In 1550 CE, Muḥammad Ġawṯ Gwāliyārī composed the Baḥr al-Ḥayāt, which was a new Persian version of the Amṛtakunda, a purported Sanskrit work on yoga that had also been translated into Arabic. Although the Amṛtakunda is mentioned in Arabic and Persian works, no references to a text by this name have been found in Sanskrit or vernacular materials, nor has it been reported in a manuscript catalogue.
This talk will present research on textual parallels between the Baḥr al-Ḥayāt and several Sanskrit and Hindi works on yoga, which indicate that the yogic practices rendered into Persian were originally taught in Svarodaya traditions (the art of pneumancy) and were later attributed to Mohan of Mewar, a disciple of Dādū, the founder of the Dādūpanth. The talk will argue that the Amṛtakunda was likely a work on Svarodaya and that Sufis had a genuine interest in practising yoga techniques within the framework of Svarodaya.
Jason Birch (DPhil, Oxon) is an historian of South Asian traditions of yoga and medicine. He is a research associate of SOAS University of London and the University of Alberta. His recent publications include A Manual on the Practice of Haṭhayoga: An Edition and Translation of the Pune Manuscript of the Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati; Āsanas of the Yogacintāmaṇi: The Largest Premodern Compilation on Postural Practice, The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Gorakṣanātha: The Genesis of Haṭha and Rājayoga, a digital edition of the Haṭhapradīpikā (with colleagues of the Light on Haṭha project) and On the Plastic Surgery of the Ears and Nose: The Nepalese Version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā (with colleagues of the Suśruta Project). From 2015 to 2023, he was a Senior Research Fellow of the Light on Haṭha Project and a Post-doctoral Research Fellow of the Haṭha Yoga Project. He is a founding member of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies and the peer-reviewed Journal of Yoga Studies.
