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
2 - Powerful Yogīs: The Successful Quest for Siddhisand Power
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 comprehensively addresses thequestion of power in a yogī milieu, particularlywithin the Nāth panth, unraveling and exploring themeanings of power in haṭha yoga and linking theseideal conceptions with historical andhagiographical examples from different contextsand times. Drawing chiefly on Nāth hagiography, arich source for yogī paradigms and symbolictreatments of power and success or, in otherwords, siddhi, Iargue that the display of supernatural capacitiesin hagiography mirrors the attainment of power inpolitical and social spheres. The chapter suggeststhat these hagiographic themes foreshadow thesuccessful trajectory of the Nāth Yogīs’ historyand the undeniable influence that Nāth leadershave exercised in South Asian politics.
Keywords: Nāth panth, Nāth folklore,Yoga and hagiography, South Asian yoga, religionand politics
If one were to scrutinize yogic literature, especiallythat associated with haṭha yoga, it would quicklybecome apparent that the acquisition and developmentof powers is an important motif, if not utterlyrequisite for the yogic quest. Haṭha yoga oftenimplies some sort of ascetic practice that canproduce various results. The main objective inseveral haṭha texts is to master the vital breath soas to gain immunity and immortality, which impliesabsolute perfection. Thus, a driving, underlyingmotif in yogic idiom relies on the material andsymbolical imaginings of power, perfection, andsuccess, all of which can be rendered by theSanskrit word siddhi.Even though Carl Olson (2015, 4) identifies threebig D's in asceticism (detachment, denial,discipline), it seems that in various contexts andexamples yogic power does not necessarily have toimply all three, although discipline is allegedlyone big D that conditions yogic success.
This chapter aims to comprehensively address thequestion of power in the yogī milieu of the Nāthsampradāya, with theintention of probing into the material consequencesof the symbolical imaginings of power, perfection,and success. Its starting point is to see siddhi not as an asceticgoal that only takes place in ontological and/orspiritual contexts, but one that transcends andincorporates other realms of human activity.
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- Information
- The Power of the Nath YogisYogic Charisma, Political Influence and SocialAuthority, pp. 55 - 80Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2022