Cite BOOK
Close the cite modalStyle
Format
From Tapas to Modern Yoga
Toggle the cite modalSādhus’ Understanding of Embodied Practices
Extensively based on fieldwork material, From Tapas to Modern Yoga primarily analyses embodied practices of ascetics belonging to four religious orders historically associated with the practice of yoga and haṭha yoga. This focus on ascetics stems from the fact that yogic techniques probably develope... Read more
Published: 2024
Pages: 420
eBook: 9781800504424
Paperback: 9781800504417
ePub: 9781800505032
Hardback: 9781800504400
Extensively based on fieldwork material, From Tapas to Modern Yoga primarily analyses embodied practices of ascetics belonging to four religious orders historically associated with the practice of yoga and haṭha yoga. This focus on ascetics stems from the fact that yogic techniques probably developed in ascetic contexts, yet scholars have rarely focused their attention on non-international ascetic practitioners of yoga. Creating a confrontation between textual sources and ethnographic data, the book demonstrates how ‘embodied practices’ (austerities, yoga and haṭha yoga) over the centuries accumulated layers of meanings and practices that coexist in the literature as well as in the words of contemporary sādhus. Drawing from conversations with these interlocutors, the book demonstrates the importance of ethnographic fieldwork in shedding light on past historical developments, transmissions, contemporary reinterpretation and innovation. The strength of the work lies in its methodological approach and in the richness of its materials: by analysing present situations through comparisons and the support of past evidence, the book not only fills an academic gap but also stimulates further research on this highly complex topic.
Daniela Bevilacqua received her PhD in 2015, in Civilizations of Africa and Asia from Sapienza University of Rome and in Anthropology from the University of Paris Nanterre. She is the author of Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India: The Śrī Maṭh and the Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya in the Evolution of the Rāmānandī Sampradāya (Routledge). She is a Associate Researcher at the Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA, ISCTE-IUL) in Lisbon.
£35.00
Add to basketPaperback
£35.00
Add to basketePub
£35.00
Add to basketHardback