From the Publisher

Physical postures (asanas) are the most important and often the only constituent of modern Yoga. Many practitioners believe that the postures derive from an ancient original set of eighty-four asanas. This book, for the first time, traces traditions of eighty-four postures by examining original materials, including drawings, descriptions in older Indic texts and modern publications which reflect contemporary traditions. It also takes up a number of broad issues related to the topic of Yoga postures so as to provide the reader with a larger context.

 

	Acknowledgements	vii
	Guide to Transliteration and Pronunciation	viii
	List of Illustrations	ix
	List of Tables	xi
	Frequently Used Abbreviations	xii
1.	Introduction	1
2.	A Brief Survey of Relevant Texts	5
3.	On the Terms hathayoga and rajayoga	11
4.	The Place and Function of Asanas in Yoga Systems	17
4.1	The Term Asana	17
4.2	Asana as an Ancillary Part (anga) of Yoga Systems	17
4.3	The Function of Asanas in Yoga Systems	20
5.	Eighty-four Asanas in Yoga	25
5.1	The Number of Asanas in Yoga Systems	25
5.2	The Number Eighty-four	26
5.3	Eighty-four Asanas in Older Texts	27
5.3.1	Hatharatnavali	27
5.3.2	Jogapradipaka	28
5.4	Eighty-four Asanas in Contemporary Sources	29
5.4.1	Hanuman Sarma	29
5.4.2	Gangadharan Nair	29
5.4.3	Svami Svayamananda	30
5.4.4	The Yoga Challenge System	30
6.	Sets of Illustrations of Eighty-four Asanas	37
6.1	Preliminary Remarks	37
6.2	The Coloured Drawings of the Asanas according to the Jogapradipaka	38
6.2.1	A Description of the Drawings according to the Jogapradipaka	38
6.2.2	A Reproduction of the Drawings according to the Jogapradipaka	41
6.3	The Line Drawings from Nepal	65
6.3.1	A Description of the Line Drawings from Nepal	65
6.3.2	A Reproduction of the Line Drawings from Nepal	67
6.4	The Sources in the Jodhpur Tradition	85
6.4.1	A Description of the Line Drawings	85
6.4.2	A Reproduction of the Line Drawings	89
6.4.3	The Murals in Mahamandir	103
6.4.4	A Reproduction of Selected Murals	105
6.5	The Line Drawings in Svami Svayamananda 1992	111
6.6	Photographs of the Asanas in the Yoga Challenge System	123
7.	Concluding Remarks	143
8.	Appendices: Lists of Names of Eighty-four Asanas	147
8.1	Hatharatnavali 3.9-20	147
8.2	Jogapradipaka, Section 3	150
8.3	Hanuman Sarma 1935	153
8.4	Gangadharan Nair 1962	156
8.5	Svami Svayamananda 1992	159
8.6	The Yoga Challenge System	162
	Selected Bibliography and Abbreviations	167
	Index of Names of Asanas Listed in the Appendices	179
	General Index	191

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