The Shangpa Kagyu lineage was founded by the eleventh-century Tibetan scholar Khyungpo Nenjor. Seeking to increase his understanding of the teachings he received in Tibet, he traveled to India, where he met the female mystic yogini, Niguma. (Vajradhara Niguma is the full Tibetan name of the Indian yogini Vimalashri. He received many teachings from her; in particular, the teachings of a special tradition of Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Niguma, which are similar but not identical to the Six Dharmas of Naropa.