Sutra of Patanjali, give scant mention to the subject of this kind of yoga.
However, there is no doubt that asanas have become a highly developed
form of physical self development, and this development can be traced back
to the medieval period of South Asian history and the structured asceticism
of the Kanpatha Sect of sannyasis. Although these ascetics were concerned
with the embodiment of power, it is difficult to imagine that asanas were,
in and of themselves, a form of martial art, given that they do not entail
movement as such. However, there is the intriguing possibility that yogic
asanas, linked together through a series of connective movements, might
have constituted a more active style of martial self-development along the
lines of taijiquan (tai chi ch’uan) (cf. Sjoman 1996). Regardless, it is clear
that in contemporary practice, asanas are conceived of as a form of physi-
cal fitness training for both the subtle and gross bodies, with primary at-
tention given to the locus points at which these bodies tend to affect one an-
other most directly: the internal organ/chakra nexus, the spine/sushumna
axes, and, to a lesser extent, the joint/nerve/nadi/tendon complex.
In essence yoga is a method for achieving siddha(perfection) in the
whole body-mind complex. Although perfection is meant to lead to a state
of complete nothingness, a person who comes close to perfection is able to
perform supernatural feats. In the canonical literature of Hinduism, as well
as in more popular folk genres, yogis often figure as characters who use
their power to perform miracles or, as is often the case when they are dis-
turbed from deep meditation, to curse and otherwise punish those who are
less than perfect. Thus, in a very concrete sense, the power associated with
yoga is regarded as having an outward orientation and is not only directed
inward toward the self and away from others or society at large. Although
the power of a yogi can often be destructive, in either a defensive or offen-
sive mode, an adept yogi can embody near perfection, such that the aura of
his personality has a positive effect on those with whom he comes in con-
tact. Although this “personality” is not physiological per se, nor is it “mar-
tial” in any meaningful sense, the way in which a yogi’s embodied con-
sciousness—his spirituality or the subtle aura of his religious persona—can
factor into problematic social relationships should be understood as an ex-
tension of the logic behind more explicitly martial arts.
Joseph S. Alter
See alsoIndia; Kalarippayattu; Meditation; Thang-ta; Varma Ati; Wrestling
and Grappling: India; Written Texts: India
References
Alter, Joseph S. 1994. “Celibacy, Sexuality, and the Transformation of
Gender into Nationalism in North India.” Journal of Asian Studies53,
no. 1: 45–66.
———. 1993. “Hanuman and the Moral Physique of the Banarsi
Wrestler.” In Living Banaras: Hindu Religion in Cultural Context.470 Religion and Spiritual Development: India