Volume 6, 2018

EN :

The research for this article was prompted by the question: were Yoga and Āyurveda as intimately connected in premodern times as they to seem today? It attempts to give a preliminary answer by assessing the influence of Āyurveda on a corpus of mediaeval Yoga texts, in terms of shared terminology, theory and praxis. The date of this corpus ranges from the eleventh to the nineteenth century CE, and all of its texts teach physical techniques and an ascetic state of dormant meditative absorption (samādhi), either as auxiliaries within a system of Yoga or as autonomous systems in themselves. The physical techniques became known as Haṭhayoga and the ascetic state of samādhi as Rājayoga, and the texts in which they appear posit the practice (abhyāsa) of Yoga as the chief means to liberation (mokṣa). The article begins with a discussion of the terminology in these texts that is also found in the Bṛhattrayī, that is, the Carakasaṃhitā, the Suśrutasaṃhitā and Vāgbhaṭa’s Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā. It proceeds to discuss the relevant theory (digestive fire, humoral theory, vital points, herbs) and praxis (āsana, ṣaṭkarma and therapy or cikitsā) of the yoga texts in question in order to assess the possible influence of Āyurveda.

EN :

The purpose of this paper is to review the general organization of knowledge in the Kriyākramakarī, a sixteenth-century treatise of Kerala mathematics. Specifically, I will argue that the authors' interest in justification or proof is integrative, rather than hierarchical or cumulative. In other words, the purpose of proofs in the Kriyākramakarī is to connect various different aspects of mathematics, rather than just establish results by means of previously known results.

EN :

A set of tables devoted to solar and lunar phenomena entitled the Candrārkī was prepared in Sanskrit by the sixteenth-century Indian astronomer Dinakara. Along with the tables, Dinakara composed a short accompanying text which instructed the user how to extract and manipulate the tabular data to construct their own calendar for any desired year and geographical circumstances. The work proved to be popular. Based on a small fraction of the extant manuscripts, we present a critical edition of the text together with a discussion of the challenges raised while preparing the edition.

EN :

The astrological doctrines of aspects and planetary dignities found in the authoritative texts of the Tājika (Sanskritized Perso-Arabic) school are examined with respect to their origins and historical development, with particular emphasis on Balabhadra’s encyclopaedic Hāyanaratna (1649) and its quotations from the perhaps earliest work of the school, Samarasiṃha’s Tājikaśāstra (thirteenth century). It is argued that a major source of these doctrines is Sahl ibn Bishr’s Arabic-language introduction to astrology (ninth century), possibly in abbreviated or paraphrased form. Several of the constituent ideas have been imperfectly understood by their Indian epitomists, resulting in reinterpretations and innovations.