''Sharngadhara-paddhati'' (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ''Śārṅgadharapaddhati'', "Sharngadhara's Guidebook") is an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

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 ...

-language short poems (

subhashita A subhashita ( sa, सुभाषित, link=no, subhāṣita) is a literary genre of Sanskrit epigrammatic poems and their message is an aphorism, maxim, advice, fact, truth, lesson or riddle. ''Su'' in Sanskrit means good; ''bhashita'' means sp ...

) from India. It was compiled by Sharngadhara in 1363. The text is of interest as containing an account of

Hatha Yoga 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 ...

, which it describes as being of two types,

Gorakhnath Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath, c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, saint who was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India He is considered one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath. His follower ...

's with six limbs and

Markandeya Bhargava Markandeya ( sa, मार्कण्‍डेय ) is an ancient rishi (sage) born in the clan of Bhrigu Rishi (Bhargava Brahmins Community). The Markandeya Purana especially, comprises a dialogue between Markandeya and a sage cal ...

's with eight limbs.

Authorship and date

The ''Sharngadhara-paddhati'' (literally "Sharngadhara's Guidebook") was compiled by Sharngadhara in 1363. This Sharngadhara appears to be same as the Sharngadhara mentioned in a ''

prashasti ''Prashasti'' (IAST: Praśasti, Sanskrit for "praise") is an Indian genre of inscriptions composed by poets in praise of their rulers. Most date from the 6th century CE onwards. Written in the form of poetry or ornate prose, the ''prashastis'' s ...

'' (eulogistic inscription) as the son of Damodara and the grandson of Raghavadeva, the royal preceptor of Hammirabhupati of Shakambhari. Hammirabhupati can be identified with the

Chahamana Chauhan, historically ''Chahamana'', is a clan name historically associated with the various ruling Rajput families during the Medieval India in Rajasthan. Subclans Khichi, Hada, Songara, Bhadauria, Devda etc. are the branches or subclan ...

king

Hammiradeva Hammiradeva (IAST: Hammīra-deva; r. c. 1283–1301) was the last ruler from the Ranthambore branch of the Chauhans (Chahamanas). He is also known as Hamir Dev Chauhan in the Muslim chronicles and the vernacular literature. Hammiradeva ruled a ...

, a descendant of the Shakambhari Chahamanas. Hammiradeva (and therefore, his preceptor Raghavadeva) lived in the late 13th century, so it is conceivable that Raghavadeva's grandson Sharngadhara was alive in 1363. Another text titled ''Sharngadhara-Samhita'' is attributed to Sharngadhara, but it is not clear if he was same as the author of ''Sharngadhara-paddhati'': the author of ''Sharngadhara-Samhita'' does not provide any information about himself, except his name. Sharngadhara, who was a poet himself, often states the names of the poets and works against the verses included in his anthology. However, he attributes some of the verses to "somebody". Some of the poets mentioned by Sharngadhara, such as Govinda-raja-deva, are otherwise unknown. Sharngadhara attributes several verses to more than one poets, and two verses to more than two poets. According to an analysis by H. D. Sharma (1937), the anthology mentions the names of 282 authors; another analysis by J. B. Chaudhuri (1941), counts 271 authors and 31 works.

The ''Sharngadhara-paddhati'' is one of the best known collections of the

-genre poems. It contains a description of

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 aw ...

calls the text's analysis of yoga "somewhat confused", noting that it splits Hatha Yoga into two types, namely

's and

's, and then equates Hatha Yoga with Gorakhnath's six limbs of yoga, which are

asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

pranayama Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, '' prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the '' prana'' ''sha ...

pratyahara Pratyahara () or the 'gathering towards' is the fifth element among the Eight stages of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, as mentioned in his classical work, ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' composed in the 2nd century BCE. It is also the first stage of the ...

, dharana,

dhyana Dhyana may refer to: Meditative practices in Indian religions * Dhyana in Buddhism (Pāli: ''jhāna'') * Dhyana in Hinduism * Jain Dhyāna, see Jain meditation Other *''Dhyana'', a work by British composer John Tavener (1944-2013) * ''Dhyana'' ...

, and

samadhi ''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 ...

. The text then describes what these are with verses taken from the ''

Dattātreyayogaśāstra The ''Dattātreyayogaśāstra'', (Sanskrit: दत्तात्रेययोगशास्त्र) a Vaisnava text probably composed in the 13th century CE, is the earliest text which provides a systematized form of Haṭha yoga under that n ...

'', including five of its ten

mudra A mudra (; sa, मुद्रा, , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ,) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As wel ...

s. It then describes Markandeya's variety, adding

yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...

and

niyama The Niyamas ( sa, नियम, translit=Niyama) are positive duties or observances. In Indian traditions, particularly Yoga, niyamas and their complement, Yamas, are recommended activities and habits for healthy living, spiritual enlightenment ...

to make up

eight limbs of yoga Ashtanga yoga (, "the eight limbs of yoga") is Patanjali's classification of classical yoga, as set out in his ''Yoga Sutras''. He defined the eight limbs as yamas (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), prat ...

Editions

A verse in the ''Sharngadhara-paddhati'' states that the anthology includes 6300 verses. However, the now-extant part of the anthology contains only 4689 verses, divided into 163 sections (each called a ''paddhati''). The 18th century anthology ''Brihat-Sharngadhara-paddhati'' (

: ''Bṛhat-Śārṅgadhara-paddhati'') is an extended version of ''Sharngadhara-paddhati''. It contains 588 sections, out of which 473 sections have been borrowed from the ''Sharngadhara-paddhati''. The anthology has 7586 verses (including 10

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

verses); it excludes 66 verses from the now-extant portions of ''Sharngadhara-paddhati'', and includes 2963 additional verses. An edition of the text (''The Paddhati Of Sarngadhara'', Volume I), edited by Peter Peterson, was published in 1888. It is not a

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

, although it is based on six different manuscripts. Peterson intended to publish a second volume with an introduction, various readings and notes, but this second volume was never published. German Indologist

Theodor Aufrecht Simon Theodor Aufrecht (7 January 1822 – 3 April 1907) was a German Indologist and comparative linguist. He was the first Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently spent two decades as Profe ...

also edited 264 verses quoted in six other manuscripts, and authored a study titled ''Ueber die Paddhati von Çârñgadhara'' (1873).

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

*
The Paddhati of Sarngadhara : a Sanskrit Anthology
' (1888), edited by Peter Peterson
Another scanGoogle Books

(Incomplete) Manuscript from Chunilal Gandhi Vidyabhavan
{{Hatha yoga Sanskrit literature Anthologies 1363 books Indian books

Authorship and date

Contents

Editions

References

Sources

External links