It is an amalgamation of many hatha texts combined together into some sort of book. In Sanskrit, the text is called hatha yoga Pradipika which translates to ‘light on Hatha Yoga.’. It was written by Swami Svatmarama and is derived from old Sanskrit texts. The rise of the now ubiquitous posture-based forms of yoga occurred in the early 20th century, as Mark Singleton describes in his 2010 book Yoga Body. This publication includes a reproduction of that rediscovered original Sanskrit text, and also presents excerpts from the Tibetan Yoga manual ‘The Great Path of Liberation’ whose teachings are based on the Kapala Kurantaka. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is an ancient text composed in the 15th century CE. Kapala Kurantaka along with the Hatha Yoga Pradipika are the two earliest examples to describe the physical postures of yoga, the ‘asanas.’ New illustrations of the 112 asanas have been created for this book from preserved, but very brittle Sanskrit notes and drawings thought to be by a serious yoga aspirant of the past who probably copied these from the original for their own practice and, in doing so, has unwittingly preserved the complete Kapala Kurantaka, which we present here with English and Hindi translations alongside the original Sanskrit. In addition to the 112 asanas the original text includes the shatkriyas, ashtakumbhakas and dasamudras. Kumar’s aim to preserve the earliest and rarest examples of traditional yoga teachings, to provide new insight into contemporary practices which have become fragmented, and to ensure their preservation into the future. A L V Kumar, in which he gives an account of the recent rediscovery of this important early yoga text which originated Yinyasa Yoga. This publication provides, for the first time, the complete Kapala Kurantaka which dates from the 14 th Century.

Hatha yoga book from early 1970's