Joga Pradīpikā

Template:Italic title 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, Braj Bhasa, Khari Boli and forms close to Sanskrit.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It presents 6 cleansing methods, 84 asanas, 24 mudras and 8 kumbhakas.Template:Sfn The text is illustrated in an 1830 manuscript with 84 paintings of asanas, prepared about a hundred years after the text.Template:Sfn

Topics

Mahāmudrā is listed among the text's asanas, thus conflating mudras with asanas.Template:Sfn

The Joga Pradīpikā covers a broad range of topics on yoga, including the nature of the yogic subtle body,Template:Sfn preliminary purifications,Template:Sfn yogic seals (mudrās),Template:Sfn asanas,Template:Sfn prānāyāma (breath-control),Template:Sfn mantras,Template:Sfn meditation,Template:Sfn liberation (moksha),Template:Sfn and samādhi.Template:Sfn

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 and Mark Singleton gloss as "a feat which is, of course, anatomically impossible."Template:Sfn

Prānāyāma is stated to result in liberation, on its own,Template:Sfn though some of its breath-control techniques also use mantras.Template:Sfn The Joga Pradīpikā however asks the yogi to stay on as a physical body to serve the Lord, rather than choosing liberation.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn

On meditation, the text reworks the Bhagavata PuranaTemplate:'s meditation of the goddess Sītā and the god Rāma.Template:Sfn On samādhi, the yogi reaches it by the "bee cave" in the sahasrara chakra, the "thousand-petalled lotus", with an unending "unstruck sound".Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn

The 84 asanas described and illustrated in the 1830 document include some that are widely practised in modern yoga, but its selection differs markedly from that in other hatha yoga texts such as the Hatha Ratnavali. Many of the illustrated poses are seated asanas used for meditation, including the ancient Padmasana and Siddhasana, 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.Template:EfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:-

• 1 Svastikasana
  1 Svastikasana
• 2 Padmasana
  2 Padmasana
• PaschimottanTemplate:Shyasana]]
  PaschimottanTemplate:Shyasana]]
• 16 Mayurasana
  16 Mayurasana
• 17 Kapali asana
  17 Kapali asana
• 22 Gorakshasana
  22 Gorakshasana
• 
  29 Viparita Karani
• 
  NarasimhTemplate:Shyasana]]
• 
  81 Kurmasana
• 
  84 Siddhasana

Sources

• Eighty-Four Asanas in Yoga: A Survey of Traditions{{#if:Bühnemann|, Bühnemann}. D. K. Printworld(2007). ISBN 978-8124604175
• Jogpradīpikā of Jayataramā{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute(1999)
• Template:Cite encyclopedia
• Roots of Yoga{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Penguin Books(2017). ISBN 978-0-241-25304-5