Why read The Alchemical Body?

Book cover of The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India

Book description

David Gordon White excavates and seeks to centre within its broader Indian context the lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. This comprehensive study draws upon the ancient Sanskrit and medieval Hindu materials and asserts medieval traditions of Hindu alchemy and "hatha yoga" were practiced by one and the same people,…

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Asian history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Alchemical Body as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Gordan Djurdjevic

Author

I love the extraordinarily intricate ideology of the Nāth Yogis, or Siddhas, magisterially described in this study brimful with historical and religious data.

This is one of those books that blow your mind and leave you in awe. I am especially captivated by the efforts to translate the methodology of Indian alchemy into the practice of Yoga that the book describes. “As in metal, so in the body” was the motto of Indian Siddha practitioners who strived to imitate the process of perfecting the metals by perfecting the body.

It was exactly this book that set me on the path…

From Gordan's list on the Nāth Yogis.