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From Tapas to Modern Yoga

Sādhus’ Understanding of Embodied Practices

Daniela Bevilacqua [+–]
SOAS, University of London
Daniela Bevilacqua (Rome 1983) received her PhD in 2015, in Civilizations of Africa and Asia from Sapienza University of Rome and in Anthropology from the University of Paris Nanterre. Her PhD research was published by Routledge (2018) under the title Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India: The Śrī Maṭh and the Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya in the Evolution of the Rāmānandī Sampradāya. She is a Research Associate at SOAS, after working for the ERC-funded Hatha Yoga Project (2015-2020). Her research has aroused particular interest because of its methodology and results. Her article, “Let the Sādhus Talk. Ascetic understanding of Haṭha Yoga and yogāsanas”, published in Religions of South Asia, (Vol 11, n. 2, pp. 182-206) has been translated in German, French and Portuguese. She has been invited to give lectures in various universities (Cambridge, London, Haifa, Prague, Turin, Milan) as well as to present her research in various yoga teacher training courses and yoga studios. She has published several articles in peer review journals and book chapters for publishers like Routledge and Palgrave on Hindu asceticism, female asceticism, etc. She is currently editing two volumes, one forthcoming for Amsterdam University Press and
another will be a special issue of the Journal of Yoga Studies (JoYS).

Extensively based on fieldwork material, From Tapas to Modern Yoga primarily analyses embodied practices of ascetics belonging to four religious orders historically associated with the practice of yoga and haṭha yoga. This focus on ascetics stems from the fact that yogic techniques probably developed in ascetic contexts, yet scholars have rarely focused their attention on non-international ascetic practitioners of yoga.

Creating a confrontation between textual sources and ethnographic data, the book demonstrates how ‘embodied practices’ (austerities, yoga and haṭha yoga) over the centuries accumulated layers of meanings and practices that coexist in the literature as well as in the words of contemporary sādhus. Drawing from conversations with these interlocutors, the book demonstrates the importance of ethnographic fieldwork in shedding light on past historical developments, transmissions, contemporary reinterpretation and innovation.

The strength of the work lies in its methodological approach and in the richness of its materials: by analysing present situations through comparisons and the support of past evidence, the book not only fills an academic gap but also stimulates further research on this highly complex topic.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Introduction [+–]
In the Introduction, the book is framed within the existing scholarship in the field of Yoga Studies, highlighting its originality in this field. This is followed by a discussion on important theoretical issues (the concept of tradition, spirituality, Hinduism etc.) and an outline of methodological issues (fieldworks, reflexivity, etc.). At the end, a brief presentation of the chapters and objectives of the book will be given.

Chapter 1

Hindu Asceticism: A Historical Perspective [+–]
Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive introduction to Indian asceticism by considering Vedic and Brahmanical textual sources. It then describes different philosophical and religious streams that developed in the Hindu religious landscape (Sāṃkhya-Yoga, tantric and devotional traditions) demonstrating the complexity of Hindu renunciation and of the substratum that paved the way to the establishment of different yogic methods. The importance of the concept of sampradāya (religious order) and paramparā (lineage) will be explained, as well as the role of patronage in the development of ascetic orders. A brief introduction to warrior ascetics will also be given.

Chapter 2

The Ascetic Path of Traditional Sampradāyas [+–]
In Chapter 2, the focus is on the ascetic society, using diachronic and synchronic approaches to describe four traditional sampradāyas –that of the Nāths, the Daśnāmīs, the Udāsīs and the Rāmānandīs– traditionally connected to the practice of tapasyā (austerities), haṭha yoga and yoga sādhanā. The chapter analyses then the structure of ascetic society, the reasons that lead an individual to enter it, as well as the issue of female asceticism. Eventually, the ascetic symbolism that is shared among sādhus belonging to different sampradāyas but engaged in similar practices is emphasized.

Chapter 3

Prācīn Yoga, or the Practice of Tapasyā: From Past to Present [+–]
Chapter 3 analyses the practice of tapasyā (austerities), linking it to the development of yoga and introducing the connections with haṭha yoga. The description of austerities performed in the past follows the narratives of sources that range from the works of Greek historians to the accounts of travelers and orientalists. Later on, the current practice of austerities by sādhusis described, providing a classification that aims to comprehensively illustrate a subject that is very often overlooked by scholars. It then explains the reasons behind the practice of austerities. Through cross-references between past and present, the chapter demonstrates the continuity of certain practices and how layers of meanings have ‘accumulated’ on the word tapas/tapasyā over the centuries, following the needs of times and changing historical contexts.

Chapter 4

Haṭha Yoga from a Historical and Ethnographic Perspective [+–]
Chapter 4 deals with haṭha yoga. It initially considers definitions and the development of the label and its related practices found in Sanskrit textual sources. Then, it looks for haṭha yoga in vernacular sources, highlighting the absence of this label with the exceptions of a few references that, nevertheless, link it to tapasyā. This ‘vernacular’ understanding is then related to the understandings of haṭha yoga among contemporary sādhus. These emic understandings are here properly analyzed since they open up new scenarios for interpreting the role and audience of haṭha yoga textual sources.

Chapter 5

The Yoga Sādhanā (External Practices) [+–]
Chapter 5 focuses on the practice of yoga as a sādhanā, a spiritual discipline for sādhus, beginning from its external practices: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra. Before addressing these practices, however, a general introduction on the yogic body is presented. Then, particular attention is given to āsanas and kriyās (actions) to purify the body and to certain mudrās and bandhas that are particularly important among ascetics, such as vajroli and khecarī mudrās. The different roles and practices of breath control are then described, ending with the retractions of the senses (pratyāhāra). These different practices will be contextualized within the learning frame of the ascetic world.

Chapter 6

Yoga Sādhanā (Internal Practices) [+–]
Chapter 6 continues the investigation of the yoga sādhanā by focusing on the inner practices and their eventual ‘supports’. It begins with a section on the role of cannabis among ascetics and continues with the role of mantras. It then focuses on the practices of dhāraṇā (concentration), dhyāna (describing some important practices such as jap and kuṇḍalinī awakening) and samādhi. The role of karma in the quest for mokṣa (liberation) is also questioned.

Chapter 7

‘Modern’ Yoga and ‘Traditional’ Sādhus [+–]
Chapter 7 deals with transnational, modern yoga and assesses how this yoga is influencing the practice of sādhus. Therefore, it deals with sādhus who learned about yoga in modern centers and also who hold degrees, including PhDs in Yoga, as well as sādhus who simply took “western yoga classes” in order to teach abroad, distinguishing, nevertheless between yog (i.e. the practice taught by their guru) and yoga (i.e. the modern practice). Likewise, it discusses the influence that some traditional orders (in particular the Nāth sampradāya) have on the international yoga community and how more and more foreigners seek “traditional” gurus for their practices. The role of social media and the Internet in influencing the practice and the way some sādhus talk about yoga will also be analyzed. Finally, the controversial figure of Bābā Rāmdev, the role of the International Day of Yoga and their reception by the ascetic community will be presented.

Conclusion

Conclusion [+–]
The Conclusion recalls the main arguments presented in the book providing different classification of yogis and evaluating the role of ascetics and of their yogic practices from a South Asian and transnational perspective.

ISBN-13 (Hardback)
9781000000000
Price (Hardback)
£75.00 / $100.00
ISBN-13 (Paperback)
9781000000000
Price (Paperback)
£24.95 / $32.00
ISBN (eBook)
9781000000000
Price (eBook)
Individual
£24.95 / $32.00
Institutional
£75.00 / $100.00
Publication
01/03/2024
Pages
300
Size
234 x 156mm
Readership
students, scholars and yoga practitioners
Illustration
25 figures

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