History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.229

v7.c94.229

A few words must be said about āsanas. The present author recommends to all those interested in āsanas a very useful and instructive handbook (in 188 pages) on 'āsanas' composed and published by Sri Kuvalayānanda of the Kaivalyadhāma at Lonavla near Poona (third impression in 1949) with 81 plates (78 on different āsanas and 3 on *naulī*). The Dakṣasmṛti (VII. 5) mentions Padmāsana and Yāj. in III. 198 appears to allude to it. Dr. K. T. Behanan on 'Yoga, a scientific evaluation' inserts 16 figures (between pp. 186-187) of several āsanas. Though the Y. S. does not mention any āsana by name yet the Vyāsabhāṣya²³⁴⁰ names ten and indicates by the word 'ādi' that it knew more. Vīrāsana²³⁴¹ is mentioned in Raghuvamśa 13. 52. Śaṅkarācārya on V. S. IV. 1. 10 remarks that Padmakāsana and other special āsanas are propounded in Yogaśāstra. The V. S. (IV. 1 7-10) has in view, acc. to Śaṅkarācārya, the description of āsana in the Gītā (VI. 11), the relaxation of bodily activities and stableness of posture indicated by such words as 'dhyāyativa pṛthivī' (Chān. Up. VII 6. 1). According to the H. P. (I. 17) āsana is the first *aṅga* of Haṭhayoga, that Śiva speaks of 84 āsanas, of which four āsanas called Siddha, Padma, Siṃha and Bhadra are the most essential (sārabhūta) and it recommends Siddhāsana as the best (I. 34) and describes it (I. 35). The Haṭhayogapradīpikā names and describes 15 āsanas in I. 19-55. The Dhyānabindu Upaniṣad states that there are innumerable āsanas but mentions the same four as the most prominent. Vide figures 16 (p. 55), 18 (p 57), 62 (p. 97) in Śrī. Kuvalayānanda's work for Siddha, Padma and Siṃha āsanas respectively and figures 105 (p. 186), 106 (p. 187), and 108 (p. 188), for the āsanas called Siddha, Padma and Baddhapadma respectively in Prof. S. S. Goswami's work on Hathayoga and p. 28-30 for Siddhāsana, Padmāsana and Baddha-padmāsana respectively in Alain Danielou's work (London, 1949). The Śivasaṃhitā (III. 100) and Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā (II. 1) mention that there are 84 āsanas, while the Gorakṣaśataka²³⁴² states that there are as many āsanas as there are living species, that all of them are known to Śiva, that out of 84 lakhs of āsanas Śiva chose 84 and that out of these Siddhāsana and Padmāsana are the best and defines these two (I. 5-9).