History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.265

v7.c94.265

Some explanation must be offered about *deśa* (space), *kāla* and *saṅkhyā* in relation to prāṇāyāma. Ordinarily a healthy grown-up man breathes in and out in about four seconds i. e. about 15 times a minute (21600 times in one day and night). In order to measure the force of the *recaka* a piece of cotton or a thin thread is held at some distance from the nostrils and the distance up to which the air driven from the nostrils makes the cotton or thread move or cease to move is measured by means of finger-breadths As regards time several units of time are mentioned because in those ancient days there was no scientific apparatus. The time taken for winking (*nimeṣa*) is equal²³⁶¹ to the time required for pronouncing a short vowel and this was called *mātrā* The time taken for touching one's knees thrice with one's hand and snapping the thumb and forefinger was also called *mātrā*. Other units are passed over The general rules are that both *recaka* and *pūraka* must be uniform and quiet, that the time given for pūraka should be half of that given to recaka. Three views about the duration of *pūraka*, *kumbhaka* and *recaka* are that they should be in the proportion of 1 : 4 : 2 or 1 : 2 : 2 or the same for all. The Purāṇas give different mātrās for prāṇāyāmas e g. the Mārkaṇḍeya (36. 13, 14) says that the *laghu* (*mṛdu* of the bhāṣya) is of twelve mātrās, double of that is *madhyama* and the *uttarīya* (tīvra in the bhāṣya) is for three times twelve mātrās, while the Garuḍapurāṇa (I. 226. 14-15) puts down the figures as 10, 20, 30 respectively and the Kūrmapurāṇa (II. 11. 32) agrees with the Mārkaṇḍeya. The Mitākṣarā on Yāj. III. 200-201 provides that prāṇāyāma is of three varieties (adhama of 15 mātrās, madhyama of 30 mātrās and uttama of 45 mātrās). The Lingapurāṇa (I. 8. 47-48) also puts forth 12, 24, 36 mātrās as the time of *nīca udghāta*, *madhyama udghāta* and *mukhya* and states that obvious results of these three are respectively perspiration, tremor and utthāna (prasāda-kampanotthāna-janakaśca yathākramam). Compare Mārk. 36. 16 which states that those three are to be mastered respectively by the different lengths of prāṇāyāma (prathamena jayet svedam madhyamena ca vepathum। viṣādam hi tṛtīyena jayed-doṣān anukramāt॥).