Book cover of The Khecarīvidyā of Ādinātha: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of an Early Text of Hathayoga

Book description

Describing one of the most important practices of hathayoga (khecarimudra), the Khecarividya of Adinatha is presented here to an English-speaking readership for the first time. The author, James Mallinson, draws on thirty Sanskrit works, as well as original fieldwork amongst yogins in India who use the practice, to demonstrate how…

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Why read it?

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

I am humbled by Mallinson’s scholarship and the breadth of erudition displayed in this study. We have grown accustomed to associate Haṭha Yoga with what is, properly speaking, “modern postular Yoga,” and Mallinson’s book is one of those recent studies where the difference between the two is starkly demonstrated with his focus on an early text belonging to the former category and its subject matter.

I admire his attention to textual and historical details, attentiveness to the context, and deep understanding of the religious, cultural, and philosophical ideas and associated practices related to the subject matter. There is a whole…

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