The ''Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati'' ("Manual on the practice of Haṭha yoga") is a manual of
Haṭha yoga
Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word ह ...
written in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
in the 18th century, attributed to Kapāla Kuraṇṭaka; it is the only known work before
modern yoga
Modern yoga is a wide range of yoga practices with differing purposes, encompassing in its various forms yoga philosophy derived from the Vedas, asana, physical postures derived from Hatha yoga, Bhaktiyoga, devotional and tantra-based practices, ...
to describe elaborate sequences of asanas and survives in a single manuscript. It includes unusual elements such as rope poses.
Manuscript
The ''Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati'' is an 18th-century manuscript, written by Kapāla Kurantaka, that describes elaborate sequences of asanas in
Haṭha yoga
Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word ह ...
, including many that are not practised today. Its name means "Manual on the practice of Haṭha yoga". It was written before the
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
and well before the advent of
modern yoga
Modern yoga is a wide range of yoga practices with differing purposes, encompassing in its various forms yoga philosophy derived from the Vedas, asana, physical postures derived from Hatha yoga, Bhaktiyoga, devotional and tantra-based practices, ...
, but it appears to have been influenced by the physical culture of the period in India, including the practice of
martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...
. It is arranged in six groups and includes
asana
An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) 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 late ...
s such as Gajāsana, elephant pose, which demand repeated movements, in the case of Gajāsana repetitions of
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Downward Dog Pose, Downward-facing Dog Pose, or Downdog, also called Adho Mukha Svanasana (; ), is an inversion asana in yoga as exercise. It is often practised as part of a flowing sequence of poses, especially Surya Namaskar, the Salute to t ...
, downward dog pose. It also contains postures that require great agility and strength, such as to cross the legs in Padmasana and then to climb a rope using only the hands. It states that the aim of the practice of asanas is to attain bodily strength (śārīradārḍhya) and to prepare the yogin for the practice of the purifications (
satkarma
The shatkarmas (Sanskrit: षटकर्म ''ṣaṭkarma'', literally ''six actions''), also known as shatkriyas,
The manuscript describes the dynamic asanas with instructions to the yogi, for instance:
The manuscript gives instructions for ten different rope poses. It is one of the few surviving texts which contain rope poses (the ''
Sritattvanidhi
The ''Sritattvanidhi'' (, "The Illustrious Treasure of Realities") is a treatise written in the 19th century in the Mysore Palace, Karnataka on the iconography and iconometry of divine figures in South India. One of its sections includes instru ...
'' is another); Birch notes that
Krishnamacharya
Tirumala Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga as exercise, yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "Father of Modern ...
also used rope poses (in the 20th century), attributing them to a "lost" document, the ''
Yoga Kurunta
The ''Yoga Korunta'' or ''Yoga Kuruntha'' is a purported 5,000 year old text on yoga, said to have been written in Sanskrit by an otherwise unknown author, Vamana Rishi, allegedly discovered by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya in the National Archives o ...
''. Birch asks whether the name of that "document” was based on the name of the author of the ''Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati'', Kapāla Kurantaka. Birch and Jacqueline Hargreaves endorse Norman Sjoman's proposal that the ''Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati'' rope poses could either have been from ''mallakhamba'' or from military training "of scaling walls with ropes and ladders". They state that Krishnamacharya knew the text, and used its asanas.
See also
* Akarna Dhanurasana - the shooting bow pose, described but not named in the ''Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati''