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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. It presents 6 cleansing methods, 84 asanas, 24 mudras and 8 kumbhakas. The text is illustrated in an 1830 manuscript with 84 paintings of asanas, prepared about a hundred years after the text.

Topics

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

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."

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

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.

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

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.

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.

• 1 Svastikasana
• 2 Padmasana
• 7 Paschimottan­asana
• 16 Mayurasana
• 17 Kapali asana
• 22 Gorakshasana
• 29 Viparita Karani
• 66 Narasimh­asana
• 81 Kurmasana
• 84 Siddhasana

References

1. Jayataramā 1999.
2. Bühnemann 2007, pp. 28–29, 38–63.
3. ^ Mallinson 2011, pp. 770–781.
4. ^ Bühnemann 2007, pp. 38–63.
5. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, p. 492.
6. ^ Mallinson & Singleton 2017, p. 50.
7. ^ Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 232–233.
8. ^ Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 89–92.
9. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 127, 131, 133, 166–170, 264.
10. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 264.
11. ^ Mallinson & Singleton 2017, p. 290.
12. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 401–3, 416, 431–432.
13. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 324–326, 343, 358.
14. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 127, 168.
15. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 264, 168–169.
16. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 401, 416.
17. Mallinson & Singleton 2017, p. 358.

Sources

• Bühnemann, Gudrun (2007). Eighty-Four Asanas in Yoga: A Survey of Traditions. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld. pp. 38–63. ISBN 978-8124604175.
• Jayataramā, Ramanandi (1999). Gharote, M. L. (ed.). Jogpradīpikā of Jayataramā. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India: Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute.
• Mallinson, James (2011). Knut A. Jacobsen; et al. (eds.). Haṭha Yoga in the Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 3. Brill Academic. pp. 770–781. ISBN 978-90-04-27128-9.
• Mallinson, James; Singleton, Mark (2017). Roots of Yoga. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-25304-5. OCLC 928480104.

v t e Hatha yoga
Subtle body	Three bodies Five sheaths Chakra Nadi Sushumna Prana
Texts (Asanas)	Ancient meditation seats Darshana Upanishad, Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa, Goraksha Sataka Gomukhasana Muktasana Padmasana Siddhasana Simhasana Sopasrayasana Sukhasana Svastikasana Virasana Ancient non-meditation Ahirbudhnya Saṃhitā, Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa Dandasana Kurmasana c. 7th C. Ahirbudhnya Samhita Kukkutasana c. 10th C. Vimanarcanakalpa Mayurasana c. 11th C. Amritasiddhi, Hemachandra's Yogashastra Muktasana Shirshasana 12th C. Amaraugha 13th C. Dattatreya Yoga Shastra, Goraksha Shataka, Vasishtha Samhita, Vivekamārtaṇḍa Viparita Karani 14th C. Khecarīvidyā, Shiva Samhita, Sharngadhara-paddhati, Yogabīja, Yogatārāvalī Gorakshasana Paschimottanasana 15th C. Hatha Yoga Pradipika Baddha Konasana Dhanurasana Matsyendrasana Utkatasana 17th C. Gheranda Samhita, Hatha Ratnavali, Yogacintamani, Bahr al-Hayāt Bakasana Bhujangasana Kakasana Kraunchasana Makarasana Mandukasana Matsyasana Vajrasana Vrikshasana 18th C. Hathabhyasa-paddhati, Joga Pradipika Adho Mukha Vrikshasana 19th C. Sritattvanidhi Akarna Dhanurasana Bhairavasana Durvasasana Garudasana Halasana Navasana Pashasana Setu Bandha Sarvangasana Tittibhasana Urdhva Dhanurasana Late 1905 Yogasopana Purvacatuska 1943 Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience
Mudras	Mahamudra Maha Bandha Jalandhara Bandha Mula Bandha Uddiyana Bandha Viparita Karani Khechari mudra Vajroli mudra
Shatkarmas	Dhauti Basti Kapalabhati Nauli Neti Trataka
Pranayama	Anuloma Bhastrika Bhramari Kumbhaka Ujjayi
Related	Modern yoga Nath Roots of Yoga Yoga Yoga as exercise Yoga using props Category:Medieval Hatha Yoga asanas

• Hatha yoga texts