For a generic analysis of the different Historical Periods of Yoga, a set of aspects may be taken into account, of which those that seem most relevant, for the case, will be referred to. First, it is not easy to define dates, nor will it seem wise for the person to stick too much to the defined intervals, for numerous reasons, highlighting the difficulty in dating the archaeological finds and textual production that would be contemporary to them. In fact, it is almost unanimous to recognize that the textual versions of several basic texts of the Hindu Culture, since the Vedic beginnings, were already orally transmitted (paramparā) long before their written versions and that throughout that process they were subject to changes, more or less deep. Second, let us also remember that there are Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina Yoga, so here we will talk almost exclusively about the first. In this sense, the framework is defined based on the movement of formation and crystallization of Hinduism or Sanātana Dharma. Third, to point out some contradiction between what the traditional accounts say, decked out by myth and, later, by nationalism, and the academic versions, initially taken by certain colonial prejudice, but currently tending to balance.
Anthropology, Comparative Religion, Indology, Oriental Studies, Sanskrit Philology, under the baton of figures such as Surendranath Dasgupta[1], Mircea Eliade[2], Elizabeth de Michelis[3], Feuerstein[4] and, more recently, James Mallinson and Mark Singleton[5], among others, proposed several timelines to set the genesis and evolution of Yoga, which roughly coincide. In this article, without choosing a specific line, we will try to integrate elements from the various proposals, within what seems to make sense, in a pre-written phase and, later, in a sequence of phases characterized by the type of textual production that typify them.
Therefore, the thesis that the origins of Yoga are found in the Shamanic Traditions previous and contemporary to the Indus Valley Civilization seems to have some sustainability. Fundamentally because there are countless elements of Shamanism that came to be found (and still are verified today) in the theory and practice of Yoga: metaphors and basic allegories (ritual dismemberment and flight, acquisition of superpowers, among others), generation of body heat and physical postures. From this period, there are essentially archaeological records, the celebrated Paśupati Seal being one of them, despite all the speculative folklore that has been generated around it. This Period, which could be called Pre-Vedic, would temporarily range from 6500 to 4500 B.C.
A second Period, Vedic-Brahmanic, occurring between 4500 to 1500 BC, is based on Archeology and the set of textual records that characterize it. In fact, somewhere in this phase a corpus of liturgical, ritual, socio-cultural and late philosophical-speculative literature is transcribed, which for centuries, one would say until millennia, had been transmitted orally. After then comes the written version of the Veda-s, consisting of Saṃhitā-s, Brahmāna-s, Āraṅyaka-s and, in a later or transition phase, the Upaniṣad-s, all grouped into four volumes: Ṛg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. Here we would have what the Hindu Tradition calls Śruti, or Transmission by “Revelation”, the set of texts directly transmitted from the Divine Sphere to the Vedic sages (ṛṣi-s). It should also be noted that in this Period many of the shamanic practices (eventually, the shamans themselves) would have been transformed or absorbed by the ascetic practitioners of Tapas, somehow less frowned upon by the Brahmanic Orthodoxy. In a Post-Vedic or Upaniṣadic Period, from 1500-100 BC, somehow difficult to separate from the previous one, the first Upaniṣad-s (called Mukhya), supposedly influenced by Buddhism and Śramaṇa-s (therefore, outside the total control of Brahmanic Orthodoxy), guide the change towards hatching and subsequent development of Vedānta.
In the Pre-Classical or Epic Period, between 1000 and 100 B.C., there are also transcribed versions of the great Hindu Epics: Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, which includes the Bhagavadgītā. Especially in the latter, in a syncretic way, there is already a formal and systematized Yoga, with Mokṣadharma being an exemplary case. From here on we have what Tradition calls Smṛti (Transmission through “Memory”). From the period before this, it can be said that there would have been a transition from proto-yoga to pre-classical yoga.
It is in the Classical Period, placed from 100 B.C. to 500 A.D., with the formulation of Yoga Darśana and the consecration of Patañjali's Yogasūtra-s by the Hindu intellectual elites, that Yoga gains transversal social status and acceptance. This is the moment of definitive institutionalization and crystallization of Hinduism, because alongside the definition of the Six Schools of Orthodox Philosophy (Ṣaddarśana), Sāṃkhya-Yoga, Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and Mīmāṃsā-Vedānta, there is a whole immense literary production (Sūtra-s and Śāstra-s) that includes Treaties on Grammar, Etymology, Phonetics, Metrics, Astrology, Architecture and Ritual.
From 500 to 1700 AD we will have the Tantric-Puranic and Sectarian (or simply Devotional) Period, including: Purāṇa-s, which would already be transmitted orally in the Epic Period (eventually, much earlier for those who defend the thesis of the Original Purāṇa), but only in this moment gained a written version; Tantra-s, Āgama-s and Saṃhitā-s, respectively linked to the Śaiva-s, Śakta-s and Vaiṣṇava-s sects; systematized literature of Vedānta under the aegis of Śaṅkara; and the Haṭha Treaties. During these centuries post-Classical Yoga is profoundly transformed, becoming syncretic in several aspects, somehow escaping more than ever from the “clutches” of Hindu Orthodoxy. Consequentely, some forms of Yoga, like the ones pracxtised and preconize by Haṭha groups, are marginalized by the Hindu Elites. Haṭha withdraws the emphasis on philosophy-metaphysics as an exhaustive basis of Yoga, to focus on body awareness and, subsequently, on physical techniques aimed at the acquisition of powers (Siddhi-s) and Liberation ( Nirvāṇa, Mokṣa, Samādhi, Kaivalya…) on whitin that physical body. And although Tantra and Vedānta color the ontological and epistemological support of different Haṭha sects, it was common to find among practitioners members from various ethnic and cultural groups, for example Muslims, Sikh-s, Alchemists, and others.
Finally comes the Modern Period, from 1700 to the present, marked first by the English colonization of India and, subsequently, by its independence and secession from Pakistan. The West's “final” entry into India arouses interest in its prolific culture, resulting in the primary major academic studies on Sanskrit and Contemplative Traditions from the region. India's independence and the obvious nationalist response associated with it set the next tone. Ramkṛiṣṇa Pôromôhongśa, Swami Vivekananda, Sir John Woodroffe, Paramahansa Yogananda, Theosophical Society and Jiddu Krishnamurti, the list would not end, spread the name of Yoga around the world. Between the first and second quarters of the 20th century, in Mysore, T. Kṛiṣṇamācārya develops a form of Yoga extremely focused on the practice of āsana which ends up having a resounding success inside and outside India, mainly due to the action of two of his most celebrated students: K. Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar. The general perception of Yoga takes on a very physical tonality, sometimes forgetting “more” basic and ancestral practices. In fact, contemporary forms of āsana, apparently, have more to do with a revival of a global physical culture, adapted to what already existed brought from shamanic and ascetic traditions, as argued by Mark Singleton[6]. Entering the new millennium, the “gymnastic yoga”, the billion dollar industry, the sexual abuse scandals, the patent wars, joins the “old Yoga”, both outside and inside India, showing that it is a Living Contemplative Science, constantly changing. The most recent Academic Literature will probably give a final blow to the “cut” of Yoga with an exclusively sectarian reading, publishing studies with a cultural and technical focus, which provide a probably broader view on everything it encompasses, in the demystification, without calling into question its intrinsic value, by the contrary[7]. The recognition of the parallels between Yoga and other Mystics, such as Christian or Islamic, is another of the great advances of the present moment.
Joel Machado
jehoel@gmail.com
#yogaandmysticism #joelmachado #yoga #mystic #meditation #contemplation #history #historyofyoga
[1] Dasgupta, S. (2003) A History of Indian Philosophy (5 Vol). Delhi, India. Motilal Banarsidass.
[2] Eliade, Mircea (1958) Yoga. Immortality and Freedom. New York. Princeton.
[3] De Michelis, Elizabeth (2005) A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism. London. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
[4] Feuerstein (1998) The Yoga tradition. Phoenix, Arizona. Hohm Press.
[5] Mallinson, James & Singleton, Mark (2017) Roots of Yoga. London. Penguins Classics.
[6] Singleton, Mark (2010) Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice. New York. Oxford University Press.
[7] http://hyp.soas.ac.uk/
