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Definition
The term ‘hatha’ derives from the verb root ‘hath’ which means ‘to oppress’, and in translation has the literal meanings of ‘force’, ‘power’, ‘exertion’, ‘strenuous’, ‘firm’, ‘aggressive’, and ‘persistent’. A literal rendering of Hatha-yoga would therefore be something like ‘forceful-yoga’, and this is consistent with its use of quite forceful techniques to purify and strengthen the body. Another meaning commonly given to the term drives from a consideration of the syllables ‘ha’ and ‘tha’ that stand for ‘sun’ (surya) and ‘moon’ (candra or soma) respectively, and which yields the ‘union of sun and moon’ as a translation of Hatha-yoga.
‘Surya’ and ‘candra’ hold symbolic significance in Hindu mythology generally, as well as in the tradition of Hatha-Yoga more specifically. In the latter, they have several associations or correspondences which refer to aspects of the subtle physiology of the human body that will be explained in more detail in what follows. For the moment, though, it is enough to say that surya refers to the upward-flowing ‘prana’ (from the verb root an = ‘to breathe’ + pra = ‘forth’, which is held to be the vital air or breath that animates an organism), while candra refers to downward-flowing prana or ‘apana’. In this context, the practices of Hatha-Yoga are thought to evoke a kind of transmuting force of ‘inner combustion’ brought about by the ‘union’ of the surya and candra subtle currents, or prana and apana, in order to stir the kundalini (an individualised form of the creative principle that underlies all manifestation) from its dormant state.
Taking both of these meanings into account, Hatha-Yoga might be understood as a suite of practices that have as their aim the transformation of the human body into a divine (divya-sarira) or diamond body (vajra-deha). This transformation is equated in some accounts with a kind of ‘spiritual alchemy’ that leads to physical immortality, though at the very least can be interpreted as the cultivation of the physical body into an instrument rather than a hindrance to liberation.
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When the body, obtained through karma, becomes the means of 'extinction' (nirvana), then the 'burden' (vahana) of the body is fruitful, not otherwise.' (Siva-Samhita: 2.49)
Like an unbaked urn left in water, the (bodily) vessel is ever (so soon) decayed. Baked well in the fire of Yoga, the vessel becomes purified (and enduring). (Gheranda-Samhita: 1.8)
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As such, Hatha-Yoga (like Tantra) subverts the tendency towards worldly renunciation in orthodox Hinduism. In doing so, it has produced significant insights into the subtle properties and potentiality of bodily existence.
History
Hatha-Yoga is generally thought to have emerged as a distinct form of Yoga in the ‘post-classical’ era (c. 200 – 1900 CE), the classical period being associated with the composition of Patanjali’s Yoga-Sutras, which are regarded as the first and most significant systemisation of Yoga. The post-classical period is marked by the spread of Tantra as cultural movement throughout India from about the third or fourth centuries CE. According to this account, Hatha-Yoga has its origins in the Siddha cult of Tantrism which flourished between the Eight and Twelfth centuries CE, and promoted the cultivation of the adamantine (‘very hard, unbreakable, with the luster of a diamond’) body.
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The fire of yoga gradually bakes the body composed of the seven constituents (such as bone, marrow, blood, etc.).
Even the deities cannot acquire the exceedingly powerful yogic body. (The yogin) is freed from bodily bonds, endowed with various powers (sakti), and is supreme.
The (yogin’s) body is like the ether, even purer than the ether. His body is more subtle than the subtlest (objects), coarser than any coarse (objects), more insensitive [to pain, etc.) than the (most) insensitive (jada).
The (body of) the lord of yogins conforms to his will. It is self-sufficient, autonomous, and immortal. He entertains himself with play wherever in the three realms (i.e., on Earth, in the mid-region, and in the celestial worlds).
The yogin is possessed of unthinkable powers. He who has conquered the senses can, by his own will, assume various shapes and make them vanish again. (Yoga-Bija: 50b-54).
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The term siddha (from the verb root sidh = ‘to attain’) can mean ‘complete’, ‘accomplished’, ‘perfected’ or ‘  adept’, and in this context refers to a Tantric adept whose cultivation of the body (kaya-sadhana) has led not only to the development of supernatural powers or siddhis, but more significantly to the perfected state of enlightenment in and through the body in this life.
The most influential schools of the Siddha movement are believed to have been those of the Nathas who were based in the north of India (especially the region now known as Bengal), and the Mahesvaras who flourished in the south. The Hatha tradition traces its roots to Matsyendra (mid-10th C) and Goraksa (late 10th and early 11th C), who are also believed to be the originators of the Natha school, although the Hindu god Lord Siva is held to be the ultimate source of the Natha lineage.
Matsyendra’s (meaning ‘Lord of the Fish’, from matsya = ‘fish’ and indra = ‘lord’) is associated with a number of legends, one of which portrays him as a fisherman who is pulled overboard and swallowed by a huge fish. Trapped inside the fish’s stomach, Matsyendra is carried within earshot of a discourse between Lord Siva and his divine consort Parvati which was being conducted at the bottom of the ocean for reasons of privacy. When Parvati fell asleep during the instruction, Lord Siva reputedly asked, ‘Are you listening,’ to which Matsyendra instinctively replied, ‘Yes.’ On becoming aware of Matsyendra, Lord Siva said approvingly, ‘Now I see who my real disciple is,’ and accordingly initiated Matsyendra instead of Parvati into his secret teachings. Matsyendrana devoted the next twelve years to the practice of what he learned from Lord Siva, remaining in the creature’s stomach until another fisherman caught the huge fish and sliced it open, allowing Matsyendra to emerge as a fully perfected siddha.
Matsyendra’s most famous disciple was Goraksa (literally ‘cow protector’), whose accomplishments are said to have exceeded even those of his guru. According to one legend, Lord Siva responded to a peasant woman’s prolonged petition for a son by granting her some special ash that she was to eat to become pregnant. Because of her ignorance and lack of faith, the woman threw the ash on a dung heap and never thought of it again. Overhearing another conversation between Lord Siva and Parvati twelve years later, this time about the peasant woman, Matsyendra’s desire to meet the boy took him to the woman. After hearing her confession, Matsyendra insisted that the woman take him to the dung heap, where he found the twelve year old Goraksana who was immeditaley embraced as his student.
The earliest known texts of the Hatha tradition are attributed to Goraksa, and all of these not surprisingly reveal the influence of Tantra on the early development of Hatha-Yoga. In the Goraksa-Sataka (‘Goraksa’s Century [of Stanzas]’), for instance, we find familiar Hatha practices such as asana, prana-samrodha (or pranayama), mudra, and japedomkara (repetition of the mantra ‘om’) presented as means of engaging with aspects of the subtle physiology of the human body that are central to Tantric doctrines and practices.
The enduring nature of this influence is evident in the three best known and widely available Hatha manuals currently available: the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika (‘Light on, or illumination of Hatha-Yoga’), the Gheranda-Samhita (‘Collection of Gheranda’), and the Siva-Samhita (‘Collection of [the knowledge of] Siva’).
Much of the material included in the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika resembles and in places even reproduces passages from works attributed to Goraksa as well as other Hatha texts. It is believed to have been composed, or possibly compiled given the extent of its borrowings, in the middle of the fourteenth century by Svatmarama, a follower of the Saiva tradition. The extant text is available in several versions and is preserved in many manuscripts in which the number of verses varies, as does their distribution across the four chapters of the work. The first chapter describes the appropriate setting for Hatha practice and outlines the virtues that lead to success in Yoga, but is primarily devoted to an exposition of a number of recommended asanas or yoga postures. The principal concern of the second chapter is the practice of pranayama, though it also deals with the sat-karma (‘six acts’) which are cleansing practices designed to both rectify imbalances in the physical body, and act as a preliminary purification of the nadis or subtle channels before starting pranayama. The third chapter discusses particular aspects of the subtle physiology of the human body, as well as practices such as mudras (seals) and bandhas (locks) that aim to engage and further cultivate these. The fourth and final chapter considers the ultimate goal of Hatha-Yoga: the state of samadhi which is understood in non-dualists terms, as well as the practice of nada-anusandhana (meditation upon the inner sound) which is promoted as a means to that goal. A number of Sanskrit commentaries have been written on the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika, the best known of which is the Jyotsna (‘Light’, ‘Illumination’) by Brahmananda.
The Gheranda-Samhita is believed to have been composed by a follower of the Vaisanava tradition of Bengal, most likely in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Written in the form of a dialogue between Gheranda and his disciple Candakapali, the Gheranda-Samhita is a work of seven chapters, each of these dealing with one limb or aspect of the Hatha system it expounds: (1) sat-karma, (2) asana, (3) mudra, (4) pratyahara, (5) pranayama, (6) dhyana, and (7) samadhi. In doing so it details over one hundred practices, considerably more than other well-known Hatha texts.
The Siva-Samhita distinguishes itself from other Hatha texts, which in the main are better described as manuals, by including an explicit account of the philosophical doctrines that underpin and guide the practices described in the work. This account is found in the first of five chapters, and is in essence an introduction to central tenets of Advaita (non-dualism) such as the understanding of physical existence as maya (‘illusory’): that is, as a mere phenomenon that can be dissolved when the truth of the ultimate identity of the inner Self (atman) with the Absolute (Brahman) is realised. The second chapter describes some aspects of the body’s subtle physiology, while the third discusses the practice of pranayama and asana, as well as four levels of accomplishment in yoga: (1) vayu-siddhi (‘success over air’) in which the yogin’s mastery over the vital airs (vayus) is expressed in the capacity to levitate; (2) ghata-avastha in which the prana that animates the yogin’s body (the ghata or ‘pot’) becomes aligned with its universal aspect; (3) paricaya-avastha in which prana is drawn into and accumulates (paricaya) in the susumna-nadi or central subtle channel; and 4) nispatti-avastha or ‘maturation state’ in which, ‘the yogi, having destroyed all the seeds of karma … drinks the waters of immortality’ (3.67). The fourth chapter details the practice of various mudras and bandhas, while the fifth and longest chapter includes a discussion of four kinds of Yoga: Mantra, Laya, Hatha, and Raja, and the four kinds of aspirant: mild, moderate, ardent and most ardent, that are suited to each of them, as well as further descriptions of the major cakras (from the verb root car = ‘to move’, and meaning ‘wheels’ or ‘centres’ of prana).
While this standard account of the origins of Hatha-Yoga receives considerable support from the available literature, other commentators argue that the Hatha tradition is considerably older. The influential Indian Sanskritist and Hatha-yogin Sriman T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), for instance, claimed to have had access to a much earlier work: the Yoga-Korunta, the existence of which has not been independently corroborated. Written in a style indicative of an oral tradition that predated classical Sanskrit, the Yoga-Korunta purportedly included original material on the practice of asana, mudra and bandha which implies at the very least that distinctive aspects of what we now refer to as Hatha-Yoga may be as much as five thousand years old. In the absence of the text itself it is impossible to determine the veracity of Krishnamacharya’s claim, however it does underscore the possibility that early Hatha texts such as the Yoga-Korunta have been lost or are yet to come to notice. Keeping in mind the extent to which works on Yoga borrow material from earlier sources, and given the fact that Yoga has traditionally been transmitted from guru to disciple, it is reasonable to argue that the origins of Hatha-Yoga are to be found in an oral tradition that predates all textual evidence. Rather than being a relatively recent development of Hindu Tantra, then, this line of reasoning encourages some to look for evidence of distinctive aspects of Hatha-Yoga in the most ancient and sacred of Hindu texts, the Vedas.
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