The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace [Hardcover]

N. E. Sjoman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 8170173892 | ISBN-13: 978-8170173892 | Publication Date: June 1999 | Edition: 2

This book traces the developmental years of the Ashtanga Yoga tradition of K. Pattabhi Jois as well as the Iyengar system through exploration of the early years at the Mysore Palace. I also depicts an ancient text called: SRITATTVANIDHI. It is recommended for anyone wishing to understand more about the formative years of two of the worlds most popular and dynamic teachers: K. Pattabhi Jois and BKS Iyengar as well as their teacher: Krishnamacharya of Mysore.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Dr. N. Sjoman, is a Sanskritist trained in traditional Sanskrit schools as well as in lUniversities in North America, Europe and India eventually taking a Vbidyvacaspati degree from Pune University. Initially he learned yoga from BKS Iyengar and continuyed as a student during an eighteen year sojourn in India. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Yoga from the Nippon Yoga Gakkei in 1982. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 124 pages
• Publisher: Abhinav Pubns; 2 edition (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8170173892
• ISBN-13: 978-8170173892
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blowing off the Dust, April 9, 2000

By 

jim clark (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace (Hardcover)

The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace

Author: N. E. Sjoman

The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace has just come out in its second edition with some minor corrections and a new preface. It is an extraordinary book in the breadth of research that informs it. The book presents strikingly original conclusions on a subject where most insights have been doctored to fulfill the faith in its various forms or keep up with the advertising extravaganza.

The book traces not the history but the development of the yoga schools that have flowered with B. K. S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and T. Krishnamacariar. It goes back further into the history of yoga reclaiming the practise history as the main authority, as opposed to the academic history.

Sjoman examines the academic history from the point of view of the "practise history" which requires re-evaluating and reclaiming it from both Sanskrit commentators and Western academics. His interpretation of the sutra of Patanjali from the perspective of yoga practitioners is especially welcome.

This approach makes more sense than the academic interpretations. The story elaborated here is supplemented by philosophical and textual arguments by Indian scholars and pandits too often neglected in Western scholastics, and by unique insights into those traditions that could only be given by someone immersed in the tradition.

The history of the Mysore Palace School gives us an insight into how the yoga system which is foremost in the whole world today has come into being. The history reveals not just the "material moments" as such, but the ideas that were part of what went into the formation of modern yoga today. The book examines how contemporary yoga practise is shaping yoga, and the vital factors that give it social context.

The core of the book is a translation of a text from the 1800s from the private library of the Mysore palace which is the only textual documentation of an extended asana practise - asanas being the yoga positions that form the core of yoga practise today.

The translation of this text from Sanskrit in Kannada script is supplemented with notes and appendices relating the asanas to earlier references and later practise. This text is helpful in establishing a dynamic tradition of how the groups of asanas came about.

The book is written with a rare scholarly acumen and humor. It is not a "how to" or "save the world" book but a deeper and more sustained insight into the transition of the practises of yoga from a spiritual discipline carried on by ascetics in solitude to a modern world mass marketing phenomenon. The learning and research that has gone into this book is not generally accessible. The insight it provides should be welcome to any serious student of yoga. A complex and learned assessment of the whole yoga tradition, this book will claim its rightful place on the shelves of scholars all over the world as the first actual history of yoga. ======================================

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read...., January 15, 2011

By 

Jason Levitt "fair and balanced" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace (Hardcover)

The book is an interesting read for those who like histories of asana (postural yoga) practices. My main quibble with the book is simply the format, which is not obvious from the Amazon product page. The entire book is 124 pages long, but the actual number of pages of text written by the author (minus illustrations, appendices, table of contents, indexes, bibliographies, and translation of the SRITATTVANIDHI text) is about 36. The various indexes and translations are, in themselves, interesting, but I'd actually like to read more historical discussion from the author.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hidden gem!, October 15, 2010

By 

Felipe Munita Chavez (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace (Hardcover)

If you practice, Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Viniyoga or Vinyasa Krama you will want to know more about Krishnamacharya. This book is a great research that is a must.