The yogic world of medieval India was dominated by the Nath Yogis, whose poetic and mythological traditions were remarkable for their rich and varied imagery. One such image represented the head and torso of the yogic body as a set of wells, the one turned downward and the other upward. Here, the abdominal lower well was the place of fire, the heat of askesis, while the cranial vault was imagined as a well brimming with the cool nectar of immortality. This configuration reproduced that of the two-chambered reaction vessels of medieval Indian alchemy, in which mercury, embedded in the mineral ores heated in the lower chamber was made to sublimate and recondense on the inner surface of the downturned upper chamber.
It was here, in India’s medieval alchemical traditions, that this image of mystic wells of quicksilver became a prominent feature of the medieval imagination. Mercury, which was considered to be both a chemical reagent and a living supernatural being, “lived” at the bottom of a set of wells scattered across India’s religious landscape. In order to draw it out of its secret habitats and up to the surface of the earth, alchemists had to resort to various strategies. The most colorful of these involved sending a menstruating maiden on horseback past the mouth of the well, which would invariably cause the mercury to erupt out of its mouth and pursue her across hill and daleWhat I have discovered in my ongoing research on “daimon-ology east and west” is that this strategy was not unique to medieval India. It is also attested in Syriac- and Chinese-language works from as early as the sixth century. More importantly, this strategy is in fact an alchemical variation on a far more ancient body of myth, dating from as far back as 2000 BCE and attested from ancient India to medieval Ireland, of a living god of fire who erupted out of his subterranean well or pool, to chase after humans who violated his sacred sanctuary.
Yoga's increasing popularity in America today is due to its promises of health, fitness, longevity and stress reduction, as introduced by a variety of Indian yoga gurus in the 20th c. In India, the land of its birth, the goals of yoga have been more radical forms of "embodied philosophy" includin...
In this talk, Ruth will map the esoteric feminine aspect of the subtle body by drawing on Haṭhayoga sources. Taking a textual, historical and anecdotal approach, she explores how the subtle body is presented in gendered terms, probes the substances or concepts that are to be influenced, and trace...
Though much of the evidence for constructing the history of yoga traditions in precolonial India is to be found in Sanskrit manuscripts and texts, extensive and valuable information may be gathered from non-textual historical materials (e.g. through paintings, sculpture, temples, and epigraphy). ...