Āsanas of the Yogacintāmaṇi: The Largest Premodern Compilation on Postural Practice

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Main author: Birch, Jason
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id eprints-42200
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
description 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.
format Authored Books
author Birch, Jason
author_facet Birch, Jason
authorStr Birch, Jason
author_letter Birch, Jason
title Āsanas of the Yogacintāmaṇi: The Largest Premodern Compilation on Postural Practice
publisher École française d'Extrême-Orient
publishDate 2024
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/42200/

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