‘Asanas got artistic over time’

Far from being rigid, Hatha Yoga can adapt itself according to context, says University of London scholar JASON BIRCH to MONA MEHTAIn a recent talk on the history of asanas, organised by Abhyas Trust, Delhi, you spoke about your research on ancient yoga texts as part of the Hatha Yoga Project funded by the European Research Council, what are your conclusions?■ Jason Birch: As you study the history of pre-modern asanas, you realise that although yoga mudras and asanas were being practised for centuries, they entered into the textual tradition only in the 15th century.Up until the 12th century, when Hatha Yoga began to emerge as a type of yoga documented in texts, most of the systems of yoga — Patanjali’s system, the tantric system, the Upanishads, the Bhagwad Gita, as well as the iconography — tend to depict only sitting postures, such as Padmasana, where the feet are kept on the thighs, in the context of meditation and pranayama. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Svatmarama in the 15th century is the first definitive text that draws from earlier texts and puts together four chapters — on asanas, pranayama,mudras, and Raja Yoga, the practise of samadhi — which is the goal of Hatha Yoga.This work was successful and from then on, we see extended versions of the Pradipika, some with five chapters, some with extra verses, and more number of asanas.The Pradipika teaches 15 asanas, seven of them non-seated including Mayur Asana or peacock pose,in which one balances the body on ones hands, and the body is straight and parallel to the ground.Tough to perform,but such asanas have been included for their health benefits. Mayur Asana helps increase the digestive fire to the point that one can even digest poison just like a peacock that eats snakes.Later texts, such as Hatha Ratanavali lists 84 asanas and describes 36 of them, Hatha Abhyasa Padhati teaches 112 asanas, in six sequences, and includes counter poses, moving postures, and rope poses which require enormous upper body strength. So we see an increase in the number of postures from the 15th century onwards.Though they are often taught within the typology that Svatmarama set out — asana, pranayama, mudra and Raja Yoga, samadhi,— the postures have become more sophisticated over time.How is modern yoga different from pre-modern yoga?■ In modern yoga, there is the idea of fitness and a more scientific knowledge of the anatomy. Swami Kuvalyananda — founder of Kaivalyadhama, for instance,would get his students to do certain asanas and measure the impact they produced on people using scientific equipment and then publish it. Sri Yogendra, who founded the Santa Cruz Yoga Institute, did research and emphasised movement of the body with the breath; Krishnamacharya developed the Vinyasa system. There were such innovations in yoga.Is Surya Namaskara also one such innovation?■ We see Surya Namaskara being brought together with asana practice in the early 20th century. Physical practice of surya namaskara is probably very old,but in a very basic form of prostration.There are descriptions of how a devotee who is worshipping the sun or a deity should prostrate the body. In the 20th century, we see other postures being added to that basic prostration, such as the lunging movements that were introduced by Swami Sivananda and his disciple Vishnudevananda, along with Bhujangasana, the downward dog pose, to create a more strenuous and aerobic type of asana practice that could fulfil new ideas around fitness prominent at that time.In all of this, has the goal and meaning of yoga changed?■There has been secular yoga in India since the early 20th century when experts realised that many of the physical practices could be taught to a broad audience for their health benefits.They extracted some of those practices and combined them with a discourse around health and healing, rather than the traditional discourse around using physical practices to achieve samadhi, and liberation — freedom from samasara. Along with secularisation of yoga, we see its commercialisation. It is now being taught in a variety of contexts, from health fitness clubs to corporate boardrooms at lunch time, because now we are more aware of the benefits of yoga for managing stress.How would you define yoga today?■To say what is yoga in the absolute way is almost impossible today.The only way to answer that question is to ask what yoga is in a particular text or in particular places, or as it was taught by particular teachers. Patanjali’s Yoga Shastra defined it clearly as meditation, chitta vritti nirodha, cessation of mental activity and as a method of achieving liberation; the Bhagwad Gita, too, defines yoga clearly and it teaches different types of yoga; in the Hatha Yoga texts, the practice of physical techniques is aimed at achieving Raja Yoga — samadhi leading to liberation. In a modern situation, in a secular environment, it just may be a practice of postures, which in a yoga school, can be more sophisticated.So it largely depends on the context. June 21 Yoga Day practice protocol, for instance, is something different from what is taught in a fitness club or an office.Will celebrating events like International Yoga Day help the cause of yoga?■ Although it has a strong political agenda, it is being endorsed by institutions such the United Nations and EU because they see a role for practices such as yoga in preventative health care which in the long run can reduce cost of public health. But when you attend an international yoga day and hear speeches, the event seems to be about the practice of yoga that meets the government ideology around Hinduism.To say that yoga is Vedic and not to mention the Buddhist or Jain texts or ignore the interest the Mughals took in yoga is a distorted view of history. There is a tradition of yoga texts written in Jainism throughout the medieval period such as Acharya Hemachandra’s Yoga Shastra,Haribhadra’s Yogabindu.Today the Tehrapanthi sect in Jainism has developed a system of yoga which is now being taught internationally. The Mughal ruler Jehangir had commissioned translations of yoga texts. Bahr Ul Hayat is one such Persian version of an Arabic work, which in turn was a translation of a Sanskrit text called Amrita Kunda. It has descriptions of 22 asanas very similar to what we find in the Sanskrit works of that time. The difference lies in the reason for performing those asanas. In Sanskrit texts, it was for curing illness, or uniting oneself to Shiva, for instance, and in the Persian text it was about bringing imagination together with reflection and other aspects of Sufi contemplative practice. And for Jehangir to be interested in yoga at the level, shows a real exchange between cultures.Is that the reason why yoga has survived for so long?■ This is because Hatha Yoga is so malleable. It can move from one community to another very easily.A lot of reinterpretation occurs after 15th century. Perhaps with the success of different types of yoga, people started to appropriate them and reinterpret them to suit their tradition.And that is what we see happening today in various countries.■ Post your comments at speakingtree.in