Jason Birch
University of Oxford, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Department Member
- SOAS University of London, Languages and Culture of South Asia, Department MemberUniversity of Alberta, History and Classics, Department Memberadd
- Yoga, Hathayoga, Sanskrit language and literature, Hinduism, Oriental Studies, Digital Humanities, and 41 moreVedanta, Hatha Yoga, Gorakhnath, Tantra, Tantric Studies, Buddhism, Indology, South Asian Studies, Indian Philosophy, Bhagavad Gita, Codicology, Manuscripts, Orality, Oral Traditions, Brahmanism, Kashmir Shaivism, Shaiva Tantra, Mimesis, Shastra, Dharmasutras, Indian studies, Sanskrit, Asceticism, Yoga Philosophy, Indian Buddhism, Yoga Meditation, Modern Yoga Studies, South Asia, Śaivism, Yogis, Textual Criticism, Ayurveda (Sanskrit language and literature), Buddhist Philosophy, Indian Literature, Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Medicine, Archaeology, Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and Opacedit
- Co-Director of the Yogacintāmaṇi Project, University of Massachusetts, Boston (current). Faculty Associate of Asian a... moreCo-Director of the Yogacintāmaṇi Project, University of Massachusetts, Boston (current). Faculty Associate of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford (current). Research Associate at SOAS University of London (current). Honorary Associate of Asian Studies, University of Sydney (current). Senior Research Fellow, The Haṭhapradīpikā Project, SOAS University of London (2021–2023). Visiting Researcher on the Suśruta Project, University of Alberta (2020–2023). Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2020–2015), The Hatha Yoga Project at SOAS University of London. Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2015), The AyurYog Project at The University of Vienna. Research Associate (2014) at the Oxford Centre of Hindu Studies. DPhil in Oriental Studies (2013–2008), University of Oxford. Founding member of the Journal of Yoga Studies and SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies.edit
Writing in Varanasi in the sixteenth century, when the Mughal empire was at the height of its power, the monk Śivānandasarasvatī composed an extensive Sanskrit compendium on yoga entitled “The Wish-fulfilling Gem of Yoga” (Yogacintāmaṇi).... more
Writing in Varanasi in the sixteenth century, when the Mughal empire was at the height of its power, the monk Śivānandasarasvatī composed an extensive Sanskrit compendium on yoga entitled “The Wish-fulfilling Gem of Yoga” (Yogacintāmaṇi). Śivānanda was an initiate of a sannyāsin lineage descending from the great philosopher Śaṅkarācārya (fl. ca. 800). Śivānanda was among the first to combine Pātañjalayoga with Haṭha and Rājayoga. In the seventeenth century, an anonymous redactor used Śivānanda’s work to create a unique compilation of yoga postures (āsana), many of which are not found in other yoga texts. Arguably the largest surviving pre-modern compilation of its kind, it includes six postures that the redactor attributed to Mohan of Mewar, who was a disciple of Dādū and a practitioner of Haṭhayoga and breath prognostication (svarodaya). These postures were part of a collection that was appropriated and repurposed by Sufis, translated into Persian and illustrated for a royal treatise commissioned by Prince Salīm, the future Mughal emperor Jahāngīr (r. 1605–1627 CE). This book presents this unique compilation, transmitted to us in a manuscript written in the redactor’s own handwriting.
Research Interests:
The Lineage of Immortals (Sanskrit Amaraugha) is the earliest account of a fourfold system of yoga in which a physical practice called Haṭha is taught as the means to a deep state of meditation known as Rājayoga. The Amaraugha was... more
The Lineage of Immortals (Sanskrit Amaraugha) is the earliest account of a fourfold system of yoga in which a physical practice called Haṭha is taught as the means to a deep state of meditation known as Rājayoga. The Amaraugha was composed in Sanskrit during the twelfth century and attributed to the author Gorakṣanātha. The physical yoga practices have a pre-history in a tantric Buddhist milieu but were here adapted for a Śaiva audience. The treatise explains how Śaiva yogis move kuṇḍalinī, unite Śakti with Śiva, and achieve Rājayoga. Three hundred years later, the author of the Haṭhapradīpikā incorporated almost all the Amaraugha's verses on Haṭhayoga into his own work, which became a definitive exposition of physical yoga. The study of the Amaraugha reveals not only the genesis of Haṭha and Rājayoga but also the creation of the most influential model of Haṭhayoga in the early modern period. This book presents the first critical edition and annotated translation of the Amaraugha, as well as a later recension, called the Amaraughaprabodha, with an introduction that explores the profound significance of both works for the history of yoga.
To order a copy, please write to Shanti at the EFEO ([email protected])
This pdf is a sample of the first fourteen pages only.
To order a copy, please write to Shanti at the EFEO ([email protected])
This pdf is a sample of the first fourteen pages only.
Research Interests:
Wujastyk, Dominik, Jason Birch, Andrey Klebanov, Madhu K. Parameswaran, Madhusudan Rimal, Deepro Chakraborty, Harshal Bhatt, Vandana Lele, and Paras Mehta. On the Plastic Surgery of the Ears and Nose. The Nepalese Version of the... more
Wujastyk, Dominik, Jason Birch, Andrey Klebanov, Madhu K. Parameswaran, Madhusudan Rimal, Deepro Chakraborty, Harshal Bhatt, Vandana Lele, and Paras Mehta. On the Plastic Surgery of the Ears and Nose. The Nepalese Version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā. Heidelberg: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing, 2023. https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1203.
Research Interests:
In this chapter, we formulate a corpus of premodern praxis manuals on yoga that were composed in the 18th and 19th century in rudimentary Sanskrit and vernacular languages, which were likely documenting collections of yoga postures... more
In this chapter, we formulate a corpus of premodern praxis manuals on yoga that were composed in the 18th and 19th century in rudimentary Sanskrit and vernacular languages, which were likely documenting collections of yoga postures (āsana) current among practitioners of the time. Much of their detailed, praxis-focused content does not occur in the scholarly Sanskrit yoga treatises that predate them, and yet most of these manuals have received little attention in academic publications. Our analysis and comparative study of this material has identified three distinct collections of complex āsana that can be located to different geographical regions of India on the eve of colonialism. This research provides evidence for premodern āsanas that crossed sectarian and linguistic divides and were adopted by the gurus who popularised yoga in the early 20th century. This latter issue underlies contemporary debates on the continuity of modern postural yoga within the Indian tradition. Until this study, clear lines of transmission from premodern teachings on āsana to modern postural yoga have eluded academic research.
Research Interests:
The Yogārṇava ('the ocean of yoga') is a Sanskrit compendium on yoga that has not been published, translated or even mentioned in secondary literature on yoga. Citations attributed to it occur in several premodern commentaries and... more
The Yogārṇava ('the ocean of yoga') is a Sanskrit compendium on yoga that has not been published, translated or even mentioned in secondary literature on yoga. Citations attributed to it occur in several premodern commentaries and compendiums on yoga, and a few published library catalogues report manuscripts of a work on yoga called the Yogārṇava. This article presents the results of the first academic study of the text. It has attempted to answer basic questions, such as the work's provenance and textual sources. The authors then discuss the importance of the Yogārṇava within the broader history of yoga based on their identification of citations and parallel verses in other Sanskrit texts and a detailed analysis of the Yogārṇava's content.
Research Interests:
The Haṭha- and Rājayoga texts which were composed before the Haṭhapradīpikā (mid-fifteenth century CE) provide a window onto what might be considered the formative phase of these types of yoga. This chapter will present the first survey... more
The Haṭha- and Rājayoga texts which were composed before the Haṭhapradīpikā (mid-fifteenth century CE) provide a window onto what might be considered the formative phase of these types of yoga. This chapter will present the first survey of this corpus' content on liberation (moḳsa) and meditative absorption (generally known as samādhi). Although each text contains distinctive features and teachings, this survey reveals the principal meaning of the term rājayoga and several pervasive themes, such as the transformational role of the practice of samādhi and the general acceptance of liberation-in-life (jīvanmukti) as the goal of yoga. After discussing the relationship between Rājayoga and liberation-in-life, an essential conception of which can be traced back to earlier Kaula traditions, the chapter concludes by examining how the author of the Haṭhapradīpikā interpreted this relationship and resolved the tension between transcendence and power, which is apparent in many of the earlier works.
Research Interests:
The aim of this article is to provide a framework for examining the textual sources on Haṭhayoga that were composed from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. After a brief introduction to the early history of Haṭha- and Rājayoga, the... more
The aim of this article is to provide a framework for examining the textual sources on Haṭhayoga that were composed from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. After a brief introduction to the early history of Haṭha- and Rājayoga, the main section of the article focuses on the salient features of the late literature on Haṭhayoga by dividing the texts into two categories; ‘extended works’ and ‘compendiums.’ The extended works expatiate on Haṭhayoga as it was formulated in the Haṭhapradīpikā, whereas the compendiums integrate teachings of Haṭhayoga within a discourse on yoga more generally conceived. Both etic categories include scholarly and practical works which, when read together in this way, reveal significant changes to the praxis and theory of Haṭhayoga on the eve of colonialism. The article concludes with a brief discussion on the regional distribution of the literature of Haṭhayoga during this period and how the codification of its praxis and theory appears to have diverged in different regions.
Research Interests:
The Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati is a Sanskrit text on the practice of Haṭhayoga, probably composed in the eighteenth century in Maharashtra. This article discusses, among other things, the dating, authorship, sectarian affiliation, and unique... more
The Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati is a Sanskrit text on the practice of Haṭhayoga, probably composed in the eighteenth century in Maharashtra. This article discusses, among other things, the dating, authorship, sectarian affiliation, and unique features of the text, its relationship to other yoga texts, and its significance for the history of modern yoga. The most remarkable feature of this text is its section on āsana (yogic posture), which contains six groups of postures, many of which are unusual or unique among yoga texts. Another unique feature of this section is that the postures appear to be arranged into sequences intended to be practised in order. A manuscript of the text exists in the Mysore Palace; this (possibly along with other texts) was the basis for the illustrated āsana descriptions in Mysore’s famous book, the Śrītattvanidhi. As we discuss, it is highly likely that the Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati was known to the most influential teacher of ‘modern postural yoga,’ T. Krishnamacharya, and therefore has a special significance for certain schools of transnational yoga.
Research Interests:
The Amaraughaprabodha is a Sanskrit Śaiva yoga text attributed by its colophons to Gorakṣanātha. It was published by Kalyani Devi Mallik in 1954 and has been discussed in various secondary sources. Most notably, Christian Bouy (1994, pp.... more
The Amaraughaprabodha is a Sanskrit Śaiva yoga text attributed by its colophons to Gorakṣanātha. It was published by Kalyani Devi Mallik in 1954 and has been discussed in various secondary sources. Most notably, Christian Bouy (1994, pp. 18-19) identified this work as a source text for the Haṭhapradīpikā of Svātmārāma (mid-fifteenth century). This article presents new manuscript evidence for a shorter recension of the Amaraughaprabodha than the one published by Mallik. Comparing the differences between the short and long recensions reveals that the structure of the shorter one is more cohesive and closer to the original design of the work. The close relationship of the Amaraughaprabodha's short recension with an eleventh-century Vajrayāna work on yoga called the Amṛtasiddhi provides unique insights into how early teachings on Haṭhayoga were formulated. Although the practice of the physical techniques is largely the same in both texts, the author of the Amaraughaprabodha removed or obscured Vajrayāna terminology, added Śaiva metaphysics and framed Haṭhayoga as subordinate to a Śaiva yoga known as Rājayoga. This article proposes that the Amaraughaprabodha's short recension is probably the earliest known work to combine Haṭha- with Rājayoga, on the basis of this recension's close relationship with the Amṛtasiddhi, its rudimentary nature and the likelihood that Svātmārāma used it, and not the long recension, for composing the Haṭhapradīpikā.
Research Interests: Philology, Buddhism, History, Anthropology, Indian studies, and 15 moreSouth Asian Studies, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Meditation, South Asia, Manuscript Studies, India, Religious Studies, Indology, Hatha Yoga, Hathayoga, Yoga Psychology, Religious Studies /Indology, Modern Yoga Studies, and Vajrayana Buddhism In Tibet
The writing of this paper was prompted by the discovery of several manuscripts of mediaeval yoga texts which contain lists of more than eighty-four āsana-s, a canonical number mentioned in several yoga texts. Until now, lists of... more
The writing of this paper was prompted by the discovery of several manuscripts of mediaeval yoga texts which contain lists of more than eighty-four āsana-s, a canonical number mentioned in several yoga texts. Until now, lists of eighty-four āsana-s have been found in only two recently published yoga texts, namely, the Haṭharatnāvalī and the Jogapradīpyakā. The manuscript evidence presented in this article indicates that these published texts are not isolated accounts of mediaeval yoga systems with many complex āsanas. In fact, it is clear that more than eighty-four āsana-s were practised in some traditions of Haṭha Yoga before the British arrived in India. The majority of these āsana-s were not seated poses, but complex and physically-demanding postures, some of which involved repetitive movement, breath control and the use of ropes. When the āsana-s in the sources which I shall analyse in this article are considered in their totality, antecedents can be identified for many non-seated and inverted postures in twentieth-century systems of Indian yoga.
Research Interests:
The research for this article was prompted by the question: were Yoga and Āyurveda as intimately connected in premodern times as both seem today? It attempts to give a preliminary answer by assessing the shared terminology, theory and... more
The research for this article was prompted by the question: were Yoga and Āyurveda as intimately connected in premodern times as both seem today? It attempts to give a preliminary answer by assessing the shared terminology, theory and praxis of a corpus of mediaeval Yoga texts with the classical texts of Ayurveda. The date of the Yoga corpus ranges from the eleventh to the nineteenth century CE, and all of its texts teach physical techniques and an ascetic state of dormant meditative absorption (samādhi), either as auxiliaries within a system of Yoga or as autonomous systems in themselves. The physical techniques became known as Haṭhayoga and the ascetic state of samādhi as Rājayoga, and the texts in which they appear posit the practice (abhyāsa) of Yoga as the chief means to liberation (mokṣa). The article begins with a discussion of the terminology in these texts that is also found in the Bṛhattrayī, that is, the Carakasaṃhitā, the Suśrutasaṃhitā and Vāgbhaṭa’s Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā. It proceeds to discuss the relevant theory (digestive fire, humoral theory, vital points, herbs) and praxis (āsana, ṣaṭkarma and therapy or cikitsā) of the yoga texts in question in order to assess the possible influence of Āyurveda.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Indian studies, South Asian Studies, Ayurvedic Medicine, and 21 moreYoga, Yoga Medicine, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Meditation, Ayurveda (Sanskrit language and literature), South Asia, South Asian History, Ayurveda, South Asian Literature, Medicine, Ayurvedic medicinal plants, India, Yoga Therapy, Indology, Hatha Yoga, Ayurved, Hathayoga, History of yoga, Yoga Psychology, Modern Yoga Studies, and Ayurvedic Pharmaceutics
In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, prominent Indian religious leaders such as Swami Vivekananda and Swami Sivananda developed systems of yoga based on Patañjali's Aṣṭāṅgayoga and called them Rājayoga. They have promoted the... more
In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, prominent Indian religious leaders such as Swami Vivekananda and Swami Sivananda developed systems of yoga based on Patañjali's Aṣṭāṅgayoga and called them Rājayoga. They have promoted the Yogasūtra as the most authoritative source on Rājayoga. In contrast to this, there are modern Indian systems of Rājayoga which have very little to do with Pātañjalayoga, such as the one taught globally by the Brahma Kumaris. It is generally accepted that Rājayoga refers to types of yoga which are based more on meditation than physical techniques such as postures (āsana), yet very little research has been done to explain why there are variations between modern systems of Rājayoga. Also, the term rājayoga (literally, ‘king-yoga’) implies superiority, usually, over Haṭhayoga, but this raises the question of whether there was ever a justifiable basis for this claim of superiority, which I address here through examining the history of Rājayoga.
Research Interests:
"This essay was prompted by the question of how Haṭhayoga, literally ‘the Yoga of force’, acquired its name. Many Indian and Western scholars have understood the ‘force’ of Haṭhayoga to refer to the effort required to practice it.... more
"This essay was prompted by the question of how Haṭhayoga, literally ‘the Yoga of force’, acquired its name. Many Indian and Western scholars have understood the ‘force’ of Haṭhayoga to refer to the effort required to practice it. Inherent in this understanding is the assumption that Haṭhayoga techniques such as prāṇāyāma (breath control) are strenuous and may even cause pain. Others eschew the notion of force altogether and favor the so-called “esoteric” definition of Haṭhayoga (i.e., the union of the sun (ha) and moon (ṭha) in the body). This essay examines these interpretations in light of definitions of haṭhayoga and the adverbial uses of haṭha (i.e., haṭhāt, haṭhena) in Sanskrit Yoga texts that predate the fifteenth-century Haṭhapradīpikā.
Implicit in the question posed above is the historical question of when the term haṭhayoga arose. There is evidence that it was used in Buddhist tantras, while it remained conspicuously absent from Śaiva tantras until late works such as the Rudrayāmalottaratantra. This is surprising given that the Śaiva tantras are replete with much of the terminology of the Haṭhayoga corpus. In the medieval Vedānta and Yoga literature (written after the eleventh century), haṭhayoga first appeared almost always in conjunction with rājayoga, which, as a system of Yoga, was based more on tantric Yoga rather than Pātañjalayoga. The rivalry between Rāja and Haṭhayoga, which was expressed most vehemently in the second chapter of a text known as the Amanaskayoga (eleventh to twelfth century), was based on the contention that Rājayoga was the superior Yoga because its methods were effortless and most efficacious, whereas Haṭhayoga required exertion and was superfluous. However, the rivalry was reconciled by other medieval Yoga texts, such as the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (twelfth to thirteenth century), into a hierarchy of four Yogas (i.e., Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga), and a few centuries later Svātmārāma dismantled this hierarchy, in his Haṭhapradīpikā, by melding previous Haṭha and Rājayoga systems together and by asserting that Haṭha and Rājayoga are dependent upon one another. By doing so, he created a complete system of Yoga and called it Haṭhayoga."
Implicit in the question posed above is the historical question of when the term haṭhayoga arose. There is evidence that it was used in Buddhist tantras, while it remained conspicuously absent from Śaiva tantras until late works such as the Rudrayāmalottaratantra. This is surprising given that the Śaiva tantras are replete with much of the terminology of the Haṭhayoga corpus. In the medieval Vedānta and Yoga literature (written after the eleventh century), haṭhayoga first appeared almost always in conjunction with rājayoga, which, as a system of Yoga, was based more on tantric Yoga rather than Pātañjalayoga. The rivalry between Rāja and Haṭhayoga, which was expressed most vehemently in the second chapter of a text known as the Amanaskayoga (eleventh to twelfth century), was based on the contention that Rājayoga was the superior Yoga because its methods were effortless and most efficacious, whereas Haṭhayoga required exertion and was superfluous. However, the rivalry was reconciled by other medieval Yoga texts, such as the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (twelfth to thirteenth century), into a hierarchy of four Yogas (i.e., Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga), and a few centuries later Svātmārāma dismantled this hierarchy, in his Haṭhapradīpikā, by melding previous Haṭha and Rājayoga systems together and by asserting that Haṭha and Rājayoga are dependent upon one another. By doing so, he created a complete system of Yoga and called it Haṭhayoga."
Research Interests: Mimesis, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Meditation, Sanskrit language and literature, and 19 moreOral Traditions, Codicology, Orality, Brahmanism, Meditation, Manuscripts, Indology, VEDA, Kashmir Shaivism, Hatha Yoga, Shaiva Tantra, Hathayoga, Mantra, Yoga Hatha Raja Haṭha Rāja Meaning of Hathayoga Rajayoga Medieval Yoga, Shastra, Dharmasutras, meaning of Hatha in Hathayoga, meaning of Haṭha, and meaning of Haṭhayoga
This online exhibition aims to offer access to culturally, socially, historically, and sensorially different experiential contexts of “the guts”. Its visual display allows the visitor a glimpse into the variety and richness of embodied... more
This online exhibition aims to offer access to culturally, socially, historically, and sensorially different experiential contexts of “the guts”. Its visual display allows the visitor a glimpse into the variety and richness of embodied self-definition, human imagination about our (as well as animal) bodies’ physiology and functioning, our embodied exchange with the external world, and the religious significance of the way we are ‘made’ as living creatures.
The project has been organised by a classicist, Chiara Thumiger (Cluster of Excellence Roots, Kiel), and sinologist, Angelika Messner (CAU University, Kiel) and has been sponsored by the Exzellenzcluster Roots at the CAU Kiel. The project brings together a variety of academics and artists who are working on different cultures in various parts of the world.
My contribution can be viewed at: https://comparative-guts.net/ayurvedic-medicine/
The project has been organised by a classicist, Chiara Thumiger (Cluster of Excellence Roots, Kiel), and sinologist, Angelika Messner (CAU University, Kiel) and has been sponsored by the Exzellenzcluster Roots at the CAU Kiel. The project brings together a variety of academics and artists who are working on different cultures in various parts of the world.
My contribution can be viewed at: https://comparative-guts.net/ayurvedic-medicine/
Research Interests:
This article contains images from South Asia that depict the abdomen, the site of digestion. It examines some of the medical and yogic ideas behind each image. This research was part of a project at Kiel University that aimed to compare... more
This article contains images from South Asia that depict the abdomen, the site of digestion. It examines some of the medical and yogic ideas behind each image. This research was part of a project at Kiel University that aimed to compare concepts of the 'guts' across cultures. The work was generously supported by the DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence Roots (Subcluster Knowledge) and by the Inklusionsfonds at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article examines how the Yamas and Niyamas have been interpreted in texts of various medieval and modern traditions. In some cases, these behavioural guidelines were adapted for different audiences and, in other cases, they were... more
This article examines how the Yamas and Niyamas have been interpreted in texts of various medieval and modern traditions. In some cases, these behavioural guidelines were adapted for different audiences and, in other cases, they were reinterpreted according to the doctrinal views of a tradition. We shall also consider why some systems of yoga, such as Śaivism’s Ṣaḍaṅgayoga and early types of Haṭhayoga, omitted the Yamas and Niyamas. Finally, we will discuss the ongoing influence of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in medieval India and examine specific examples of how Ahiṃsā, Brahmacarya and Tapas have been reinterpreted.
IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY READING THE TEXT ON YOUR WEB BROWSER, PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE PDF AND VIEW ON YOUR COMPUTER.
IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY READING THE TEXT ON YOUR WEB BROWSER, PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE PDF AND VIEW ON YOUR COMPUTER.
Research Interests: Religion, Philosophy, Ethics, History of India, South Asian Studies, and 14 moreYoga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Meditation, South Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asian History, Modern Indian History, Indology, Religion and Art, Sanskrit Studies, Sanskrit Aesthetics, Indian Philosophy, Indian Music, Dance and Arts, Hatha Yoga, History of yoga, Religious Studies /Indology, Modern Yoga Studies, and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The aim of the first part of this article is to outline how Patañjali might have understood the Yamas and Niyamas in his Pātañjalayogaśāstra. The second part (to be published in the next issue of Yoga Scotland) will consider a few... more
The aim of the first part of this article is to outline how Patañjali might have understood the Yamas and Niyamas in his Pātañjalayogaśāstra. The second part (to be published in the next issue of Yoga Scotland) will consider a few examples of how the Yamas and Niyamas have been reinterpreted for different audiences since the time of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra.
Research Interests: Ethics, Medieval History, History of India, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, and 16 moreYoga Meditation, Sanskrit language and literature, Eastern Philosophy, Yoga Sutras, Samkhya and Yoga, Sanskrit Grammar and Linguistics, Oriental Studies, Indian History, Indology, Hatha Yoga, History of yoga, Yoga Psychology, Indology: Indian Philosophy, Modern Yoga Studies, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Pātañjalayoga
Research Interests: Philology, History, Asian Studies, Medieval History, History of India, and 19 moreYoga, Yoga Meditation, Sanskrit language and literature, South Asian Literature, India, Religious Studies, Meditation, Yoga Meditation and Learning, Indology, Indian religions, Religion and Art, Sanskrit Studies, Sanskrit Aesthetics, Indian Philosophy, Indian Music, Dance and Arts, Hatha Yoga, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Hathayoga, Yoga Hatha Raja Haṭha Rāja Meaning of Hathayoga Rajayoga Medieval Yoga, History of yoga, Raja Yoga, Religious Studies /Indology, and Modern Yoga Studies
A talk presented at the Society for Tantric Studies Conference held at the Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona (Sept 2019). In this talk, I give a brief overview of Rājayoga in the earliest works that teach it, nearly all of... more
A talk presented at the Society for Tantric Studies Conference held at the Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona (Sept 2019). In this talk, I give a brief overview of Rājayoga in the earliest works that teach it, nearly all of which are Śaiva, and argue that Rājayoga was a mechanism by which Śaivism integrated various yogas into a hierarchal system that promoted a Śaiva interpretation of samādhi and liberation-in-life.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Scholars have noted that the number of āsanas in published Sanskrit Yoga texts is considerably less than the multitude of āsanas in Modern yoga. Such an observation has been based on the Yogasūtra and its main commentaries, and three... more
Scholars have noted that the number of āsanas in published Sanskrit Yoga texts is considerably less than the multitude of āsanas in Modern yoga. Such an observation has been based on the Yogasūtra and its main commentaries, and three Haṭhayoga texts which were widely published in the twentieth century; namely, the Śivasaṃhitā, the Haṭhapradīpikā and the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā. Among these, the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā teaches the most āsanas, at thirty two, but this still falls far short of the number of āsanas seen in the twentieth century.
Owing to the paucity of published texts on Haṭhayoga dated after the 16th century, the increase in the number of āsanas during the 17th and 18th centuries appears to have escaped the attention of most Indologists. The lack of evidence has made the eighteenth-century Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā seem as though it is an isolated case. Yet, if one considers the chronology of all the textual evidence known today on Haṭhayoga, the number of āsanas increased incrementally from the 12th to 16th centuries and then, it increased substantially in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The unpublished manuscript evidence presented in this talk is significant because it proves that published yoga texts such as the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā are not isolated accounts of yoga systems with many complex āsanas. In fact, we can be sure that more than 84 āsanas were practised in some traditions of Haṭhayoga before the British arrived in India. The majority of these āsanas were not seated poses, but complex and physically-demanding postures some of which involved repetitive movement, breath control and the use of rope. When these manuscript sources are combined, the assemblage of āsanas provides antecedents to most of the floor and inverted postures in modern systems of Indian yoga.
My presentation has three sections. The first is a general overview of the historical development of āsanas in Haṭhayoga. This should provide some context for the specific manuscripts, which I shall present in the second section. And in the final section, I will try to answer why these extensive lists of āsanas occur only after the sixteenth century and whether they influenced those gurus who led the revival of physical yoga in the twentieth century.
Owing to the paucity of published texts on Haṭhayoga dated after the 16th century, the increase in the number of āsanas during the 17th and 18th centuries appears to have escaped the attention of most Indologists. The lack of evidence has made the eighteenth-century Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā seem as though it is an isolated case. Yet, if one considers the chronology of all the textual evidence known today on Haṭhayoga, the number of āsanas increased incrementally from the 12th to 16th centuries and then, it increased substantially in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The unpublished manuscript evidence presented in this talk is significant because it proves that published yoga texts such as the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā are not isolated accounts of yoga systems with many complex āsanas. In fact, we can be sure that more than 84 āsanas were practised in some traditions of Haṭhayoga before the British arrived in India. The majority of these āsanas were not seated poses, but complex and physically-demanding postures some of which involved repetitive movement, breath control and the use of rope. When these manuscript sources are combined, the assemblage of āsanas provides antecedents to most of the floor and inverted postures in modern systems of Indian yoga.
My presentation has three sections. The first is a general overview of the historical development of āsanas in Haṭhayoga. This should provide some context for the specific manuscripts, which I shall present in the second section. And in the final section, I will try to answer why these extensive lists of āsanas occur only after the sixteenth century and whether they influenced those gurus who led the revival of physical yoga in the twentieth century.
Research Interests:
This short article presents both textual and visual evidence for a type of headstand that was practised in premodern times (most probably the 17th-19th c.), but was not adopted by gurus who popularised yoga in the twentieth century. The... more
This short article presents both textual and visual evidence for a type of headstand that was practised in premodern times (most probably the 17th-19th c.), but was not adopted by gurus who popularised yoga in the twentieth century. The article concludes with some general comments on the textual sources consulted and the possible association of this type of headstand with tapas.
Research Interests:
The Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā is a large compendium on yoga composed by Sundaradeva, a Brahmin living in Varanasi in the 18th century. It contains the only premodern description of Śaṅkaprakṣālana, which is quite different to the practice... more
The Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā is a large compendium on yoga composed by Sundaradeva, a Brahmin living in Varanasi in the 18th century. It contains the only premodern description of Śaṅkaprakṣālana, which is quite different to the practice taught by Dhirendra Brahmacari and the Bihar School of Yoga.
Research Interests: History, History of India, South Asian Studies, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, and 13 moreYoga Meditation, South Asia, South Asian History, Modern Indian History, South Asian Literature, India, Religious Studies, Yoga Therapy, Indology, Hatha Yoga, History of yoga, Religious Studies /Indology, and Modern Yoga Studies
The aim of this article is to examine the term yoganidrā in its historical context. Yoganidrā is a term that has a diverse and ancient history in Sanskrit literature. It has been used with various meanings and can be found in Epic and... more
The aim of this article is to examine the term yoganidrā in its historical context. Yoganidrā is a term that has a diverse and ancient history in Sanskrit literature. It has been used with various meanings and can be found in Epic and Purāṇic literature, Śaiva and Buddhist Tantras, medieval Haṭha and Rājayoga texts (including the widely known Haṭhapradīpikā) and it even became the name of a yoga posture (āsana) in the 17th century.
Research Interests:
The images and texts in this catalogue testify to a wonderful cooperative effort: Comparative Guts, the coming together of over thirty anthropologists, artists and historians to explore the human body and establish a dialogue between... more
The images and texts in this catalogue testify to a wonderful cooperative effort: Comparative Guts, the coming together of over thirty anthropologists, artists and historians to explore the human body and establish a dialogue between representations, perceptions, audiences and communicative styles. The focus is on one particular body part: the innards of the lower torso,what English-speakers sometimes call the “guts”. The images and texts collected here speak about the way human beings have desired and attempted to learn about this region of the body, and to describe and represent it visually. The project’s work resulted in a digital exhibition (www.comparative-guts.net) whose sections, like the chapters of this book, aim to overcome regional boundaries and cultural structures to make as much space as possible for variety and interconnections, juxtaposing mainstream works and well-known stories with cultural expressions that are peculiar, specific, far apart, eccentric and even obscure.
Comparison and the “comparative disciplines”, of course, never allow for straightforward, monolithic projects, and cannot be methodologically innocent in their goal to “make equal”, comparare, different things. Comparison is never safe from applying a measure that is disadvantageous to some participants, flattening incommensurable differences, or oversimplifying complex networks of ideas and influences. These and other pitfalls led Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in her 2003 _Death of a Discipline_, to speak of a demise of comparativism as an approach to the human world which divides it into neatly catalogued cultures, generally in translation, within a globalised whole. Instead, she proposed that the field be reshaped into one in which peripheries, local languages, and hybridisation between cultures assume the foreground.
This criticism is not to be ignored, and these pitfalls must be a major concern for a project such as ours. Comparative Guts, with its focus on “image” and “body”, attempted to address some of these issues in various ways: by questioning definitions of knowledge and who should be its repositories; disrupting the very concept of “image” as stably given and immediately and objectively evident to (primarily visual) perception; undermining the slicing of cultures into discrete regions and eras; and questioning the mapping of the animal body into recognisable, universal “parts”. --------------------
THUMIGER Chiara (ed.) 2024: Comparative Guts: Exploring the Inside of the Body through Time and Space. Kiel: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. https://doi.org/10.38071/2024-00345-3
Comparison and the “comparative disciplines”, of course, never allow for straightforward, monolithic projects, and cannot be methodologically innocent in their goal to “make equal”, comparare, different things. Comparison is never safe from applying a measure that is disadvantageous to some participants, flattening incommensurable differences, or oversimplifying complex networks of ideas and influences. These and other pitfalls led Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in her 2003 _Death of a Discipline_, to speak of a demise of comparativism as an approach to the human world which divides it into neatly catalogued cultures, generally in translation, within a globalised whole. Instead, she proposed that the field be reshaped into one in which peripheries, local languages, and hybridisation between cultures assume the foreground.
This criticism is not to be ignored, and these pitfalls must be a major concern for a project such as ours. Comparative Guts, with its focus on “image” and “body”, attempted to address some of these issues in various ways: by questioning definitions of knowledge and who should be its repositories; disrupting the very concept of “image” as stably given and immediately and objectively evident to (primarily visual) perception; undermining the slicing of cultures into discrete regions and eras; and questioning the mapping of the animal body into recognisable, universal “parts”. --------------------
THUMIGER Chiara (ed.) 2024: Comparative Guts: Exploring the Inside of the Body through Time and Space. Kiel: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. https://doi.org/10.38071/2024-00345-3