Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Note on Transliterations
- Introduction
- 1 Current Research on Nāth Yogīs: Further Directions
- 2 Powerful Yogīs: The Successful Quest for Siddhis and Power
- 3 Kingly Corruption and Ascetic Sovereignty in the Telugu Account of the Nine Nāths
- 4 In Siddhis and State: Transformations of Power in Twentieth-Century Gorakhpur Temple Publications
- 5 The Search for the Jugi Caste in Pre-Colonial Bengal
- 6 Back When We Were Brahmins: Historical and Caste Critique Among Bengali Householder Nāths
- 7 Shades of Power: The Nāth Yogīs in Nepal
- 8 Yogī, Paṇḍit, and Rāṣṭra-Bhakta: Some Reconstructions of Yogī Naraharināth’s Religious Career
- 9 The Evocative Partnerships of a Monastic Nāth Temple in Contemporary Rajasthan
- 10 Towards a Nāth Re-Appropriation of Haṭha-Yoga
- Index
10 - Towards a Nāth Re-Appropriation ofHaṭha-Yoga
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 November 2022
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Note on Transliterations
- Introduction
- 1 Current Research on Nāth Yogīs: Further Directions
- 2 Powerful Yogīs: The Successful Quest for Siddhis and Power
- 3 Kingly Corruption and Ascetic Sovereignty in the Telugu Account of the Nine Nāths
- 4 In Siddhis and State: Transformations of Power in Twentieth-Century Gorakhpur Temple Publications
- 5 The Search for the Jugi Caste in Pre-Colonial Bengal
- 6 Back When We Were Brahmins: Historical and Caste Critique Among Bengali Householder Nāths
- 7 Shades of Power: The Nāth Yogīs in Nepal
- 8 Yogī, Paṇḍit, and Rāṣṭra-Bhakta: Some Reconstructions of Yogī Naraharināth’s Religious Career
- 9 The Evocative Partnerships of a Monastic Nāth Temple in Contemporary Rajasthan
- 10 Towards a Nāth Re-Appropriation of Haṭha-Yoga
- Index
Summary
Abstracts
This chapter contextualizes the practice of haṭhayoga among Nāth ascetics and describes its“re-appropriation” in contemporary times. Takingan ethnographic perspective, it examines two casestudies: the international propaganda of thetextually prolific Yogī Vilāsnāth, and YogīŚivanāth's work in the yoga śivir (camp) in Gorakhpur. These casestudies are investigated in the context of thepolitical role yoga has recently played, as a formof soft power. These studies suggest that the“re-appropriation” of haṭha yoga is a consequenceboth of the international popularity of yoga todayand of the aims of building and consolidating theidentity and prestige, at home and abroad, of theNāth sampradāya inorder to cultivate new forms of patronage andsocial prestige.
Keywords: Nāth sampradāya, haṭhayoga, tradition, re-appropriation, modernization,yoga śivir
Since the end of the nineteenth century, yoga has beenused by Indian gurus as a tool for highlightingIndia's philosophical and spiritual relevance in theworld. This trend has become a more explicitpolitical strategy in the last few years, sinceModi's government, capitalizing on the widespreaddiffusion of yoga practices in the world, decided toinvest in yoga as a form of soft power.
Considering the fact that today yoga attractsindividuals of all ages and social backgrounds, itcomes as no surprise that the order traditionallyassociated with it, the Nāth sampradāya, would try to fit into thisyogascape. This would mark an historicaldiscontinuity, as the practice of haṭha yoga,according to several scholars (see below), has beenabsent from Nāth practice for quite some time.
In this chapter I will briefly analyze the historicalrelationship of haṭha yoga and the Nāth sampradāya and then, usingethnographic data, evaluate the role that today thisform of yoga has among Nāths. To follow, after ashort theoretical overview on the role of yoga as asymbol of cultural nationalism and as aninternational practice, I will focus on two examplesof what I call the “re-appropriation” of haṭha yoga:the textually prolific work of Yogī Vilāsnāth, whois also engaged in proselytizing at theinternational level, and the more local activitiesof the Gorakhnāth temple of Gorakhpur organized byYogī Śivanāth, through a description of the yogaśivir (yoga camp)held in Gorakhpur on the occasion of the 2018International Day of Yoga.
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- The Power of the Nath YogisYogic Charisma, Political Influence and SocialAuthority, pp. 281 - 306Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2022