<\/p>\n
The history of the specifically postural<\/em> yoga that is the root of the yogas that are practiced in the modern West is not well known. We know that most forms of current Western practice can be traced back to the teachers Vivekananda, Yogananda, Sivananda, Kuvalayananda, Hariharananda, Krishnamacharya, and a few others. Beyond that, it is claimed that those forms derive from the Hatha<\/em> yoga described in the Hathayogapradipika<\/em> (hereinafter, HYP<\/em>,) and the ideological underpinning tends to look to the Raja<\/em> yoga (as described unhistorically by Vivekananda in his book of that name) and Patanjali\u2019s Yoga Sutra<\/em>s. It is usually claimed that this postural yoga does indeed have roots in deep antiquity, with some claiming to find its sources in the Bhagavada Gita<\/em> of the Mahabharatra<\/em>, or certain of the Purana<\/em>s, and to see its traces in the postures displayed in ancient statuary \u2013 perhaps as far back as the Indus Valley civilisation (where the pasupati <\/em>seal is sometimes taken to be a representation of seated Siva<\/em> in a yoga posture.)<\/span><\/p>\n These claims of ancient origins are, of course, supposed to inspire confidence as to authenticity and, for some reason, effectiveness. We would be well-advised however, not to rest too much of our faith in the effectiveness of yoga (for whatever its effect is supposed to be) on an appeal to ancient authority, for it may well be that our postural yoga is almost entirely of recent invention \u2013 perhaps taking its current form within just the last hundred or so years. It is argued, for example, that Krishnamacharya\u2019s version, which he taught to BKS Iyenagar, K Pattabhi Jois, and TKV Desikachar, was an extraordinary mix of techniques from hatha yoga, British military calisthenics, and South-western Indian wrestling traditions (Sjoman, NE, The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>New Delhi:Abhinav:1996 ref. in White, DG (2011)\u00a0\u201c<\/span><\/span>Yoga, Brief History of an Idea\u201d (Chapter 1 of Yoga in Practice<\/em>)<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n We do know that Patanjali\u2019s work, which dates to ca. 400 CE, mentions no asana<\/em>s at all, and that, in fact, \u201cprior to the end of the first millennium CE, detailed descriptions of asana<\/em>s were nowhere to be found in the Indian textual record.\u201d (White, op. cit.<\/em>, 17) And even then, the 15th<\/sup> C. HYP<\/em> by Svatmarama was the first to make asana<\/em>s central to Hatha Yoga. In that work are listed just 15 asana<\/em>s, whose descriptions are mostly cobbled together from a large number of slightly earlier works. The source information in the following table is summarised from Mallinson\u2019s Hatha Yoga<\/a><\/em> and the descriptions of the poses are from the HYP<\/em> (tr. \u00a0Pancham Sinh, 1.18-58)<\/span><\/p>\n Form<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Name<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Description<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Sources<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Non-seated<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Mayurasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Palms to ground, navel on elbows, raise body straight<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Vasisthasamhita.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Also found in in 10th<\/sup> C Vimanarcanakalpa, Padmasamhita, <\/em>and Ahirbudhnyasamhita<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Kurmasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Right ankle left of anus and v.v.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Kukkutasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Padmasana<\/em>, then hands through thighs and raise on palms<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Pascimatanasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Sit with legs out, grasp toes, head to thighs<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Sivasamhita<\/em> (at par. 92 called ugrasana<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Uttanakurmasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Kukkutasana<\/em>, then hands cross behind back to grasp neck, then lie on back<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Dhanurasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Grasp toes with hands, draw to ears, bending like a bow.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Matsyendrasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n [Right foot on left thigh, sole up. Left foot outside right knee. Twist to left. Right hand grasps right foot. Left hand behind back.]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Seated\/Reclined<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Swastikasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Sit with hands under thighs, body straight<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Dattatreyayogasastra,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Vivekamartanda,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Vasisthasamhita, Yogayajnavalkya, <\/em>and Sivasamhita<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Gomukhasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Right ankle to left side and v.v.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Virasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Left foot on right thigh and v.v.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Matsyasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Right foot to root of left thigh, right hand behind back to grasp toe and v.v.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Savasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Lie on ground like a corpse<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Siddhasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Left heel to perineum, right above member, chin to chest<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Padmasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Right foot on left thigh, right hand behind back to grasp toe and v.v. Chin to chest.<\/span><\/p>\n OR feet on thighs, soles up, hands on thighs, palms up. Chin on chest, tongue on root of upper teeth.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Simhasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Left heel to right of perineum and v.v.<\/em>, hands on thighs<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Bhadrasana<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Left heel to left of perineum and v.v.<\/em>, hold feet together with hands<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n I\u2019m a little confused by this, however. The HYP<\/em> doesn\u2019t list the Matsyendrasana<\/em> (listed by Mallinson) by that name, and if it is an alternative name for the Matsyasana<\/em>, then the former shouldn\u2019t be listed amongst the non-seated postures. (The description of the posture given is from Hewitt, J. (1977) The Complete Yoga Book<\/em>. I have no idea of its accuracy; certainly its description of Matsyasana <\/em>is nothing like that given in the HYP<\/em>.) In fact, it\u2019s not at all clear to me how Mallinson has determined that some are seated and others non-seated.<\/span><\/p>\n In any case, the textual sources that follow begin to increase the number of taught asana<\/em>s that are accepted as canonical. the Yogacintamani<\/em> (early 16th<\/sup> C) describes 35 asanas<\/em>. (A manuscript of the same text dated 1660 lists 110 asanas and describes fifty-five ) The Gherandasamhita<\/em> (ca. 1700 CE) teaches 32 asanas, and, eventually, the Hatharatnavali <\/em>(early 18th<\/sup> C) taught 84 asanas<\/em> \u2013 the number that the HYP<\/em> had declared were taught by Siva<\/em> (1.35). (Clearly this doesn\u2019t refer to the Sivasamhita<\/em>, because that only describes four postures.) The same number is also taught in the roughly contemporaneous Jogpradipika<\/em> (1737) of Jayatarama.<\/span><\/p>\n The Gherandasamhita<\/em> is now supposed to be one of the core texts of Hatha Yoga, so the list of taught postures in it is quite important. It includes all the postures listed for the HYP<\/em> except the Kukkutasana<\/em> (although the descriptions can sometimes be different, as for the Viasana<\/em>) as well as the following:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n
\n \n