How to succeed at Āsana: A seventeenth-century Marginal Note

By JASON BIRCH



Marginal note on folio 58v. of the Yogacintāmaṇi
Ms. No. 3537, Scindia Oriental Institute, Ujjain


I'm currently translating a section on āsanas from a unique manuscript that can be accurately dated to Thursday, 5th June, 1659 CE by a scribal comment.1 At first sight, this manuscript appears to be a copy of the Yogacintāmaṇi ("A Gem of Thoughts on Yoga"), which is a very large compendium on yoga composed by Śivānandasarasvatī in the early seventeenth century. However, it is, in fact, a unique work because, in addition to the original text of the Yogacintāmaṇi, there is supplementary material on āsana, as well as numerous marginal notes, that have been added by an unknown scribe. 

The additional material in this particular manuscript includes five unprecedented āsanas that are attributed to a Lakṣmaṇasvarayogī. In contrast to attributions to mythical figures, such as Vasiṣṭha and Matsyendra, this reference to Lakṣmaṇasvarayogī may be the earliest textual record of a historical person who was known for teaching particular āsanas. 

At the lower edge of folio 58 verso, in a marginal note added to the text on āsana, the following dietary advice is given for the mastery of all āsanas: 
Lakṣmaṇasvarayogī says, "By eating rock salt (saindhava) and pepper (marīca), success arises in all the āsanas, and not by [eating other types of] salt (lavaṇa)." Because of this, itching disappears.2
Lakṣmaṇasvarayogī appears to be recommending a specific type of salt called saindhava as opposed to salt (lavaṇa) more generally understood. In Sanskrit literature, the terms saindhava and lavaṇa can be used as synonyms. However, in some texts of Āyurveda and Rasāyana, lavaṇa refers to salt of which there are various types including saindhava. For example, in the Rasārṇava, five types of salt (lavaṇa) are listed as sāmudra, saindhava, cūlikālavaṇa, sauvarcala and kāca.3

A fifteenth to sixteenth-century compendium called the Rājanighaṇṭu, which gives the names and properties of medicinal substances, states the following about saindhava:
It has nine names: saindhava, śītaśiva, nādeya, sindhuja, śiva, śuddha, śivātmaja, pathya and maṇimantha. Saindhava is a salt that is aphrodisiacal, good for the eyes, stimulates appetite, mitigates the three humours (doṣa), purifies(?), and cures ulceration and constipation.4
Therefore, Lakṣmaṇasvarayogī seems to be recommending saindhava, rather than salt in general, for  achieving success in all āsanas.

The comment 'because of this, itching disappears', which follows Lakṣmaṇasvarayogī's advice, is even more intriguing. It appears to be the scribe's opinion. The referent of the pronoun (i.e., 'this') is not entirely clear. Is itching (kaṇḍū) cured by eating rock salt and pepper or by successfully accomplishing all āsanas? 

Āyurvedic texts, such as the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra, assert that itching is a sign of aggravated phlegm (kaphadoṣa).5 If one believes that saindhava mitigates doṣas, as the Rājanighaṇṭu states above, then it should cure itching. Nonetheless, the scribe may have been thinking of āsanas that are said to mitigate doṣas. For example, Sundaradeva, the author of the Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā, who was an āyurvedic physician (vaidya), claimed that bhadrāsana (a type of seated posture) can cure diseases caused by kapha.6

So it seems, if one has an itch, some saindhava at hand and the ability to do bhadrāsana, one should be able to self-medicate quite effectively. Then, just add pepper for success in all āsanas!


Bhadrāsana
Schmidt, Richard. 1908.
Fakire und Fakirtum im alten und modernen Indien: Yoga-Lehre und Yoga-Praxis nach den indischen Originalquellen.
Berlin: Hermann Barsdorf.



NOTES:

1 At the international conference, Yoga in Transformation, held at the University of Vienna in 2013, I presented this manuscript as evidence for the proliferation of āsana in yoga texts that were composed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Download this conference paper here. These findings will be published as a forthcoming article in the conference proceedings, Yoga in Transformation (2018).

2 Yogacintāmaṇi, ms. No. 3537, Scindia Oriental Institute, Ujjain, f. 58v (lower margin)
saindhavamarīcabhakṣaṇena sarvāsanasiddhir na tu lavaṇeneti lakṣmaṇasvarayogī || tena kaṇḍūnāśaḥ [||]

3 Rasārṇava 5.32
sāmudraṃ saindhavaṃ caiva cūlikālavaṇaṃ tathā | 
sauvarcalaṃ ca kācaṃ ca lavaṇāḥ pañca kīrtitāḥ || 

4 Rājanighaṇṭu 5.88-90
saindhavaṃ syāc chītaśivaṃ nādeyaṃ sindhujaṃ śivam | 
śuddhaṃ śivātmajaṃ pathyaṃ maṇimanthaṃ navābhidham ||5.88|| 
saindhavaṃ lavaṇaṃ vṛṣyaṃ cakṣuṣyaṃ rucidīpanam | 
tridoṣaśamanaṃ pūtaṃ vraṇadoṣavibandhajit ||5.89|| 

5 See the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasūtra, Sūtrasthāna, 12.53-54
śleṣmaṇaḥ snehakāṭhinyakaṇḍūśītatvagauravam |
bandhopalepastaimityaśophāpaktyatinidratāḥ || 53 ||
varṇaḥ śveto rasau svādulavaṇau cirakāritā |
ity aśeṣāmayavyāpi yad uktaṃ doṣalakṣaṇam || 54 |

6 Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā, ms. No. R3239 (transcript), Government Oriental Manuscript Library, p. 32.
atha kaphavātaroge bhadrāsanam ("Now, in the case of a disease caused by phlegm (kapha) or wind (vāta), bhadrāsana [is taught]").



The complete āsana section of this unique manuscript of the Yogacintāmaṇi will be published as part of the Haṭha Yoga Project.