The Islamization of Yoga in the "Amrtakunda" Translations Author(s): Carl W.

Ernst Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Jul., 2003), pp. 199226 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25188362 Accessed: 30/01/2010 23:49
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"The Islamization of Yoga in the

Amrtakunda Translations"1

CARL Orientalist
From certain Eastern defined term dry that to the beginning religious doctrines Sufism in European Semitic religion of Orientalist phenomena as as a essentially mysticism languages, of belief evidence. times, some Horten, doubt of this these Islam.~

W.

ERNST and Sufism

world, Because of of it was the axiomatic tendency period appearance different today, entirely Sir John despite consider as a pure (d. 922) to define to view invariably of from the the all

views
studies of of

of yoga
the Muslim origins.

in terms alike,

their

Orientalist Indian was back origin of

scholars in origin; characterised at this early

the Romantic from as the first

that was "Sufism" Looking Indian the

essentially

scholarship was Jones almost and

it is surprising unconnected Malcolm the the ludicrous to

this unanimous any historical recent of

in the From opinion claims

o{ Sufism Sir William a remarkable an example to the

days has had

relatively appearance claim Vedanta:

longevity, one may Sufism of Hallaj Another

today. that

As

outrageous of circle

of Max "No

in a 1928 can any with

study

sought that

explain

expression and his

longer that

remain of

teaching 820".3

[in Baghdad] is found Varieties

is identical

Samkara James

around in his

pertinent published

example as The

in an observation of Religious

of William

1902 Gifford

Lectures,

Experience: world the Sufi sect and various dervish bodies are the possessors of the

In the Mohammedan

in Persia from the earliest times, and as their pantheism tradition. The Sufis have existed mystical is so at variance with it has been suggested the hot and rigid monotheism of the Arab mind, that inoculated into Islam by Hindu Sufism must have been influences.4 remark by the illustrates, world how this was shared at the

James's time

innocently in Europe

enough,

widely

opinion

academic

and America.

It is easier

to see from

the perspective

1 This article is part of a forthcoming study, The Pool ofNectar: Muslim Interpreters of Yoga. It is based on part of to my translation of the Arabic text. An earlier version of this article was presented the monographic introduction at the Tantra-Muslim Esotericism-Kabbalah New York University, April 5-6, 1998. Conference, " See my Shambhala Guide to Sufism (Boston, 1997), Chapter 1, for a discussion of the early Orientalist linkage are made by Victor Palleja de Bustinza, of Sufism with India. Similar observations 'Le Soufisme: les debuts de son etude en Occident', Michel Chodkiewicz attention. (Winter, in Horizons Maghrebins 30: La Walaya, Etude sur le Soufisme de Vecole d'lbn'Arabi, Hommage a 1995), pp. 97-107. Thanks to Zamyat Kirby for drawing the latter reference to my

zur Kunde des Buddhismus, Indische Stromungen in der islamischen Mystik, Materialien 12-13 M[ax] Horten, (2 vols., Heidelberg, 1927-28), vol. II, p. iii. 4 William 1958), Lectures James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (New York, XVI-XVII, pp. 308-309. JRAS, Series j, 13, 2 (2003), pp. 199-226 DOI: 10.1017/S1356186303003079 ? The Royal Asiatic Society 2003 Printed in theUnited Kingdom

200

Carl

W.

Ernst

of

the

later

twentieth as

century assumptions in Islamic

that

this opinion

was

conditioned nature of

by nineteenth-century religions. of Sufi mysticism of evidence permits literary

racial

attitudes Most by James understand religious 1888, if there such that

as well specialists to be

about studies

the unchanging today would since well is really find

the explanation

cited us to and in

quaint

or

objectionable, perfectly There Sufism to

the preponderance the slightest to maintain, reappears".5 texts in Sufism,

the Sufi traditions "in

tradition of India.

without no reason

reference as did The what

to the Eduard

Sachau then arises,

the Arabian intrinsic

the

Indian

Vedanta

question led

is no

reference

India

or Hindu

scholars

to seek

an external of

explanation? cultural diffusion from a single source (like Pan-Babylonianism) had a certain

Theories

logical appeal, doubtless because of their simplicity. This kind of reductionism

attracted a major criticism. section Louis devoted review Massignon's to "The of Role of classic of study Foreign Indian of the vocabulary which on or Islamic of he Sufism rejected, Influences", "influence" as "Indophile

inevitably
contained on Moreno zeal".7 In a the

whole.6 rightly similar

In a critical characterised vein,

theories

mysticism,

approaches

like Horten's that

Indomaniac

Dermenghem thing would since here

maintained

The

surprising Yoga,

be

if we

did

not

find claiming

in Moslem

countries

something

analogous

to Hindu Nor pure

are two that,

traditions severally,

is it any more intellectual

surprising contemplation out

the authenticity of primordial tradition. a whole these methods gamut ranging from present and sound. Modern Europe is almost alone

to orgies

of rhythm

in having body

renounced,

of bourgeois

in the pursuits

of the spirit.

of the participation and Gallican purism, respectability In India as in Islam, music, and the dance are spiritual poetry,

exercises.8

He

went

on

to observe, it has

"This been

does

not mean for scholars not

that Hindu such

Sufism".9 comparative

Thus study

possible

Yoga as Gardet reductive,

is at the and

source to

of Moslem entertain a

Eliade but

of mysticism theological) in view in

that was approach.10 of

historically

phenomenological

(and occasionally But Christian part of

the

genetic

Asian of their

religions difference

was from

the

habit

of

viewing

non This

cultures

primarily

terms

European

Christianity.

5 Edward C. Sachau, trans., Alberuni's India (London, 1888; reprint ed., Delhi, 1964), vol. I, p. xxxiii; cf. vol. I, the Hindu p. xliii, where Sachau speaks of "the essential identity of the systems of the Greek Neo-Pythagoreans, and the Sufis of the Muslim world." Vedanta philosophers, Essai sur les origines du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane (new ed., Paris, 1968), Louis Massignon, pp. 63-98, where the case of India is discussed on pp. 81-98. 7 e mistica Martino Mario Moreno, 'Mistica musulmana indiana', Annali Lateranensi X (1949), pp. 103-219, esp. p. 198, and p. 210, where the case against influence is summarized. 8 in Islam', in Forms and Techniques ofAltruistic and Emile Dermenghem, 'Yoga and Sufism: Ecstasy Techniques Spiritual Growth, ed. Pitirim A. Sorokin (Boston, 1954), pp. 109?116, quoting p. 109. 9 Ibid. 10 du nom lamention L. Gardet, id., 'Un Probleme de mystique 'Dhikr', EI2, vol. II, pp. 223-227; comparee: Revue Thomiste LII (1952), pp. 642-679, LIII (1953), pp. 197-216; G.-C. divin (dhikr) dans lamystique musulmane', ? Anawati and Louis Gardet, Mystique musulmane, Aspects et tendances Experiences et techniques, Etudes Musulmanes, 8 (4th ed., Paris, 1986), esp. pp. 90?94, 244?245; Mircea Eliade, Yoga, Immortality and Freedom, trans. Willard R. Series LVI (2nd ed., 1969), pp. 216?219, 408. In the end, though, Eliade could not resist the Trask, Bollingen exerted after the twelfth century" (p. 217). Likewise, temptation of influences, which he states "were definitely to asserting "Indo-Iranian of Konya, influence among the Mawlawiyya Gardet succumbed ('Whirling Dervishes') influence" for which he cites Simnani ("Dhikr", p. 224a). and Indian through Turko-Mongol

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

201

was

particularly of

prominent evolution and as study this kind was as the a

in

the

intellectual freely

climate applied in

of

nineteenth-century comparative to reveal study which initially

colonialism. of religion, religion exempted form arguably could testimony is entirely the relation of be to

Theories originally was

race were disingenuous of religion

the

understood The from

comparison in Christian investigation, to be still pure

intended theological since and

superior.11

faculties Christianity integral,

Christianity the theorist

of historical assumed Protestant of nature. the later

(in whatever despite such

professed) events hybrids and Regardless

revolutionary shown their to be dependent

Reformation. various "Oriental"

If, however, influences, words, of historical "Muslim

other

religions a

composed inferior of

that was mysticism into

In Zaehner's progress

derivative".12

research

Christianity
of condescension This practices that were the Indian is not of

to the cultural and religious world

toward "Oriental religions" to say that Sufis, yogis.13 But known of

into which
still lingers.

itwas born, the colonial

of the ascetic Indian textual

legacy

particularly

in India, were impossible world. entirely of evidence 1873 to find

unaware any

and meditative sources that the on yoga of it It

it is almost in the Muslim was

widely origins

Nevertheless, unconnected that study forms of

in observing to any the

thesis

Sufism the

almost piece

historical to who

evidence, this first rule. drew

is important was Alfred von

to note Kremer,

single

exception civilisation,

in a wide-ranging in a fourteenth-century

Islamic

attention

to a short

passage

Persian

encyclopedia

(the Nafa'is

al-funun

of Amuli)
Indian Asian text. Sufi

that described yogic

From groups, this observation, von Kremer to Indian such What

techniques
which leapt he

of breath control on the basis of an obviously

linked with breathing practices conclusion: mysticism to in his and of found "We in Central are, indeed, appears of was the Orientalist of that Muslim

to the familiar the rise and neglected in the

constrained so much the Vedanta that author along control items The

to ascribe later and bears

influences a close von external

which the

internal

resemblance out,

teachings

school".14

Kremer occurred

to point section

enthusiasm, sciences; Islamic Indian classified

the passage of with and under European this

on breath encyclopedia law,

control had

on natural Sufism as one

occult the

separately and

categorised history.15 The

sciences breath the two

literature, Sufi

theology, was not

connection authors, will between thing

between who be

practice

recognised

by Muslim of categorisation

different

categories

(this question a the genetic text.

raised the two that

again on von

below). the basis

Orientalist prejudices

assumed extrinsic to

relationship But the

of modern

important

was

Kremer

11 Eric Sharp ('Comparative to evolutionistic schemes that 12 R. C. Zaehner, Mysticism, 1961), p. 160. For a critique

Religion', Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. Ill, pp. 578?580) links the term "influence" rank religions, and he optimistically considers the term to be now "seldom used". Sacred and Profane: An Inquiry into some Varieties of Praeternatural Experience (London, of Zaehner's arguments for Indian "influence" on Sufism, see my Islam and Yoga,

Chapter One. 13 A survey of contacts between Sufis and yogis is provided in Chapter Two of The Pool ofNectar. See also my article 'Chishti Meditation in the Later Mughal Period', in The Heritage of Sufism, vol. Ill, Late Classical Techniques Persianate Sufism (1501-1750): The Safavid andMughal Period (Oxford, 1999), pp. 344-357. 14 Alfred von Kremer, Culturgeschichtliche Streifziige auf dem Gebiete des Islams (Leipzig, 1873); English trans., S. Khuda Bakhsh, Contributions to theHistory of Islamic Civilization (1904; reprint ed., Lahore, 1976), p. 119. The section on breath occurs in Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Mahmud Amuli, Nafa'is al-funun fi 'ara'is aUuyun, ed. Mirza Abu al-Hasan Shacrani (Tehran, 1379/1960), vol. II, pp. 360-365. The separate description on Sufism (vol. II, pp. 2-42) leans heavily on its Islamic credentials, beginning (vol. II, p. 4) with emphasis on the condition of "not deviating from the rule of Islam and the path of the shari^at." On Amuli, see C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, vol. II, part 3 (London, 1977), pp. 355-357.

202 Carl

W.

Ernst

noticed be

distinctively

yogic

text

being

circulated Seed

in learned Syllables, assumption In a similar which

Islamicate

circles.

This below. Indian in 1915

can

now

identified Again,

as a version as von Kremer

of The Kamarupa shows, in Orientalist text the

is described of the purely

automatic scholarship.

origin noticed

of

Sufism a report

was in

axiomatic a

case, Hartmann founders of

late Arabic

stating

that

one

of

the

early

the Naqshbandi

order in Central Asia, cAbd al-Khaliq Ghijduwani

prophet resist Khidr speculating masked to introduce that this the practice report concealed point of breath an

(d. 1220), was

control into for s native Asia",

inspired by the immortal

Hartmann The could claim was not of "the this practice. city and

Sufism.

Indian

origin

inspiration point period their of

the more with

prosaic

that Ghijduwani and orders, Brahmanic they

of Bukhara that on at the this

communication in the development

Buddhist the Sufi

formative of

of to the

necessarily One

passed must in the from which

influences pass over with

Indian

environment the European

rest of

the

Islamic that

world.16 Bukhara 2,000

simply same

astonishment as the and India (it

parochialism miles was from ultimately

places and

neighbourhood Here too,

is roughly for

1,000

Lahore meant Such

miles

Bengal). system is also

argument authentic,

influence

to demonstrate

is original in a having

and which

is derivative. Russian Orthodox

a tendentious text, which

motivation treats both yogis

apparent Sufis as

late nineteenth-century

and

(and bungled) the meditative techniques of the church fathers as outlined in the Philokalia: "It was from them [the Greek Orthodox saints] that the monks of India and borrowed
Bokhara it in doing From of historical of the took over the 'heart method' of interior prayer, only they quite spoiled and garbled so".17 point rigour Sufism. that in with the a of view that Even too more of the often study of religion, it is disappointing speculations positivism as the enough about and to the see lack

accompanied was Romantic Von errors

Orientalist the pervasive enthusiasm Kremer of

Indian

origins

problematic replaced

condescending mentality of Islamic

Eurocentrism intensified civilisation The more learn more them will

increasingly late-nineteenth heavy

colonialist his review

century. of the

concluded

indictment is constrained

the Oriental: to the needs he no of the age and to recognize, indeed the

the Muslim from he be

to learn

to adapt himself

the Europeans, whose superiority powerful to take the right and proper induced course, by take with superstitious, a different the mystic visions and

longer fails that of a practical

life from which

he has been

estranged like are to

theological one under that

speculations.18 takes the views of

Here those on

I would who

point

of

view,

seriously If there how

engaged

religious and

questions studied

discussion. countries,

was

a text it in fact

yogic

practice

that was

transmitted

in Muslim

was

understood? The remarks that follow are based on the study of the highly complex history of a text known by the Sanskrit title Amrtakunda or The Pool of Nectar, which survives inArabic,
Persian, recently indicates Turkish, come that to the and Urdu light of a translations Judaeo-Arabic of this text in multiple version engaged recensions produced it in (see Chart in Yemen. of This 1). Evidence textual has history involving

readers

a process

Islamisation,

16 'Zur Frage nach der Herkunft und den Anfangen des Sufitums', Der Cf. Moreno, p. 143, citing R. Hartmann, Islam (1915), pp. 31-70. 17 The Way of a Pilgrim, and The Pilgrim Continues his Way, trans. R. M. French (San Francisco, 1991), p. 71. von Kremer, p. 123.

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

203

scriptural Sufism. one

Islamic What

themes, was

philosophical a very hardly society. world narrow

vocabulary, window

and onto from

the

terminology of

and Indian occult textual

concepts religions,

of and

remained readers in

the world the of

that

to many found

was

distinguishable In short, tells us a the

standard the about single

and mystical source readers for than

practices yogic it does

Islamicate

history deal more

practice about

in the Muslim yoga.

great

its Muslim

Chart Manuscript I. Arabic The edition of Yusuf Husain: and fuller A. Symbols

1 of The Pool ofNectar

for the Translations

recension: existing B-J (9MSS). K-Y b, the later, revised recension: (15 MSS). based on a, containing ZJ-Z2, Fragments: only the beginning Family Family Soul" Other Total: II. Persian Per3 passage. known manuscripts not used in this study: MSS of AA-UU.

a, the earlier

of the "Hymn

of the

49 copies. a lost recension the Arabic predating both a and b, while

(Per1 and Per2 are based on is the source of the Arabic text) Per1, the translation of Muhammad of Muhammad

Ghawth: ibn

Per1A-PerIW

(21 MSS PePA-Pe^C

plus

two

lithographed each a separate

editions). Per2, the translation recension). Per3, The Kamarupa (2 complete MSS Total: 29 copies. III. Turkish

5Abd al-Razzaq:

(3MSS,

Seed Syllables (anonymous), plus one abridgement).

incorporating

The 32 [or 84] Verses of Kamakhya

Tur1, based on family Tur2, based on family Total: 8 copies. IV. Urdu: Only one copy

a: TurxA-TurJD b, translated

(3MSS plus the printed Salah al-Din: Tur2A-Tur2D by

version). (4MSS).

(Urd),

based

on Per1.

The
The text Amrtakunda of which Seed the of Nectar or The is now

textual
Pool

transmission
was of Nectar the name was in an of into the

of The Pool ofNectar

of a Sanskrit known by or Hindi the Persian by Muslim and ma" then work, the original or The that seems

ofNectar Pool

lost. The which stage

also

title Kamrubijaksa translation authors Arabic,

Kamarupa to represent The the Pool

Syllables, earliest was in

circulated of transmission translated under

independent this text

(see below).19 according Pool to of the

ostensibly in Bengal,

Persian, title Hawd

introduction,

1210

al-hayat,

or The

I have discussed this text in 'A Persian Text on Yoga: Pietro della Valle and The Kamarupa Seed Syllables', paper for Asian Studies conference, (Honolulu, April 1996). Textual references are to the MS in presented at Association the Vatican library, described by Ettore Rosse, Elenco dei manoscritti persiani della biblioteca Vaticana, Studi e Testi, 136 (Vatican City, 1948), pp. 47?49.

204 Carl W Ernst

Water of Life. The initial by the translation a yogi who was accomplished to by Islam by a Muslim after losing scholar, a Rukn al-Din At the an aid

al-Samarqandi, unspecified of another For later yogi

aided date,

converted redacted Islam.20 here,

disputation. with

text was to

in Arabic

an unknown

author,

who too

converted complex

reasons

to discuss

I suggest

that

this

account

is fictitious.

The

earliest phase of the text (perhaps going back to the early thirteenth century) is probably represented by The Kamarupa Seed Syllables. This eclectic Persian text contained breath
control with practices Kaula relating and to magic and divination, of hatha yoga rites of the yogini to the temple tradition cult of associated the Nath tantrism, the

teachings

according

yogis
goddess text was

(popularly called jogis). All of this was placed

Kamakhya, adapted by with frequent reference Arabic to her main translator, an anonymous

in a context of the supremacy of the

temple was in Assam trained (Kamarupa). This who in the Illuminationist

(Ishraqi) school of philosophy

Arabic symbolic Acts Love, translator narratives, completely one deriving being by the

in Iran, probably
the Persian from translation ultimately a partial

in the fifteenth
text, the incorporating "Hymn of

century. This anonymous

into his the Pearl" treatise, al-Din introduction from On two the Gnostic the Reality of al that

rewrote

of Thomas, originally From al-hayat libraries

the other written

from

a Persian Shihab of

Illuminationist of

philosopher copies world;

al-Suhrawardi text, it is clear

Maqtul.21 Hawd in

the dissemination fairly well known

the manuscript in the Islamic

the Arabic forty-five in of

was

at least being content to the

copies None

are found of the

in European is older by Muhyi text default, al-Din than

and Arab the it has Ibn late been

countries, sixteenth frequently this

the majority century. The

Istanbul. the

manuscripts that, almost

text was of

so unusual

assigned attribution

authorship erroneous, lands.22

the Andalusian but The it served vocabulary to

Sufi master give the

al-'Arabi; authority,

is clearly in Ottoman

a certain

canonical

particularly

of the text ismostly

with some Islamic to render reader existing Pool by strenuously oriented the two

formed on the Arabic

overtones the yogic The derived practices oldest show stands out from

technical terminology
the Qur'an that was of and Sufism.

of Hellenistic
The to a no

philosophy,
worked

translator

in away recension an

understandable version of

philosophically exists, the text. from al-Biruni philosophical were not the and

of Arabic. later

the Arabic amount Arabic rather

longer of

recensions of Life Indian Patanjali's the of the topic

increasing other

Islamisation

The Sanskrit, (d.

of the Water emphasising translated omitted Most

from

and Persian than he doctrines. had his focused

translations Although on

spiritual

practices into

ioio)

had and read.23

Yogasutra of mantra texts

Arabic, and into

questions widely

altogether, translated

Indological during

works the Mughal

Sanskrit

Persian

period

text was first edited from 5MSS by Yusuf Husain, 'Haud al-hayat, la version arabe de l'Amratkund', Journal this edition contains numerous errors and omissions. My CCXIII (1928), pp. 291-344. Unfortunately I plan to publish my of 25 MSS. translation is based on a superior text established by comparison forthcoming diplomatic edition of the Arabic text separately. 21 elements in the Amrtakunda translation Typically, the only scholar to notice these Gnostic and Illuminationist was Henry Corbin, in 'Pour une morphologie de la spiritualite shi'ite', Eranos-Jahrbuch i960, XXIX (Zurich, 1961), esp. pp. 102-107, repeated with some variations in his En Islam iranien, Aspects spirituels et philosophiques, vol. II, Sohrawardi et les Platoniciens de Perse (Paris, 1971), pp. 328?334. etude critique (2 vols., Damascus, Osman Yahia, Histoire et classification de I'ceuvre dTbnArabi, 1964), vol. I, pp. 287-288, no. 230. ~3 des Yoga-sutra des Patanjali', Oriens IX (1956), pp. 165-200; Hellmut Ritter, ed., 'Al-Biruni's Ubersetzung to Patanjali s Texts in al-Biruni's India with Special Reference Bruce B. Lawrence, 'The Use of Hindu Religious The Asiatique

20

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

205

were

likewise

chosen

either The India,

for

political text

or of The

philosophical Pool

interest

and

had was

little known

relevance to various exercises

to

religious Muslim and

practice.24 mystics of the

Arabic some and

of the Water with their

of Life interest own

of whom noticed

had watched similarities with

the breathing

chants

of

yogis,

meditative

practices.25

Chishti master,
yoga of the Naths

Shaykh cAbd al-Quddus Gangohi

and wrote Hindi verses on the

(d. 1537), who

subject, taught

was
The

familiar with
to a disciple.26

the

Pool

Shaykh Muhammad
translated The Pool

Ghawth Gwaliyari
from the oldest Arabic

(d. 1563), an Indian Sufi master of the Shattari order,

version into Persian under the title Bahr al-hayat

(The Ocean of Life).21 Sufis from the Qadiri, Mevlevi,

and North Arabic translation use today; Africa continued twice itself translated rendered Sufi treatise. as The seem to Pool of Nectar, an the ideal only case to refer to The Pool well text was was into Ottoman into Dakhani shaykh who Urdu Turkish,

and Sanusi orders in Sind, Turkey,

into the nineteenth century. Ghawth's version al-Arabi The Persian is still regards in and Muhammad 2). The the works Arabic of Ibn

(see Chart on

a Damascene important such would

is an expert

it as a very A on document hatha

known study for

Arabic

translation how Sufi

of

a work was It set of

yoga,

to offer

determining it had with

yoga practice.

construed is a concrete religious prepared Muhammad, The mantras, with other of this

in relation example A

Islamic

mysticism, aMuslim writer the text terms

and what

relation a to

of how quick

interpreted is enough with an

characteristically indicate that of God Islamic include of of

Indian it was and

practices. for aMuslim and has

glance

at the

text opens

definitely the Prophet vocabulary. chants meditation deities, and or

readership; with

invocation the that a version invocation

it is sprinkled carefully techniques, of the seven My

and phrases

from

religious Sanskrit

translator

attempted postures cakras analysis or of

to describe

practices

breathing depictions specific text for into have and

for meditation, psychic the centres,

kundalini feminine and Islam the text

practices. indicates, shedding overarching been divination on hatha

relationship about of the

between Hinduism text, nor

Islamicate and does Many drew

Indie are

features relatively any of

however, light on the

that

generalities

useless insight meaning of yoga surviving practice.

significance of

provide strands

questions interwoven from yoga, by different

inter-religious translator, sources that who

exchange. eclectically be

different together with picture any of

the

practices particular hatha yoga

cannot case

identified limited

text

providing

in any

a very

in The Scholar and the Saint: Studies inCommemoration ofAbu'I Rayhan al-Biruni andfatal al-Din al-Rumi, Yoga-Sutras', ed. Peter J. Chelkowski (New York, 1975), pp. 29-48, esp. p. 33. Both al-Biruni s translation of Patafijali and his description of India exist in unique manuscripts, indicating a limited circulation. See the analysis and description of Arabic and Persian translations from Indian languages in The Pool ofNectar. 25 (d. 1356), Khayr al-Majalis, comp. Hamid Qalandar, ed. K. A. E.g., Nasir al-Din Mahmud "Chiragh-i Dihli" Nizami S. Lopez, Jr., (Aligarh, 1956), p. 60; my translation is found in Religions of India in Practice, ed. Donald 1 (Princeton, inReligions, Princeton Readings 1995), p. 517. 6 For bibliographic 'Sufis and Natha Yogis inMediaeval Northern references see S. A. A. Rizvi, India (XII to XVI Centuries)', al-Din's Eata'if-i Quddusi (Delhi, 1894), p. 41; id., A History of Sufism in p. 132, quoting Rukn of yoga is India, vol. I; Early Sufism and its (Delhi, 1978), p. 335. Gangohi's knowledge History in India to 1600 A.D. in ''Abd Al-Quddus (1456-1537 A.D): The Personality and Attitudes of fully discussed by Simon Digby Gangohi aMedieval Indian Sufi', Medieval India, A Miscellany III (1975), pp. 1-66. 27 See my 'Sufism and Yoga according toMuhammad Ghawth', Sufi XXIX (Spring, 1996), pp. 9?13.

206 Carl W Ernst

Chart 2. Putative Literary Transmission 1. Acts of Thomas(Greek Apocryphal 2. Acts of Thomas (Syriac Apocryphal Iraq, 3rd cent) I of The Pool of Nectar

NT)

3. 32 [or 84] Verses of Kamakhya, NT; Hindi verses on divination*

4. Treatises of the Brethren of Purity, Arabic Pythagorean encyclopedia N. \ Syllables"), (Basra, 10th cent.) \ l I. Risala fi haqiqat al-^ishq \ ("Treatise on the Reality of Love"),\ I Persian Neoplatonic allegory (executed in Aleppo, 1191)1 \\

^.Kamrubijaksa Indian text on breath control* \.

("The Kamarupa

Seed

6. Amrtakunda ("The Pool of Nectar"), y Sanskrit or Hindi hatha yoga treatise! / 8. Per5: Persian Kamrubijaksa philosophical >v translation of/ * (no. 5), cited in / of Amuli (1357). / encyclopedia

by Shihabal-DinSuhrawardi

9. Hawd ma'al-hayat ("The Pool of the Water of Life"), first recension of translation of the Amrtakunda \ (no. 6) and \ (no. 5) into Persian and then Arabic, by Kamrubijaksa \ " Qadi Rukn al-Din Samarqandi aided by Bhrgu the yogi (Bengal, ca.1212); a fictional version of no. 8*

^/^ ^^ II. Third recension Arabic _p> (family a)

.,10. Second Arabic recension, by anonymous later translator aided by Ambhuanath the yogi; not extant. A revision of the Persian Kamrubijaksa (no. 6) with additions from several Near (no. 8) plus the Amrtakunda *T Eastern texts (nos. 2, 4, 7)* 12. Fourth Arabic recension (family b) 13. Per: Persian translation of no. 10 by Muhammad ibn vAbd al-Razzaq, preserved 3 recensions (India, undated)

in

14. Per1: Bahr al-hayat ("The Ocean of Life"), Persian trans, of v no. 10 by Muhammad Ghawth Gwaliyari (India, d. 1563) 15. Tur1: Turkish translation of no. 11 by unknown author (printed 1912) 16. Tur2: Turkish translation of no. 12 by ^Abd Allah Salahi Efendi (d. 1768) 17. Urd: Dakhani Urdu translation of no. 14, ("The Sea of Life") by Hayat samandar Hajji vAbd al-Karim, in 1835. *Not extant

Nevertheless, that of this it can

the

different famous today behind text,

translations and in any a respected Indological

of The

Pool of

of Nectar India, The of

are unanimous despite anonymous the circumstances who convert The the fact Arabic

in affirming that no trace

is the most be his found identity of the

scripture

literature. account is played identical

translator surrounding to Islam and

concealed the

highly a

suspicious leading role

translation that with

in which are

by yogis with

announce is prefaced Islamicate and goal

their

teachings

fundamentally that a adapted

the Qur'an. from of Christian the

translation and

a narrative

framework producing that the avoids translator The

materials interpretation any into of the of

Gnosticism significance of

Neoplatonism, of yogic practice

complex

religious categories that and

mentioning inserted

the principal text materials the Arabic text,

Indian derive

metaphysics. from standard

In addition, Islamic into

clearly the

sources.

different and Urdu

redactions contain

subsequent which

translations

Persian,

Turkish,

further

interpretive

differences,

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

207

mostly symbolic Muslim religious

transform strategies readers. system

Greco-Arabic tended The Pool to

philosophical remove does any not of

concepts sense attempt Islam. of

in the direction otherness from the

of

Sufism.

All

these for

yogic

teachings

ofNectar the

to describe In late

Hinduism

as an autonomous of it, such as the

beyond

boundaries

interpretations

description of Sufi orders byMuhammad

as a subset the case of of the a Sufi order. In group this called

al-Sanusi (d. 1859), yogis ended up being described

the Muslim in But understanding Islamic heresiographies, analysis beliefs in has that of yoga resembled some that Barahima Brahmins. agenda whom concluded

respect,

enigmatic have identified dogmatic

commentators "there is not a

as Indian item were

a recent

single

in the

of Barahima

evokes of

the beliefs the Islamic

of Hinduism.... environment and and interpreters readers see and

the Barahima its Judaeo-Christian overuse only what seems sophisticated an unselfconscious prognostications, the

a sect heritage, of

completely and not

explicable Indians no have

terms

at all".28 When trace prepared of otherness them Pool to

translators remains, see. This of Nectar. also society. approach

technique their training happened the

familiarisation, and with education

over-familiarisation On a less

to have level,

the Arabic text of of yogic one The

version Kamarupa

of The Seed

Persian

Syllables

demonstrates Among

domestication for instance,

practices that one

in an

Islamicate only

the breath

learns

should

"the qadi [Islamic judge] or the amir [Arabic term for ruler]" for judgement
when magicians, (47b), or the breath and else from practices in an empty such the right nostril be is favourable. either (49b), or who and Casual references or mention a Hindu one action that may temple in a Muslim occasionally a certain summoned

or litigation
Muslim graveyard to recite

performed

or mosque Verse, Broach

is told after

a Qur'anic prayer. We

passage even hear

as the Throne from

to perform successfully

evening goddess

of aMuslim

a yogini

and participated
frame, Praise the through and secrecy

in the rites of her devotees

a standard invocation who the made of God

(37a). The text is provided with an overall Islamic

and praise of the Prophet of at the beginning: arts and wonders adorned and who the from sublime

adoration

to that God into who

brought courtyard

so many of

thousands

of non-existence luminous bodies,

existence, of spiritual

and who beings, and minerals,

court with

the abodes with varieties from

commanded made the

the manifestation residence best

of the sublunar world of animals, and who

of plants

and who creating

and resort giving

chose created

all the animals

humanity, of

it in the 95:4), on of

of forms,

the cry: "We have of creators" of the leader

humanity

in the finest blessings the Prophet him, the and

stations"

(Qur.

"so bless God, the pure

the finest essence

(Qur.

23:14). Many [i.e.,

countless

salutations the best all. some practices makes the

and holy

of the world and peace

Muhammad], and upon them

the children at

of Adam, the end, a

the blessings a

of God of

be upon of

Likewise allusions

quotation colouring however.

a hadith for magical

saying

Prophet (55a). These

and

mystical remain claim,

furnish

religious

practices

fundamentally

ambiguous,

"If one

to whom

this door

is opened

he will be a prophet; if he is good, he will be a saint; and if he is evil, he will be amagician"

(55a). contents and As a generalization, I would Seed have like to observe probably enhanced fell that into for the the average of Persian the occult employs reader, the of The Kamarupa origin would Syllables only category The sciences, standard

its Indie

its esoteric

allure.

text

28 Norman quoting

Calder,

'The Barahima:

Literary Construct

and Historical

Reality',

BSOAS

LVII (1994), pp. 41?50,

p. 46.

208 Carl

W.

Ernst

Arabic
the

terms for astral magic

(taskhir) the as text, about in even when The term using (51b).

(tanjim), the summoning

fairies, these chants and magicians. are of

of spirits (ihdar) (30b, 37b), and

Thus there for are read would be a familiar the referred spirits to as

subjugation

of demons,

quality known spells

techniques or mantras significance. from recipe bone uses

employed the yogis

summoning

India

yoginis.

repeatedly of

(afsun),

a Persian such as one doll

of magical a nail made Another

We

also

recognizably

magical nefariously

techniques with mad a

(51a), a comb

which made ground

is employed from the

voodoo-type killed with

right

paw

of

dog

iron,

in rituals

performed

at a cremation

(48b~49a).

Chart
Planets, Cakras, Mantras, Dhikrs,

3
and Yoginis in The Pool of Nectar

Chapter 1. Saturn 2. Mars 3. Jupiter 4. 5. Venus

VII_ Name Planet Sanicar* /Zuhal MangaVMirrikh Brhaspat?/Mushtari Sun Bhanu*/Shams Swfer/Zahra Budh* /cUtarid CdttJra/Qamar

Chapter Cakra seat genitals navel heart throat

IX_ Mantra hum+ aum+ hrim+ brinsrin bray yum hansamansa

Dhikr ya rabb

Name Yogini Zuhal Kali Mirrikh Mushtari Shams Tira Kalkala Badamta

ya qadir ya khaliq ya karim

Sukr ya Saras[w]ati musakhkhir ya alim cUtarid Candra Nari Tuqla

6. Mercury 7. Moon N.B.: The

eyebrows brain

ya muhyi

spelling of Indie names and terms in Arabic script offered formidable difficulties result frequently they are corrupted or omitted from manuscripts. Indie terms are italicwhile

to copyists, and as a Arabic terms are in

Common Hindi planet names marked with an asterisk (*) have been restored from the Persian translation, and mantras marked with a plus sign (+) are reconstructed according to Sanskrit parallels. the planets in ch. VII are given both Indian and Arab names (the former sometimes garbled), in ch. IX Although two planets (Venus and the moon) are given Indian names while the other five planets have just Arabic names; presumably this is due to the inconsistency of copyists. The names of the yogini goddesses in Chapter IX are mostly bold. unrecognizable, except for Kali and Saraswati.

Chart

Indian Names

and Terms in The Pool ofNectar with Arabic Translations

are speculative reconstructions)

(terms in brackets

Sanskrit_I

Arabic_ brahman_alim yogi_murtad "scholar"_ of person (Int.2): "ascetic, discipline"_ & Musa and (Int.3): Abraham Moses_ (II.5): God_ (IV, title): "exercise, discipline" (V.4): deathless prophet_ (V.4): Jonah_ (Int.2):

Brahma alakh: Gorakh

& Visnu_Ibrahim unconditioned_Allah [yoga] (yogi)_Khidr (yogi)_Yunus [mantra] dhikr riyada

Matsyendra

Chaurangi (yogi)_Ilyas
[yantra]_shakl, [mantra]_al-ism homa: oblation, counted sacrifice_du'a prayer_azima

(V.4):Elijah_
(V.4): "recollection, pi. ashkal al-azam (VII.1-15): (VII.2): chant"_ "diagram"_ "the Greatest Name" of God_

japa:

circle"_ mandala_mandala (IX. 10): "prayer"_ (IX. 10): "invocation"_

(IX. 2): "magic

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

209

Chart Islamicate Elements in the Arabic Translation found references only

ofNectar* in the later recension)

5 of The Pool

(text references

marked

b are

Qur'anic The

of my Int. spirit "is from the command Lord" (17:85) "a single soul" (4:1, etc.) 1.3 "lotus tree of the boundary" (53 114) III. "farthest mosque" (17 :i) III.i "companions "companions of the right hand" (56 127, etc.) of the left hand" (56 141)

III. 3 III. 3

(28 130) III.4 valley" "right-hand God "does what he wants" IV. (Qur. 3 140) he wishes" "orders what God (Qur. 5 :i) of Sayings "He who "Hearts Merciful Islamic law the Prophet Muhammad knows himself knows his are between one" and two fingers (hadith) lord"

8(6) IV.8(fc)

of the

1.3 III. 1-2

theology obligatory (mafruda) IV. 3 Greatest Name of God names of God VII. 1 10 prayer (du'a) IX. 10 IX. invocation (cazima)

IV.4(6),

VII.2

Pious

phrases and the Prophet praise of God God's mercy upon him Int.4 of the servants of God The weakest the creator the creator God, who (may his majesty (there is no god

Int. most

1, X. Int. 5 Int.6, VII.

11

high God willing 1.2

12

be exalted) but he) 1.2

blessings blessings by

is great and mighty II.5, of God on saints and prophets of God on Sufis III.4(b) of God VI. 1

IV.4 111.4 IV.o(?*), VII. III.3, VI.4(b) 15(b), VIII.5(6)

God knows best the command refuge with God from the accursed or power from God VII.6 knowledge taking Islamic throne canopy cosmological 1.2 1.2 jinn terms Satan

IV.7, VII.6-8,

VII.11 IV.6, VII.6, VII.n

III.3, angel Int.10.4, devil Int. 10, III.2-3

IX. 1, IX.9, X.4 I.3, IV.8, VI.3, VI.5, VII.11, spirit hidden world Int.3, II.5, IV.5, V.4, VII.3, VII.6, VII.14 water of life Int. 14, II.7, V.4, VI. 5

are to chapter and section of the text. References *References last recension of the Arabic text.

followed

by (b) indicate manuscripts

from the

210Carl W Ernst
Chart 5 continued terms (diddan) (ban) 1.2, (hot, 11.2, 1.3 cold, wet, VI. 1 IV1, Int. VIII. 1 X.4 dry) VI. VI.2-3, X.2 1, VI.3 and conceptsf III-4, V.2, X.2

Philosophical contraries creator four five

qualities four humours elements soul moderation rational omne Sufi universal

(al-amr al-awsat)

(al-nafs al-natiqa) intellect (laql al-kult) 1.2, 1.3 triste VI.4 animalis post coitum

13, 1.3, IV1, V.2, VI.2,

terms Int. 5

of reality (ma'rifat al-haqiqa) (murid) Int.6, III.4 disciple annihilated (mumahhaq) Int. 8 gnosis state (hal) II.5, IV8(b) spiritual constellations of the heart III. unveiling discipline striving station (mukashafa) (riyada) 111.4 111.4 1

(mujahada) III.4 IV.8 (maqam) III.4, little speech, little little food, or experience or chant practice (dhawq) (dhikr) (ishtighal)

sleep I V.4 V.4 V.4, IX.2 VII.2

IV path (tariq) 8 (b)

"taste" meditative recollection

fit

should be added Arabic

fragmentary the central section of Suhrawardi's Persian allegory, On the Arabic Epistles of the Brethren of Purity (1.2, VI.2).

version

that excerpts from two philosophical of the Gnostic Hymn of the Soul

texts are contained in the Arabic Pool ofNectar, a and an Arabic translation of (Int.7-8, 13-14, X.n), theReality of Love (Int.9-12). There are also quotations from

Islamic The Pool of Nectar to contains Islamic earlier of numerous religious extant

elements Arabic themes Arabic

in formulas

the and

text references 5). There to which is quoted, that are the and locate the text in

reference from

standard

(see Chart recension,

six clear later another those studded

quotations adds

the Qur'an One to. Terms of God blessings, Qur'anic where

in the hadith from and

recension

two more. referred the names

saying the prayer,

the Prophet of

Muhammad religious The half of the

is implicitly relating with terms pious relating at least a of to

vocabulary are occur appear Sufi

practice, text

particularly

prominent. in over with and

is, in addition, Cosmological And All

phrases to

and

which sources specific

chapters. frequency. are invoked.

standard places

remarkable themes decided text. with Three

there these terms are and

are

dozen deliberate

terms the

instances conventions contain

Islamisation, the

in which of

translator Indian

to use

familiar (I, from third text. extant

to normalize Indie material texts The

foreignness When

the

chapters

III,

and X)

no

whatever.

combined the net the was

the quotations is that over one

Islamicate of

philosophical version of

in the preface Pool of Nectar process (manuscript of

(see below), consists Islamisation family a) of

result

the Arabic

translator's a cumulative a stage

additions one.

to the The

The text

earlier

version is clearly

of

the Arabic by

represents

in this process,

which

accelerated

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

211

the later version

themes, the planets preserved it also have in the

(family b). Not

strips been away, garbled

only does family b add more

and distorts in both perhaps many Arabic because Indian

Islamic scriptural passages and

references. though scribes Indian they were names are for

truncates,

or omitted

recensions, Indo-Persian

clearly familiar

Persian

translations,

with

the Hindi

terms (see Chart

and Vishnu

3). The
with

later recension
Abraham and Moses

(family b) omits altogether

(Int. 3), the yogic term

the
alakh

identification

of Brahma

and its translation as Allah (V.4), the description

yogini including heart of the (IX.9). The an Arabic

(IV.4), the three yogis identified with esoteric of urethral suction (VI.5), and most of the description
of inserted family at the b also beginning as an level. appendix The add further of the extraneous preface, and X.

Islamic figures of the seventh

materials, on the

manuscripts verse,

textual

a treatise The includes

according text even

to Sufi

psychology, on during a subtle turn into the

added visual

after Chapter Arabic nine translation relate of to the

Islamisation fourteen

proceeded

diagrams

for visualisation indicates

meditation, but Arabic

of which

cakras.

Comparison in which to Arabic

of manuscripts diagrams works The by on

unmistakeable letters or the

process cabalistic

grammatisation, figures common

increasingly occultism. of

insertion

Islamic

materials Indie alakh, of

into

the

translation and themes

oiThe were

Pool given

ofNectar Islamic

was

accompanied equivalents (see

another 4). of

technique, The the Sanskrit tempting and with

in which term

names "the sound,

Chart because script.29 yogis

unconditioned", and their nearly

is translated identical

as Allah, appearance and three

doubtless in Arabic legendary context of a

similarity Vishnu Islamic complete this are

Brahma equated of

translated This over

as Abraham last

and Moses, is made

are

prophets. control and

identification

in the

discussion When examine

attaining have

the breath: becomes characteristic how of you, it breathes it breathes

you

reached things with though does The

station,

this condition

closely while it

three

thought its mother's not enter

and discrimination: womb does not

1) the embryo, respire;

is in the placenta, water, and the water

2) the fish, how

in the

it; 3) and the tree, how is Shaykh who reached Sanskrit japa Gorakh, is Jonah, the water forms or who

it attracts water is Khidr

in its veins be upon

and causes him), the who

it to reach fish

its heights.

embryo

is Shaykh Minanath [Matsyendranath], is Ilyas, and they are the ones who have technical terms is translated and Brahman, above, text. several The very the key the of are given as du'a term term these attempt in their or yogi for

(peace and the tree is Shaykh of life (V.4). with Arabic

Chaurangi,

Several or

along "counted form

translations: becomes or

homa 'azima or of But of one

"sacrifice"

"prayer", (in

prayers" jogi) as from or in

"invocation", discipline". as noted the Arabic has been

its north

Indian

is murtad 'alim or the later

"person

the priestly

caste, have an

is translated evaporated

"scholar". recension Islamic the

equivalences to translate In later

Indian

name or

term with quotations

an of

abandoned

in these

instances.

recensions,

text, we

find that the passage identifying

appearance. author A mid-nineteenth-century al-Sanusi (d. Muhammad

the Sanskrit word

Arabic 1859) includes

alakh with Allah has a radically different

on Sufi on orders the yogis by the North African as a subset

treatise a section

(al-jujiyya)

29 The identification of Allah with alakh is also found in an eighteenth-century Dakani Urdu text by a Sufi writer see his Man samj'havan, ed. Sayyida JaTar, Silsila-i Matbucat-i named Shah Turab Chishti; Abu al-Kalam Azad, Oriental Research Institute, 5 (Hyderabad, 1964), p. 1: alak nam allah naranjan hari he.

212Carl W Ernst of the Ghawthiyya the writings

he reaches is incumbent Allah, magic worlds for without and will

of Muhammad
the passage on him

branch of the Shattariyya Sufi order; for this he clearly draws both on Ghawth and on the Arabic text of The Pool ofNectar.30 When
in question, to cross his have his his he eyes states, over If he influence will it is no be his "If one nose, the him, answered, possible standard wishes and level disease and to to witness the hidden world, Allah, then hidden men in a it in his heart the word

imagine

moving poison be will

tongue. no

reaches on

of perfection will not

in this practice, affect be him, the among

unveiled, At

prayer

he will see Sufi any

famous

deeds of

of piety". a practice

this point that

longer from

Indian

"influence"

portrait

is indistinguishable

technique.

Philosophical
It is evident that the Arabic with in the version version the treatise. (Int.9-12) of

formations
The Pool of Nectar school, persuasive extract from was of composed the in this by an

Iranian

philosopher

familiar

Illuminationist The of most an

because evidence

characteristic regard is the treatise

Illuminationist extensive revised

vocabulary Arabic

Suhrawardi's

Persian

On
frame "the briefly,

the Reality
story.31 cognising "the We

of hove, which
also find and distinguishing rational meant the main of though preface external which same as

is integrated with
term soul from for rational soul"

the fragmentary
the managing prominent role distinct of

"Hymn
states" of the

of the Pearl"
psychology,

a distinctive

Avicennan-Illuminationist

or more (Int. 14), this passage of in the

managing is clearly of

(IV. 1). The a dominant has basic is not the the

location

the preface yogic the

to exercise text. yoga this to This

in determining effect of carried of

significance

teachings psychophysiology even in the the five

proleptically and text. the

assimilating Avicennan Specifically, five internal motor texts interpreting of the body in

the

categories actually

Aristotelian out in the list and of the later of two

psychology, the senses, sensory Arabic. yogic and logies tradition. In addition Arabic version text

assimilation

enumerates senses, would time, the of the be

standard vegetal to suggests the of any

Greco-Arabic faculties, any an true reader overall self

seven familiar

animal

faculties, At practices the

Aristotelian for

narrative discovering

framework discipline philosophical connected

a means is no be

through with

mind. that

But might

there

indication in other

familiarity materials

anthropo to the yogic

found

Sanskrit

to

these

explicit calls

references on a more

to

the

Illuminationist kind of Arabic

school

of

philosophy, vocabulary,

the

as a whole

diffuse

philosophical

which was shared and recognised by many

are primarily cold, of a cosmological wet, dry) V.2, X.2), (VI.2-3, the significance, X.2), rational

schools. The philosophical

and they include such items (al-amr al-natiqa) al-awsat) (1.3, V.2,

terms in the treatise

as the four qualities 1), contraries the universal

(hot,

moderation soul (al-nafs

(IV. 1, VIII. VI.2, X.4),

(diddan)

(III.4,

intellect (laql al-kull) (1.2, 1.3), and the creator (al-bari) (1.2, 1.3).

Muhammad pp. 84-87. 31 These

ibn'Ali al-Sanusi al-Khattabi are discussed in detail

al-Hasani

al-Idrisi, al-Silsabil al-ma(infil-tara'iq

al-arbaHn (Cairo, 1989),

narratives

in The Pool ofNectar.

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

213

Intellectuals Pool of Nectar

trained some known body

in explicit as The

the Arabic references Epistles

scientific to

curriculum

would themes The theme

have from of

recognised the the

in The

commonplace of Purity. larger

tenth-century correspondence had been an well early

encyclopedia of the human

of the Brethren and an early the

as microcosm thought from in their first

cosmos The

as macrocosm Brethren leanings of Purity toward (1.2), we

developed expression teachings. following

in Greek to this

period.32 with of The

gave

doctrine the

encyclopedia, chapter

strong Pool

Pythagorean can glean the

From

prominent

of Nectar

list of microcosmic-macrocosmic

correspondences:

1. 2.

nostrils, senses

eyes,

ears,

and mouth

seven

planets stars

3. head 4. body
6. 7. nerves veins

sky (juththa) earth

5. oceans rivers bone mountains

8. hair trees (ashjar)

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. skin, waking sleep happiness sadness blood, day night spring winter summer fall water flesh, ligaments, muscle, bone, and brain seven climes

14. hunger 15. satiety

16. weeping

17. laughing
18. heart 19. brain

lightning
throne canopy 20. soul universal intellect

21.

intellect

creator

To this list some manuscripts

22. 23. 24. 25. arteries chief brain limbs limbs mine mountains

from family b add the following

springs

items:

animals

This

list may

be

compared

with

a similar

series

of microcosmic-macrocosmic

equivalences

found in The Epistles of theBrethren of Purity (repeated or similar terms aremarked

in bold,

32

On

History

see George Boas, in the West, the history of this motif (5 vols., New York, 1973-74), of Ideas, ed. Philip P.Wiener

'Macrocosm and Microcosm', vol. Ill, pp. 126-131.

Dictionary

of the

214Carl W Ernst
with reference to the numbers in the list just

given):

body

(jasad)
bones

earth
mountains brain mines

(variant of no. 4)
(variant (variant of no. no. 24) 5)

belly ocean
intestines veins rivers streams

(partial; no. 6)
(partial; (partial; no. no. 7) 7)

flesh head to foot

dust hair plants

back desert

(nahat) (variant of no. 8) civilization

front back

east west

right
left

south
north

breathing
speech cries

herbs
thunder thunderbolts

laughing
weeping misery and sorrow

lightning
rain dark (variant of night

(variant of no. 17)

of no. 16)

sleep waking childhood life

death (partial; no. 12)

(partial; no. no. 15) no. 13)33 14)

spring
youth summer fall old winter age

maturity

(partial;

(partial;

The the series

list of human of

the Brethren condition twenty-five primarily their the

of Purity and planetary

continues

with

an additional of particular

twelve

equivalences to

between The is

movements,

relevance in The regarding the and

astrology. of Nectar

microcosmic-macrocosmic in the with context the of two the yogic

correspondences teaching breaths these and of

Pool sun

introduced (Li), shown and by

and moon As on

association items marked by

opposed six of

the

right

left nostrils. are variations

in bold the Brethren in the

above,

correspondences another seven give Items from

correspondences that terms include deriving one

given of from the

of Purity, list of

correspondences 18 to 21 the later contain

terms

the Brethren

of Purity.

standard

Islamicate

cosmology.

Manuscripts

recension

of family b add four more

further (which from stage differs the widely from

items, one from the list of the Brethren

of the text. The text that Persian translation contains in any the Arabic of Purity at this point) do not occur

of Purity,
of Muhammad four

indicating a
Ghawth equivalences manuscripts

in the domestication

another of

list of

the Brethren

the Arabic

33Rasa'il ikhwan al-safa', vol.

II, pp. 466-467.

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

215

of The Pool ofNectar, but which

Persian This macrocosm, and hadith. translation passage is derives. then the followed language on

probably reflect the earlier Arabic recension from which

(1.3) of further reflection philosophy and are the macrocosm found on to the microcosm citations have in yogic unrelated to from certainly writings, to Indian and the Qur'an played but

his

by

the

joining Speculations role in

Islamicate

the microcosm and (1.2-3) they

an the

important material In Indian sections to avoid comparable materials This of

in Indian

thought, version normally

frequently to be wholly

this Arabic one would

appears

sources. between

texts

expect worlds,

specific specific

references geographical of Nectar, the

correspondences in India, inspired narrative more Purity etc.34 by and

the body

and multiple that the

sites perhaps Indie

It is hard something substituted

concluding

translator

of The

Pool

in the yogic from exclusively the only

teaching, Arabic place in

ai: this point sources the treatise

eliminated the yogic

to make where

teachings of

comprehensible. are invoked. A

is not

the Brethren

description
the womb, in the writings

in The Pool ofNectar (V. .2) regarding the prediction of the sex of the embryo in
according of to which the Brethren direction of Purity.35 Chart Sample Variations in Arabic Transcription 6 of Mantras in The Pool ofNectar it is facing, appears to draw directly on a passage

The

in Arabic in chapter transliterated of mantras, IX, "On the Knowledge script, occur following are assimilated to the the Subjugation of Spirits," where who they invoke seven chief yogini goddesses seven occur in all MSS. Some Indie terms can be distinguished, variations planets. Notable including to divinities, standard seed syllables bodhi svaha, and references (aum, hum), the concluding phrase and spirits (devata, devi, rakshasc, bhut pret)*. demons 1. Saturn

Husain: fum Paris: but

malka svaha

tuni

sandar

sandar

varbha

rabi wakna

mas

dajaraha

rabi

aum

kalfar

yadin

awwam

kalka dalalasakak

wamui adiri

nam sidi

nam

but

svaha raktabas sanhaha uli aum kalfa didas

Paris marg.: 2. Mars Husain: nari Paris: devi nam hum nam trira

sil wadihawas

devi but

tazkar

mari

bhuskafa

sakfihar

fi deva

devata

nari

humum

trira

devi

tarkar

nam trira nam

svaha tarkaz svaha marani bhusankah safkaharni devad devatha ami hum trira

deva but

3. Jupiter aum Husain: rhin Paris: 4. Sun Husain: Paris: aum

rhin

kal

kala

dev

cincl munh

nam

ham

but

svaha

bwani

kahir

kahran

hum

rhin

kalka

devi

nam

nam

but

svaha

narayan aum hasrin

bawayn brin

aum hum

tashrin badmah

hum

badamiya lujani

devi hans

nam kuni

nam tasrin

but brin

svaha

evi mark

34 Kalyani Mallik, Siddha-Siddhanta-Paddhati 35 Rasa'il Ikhwan al-safa', vol. II, p. 425.

and Other Works of theNatha

Yogis (Poona,

1954), p. 39.

216Carl W Ernst
Chart 5. Venus Husain: Paris: 6 continued

aum

aum a iyi

sarasati sarasati

devi devi

aum aum

nam

nam nam

but thumm

svaha but svaha

aum

nam

6. Mercury Husain: hum Paris: devi aum tara aum aum tari hu yum nam devi adam yum nam tara tarn devi but tala nam mara svaha devi but ithna svaha das des marani rakhes bhut pret aum baram nara rabi des des tara fi makash bhut pret tarani adam

tanari

7. Moon Husain: adam Paris:

aum nam aum

turn nam hansa

tawa svaha tutla

natari aum devi

des

des

tara tutla but

fi rak hash devi svaha nam

bhut nam

huwayna nam nam

pret svaha

tawani

adam

yum

adu

adi

*Sources: pp. 291-344;

Yusuf and MS

Husain,

"Haud al-hayat, la version arabe de TAmratkund," Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Ar. 1699. Chart 7 Translation

fournal

Asiatique

213

(1928),

Yogic sun and moon five breaths prognostication sex practices breaths 11.2

Elements

in the Arabic

of The Pool

ofNectar II. 1

1.1-2,

by breath 1-3-4 from divinatory and magical retention of semen II. 5, VI. 5 nectar II.5 khecari mudri, drinking of disease II.6-8 prevention asana postures eighty-four kundalini IV2-9 siddhas I V.2

texts

II.4

(?) V1 three breaths V.2 breath, breath control suction V.3-4 VI.3-4, VI.5 VII. VI1.2-9 yoga kriya tantra) VIII.2-5 IX.1-10 IX. IX. japa IX. 2 10 10 1-9 VII. 13

measuring

celibacy urethral vajroli mudra, mantras seven occult cakras

predicting yoginis mandala homa

powers (siddhis) VII. 10-15 time of death (pre-hatha

Yogic The Arabic version Indian the of The Pool

elements of Nectar

in contains are widely

the a

text of Some This are not is the

variety found diet with

practices.

distinctively case with (VI.3, VII.

or restricted

to yoga, of fasting

but

in other (V.3),

traditions. and sexual (see Chart and moon

recommendation other practices

(IV 3), vegetarian associated with (I, II). The Indian

abstinence 7). Very breaths these

11). But

are

clearly control,

hatha

yoga sun

prominent as associated passages

is the description with the clearly left and

of breath right

reference concepts

to the

nostrils

of breath however.

underlying

are not

related

to standard

cosmologies,

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

217

Later count two

Indian the duration

texts

such

as the Yoga

Upanisads The rather

often Pool than and airy, extent

employ ofNectar a

the

time

unit breaths

of

the matra by fingers, passage

to in

of breaths.36 a spatial

In contrast,

measures one.

passages

using breaths

measurement with fiery,

temporal

The

first

gives

a list of five of the four: airy of yogic and

associated

the elements, watery, the

it describes and

the directional heavenly. the The earthy of are

orientation fiery rises up, the

"The spreads eight

breaths out, fingers"

are five: the watery (II.2). to the

earthy, of four five some hard of to

descends Although breaths,

fingers,

descends Indian medical

extent and

the number and while it is otherwise

is characteristic the breaths any with added and

approaches downward on

associated

with to the is not

upward Indian found The

movement, the breaths

recognise

resemblance the by elements the

traditions in standard second of

in this brief and may effects prolong with breath decrease of be

list.37 The an Aristotelian

association touch inhalation, find

Indian details

texts, the to

translator. the

passage the of latter about

exhalation life: power, "You and will

and

recommends in exhalation the see how amount much

increase the four

in order twelve

it [breath]

rising

amount fingers.

fingers

in inhalation of eight

it descends fingers. So

of it that with

It decreases every day. That sympathy, exhale exhale it with four"

at every is the and

by

the power life.

decreases by kindness, and

of one's

It is appropriate is, you to the should point

that you inhale you Ghawth, the

reverse breath inhale

gradual gentleness

approach.

That

power fingers, reads: (sarsar), and

and mildness, translation eight

where

twelve

and

(V.3). of breath

In the Persian enter, When return. return in the then

of Muhammad return, breath effort, the four of

this passage of cold wind enters, sex, are of case, the the for to

"Twelve and four

fingers of and fingers

fingers on foot,

fingers twelve

cold two go

(sard).... cold out, of in the control ones and

walking When to

fingers or having

two warm

exerting place". Oddly,

running, spatial

twenty-four missing from

four

measurements the portions In any

the

account

breath

oldest

Persian encyclopedia

translation, of Amuli.

Kamrubijaksa basic long breath technique idea

preserved is apparently

fourtsenth-century of the quantity

of breath as a

in order spatial

to maximise measure with of the

inhalation length related

life. There control

are occasional

references but

to the finger these do not

in the Yoga Upanisads, here.38 techniques as yogic but relying difficult the among of these mentioned asanas

correspond

life preservation

mentioned

Physiological postures number Muhammad postures). yoga Uttana health position; 36 texts, recognisable of 84

in (IV.4-8).

the The

text

include text

the

purification

of the

body traditional

by

Arabic

acknowledges the Persian describes asanas in

postures,

describes on an

only earlier with we The may Arabic

five version the

(although of

translation twenty-one standard

of

Ghawth, These but are from

the Arabic, of

to match

descriptions

hatha and psychic in each this is a

descripticns these fivs.

recognize text

the Virasana, emphasises word

Kukkutasana, and

Kurmasana benefits this

the physical alakh yogis,

postures. the

It is notable with

that the Nath

the yogic or

is repeated for whom

reinforces

association

Kanphata

in The Yoga Upanisads, trans. T. R. Srinivasa Ayyangar, ed. G. Srinivasa Murti Darsanopanisad VI:3-6, (Adyar, 1952), p. 137; Yogatattvopanisad 40?43, in ibid., p. 308. Kenneth G. Zysk, 'The Science of Respiration and the Doctrine in Ancient of the Bodily Winds India', fournal (1993), PP- 198-213. of theAmerican Oriental Society CXIII In the Trisikhibrahmanopanisad, 53-55 (ibii., p. 100), the vital breath is described as being twelve "digit-lengths" a unit the size of the fingertip. The is ninety-six evidently meaning longer than the body, which "digit-lengths1', is to shorten the air to the length of the body in order to know Brahman. in this case, however, recommendation

2i8 Carl W Ernst

characteristic khecari mudra, utterance. described these to be the a version of of the

Among as staring hatha

physiological tip of accounts in some sexual and which of

techniques the nose of and

appears drinking

at the yoga illustrated during

"nectar"

saliva

(II. 5, II.7). Unlike the crossing the of the

standard eyes of

this practice, manuscripts) the

this description as the chief

emphasises which is also occurs

(vividly semen curing

element, of nectar that

permits modestly here suction section the

retention with of

intercourse; Another possible of

swallowing yogic

credited is a variation

sores

headache.39 makes retention

technique of the semen

the

vajroli mudra, the

return semen

by urethral in a lengthy leading to

(VI. 5). Curiously, on procreation of and

discussion

is embedded principles, sex"

embryology

according "Every of The (wahm), gives

to Galenic animal Pool treated wahm

medical is sad after

equivalent

the philosophical is another prominent

proverb, feature

(VI.4). in the for mental of lengthy and

Visualization Chapter magical or the VII on

ofNectar, as a

particularly term meaning

the magical Normal and wahm faculty"

imagination Islamic also has discourse various Gk.

generic

powers.

the pejorative

"illusion" as

"prejudice", "estimative

technical sunesis, of

meanings phronesis) and

in Aristotelian "compositive seems or kalpana. and

philosophy imagination" to presuppose It is defined translators

(Lat. But some Syllables

aestimatio, in the

(Gk. phantasia a correspondence Kamarupa

logistike). with Seed

wahm

sense Indie

"magical possibly of

imagination" dharana (16a),

unstated as "the

term,

in The

knowledge

breaths"

in the

introduction magical
the other standard interpretations of of seven the

imagination
of this term.

is also linked with

for yoga any rate, At

the term "discipline"

p.). I am takes open the form to of

(riyadat),which
suggestions about the visualization from a the seat

is

Arabic-Persian

translation

(below, this practice to the in of

in sequence the crown

locations Each to Hindu

corresponding cakra gods is described and of

standard terms of

yogic

cakras, and

to but are

head. linked

a colour

diagram, the cakras

instead connected to the

of being with

letters the

the devanagari contain to the

alphabet, phonemes difficulties of and the the

the planets. others are script has

While beyond

some retrieval,

bija-mantras due

recognisable of cakras, implicit preserving and their

Indologists, chants

doubtless

in Arabic placement, of

(see Chart effect to the of

3). The likening of

demythologisation the the cakra meditation the soul through

planetary movement major The declared syllable

the

upward spheres, a

the kundalini in Islamic, Sanskrit translations is translated

ascension

the planetary

theme seven to be hum In the

Iranian, mantras of

and Jewish or chants

traditions. associated with of and the seven cakras Thus are all boldly Sanskrit One" that one "they better, term; he "O

the Arabic Lord" seven

invocations (ya rabb), great mantras, among

the names

of God.

the

as "O these

aum

is translated translator

as "O Ancient remarks goes Sanskrit qahir does

(ya qadim). are like

introducing greatest Persian as ya names

the Arabic

[of God]

us". Muhammad two Arabic phrases and

Ghawth for aum each as ya that

however, translates Wrathful,

in his hum O

translation,

providing "O Lord, O

rabb ya hafiz,

Protector", of breathing also finds two

ya qadir, not terms

All-powerful".40 version, are Muhammad pronounced

In a discussion Ghawth during

techniques for

appear hams the

in the Arabic and

equivalents of

the yogic and

so ham, which

the

phases

exhalation

inhalation;

Cf. Eliade, Yoga, pp. 247?248, for accounts of the khecari mudra which describe responsible for the retention of semen. 40 Bahr al-hayat, India Office Library MS, pp. 91, 94; Ganj Bakhsh MS, pp. 82, 84.

the swallowing

of nectar

as

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

219

first of

is "an lords

expression

for

the

spiritual

lord

(rabb mhi)", other

while of

the

second kind.

stands

for

"the

lord such the

(rabb al-arbab)".41 make of power of the used seven no

There

are many they of God

examples rather, by

this

Semantically, between

"translations" yogic in the vocative words case

sense whatever; and the names mantras, dhikr

are,

functional the Sufis;

equivalents this

as used

is especially are presented

evident in a

great Sufi

for which repetitions of

the Arabic the names

equivalents of God.

form

in the

Chapter
with elaborate

IX of The Pool of Nectar amplifies on the cakra meditations

instructions for summoning seven female deities or "spiritual

in Chapter VII
beings" (Ar.

ruhaniyyat)who
seven are usually assimilated organization likening involving Chapter with the

are evidently
called Mother seven planets,

the chief yoginis

Goddesses as in Chapter by the

(there are a total of 64 of these entities). These

circles.42 Here In this text, however, that they are VII. as well, it seems the the planetary in this occult case by

in yogic

to the

is a deliberate summoning spirits. of

attempt Indian The Arabic

translator

to familiarise Middle spirits"

subject,

goddesses

to well-known of

Eastern al-arwah) yoginis to act favours

practices title of

planetary IX

phnise name

"subjugation for this kind here call

(taskhir The

in the

is the normal and mandalas. the

of occultism. on the must the

are summoned like a son and

incense with

Instructions in crder

practitioner

a brother Lengthy

goddesses,

to obtain beings

numerous be repeated

they

can of

bestow. (see

Sanskrit

mantras

addressed

to these

thousands

times

Chart 6).
The India worship from of the female deities twelfth known :enturies, as but yoginis seems to have in various been at its height until in the ninth to the it continued at least

places

the eighteenth
found at remote

century. Vidya Dehqjia

sites where these

has described
were

at length the open-air yogini

While the description

temples
of the

deities

honoured.43

yoginis
the key So

in The Pool ofNectar is brief, The Kamarupa Seed Syllables describes them at length as
to knowledge of all things. At the beginning of the section on breath, we are told,

of God one who sixty-four women, "By the command (who is great and majestic), us this science, we shall not of this science. By the God by whose command the day gavespeak for whatever is 18,000 worlds exist, this is an oath, that this is the science of magical imagination, in the earth and heaven is in the grasp of the children of Adam. We tell everything, for everything that goes (16a). on in all the world is all known and made clear by the science of magical imagination"

say those

Furthermore, By

they

say, of God most higf, and the masterful goes on they have We us, between a science of

the command and

teaching

taught teach

the moon who makes comes, one

the sun one

can know

whatever he

in all the world. that this

and from where, near immortal

and what

asks. Also

know

science

lengthens

life and

(17a). confer all perse makes ns and cures These the removes

The and

knowledge enables one

the

yoginis

poison things

harmless, in the world.

sick,

desire, are

to control

"spiritual

beings"

41 Bahr al-hayat, ch. 4, India Office Library MS, pp. 45-46; Ganj Bakhsh MS, p. 55; ch. 7, Ganj Bakhsh MS, P- 93 42 W. W. Karambelkar, 'Matsyendranatha and his Yogini Cult', Indian Historical Quarterly XXXI (1955), P- 367 4 Vidya Dehejia, Yogini Cult and Temples: A Tantric Tradition (New Delhi, 1986).

220 Carl W Ernst

invulnerable distance spot and or and in India, jewels, get sick beings of them. to sword or fire, their hair and of nails the cannot sixty-four be hear a from a

injury

by

cut, yoginis

they has

travel and

anywhere they go to

in an instant delightful

(23b). places revered but objects saints, are

Each to

particular in gold grow (300-31 old, a). carve have

enjoy by the

themselves devs; to be

at feasts, never of

dressed die, age

wearing before are

crowns the day

and wreaths, of judgment, the principal prophets, their names Chalab,

they will twenty

all appear

years

These idols faith

in fact as we

of worship and miracle though Kalika,

among workers,

the Hindus, so

who

"Just

have of

the Hindus script (31b),

in them"

(31a). Many Tutla, Karkala,

given,

the Persian Diba, Darbu

leaves many Antarakati

ambiguities:

Tara,

Kamak,

(44b, 46b), Chitraki (56a), Ganga Mati (45a), SriManohar (45a), Katiri (30a), Parvati (49b), Suramati (44b), Susandari (44b), Talu (30a). Of course, as Vidya Dehejia has pointed out,
no with two lists of names (39a), you of yoginis but are at other the yogi" are the times (48a). same. they Sometimes regard of them adepts may have sexual relations "She the yoginis and as sister with and mother them (46b). include

is the yogini

Benefits

association

money

(44b) and food (48b).

As a comprehensive and the yoginis of description might seem about but what say that of Indian a bit The religious practices, Brahmins Seed on? a narrative are mentioned, Syllables of and the of limited but only to as eccentric. Kamarupa

Kamakhya occasional This

sources

information sample, probably Kaula

its interpretation. categories the yogini with introducer once tradition (51a) that are

is clearly today,

a narrow we could

is it based this text

In terms

available cult or that

reflects is also

practices some

temple the Nath of in the the

are associated yogis, among as

with

tantrism.44

There

connection the

Kanphata cult Beyond

indeed

Matsyendranath and the name we

is usually of Gorakhnath

considered

yogini text.45 up

the Kaulas,

is invoked of Hindu cakras

that general fashion. Nath

indication, This yoga the Sakti text

find multiple a system (19b, the navel 20a, up

strands of nine 25a). the

popping the are 18a, seven given A

in an

incidental

assumes

rather

than

cakras that

current concentrate list of the where and of the

in most on

writings from (siddhh) (48b,

Meditative spinal column Occasional of (24b, the 37a).

exercises (17b,

raising

28a).

standard to contain

supernormal phrase many the "Krsna

powers avatar" or of

is provided 53a). We are is told said at

(54a).46 are to told live

mantras

appear

temple The

of Mahakala story long of Siva

in Ujjain (Mahadev) are given

siddhas

magicians

churning of

the ocean

length

(310-320). is said about

While the

accounts sacrifices however, goals;

temple that site for

the goddess The

Kamakhya, basic and teachings the

nothing

animal

associated are hatha The was the the use

with

today

of The Kamarupa of yoginis

Seed

Syllables,

of breath meditation

divination

summoning practices.

to obtain

various

yoga

is certainly of yogic to say

linked

to these in The Pool

representation selective, of of the esoteric

practices the least. contact teachings. into

of Nectar this

and The Kamarupa surprising, Muslim not

Seed if these scholars

Syllables texts with are a

highly result

In one of one

sense, or two

is not

adventitious Indian

enterprising practices into a

mixture such

It includes of all seven

unusual cakras

attested diagram

elsewhere, (VII. 14,

as a combined

visualisation

composite

44 Ibid., pp. 30, 36. 45 Ibid., pp. 74-75 46 See Eliade, Yoga, p. 88, n.

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

221

VIII.5). yogic living such early also

Among powers or dead as the

the (siddhis),

benefits such

of as

the taking

practices on

mentioned form same

in The or

Pool

of Nectar human are a

are

familiar whether powers,

an animal At by that the

another there

body,

(parakaya-pravesa) prediction works on of the

(VI[.12-15). time (kriya breathing are m two of death tantra)

time,

non-yogic

visual predate

meditation, hatha from of the yoga

practice (VIII. 1-5).

common There

in are and pretty of the

tantric sexual

sorcery use

practices texts

that (II.4).

techniques different II.2; unattested three

derived accounts breaths selection

early

Indian

magical that are

divinatory much The

There (five breaths

breaths The asana

incompatible Pool of Nectar translation with VII, any has

in V.3). of five

Arabic postures,

version while do

an otherwise

Persian overlap Chapter

of Muhammad known work on

Ghawth hatha the

provides yoga.47 longer

twenty-one, It is difficult to

the names identify IX,

of which the

not in lie

bija-mantras may

though

here,

as with

mantras

of Chapter

the problem

in part in the inherent difficulty of representing Sanskrit (especially short vowels)

script. texts, it was Islamic In any the case, despite the of yogic both translators' practices claims that and they regarding provided the was by scriptural arbitrary a strongly authority and representation coloured

in Arabic
of their and set of

selective,

heavily

in context

in interpretation

established

conventions.

Translation What of The of the is the text function domesticates stories the of a translation it in an invoke such

as Hermeneutics as The context interpretive of the Pool of Nectar? the The conversion linked psychic text. account of the to

origin Islam. myth actual Islamic

Islamic

through

of yogis to the Gnostic faculties. The purely

two the

frame and of

particular

approaches senses and the text as

soul

Illuminationist is applied unselfconsciously result of

allegory unevenly placed of

mechanism terms originals. be recovered and

translation are the

throughout in the original Indology

Sometimes

symbols This by is most recension has

adequate terms of

descriptions and this symbols The there, elements of

of can

Indian only

that many

the

Indian outside

the use evident of

resources in the

of modern later stages

text.

Islamising the most the text.

tendency common Sanskrit to Arabic intermediate "translations". Sanskrit conflicting In imposed social in the and text

of manuscript most are chanting, terms remains script. which seems of being the

production; Indian introduced visualisation,

the Arabic dropped

dispenses when

with

originals readers, stage Yet

are also

techniques sections names on and that

that would and alongside postures. their

be new In an Islamic in the

particularly of translation,

in the

Iridic

are retained untranslatable, In short, are never only The

there that are

is a certain transmitted of

residue in Arabic

particularly Pool of Nectar

mantras

exhibits

tendencies his

in its modes task,

translation, translator with at the translations

fully

resolved. felt the not are limitations limited transmitted theological by

approaching by the religious along

the Arabic unfamiliarity A glance

to have

audience's

technical Indian

terminology; names 5) and shows

he was terms that

constraints. with their

Arabic

(Chart

that major

Several manuscripts of the Persian transiation contain miniature asanas. One of illustrations of the twenty-one is in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, these MSS a third another is in the Salar Jung Library in Hyderabad, is in the private collection of Simon Digby, and the fourth has recently been acquired by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

222Carl W Ernst
translations be repeated, to God that and some the of are terms Given entertained can only the without be hesitation. with It must difficulty extra-Indian

relating however,

prophets the Indie sources.

recovered exclusively

through

recourse

to modern

Indological

almost

distribution
that any

of manuscripts
of the Arabic terms. the translator important Sanskrit cases,

(only one of forty-five

text would have been

is found in India), it is hard to believe

in a position to recognise that the text

readers

contained In other for a cluster

evidently terms.

felt

that

itwas

pointless

to retain the

the term

Indian

originals the in

of other dhikr which or

"Mantra" referring like the IV on is from The yogi", renders polytheistic

is almost to the aum. term yogic the seven

certainly powerful

underlying or "names"

Arabic chapter translated once Arabic (murtad) baggage rather might front. used

term VII,

"recollection", consist of

"words" the

seed-syllables Curiously, to Chapter which "yogi".

"Yantra" "yoga" postures; same Indian in the root

is probably

Indie by

original

as shakl or "diagram". text, riyada in the or title

is only mentioned there

implication by the

in the term used

it is represented in the Arabic the most to semi-divine being",

"exercise", of

as found

word

as a translation yogini, The to noting term proposed Islamicate from best

unstated which this

term with text refers or behind of Greek term

theological beings which looking as Plotinus

is probably than seem Still, the humans. equivocally it is worth same Arabic has for the

"female translator conceal that

as

ruhaniyya

"spiritual an

goddesses translators the Greek with texts.49 was

innocuous such "god".48

earlier

Arabic

authors theos or to

ruhaniyya a model

to translate of translation of Indie

Jan Assmann is suggestive translations eastern into from

respect The

the Hellenistic and of

age

that

translations one culture such was Zeus,

complete

self-conscious ancient near gods

of divinities The

to another case was Re

a common translation etc. Where is not

feature of there

societies. Greek

known Amun

Herodotus' Helios, conversion conversion. religion

the Egyptian is easy long

familiar one

ones:

was

translation as there worship one. truth. This It is is

pantheon of

to another, translation there occurs is no

Assmann there is no to is one give

argues, need up of one

an issue. As

the possibility the same gods only

If all religions and knowledge to enter of a

basically another superior

need

possibility precisely there they

if there

religion

claiming If one of

this claim can be no

that excludes of

translatability. the gods when link and

religion into

iswrong those the of

and

the other

is right,

question different that broken". "the

translating

the one one

the other.

Obviously of and key

are

about figures

gods.50

It is only

insists god views

on

untranslatability and god

religious

cosmotheistic Thus Jewish the

between

and world, of the

gods,

is categorically precluded Following culture expressed differences

Christian

incomparability of the Hellenistic that cultures perspective,

of God world. the Greek forcefully however, Hellenism,

identification an idea put

with forward was

interchangeable Bowersock, which the

"pagan"

deities

by G. W

Assmann many

maintains

of Hellenism their own

a vehicle

through From

non-Greek

distinctiveness. Hellenistic

Jewish so trifling

or Christian

between

religions

were

as to be meaningless.

48 cAbd al-Rahman Badawi, Aflutin "inda al-Arab [Plotinus Among the Arabs] (2nd ed., Kuwait, 1977), index, p. 248. 49 as a Factor of Cultural in The Translatability of (Un)Translatability', Jan Assmann, 'Translating Gods: Religion Iser (Stanford, 1996), pp. 25-36. Assmann Cultures: Figurations of the Space Between, ed. Sanford Budick and Wolfgang includes in his model an account of "syncretistic translation" that is far from clear. unfortunately 50 Assmann, p. 31.

The

Islamization

of Yoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

223

by of

furnishing a A fairly number

an unified of cultures

overarching pagan world.

system

of

equivalences,

created

cosmopolitan

consciousness

the features where of

described The Pool

by Assman of Nectar caliphate by the was and

in the Hellenistic produced and

case

have

parallels

in the

Islamicate age, of

read. As with culture ecumenic the of

the Hellenistic periods structures, language. language religious religion embodied of the

the Arabic Islamic history

culture were

the high

the Persianate of vast

the middle imperial dominant the Arabic for the both Islamic origin

characterised of many of kind*

creation

in which The in and ethnic the

minorities identities

expressed peoples

themselves found expression made the legal

through

non-Arab and Islamicate with As not from

through of Persian of

Shu'ubiyya

movement, In

non-Muslims societies universalising

use

historical

purposes. existed

authority

continually

in tension tradition. that were Indeed,

tendencies there were Islamic; of this

of Hellenistic always is the significant

in the philosophical Islamicate term cosmos

a consequence, exclusively the perspective

aspects

justification

for Hodgson's exponents of

"Islamicate".

the most

thoroughgoing

philosophy
the universal concept and by of

(e.g., Ibn Sina), all religions

truths Islam of philosophy, in the mass The Pool Muslim of Nectar to (like the of of intended media current

(including
for mass today

Islam) were
consumption. itwith

special modifications
The standard minimalist legalism, be horrified authoritarianism, doubtless any

of

identifies of Tertullian reject Yet the

violent the

iconoclasm. of The

equivalents and would deities. say, and

would of hand

contents

out the

consideration Neoplatonism

of of in and

murmuring the Muslim Renaissance practices, to the

Sanskrit

mantras

feminine :hat of, translation

sophisticated Platonist of "pagan"

Illuminationists Italy) without permitted a sense demands

Christian

Marsilio themes, a kind of the

Ficino deities, concession bearers on

assimilation Still, the

radical Islamic become

difference.51 religious

text makes

absolute knowledge

authority, Muslims,

by making and even

sure

that

of

foreign law.

(the yogis)

converted

authorities

Islamic

In a way Buswell in China, India. often their has but "Such were authority

the

fortunes Chinese

of The

Pool

of Nectar apocrypha. of

resemble These and

the were

important often

texts original

that Robert texts composed

E.

called

Buddhist as translations sometimes forged as to

presented texts were

important

authentic with as a of a

Buddhist revelatory device accepted

scriptures experience, both

from but

written using false

in association ascriptions their chances

intentionally as well

literary being

to enhance

strengthen

as canonical".52

They
be cloth. for

took a strategy of making Brddhism

to Chinese analogy with of readers, The The Pool Pool even to the The the of Nectar of Nectar, But and

intelligible by explaining
extent is not even of exact; if it may creating new there was have translator technique some been

it in terms that would

scriptures kind primarily wanted of of out of whole basis textual an

familiar

translations restricted

esoteric

teaching the 51

to oral

transmission.

the Arabic of his

clearly consisted

to establish enough

canonical

authority

of his work,

part

adding

The Persian scholar Mulla Zayn al-Din of Lar, from whom Pietro della Valle obtained amanuscript of The to a sect "which attributed intelligences to the sun, moon and stars, Kamarupa Seed Syllables in 1622, belonged and venerated them as angels of a superior order who would intercede with God and seek his protection" (J. D. 'Pietro della Valle: The Limits of Perception', BSOAS XLIX Gurney, [1986], p. 113). 52 E. Buswell, Jr., 'Introduction: Prolegomenon to the Study of Buddhist Apocryphal Robert in Scriptures', Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha (Honolulu, of UNC-Greensboro for drawing this 1993). Thanks to Charles Orzech reference to my attention.

224 Carl W Ernst

of He a the familiar his book, Islamicate translation known structures with to the of authority to sentence: (ulama) convince "Now and his readers land to pay of attention. there called is

opened respected

following

in the philosophers

India

its religious

scholars

(hukama),

Amrtakunda,
attention another to

that is, The Pool of theWater of Eife (Int.2)". The primary

the book's found credentials. in The The Pool Chinese of Nectar, Buddhist that apocrypha the is, overcoming

task was
sometimes distance

to draw
adopted between

technique

Buddhism of Buddhas
the translator are Abraham case, the A

and Chinese
of The

thought by declaring that Lao Tzu and Confucius were theophanies and Bodhisattvas.53 This is precisely the hermeneutic of equivalence adopted by
Pool ofNectar, or when the use when he he has the yogi major announce yogis with (Chinese that Brahma Islamic or prophets. Islamicate) and Vishnu In each to render and Moses, permits teachings. strategy can be seen in the remarks of the earlier Persian translator of identifies

this approach foreign similar Indian

of a dominant

discourse

translation

the related The Kamarupa Seed Syllables:

Thus about one's their One science says the every nature choicest translator Most of the book: of their books I found great faith In India I saw many because they books with information complete verse better, and which is one of

science. inclines books;

are in verse, a book in this. (wahm) than which

they memorize

to it more. they have

call Kamrubijaksa, two

It contains

types of science. (riyadat); they have they no kind of

is the science

of magical that is greater or more does not accept,

imagination powerful but

and discipline

this. On

the basis of this science them

affirm

things

that intellect these of The things

this science, other

they adduce this is a summary,

they believe and show a thousand which

in it, and among proofs

it is customary. Regarding

For each of the subject

and demonstrations. affirmed. Their

they have

is a science

that they

call s[v]aroda

[i.e., divination]. their

scholars if the breath

and

sages observe

their breath; no work, common know but

if their breath strenuously

goes well, avoid it. They nothing

they perform have taken

people anything. the Arabic

of India know They

goes ill, they do of perfection. this subject to the height The of this, and they are not privy to this secret, nor do they of [reading] thought here India, we (Arabic are damir) (fols. 2a-2b). with same frequently character. a

tasks, but

call this the science

As with book, told both another This

version of and the

of The highest only

Pool

of Nectar, in The

confronted in the

powerful we returns Thus are to in

alleged that the

to be

authority to a few. authority

though

breath

it is secret themes passage of

known

Persian and

translator esoteric

the book's

scriptural

its hidden

he writes, is known India, and among the Hindus is counted the theory respect no book is nobler scholar of this than this. man.

book

throughout

Whoever They

learns serve him, him

this book

and knows

its explanation with just

as a great

and wise they

and whoever greatly. They

is occupied serve him

and practice

call a jogi of struggle

and respect and discipline The such for translator as

like we

the saints and the masters

(15b). of the information "greatest and he from Brahmin and success informants, summoning in employing

speaks

gathered name" testifies of God

regarding the goddess these

practices Lakshmi techniques.

employing relations

(40b) own

sexual

(43b),

to his

53

Ibid., p. 10.

The

Islamization

ofYoga

in the Amrtakunda

Translations

225

In addition, two verses

on

several

occasions Dev", which

the

translator have the verse (26b,

cites been

another a

text, which circulating the original,

he

calls

"the

thirty similar Hindi

of Kamak He are of

may

separately of The the

text with and stresses to several

contents.54 doha of verses the task

frequently quoted translation. many

emphasizes in Persian "Then and script

character 27a, 29a).

translator Indian

the difficulty the and Persian it was

I rendered it was read

it from to a group this

language and of

language, compared, which occasions After giving

taking

pains, and

of brahmins advertisement literary with

scholars, scholarly

corrected, suspicious translator a of lengthy the

clarified use of the

(16a)".

Despite

authority, on other

makes the

terminology the material in Arabic brahmins,

of Arabic he script, and is dealing he

production, is more "I presented could not than

confesses Hindi of

that

obscure. verses it, but it is

passage India,

remarks, and they and

these explain (27a). verses Thus

to a group were not from A Persian the dead an allegory

scholars

jogis, are

incapable clear oral to what sources

of understanding extent but case this

it, for represents as a

the words single text

strange

difficult" from yogic

or a selection

available

represented of translation who

scripture. scriptural to India from authority in search sages a can be found in the plants sixth-century that can plant inclination was restore really and an

comparable physician

and

Burzoy,

travelled learned returned bringing

of wonderful that

to life. He

eventually He

Indian with

the miraculous ascetic Indian

for wisdom. to religious

to Persia with him

strongly of

aversion

dogma,

a selection

literature

(Pancatantra,

Hitopadesa)
Ibn al-Muqaffac

that he translated into Middle

under of of and from the title Kalila prior preserves of great of India

Persian. This was later translated into Arabic by

eventually invention strategies "The of of cause becoming print.55 treating of the was one of the to greatest see how as and God It is striking this copying an book of

wa Dimna, to the the benefit:

popular the Arabic divinely

transmissions version inspired

literature text

this

of wisdom this book from

a source the land

its transmission

to the kingdom

of Persia

inspiration

Most High,
"Regarding

by which
his desire

he inspirec Chosroes
for knowledge and

Anushirvan
to

[the Persian king]".56 Or

heard of one of the

again:
of

devotion

it, he

books

the philosophers
It was benefit charged in other the account times same he the and root of

of India, among rheir kings and scholars, rare and highly prized by them.
all their culture search and and for the head of all and their knowledge, of the guide This sages of to every highly India to the the hereafter the work salvation".57 and literature book

the key

religious passages,

language, became

the frequent

reference literary

to the philosophers in Islamicate

a well-known Book

pattern

(including was several and the

of Burzoy into

in the Persian Persian

of Kings other

by Firdawsi); This translator

this popular is the of The book, same Pool known

translated geographic

and many employed land of

languages.

language of Nectar, to

trajectory that "in the

by India

the Arabic there

when

announced

is a respected

its religious

54 In one place (26a) the translator says, "Know that thirty-two verses in the Indian language have been transmitted from the sayings of Kamak. Now Kamak chose a certain kind from those, and added something else to it, and this on the thirty-two verses, poem is called Kamak baray tajanka (?)." Elsewhere he adds, "This is all a commentary someone has written are in the Indian language, in which many practices are mentioned, which and in which are agreed upon sciences which all the practitioners of imagination strange and wonderful (wahm) and magicians and pleased with" (29a). Once (15b) he say>, "Now they put this book into 85 verses, and versified it in the Indian language." 55 Francois de Blois, Burzoy's Voyage to India and theOrigin 56 Ibid., p. 90, col. a, lines 39-41 57 Ibid., p. 91, col. b, lines 61-63. of the Book ofKalilah wa Dimnah, (London, 1990).

226 Carl W Ernst

scholars the theme and philosophers". book different effect, when ones, The from fame India of Kalila a familiar and wa Dimna echo. of the Amrtakunda of erasure and and and chart translations overwriting. the changes over separate scholarly of in Arabic would have made

(ulama) of

the mysterious the many aesthetic effect

Looking produces There that their versions researches. the text, a

over peculiar

versions characterised one many would can of not only

recensions by the sensations earliest

is a palimpsest have taken place This text, but

see

versions

in later

them have

by whitewashing been available today overall through effect

then writing of the

predecessors. of this The and

experience remains a

to readers

luxury

accessible notable

retrospective in the

Islamising it clearly

tendency

is the most in the origins

transmission

becomes theories of that of

stronger the lack Indian

later versions. of Sufism have never seems on been to have hatha Indian of chunks of this of one supported troubled yoga, practices text texts of has by the

Early

Orientalist

documentation, most ardent

although upholders translations, world. But by

of historical This single

evidence historical a channel that

hardly document for

this view. has indeed

through into been

its multiple the Islamic

furnished has been

certain

the net adding

result Islamic even

the popularisation and to even whole the authorship

achieved the

primarily

terms, been

names, ascribed

to make the great

text more

accessible;

it has

Sufi theorists,
element assimilated alleged Ottoman genre notion conclusion of remained

Ibn al-Arabi. Although

in the category text, i.e., the of non-Arabic Syriac, of some chanting left this

it may have appeared that one

Sanskrit divine mantras names when years in or Chapter placed Mevlevi ago, they they IX, alongside

irreducibly foreign
even these occult copied of have could be talismans out the

to the to be

in Hebrew, version

or Chaldean. text

Thus

dervishes thought did not

Turkish Sufi that

a hundred occult Sanskrit who eye of

it as a familiar the slightest That

text with they were be the

interesting garbled

applications; mantras alone

addressed had the

to Hindu resources and

goddesses.

would

to foreign Influence

scholars, is in the

the motivation

to re-Indianise

text.

the beholder.