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The '''''Dattātreyayogaśāstra''''', ([[Sanskrit]]: दत्तात्रेययोगशास्त्र) a [[Vaishnavism|Vaisnava]] text probably composed in the 13th century CE, is the earliest text which provides a systematized form of [[Haṭha yoga]] under that name,<ref name="Hatha Yoga Project 2016">{{cite web |last1=Singleton |first1=Mark |last2=Mallinson |first2=James |author-link1=Mark Singleton (yoga scholar) |author-link2=James Mallinson (author) |title=Hatha Yoga Project |url=https://www.theluminescent.org/2016/02/hatha-yoga-project.html |website=The Luminescent |publisher=Hatha Yoga Project ([[SOAS, University of London]]) |access-date=14 November 2020 |date=February 2016}}</ref> and the earliest to place its yoga techniques under the name Haṭha.{{sfn|Mallinson|2011|p=771}}{{sfn|Mallinson|2016|pp=109–140}}

==Three paths==

The ''Dattātreyayogaśāstra'' is the first text to describe and teach yoga as having three types, namely [[mantra]] yoga, [[laya yoga]], and [[hatha yoga]]. All three lead to [[samadhi]], the goal of [[raja yoga]]. Mantra yoga consists simply of repeating mantras until powers ([[siddhis]]) are obtained. Laya yoga dissolves the mind by methods such as raising [[Kundalini]], though neither this nor the [[chakra]]s are named in the text.{{sfn|Mallinson|2016|pp=109–140}}

==Eightfold yoga==

The work teaches an eightfold yoga identical with [[Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga)|Patañjali's 8 limbs]] that it attributes to [[Yajnavalkya]] and others, and as an alternative, ten exercises, later called mudras, that it attributes to teachers including [[Kapila]].{{sfn|Mallinson|2016|pp=109–140}}{{sfn|Mallinson|2011|p=771}}

It claims there are 8,400,000 [[asana]]s, though it only describes one or two non-seated postures including [[Shavasana]], corpse pose (as a method of Laya yoga), and the inverted posture of [[Viparita Karani|viparītakaraṇī]], sometimes considered an asana, sometimes a mudra.{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=90–91}}

Its account of [[pranayama]] calls for the yogi to sit in [[lotus position]] (padmasana) and practice what it calls breath-retention ([[kumbhaka]]), now called [[anuloma pranayama|anuloma or nadi shodhana]], alternate nostril breathing. It states that this gives the yogi the power of levitation, followed by a range of [[Siddhi|powers]] such as great strength and the ability to overcome the strongest animals, whether tigers, buffaloes, [[gayal]]s, elephants, or lions.{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=155–157}}

The text classifies meditation as being of two types, with and without attributes. Meditation with attributes gives the yogi powers such as becoming very small. That without attributes, such as by meditating on space, confers [[Moksha|liberation]].{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|p=320}}

==Mudras==

The ''Dattātreyayogaśāstra'' teaches [[mahāmudrā]], mahābandha, [[Khecarī mudrā|khecarīmudrā]], [[Jalandhara Bandha|jālandharabandha]], [[Uddiyana bandha|uḍḍiyāṇabandha]], [[Mula Bandha|mūlabandha]], viparītakaraṇī, [[vajrolī|vajrolī, amarolī, and sahajolī]]. The goal was to halt, or to put into reverse, the movement of the vital fluid bindu.{{sfn|Mallinson|2016|pp=109–140}}{{sfn|Mallinson|2011|p=771}}{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=240–244}}

==References==
{{reflist|28em}}

==Sources==

* {{cite book |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |title=Haṭha Yoga in the Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 3 |editor=Knut A. Jacobsen |display-editors=etal |year=2011 |publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=978-90-04-27128-9 |pages=770–781 |url=https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789004214316/B9789004214316-s014.xml }}
* {{cite book |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |last=Mallinson |first=James |url=http://www.khecari.com/resources/SaktismHathayoga.pdf |chapter=Śāktism and Haṭhayoga |title=Goddess Traditions in Tantric Hinduism: History, Practice and Doctrine |editor-link=Bjarne Wernicke-Olesen |editor-last=Wernicke-Olesen |editor-first=Bjarne |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2016 |pages=109–140 |isbn=978-1317585213}}
* {{cite book | last1=Mallinson | first1=James |author1-link=James Mallinson (author) |last2=Singleton |first2=Mark |author2-link=Mark Singleton (yoga scholar) | title=Roots of Yoga |title-link=Roots of Yoga | publisher=Penguin Books | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-241-25304-5 | oclc=928480104}}

==External links==

* [https://www.academia.edu/3773137/Translation_of_the_Datt%C4%81treyayoga%C5%9B%C4%81stra_the_earliest_text_to_teach_ha%E1%B9%ADhayoga Translation by James Mallinson]

{{Hatha yoga}}

[[Category:Hatha yoga]]
[[Category:Sanskrit texts]]

Dattatreya Yoga Shastra - Revision history

>Monkbot at 08:24, 31 January 2021