The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā is a classic fifteenth-century Sanskritmanual on haṭha yoga, written by Svātmārāma, who connects the teaching's lineage to Matsyendranath of the Nathas. It is among the most influential surviving texts on hatha yoga. The Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā is also one of three classic texts on haṭha yoga, alongside the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita.
Title and composition
Different manuscripts offer various versions of the text's title. The database of the A.C. Woolner manuscript project at the Library of the University of Vienna gives the following variant titles, gleaned from different manuscript colophons: Haṭhayogapradīpikā, Haṭhapradīpikā, Haṭhapradī, Hath-Pradipika. The Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā was composed by Svātmārāma in the 15th century CE. as a compilation of the earlier haṭha yoga texts. Svātmārāma incorporates older Sanskrit concepts into his synthesis. He introduces his system as a preparatory stage for physical purification before higher meditation or Raja Yoga.
Summary
Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā lists thirty-five earlier Haṭha Yoga masters, including Ādi Nātha, Matsyendranātha and Gorakṣanātha. The work consists of four chapters that include information about purification, posture, breath control, spiritual centres in the body, coiled power, force postures,, energy, subtle/gross bodily connections, and symbolic gestures, among other topics. It runs in the line of Hindu yoga and is dedicated to The First Lord, one of the names of Lord Śiva, who is described in several texts from the Dattātreyayogaśāstra onwards as having imparted the secret of haṭha yoga to his divine consort Pārvatī.
Modern research
In the twenty-first century, research on the history of yoga has led to a more developed understanding of hatha yoga. In analyzing the Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā, as well as other works by Svātmārāma, researchers better understand the origins of hatha yoga. James Mallinson has thoroughly studied the origins of hatha yoga and has worked with classic yoga texts such as the Khecarīvidyā. He has identified a collection of eight works that introduce early hatha yoga and contribute directly to its official formation in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Many of his conclusions from these early works revise earlier understandings about the formation of yoga. Jason Birch has investigated the role of the Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā in popularizing an interpretation of the Sanskrit word haṭha. The text drew from classic texts on different systems of yoga, and Svātmārāma grouped what he had found under the generic term "haṭha yoga". Examining Buddhist tantric commentaries and earlier medieval yoga texts, Birch found that the adverbial uses of the word suggested that it meant "force", rather than "the metaphysical explanation of uniting the sun and moon ".
