The ''Joga Pradīpikā'' (जोगप्रदीपिका, "A Small Light on Yoga") is a hatha yoga text by Ramanandi Jayatarama written in 1737 in a mixture of

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

Braj Bhasa The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominant ...

Khari Boli Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its De ...

and forms close to

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. It presents 6 cleansing methods, 84 asanas, 24 mudras and 8

kumbhaka ''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in the yoga practice of pranayama. It has two types, accompanied (by breathing) whether after inhalation or after exhalation, and, the ultimate aim, unaccompanied. That state is ''kevala kumbhaka'', the ...

s. The text is illustrated in an 1830 manuscript with 84 paintings of asanas, prepared about a hundred years after the text.

Topics

The ''Joga Pradīpikā'' covers a broad range of topics on yoga, including the nature of the yogic subtle body, preliminary purifications, yogic seals (mudrās), asanas, prānāyāma (breath-control),

mantra A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

, liberation (

moksha ''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriologic ...

), and

samādhi ''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga ...

. One of the purifications in the text is the ''mulashishnasodhana'', "the cleansing of the anus and the penis", which calls for water to be drawn into the anus and squirted out through the penis, which

James Mallinson James Mallinson (1943 – 24 August 2018) was a British record producer. He was the first winner of the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical category, and won a total of 16 Grammy Awards in his career. He won his first three Grammy a ...

and Mark Singleton gloss as "a feat which is, of course, anatomically impossible." Prānāyāma is stated to result in liberation, on its own, though some of its breath-control techniques also use mantras. The ''Joga Pradīpikā'' however asks the yogi to stay on as a physical body to serve the Lord, rather than choosing liberation. The ''Joga Pradīpikā'' conflates the mudrās with asanas by describing the mahāmudrā as one of its 84 asanas. Like other late texts, it describes a relatively large number of mudrās, 24 in all. On meditation, the text reworks the ''

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...

s meditation of the goddess Sītā and the god

Rāma Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...

. On samādhi, the yogi reaches it by the "bee cave" in the sahasrara chakra, the "thousand-petalled lotus", with an unending "unstruck sound".

Asanas

The description of 84 asanas occupies 314 out of 964 verses in the 1737 version. Most of the asanas are said to bring therapeutic benefits; all of them ask the practitioner to direct the gaze ( drishti) at the point between the eyebrows or at the end of the nose. The 84 asanas described and illustrated in the 1830 document include some that are widely practised in modern

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

, but its selection differs markedly from that in other hatha yoga texts such as the ''

Hatha Ratnavali Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...

''. Many of the illustrated poses are seated asanas used for meditation, including the ancient Padmasana and

Siddhasana Siddhasana ( sa, सिद्धासन; ) or Accomplished Pose, is an ancient seated asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise suitable for meditation. The names Muktasana (Sanskrit: मुक्तासन, Liberated Pose) and Burmese ...

, both of which appear twice in the set of illustrations. The number 84 is symbolic rather than literal, indicating that a set is complete and sacred. File:Jogapradipika 1 Svastikasana.jpg, 1 Svastikasana File:Jogapradipika 2 Padmasana.jpg, 2 Padmasana File:Jogapradipika 7 Pascimatanasana.jpg, 7 Paschimottanasana File:Jogapradipika 16 Mayurasana.jpg, 16 Mayurasana File:Kapala Asana (headstand) from Jogapradipika 1830.jpg , 17 Kapali asana File:Jogapradipika 22 Bhadragorakhasana.jpg, 22 Gorakshasana File:Jogapradipika 29 Viparitakarana.jpg, 29

Viparita Karani Viparita Karani ( sa, विपरीतकरणी; ) or legs up the wall pose is both an asana and a mudra in hatha yoga. In modern yoga as exercise, it is commonly a fully supported pose using a wall and sometimes a pile of blankets, wher ...

File:Jogapradipika 66 Narasimhasana.jpg, 66 Narasimhasana File:Jogapradipika 81 Kurmasana.jpg, 81

Kurmasana Kurmasana ( sa, कूर्मासन; IAST: ''kūrmāsana''), Tortoise Pose, or Turtle Pose is a sitting forward bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. Etymology and origins The name comes from the Sanskrit कूर्� ...

File:Jogapradipika 84 Siddhasana.jpg, 84

References

Sources

* * * * {{Yoga Hatha yoga texts