Avalokiteshvara. According to Deshpande, the Natha Sampradaya (Devanagari:नाथ संप्रदाय), is a development of the earlier Siddha or Avadhuta Sampradaya, an ancient lineage of spiritual masters. They may be linked to Kapalikas or Kalamukhas given they share their unorthodox lifestyle, though neither the doctrines nor the evidence that links them has been uncovered. The Nath Yogis were admired by Bhakti movement saint Kabir. Natha Panthis The Nath Sampradaya is traditionally divided into twelve streams or Panths. According to David Gordon White, these panths were not really a subdivision of a monolithic order, but rather an amalgamation of separate groups descended from either Matsyendranath, Gorakshanath or one of their students. However, there have always been many more Natha sects than will conveniently fit into the twelve formal panths. In Goa, the town called Madgaon may have been derived from Mathgram, a name it received from being a center of Nath Sampradaya Mathas (monasteries). Nath yogis practiced yoga and pursued their beliefs there, living inside caves. The Divar island and Pilar rock-cut caves were used for meditation by the Nath yogis. In the later half of the 16th century, they were persecuted for their religious beliefs and forced to convert by the Portuguese Christian missionaries. Except for few, the Nath yogi chose to abandon the village. Contemporary lineages The Inchegeri Sampradaya, also known as Nimbargi Sampradaya, is a lineage of Hindu Navnath c.q. Lingayat teachers from Maharashtra which was started by Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj. It is inspired by Sant Mat teachers as Namdev, Raidas and Kabir. The Inchegeri Sampraday has become well-known through the popularity of Nisargadatta Maharaj. Practices The Nath tradition has two branches, one consisting of sadhus (celibate monks) and other married householder laypeople. The householders are significantly more in number than monks and have the characteristics of an endogamous caste. Both Nath sadhus and householders are found in Nepal and India, but more so in regions such as West Bengal, Nepal, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. The ascetics created an oversight organization called the Barah Panthi Yogi Mahasabha in 1906, based in the Hindu sacred town of Haridwar. According to an estimate by Bouillier in 2008, there are about 10,000 ascetics (predominantly males) in the Nath ascetic order, distributed in about 500 monasteries across India but mostly in northern and western regions of India, along with a much larger householder Nath tradition. The oldest known monastery of the Naths