Hatha Yoga Pradipika
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The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā is a classic fifteenth-century Sanskrit manual on haṭha yoga, written by Svātmārāma, who connects the teaching's lineage to Matsyendranath of the Nathas. It is among the most influential surviving texts on haṭha yoga, being one of the three classic texts alongside the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita.
Detail of a 19th-century manuscript copy of the 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Schoyen Collection, Norway
Manuscript painting of a yogin in meditation, showing the chakras and the three main nāḍīs (channels) of the subtle body. A small serpent, representing the Kundalini, climbs from the base of the central nāḍī.
Hatha yoga
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Hatha yoga is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ haṭha literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe hatha yoga, the 11th-century Amṛtasiddhi, comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of hatha are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onward.
Haṭha yoga's components include from top left to bottom right Shatkarmas (purifications, here Nauli), Asanas (postures, here Mayurasana, Peacock Pose), Mudras (manipulations of vital energy, here Viparita Karani), Pranayama (breath control, here Anuloma Viloma).
Tibetan depiction of Tummo (candali, inner heat) practice showing the central channel, the sushumna
A folio of a medieval copy of the Amṛtasiddhi, written bilingually in Sanskrit and Tibetan
18th century yoginis in Rajasthan