Pattanaik Devduit - Yoga Mythology 64 Asanas and Their Stories

v Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

vi Yoga Mythology: 64 Asanas and Their Stories 2022 by Devdutt Pattanaik with Matthew Rulli.

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First e-book edition 2022

E-book ISBN: 9780738771687

First published in hardback in India by HarperCollins Publishers in 2019

A-75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India

www.harpercollins.co.in

Cover design by Kevin R. Brown

Interior illustrations by Devdutt Pattanaik

Interior photos by Matthew Rulli

Typeset by Special Effects Graphics Design Co., Mumbai

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Pending)

ISBN: 978-0-7387-7064-2

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ix

To the many generations of students and teachers of yoga,

especially those who have helped me experience yoga in this life:

from the simplicity of the Yoga Institute (Yogendra school)

to the precision of the Iyengar school.

Devdutt Pattanaik

xi

Contents

by Matthew Rulli

: Yogas Narrative Canvas

xii

xiii

: Metaphors of the Yogini

Acknowledgments

By Matthew Rulli

I would like to dedicate my contribution to this book to my teachers: Dave, whose love of stories like these ignited my own fascination for yoga mythology, and Cheryl, whose friendship, guidance, and wisdom have been some of the greatest influences on my life.

And to my son, Bradley, for teaching me that I could truly love and care for someone more than myself, and for being the sweetest, most compassionate person that I have ever knownI adore you.

My sincerest gratitude to Devdutt. When I first considered the idea of writing a book on yoga mythology, I knew that, even after years of research, I would never be able to produce a work worthy of the subject matter, especially after reading books like Devdutts Jaya , Indian Mythology , and the Seven Secrets series. When I sent him an email, I didnt even expect xvi a response, and I certainly didnt expect an invitation to work together on the project. It has been a tremendous privilege and honor, not only to be involved in the making of the book, but also to share a creative space with such an inspiring and brilliant mind.

I would also like to thank my mother and the rest of my family for their boundless love and support. Leo, for the friendship and for introducing me to yoga in the first place. My teachers, Carlyn, Marivic, Julie, and John, for their dedication to sharing their knowledge and preserving the yoga tradition. The gurus, Patanjali, Shri T. Krishnamacharya, Srivatsa Ramaswami, Pattabhi, and Sharath Jois, B. K. S. Iyengar, and all those who helped to carry the gift of yoga through the ages.

And finally, my thanks to you, the reader, for without your interest and support, this book would not be possible. I hope it inspires in you as much fascination and appreciation for the indescribable depth and richness that this mythology gives to the practice of yoga as it has for me.

Matthew Rulli

Authors Note

xvii This is not a book on the practice of yoga.
This is about the mythology that nurtured the idea of yoga.

W e live in times when the Buddha has become a spa icon, and the pursuit of health has been reduced to losing weight and developing a six-pack to indulge vanity. People see health as a secular activity, divorced from religion or spirituality, which are either disdainfully dismissed or expressed with unnecessary aggression. Few acknowledge the psychological and social role played by faith, or the relationship between the physical, the psychological, and the social. It has become difficult to speak of yoga without plunging into acrimonious debates on whether it is simply a fitness regime or if there is anything xviii spiritual (mystical or occult), religious (Hindu or Buddhist or Jain), or cultural (Indian) about it.

Radical Hindus, including those who do not live in India anymore, tend to be territorial about yoga and insist on looking at it as puritanical (a colonial hangover) and devotional, ignoring the role of sensuous yoginis and the importance of magical powers associated with yogis in folklore. They fear yoga is being culturally appropriated by the West, in response to which many Western academicians have sought to strip yoga of its roots, arguing that modern yoga owes more to European colonizers and American entrepreneurship and less to Indian sages or Hindu customs and beliefs.

To avoid controversy, therefore, and to ensure that the benefit of yoga reaches a wide audience, many yoga teachers dissociate yoga from its heritage and make it more about health than about wisdommore about the body and less about the mind, and even less about the spirit. As a result, few who practice yoga around the world are aware of the underlying yoga philosophy, and even fewer are aware of yoga mythology: stories, symbols, and rituals that shaped the worldview in which yoga was nurtured for over 3,000 years. This book hopes to fill this knowledge gap in a manner and tone that is playful rather than pedantic; it presents a truth, not the truth.

Many find the use of the word Indian problematic, insisting instead on geographical phrases like South Asia or specific religious qualifications like Hindu or Buddhist or Jain. This is the malaise of academicians in the humanities who seek to compete with the precision of the pure sciences. This book uses the word xix Indic loosely to refer to ideas that primarily originated and were nurtured in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and which, even today, dominate both cultural and religious expression in the region.