In 'Yoga Body', Mark Singleton mention's a text by Krishnamacharya that I hadn't heard of before last week, called Yogasanagalu. I'm wondering if anyone knows any more about it. The course I'm taking in the summer with Ramaswami has a 20 hour element on Krishnamacharya's writing, but I'm not sure if this text is included.
Here is what Singleton has to say about the text.
'This seminal, though unknown work (Krishanmacharya's Yoga Makaranda) has been, along with Sri Narashimhan's translation of Krishnamacharya's asana manual Yogasanagalu of c.1941, a key source for my understanding of Krishnamacharya's teaching in Mysore in the thirties and forties'. p9
'Although Krishnamacharya did eventualy sytermatize his Mysore teaching--as evidenced by his book Yogasanagalu (c.1941), which contains tables of asana and vinyasa comparable to Pattabhi Jois's system...' p188
'... the ascription of the Ashtanga Vinyasa series to Pattabhi Jois is probably mistaken, not least because Krishanmacharya published a list of the series in yogasanagalu.' p189
Alexander Medin of PURE YOGA also refers to it here.
These quotes come from that article.
Primarily I will be referring to the 'Yoga Makarandam' and 'Yogasanagalu' two early works by Krishnamacharya never translated into English,
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Krishnamacharya himself published only two works on Yoga: The Yoga Makarndam (1935) and Yogàsanagalu (1957) both written in Kannada language (the language of the Karnataka state in South India).
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In his later publication of Yogàsanagalu (1957) he does indeed list a number of more than two hundred àsanas, but his particular emphasize on correct method is noteworthy. In paragraph number 12, titled: "Beware" he informs us:
Those who practice Yoga, in particular àsana and pràçàyàma without regard to the principles mentioned here but who, upon seeing the photos presented here practice independently in their own house, according to their own desire and fancy, do not gain anything but defile the Yoga of the entire Yogic Sciences. The practice of Yoga, like any other exercise, develops physical strength, but Yoga is not like the kalpavriksa (whishing tree) which, according to age and by means of arduous practice, offers longevity of life, prevents disease, renders the body, flesh and mind with vitality and grants the practitioner with the power to perceive the most minute (suksma) elements/micro-organisms, and the wisdom to differentiate between atman and non-atman [that which is spirit and that which is not spirit]. (Yogasanagalu: 1957)
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18 comments:
Hmm, you read all of that from Alex? cool!, I did not get to it although I had been doing probably the same searches you have been doing, cause I remember landing on that page too. I wonder if anyone will have a literal "clue" as to possibly finding the book...
I am giving a lot of of thought to Krishnamacharya these days, the chapter on Mysore has sent a lot of new perspectives into my understandings... I imagine what a huge task he had at hand, both keeping his truth about yoga and needing to please the Maharasha. It is fascinating
The quickest way to get an answer is probably to contact Alex directly. Or is this considered cheating? Alex is living in Oslo now, however the next few months he is in India.
No, it's not cheating Roselil but less of an egg hunt perhaps. I should send him an email.
I like that bit at the end of your comment Claudia about K'S balancing act.
I want both books now! More than 200 Asanas would verily fit into the 6 series system! I have Yoga Rahasya which has like 100 asanas listed, mostly 1st and 2nd series. Please let me know if you find out more, at leas the list of asanas.
Thanks Grimmly, well if you are to email Alex lets hope he gives us some clues. I am still reading and hope to post something about the journey of discovery through this book...
Have you seen Sweeney's Vinyasa krama GD? he says that one of the sequences in there is pretty much 5th series.
Claudia i've been googling all over the place today. Your balancing idea has been playing on my mind. If I was the Krishnamacharya of the Makaranda and was obliged to present asana in the guise of the physical culture style doing the rounds, perhaps I'd look to indigenous equivalents. I've been looking at the indian wrestler and kalari training, it's similar to the gymnastics of Ling and Bukh but, as the italians say 'it marries'. fits in with what Sjoman seems to suggest IE. that K took from some wrestling texts in the Mysore library. The dand for instance the Surynamaskara etc.
S was saying some interesting things on the last post about S asian physical culture. the kalari wikipedia artical for instance refers to meditation and chakras, who'd have thought. Does it matter for our yoga? of course not, but fascinating all the same.
It all comes from Bodidharma. He stopped over for a while in what would later become Ramamohan B.'s cave and doodled out the Korunta on the walls. The rest, as they say, is historiography.
where can I find the Yogasanagalu, Yoga Makarandam, and Yoga Rahasya? What is Matthew Sweeney's Vinyasa Krama GD?
hey Ralph, 'where can I find the Yogasanagalu?' that's what I'm asking in this post. I don't think it was ever published. I think there may be a copy in the Mysore sanskrit college and possibly a couple of translated copies floating around. The yoga makaranda was published I believe but is out of print. Supposedly KYM is planning on publishing it. The Yoga Rahasya you can get on Amazon, published by KYM.
'What is Matthew Sweeney's Vinyasa Krama GD'?
GD was just short hand for Gauranga Das, I was directing the comment at him. Mathew Sweeney is an Australian Ashtangi who brought out a couple of books. The first one 'Ashtanga as it is' lists the first four ashtanga series nicely laid out in picture sequences. His second book, Vinyasa Krama, does a similar thing but with sequences of his own. one of them he claims is pretty much fifth series. Both are available from all good yogi bookstores, a yogi bookstore near you.
Bodhiarma had the worst case of writers block in history, nine years he stared at that ruddy wall ....
I have Sweeney's Vinyasa Krama book. On my view his 5th is too long, so actually I have put some of it into my 6th series list. I have compared the lists from absolutelyashtanga.com, David Williams and Sweeney, and have come up with a 5th and 6th list having 25 asanas each. I can send this to you if you are interested. Any other sources you are aware of?
Hi GD. Alex says that the Yogasanagalu is pretty much the same as the Makaranda but with a different introduction and the lists/charts of postures at the back. I think both he and Singleton have pretty much said it sort of corresponds to the four old ashtanga series, Primary, intermediate, Advanced A and B. that's good enough for me, though I would love to see that chart, the little differences would be interesting.
At the moment I'm more interested in the variations of poses and how K used them both in Mysore and later to help students approach more difficult asanas and to explore subtleties in the key asanas. I'm loving the seated Sequence at the moment, though it doesn't have any of the 'cool' asanas. I'm finding it's having an effect on pretty much everything else.
Always interested to see sequences though, be curious to see how you worked out 5th and 6th. My email address is under contact details on my profile page. Re other sources, (for asana?) that asana dictionary at the back of Sweeney plus Dharma Mittra's 608 should be plenty no? Besides my understanding is that K was making most of them up as he was going along, the variations anyway. There only seems to be around 50-80 key asanas if that.
gauranga das, i would love to see your list as well. my e-mail address is rcsynergy@yahoo.com.
thank you!
Hi Grimmly,
I discovered your blog because you had a left a comment on my blog. I had gone to Mysore last year and a few friends of mine and I were looking for Yoga Makaranda and Yogasanagalu. After a long and hard search we got access to it in the University library. But, it is in Kannada, an Indian language which also happens to be my mother tongue. So, I took pictures of both the books. Astanga yoga is pretty much from these books, I like to say entirely, but will leave that out. Although Pattabhi Jois would like everyone to believe that there is a secret book called Yoga Korunta. I can upload these books on my website if you like. You can only look at the pictures. The text is in Kannada.
Sraddha
Sraddha, thank you so much for commenting. Yes, would love it if you could upload the yogasanagalu, especially, to your site, be most interested to see it. I heard it was similar to the Makaranda but that it had asana lists/sequences in the back (very interested to see those). I was hoping I might see a copy on the Vinyasa Krama course (I leave tomorrow morning) but I don't think it's covered (though the Makaranda should be). My email is on my contact page too it's grimmly2007 and that's at googlemail.
Just had the first day of ten on Krishanamacharya, Reading through his book going around the class taking a paragraph each and stopping after each one for questions and explanations. Looked up and two hours had flown by, hadn't even felt like an hour. Had wondered how we would go about approaching it, this is perfect.
Hi,
I am looking for the book Yogasanagalu by Krishnamacharia. Does anyone know if it has been translated to English?
If no, then I would like to ask you Sraddha if you would let me know you webpage. I would love to see the pictures you took.
Thanks in advance.
-Karin
Hi Karin, soory, only just seen your comment don't know how I missed it. As far as i know it's still not translated into English, hopeful that Deskichar may publish it though seeing as he's just done the Yoga makaranda, fingers crossed.
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