloka’ salutes Matsyendranath. Tantraloka was composed in 1015 A.D. Thus the probable time of Gorakshanath falls between 1015-1287 A.D.

Dr.Dhere concludes that Gorakhnath existed during 1015 to 1150A.D. based on the following observations.

Places of Gorakshnath :
Some of the evidences related to the name of place or the spread of the sect claim it to be Punjab, Nepal etc. However, there is no direct evidence to support the claim. Dr. Dhere claims that the Nath sect originated at Shri Shaila and initially spread in the south India. Many literary references such as Yogisampradayavishkriti, Pothi Ratan-gyan etc. mention existence of Gorakshanath at the banks of Godavari. One mentions of Chandragiri at the bank of Godavari. It existed near Nasik-Triyambakeshwar.

Information about Gorakshanath.
According to Mohan Singh, Goraksha could be an illegitimate son of a Hindu widow. Dr. Dvivedi presumes him to be of Brahmana origin. According to Dr.Dhere he could be born to a Kashmiri Brahmana family settled in south India. He must be of fair complexion. He had taken to bachelorhood and his determination for abstinence was revered. He had traveled widely across the entire India. He was a devout follower of his teacher Matsyendranath in spite of the spiritual down-fall of the teacher. Memorial monument is claimed to be near Nevase in the district of Nagar. According to other claims, it is near Girnar.
His disciples: He had a wide following across India; they include Amaranath and Gahininath from Maharashtra, Bhartrihari from Ujjaini, Gopichand from Bengal, Vimaladevi.