Rāmānandī Tyāgīs and Haṭha Yoga
Keywords:
James Mallinson, Rāmānandī, Haṭha Yoga, Vaiṣṇava asceticism, tyāgī, Nāth tradition, yoga sectarianism, ethnography, devotional yoga, Hindu renunciationAbstract
The article "Rāmānandī Tyāgīs and Haṭha Yoga" by James Mallinson explores the intersection of ascetic Vaiṣṇava traditions and yogic practice, focusing specifically on the Rāmānandī renunciants of North India. Mallinson offers an ethnographic and textual account of how Haṭha Yoga—commonly associated with Śaiva or Nāth yogins—is appropriated, practiced, and legitimated by Rāmānandī tyāgīs, a prominent Vaiṣṇava order. Drawing on fieldwork, vernacular materials, and Sanskrit sources, the article reveals how these ascetics not only embrace yogic techniques but reinterpret them within a devotional framework centered on Rām and Viṣṇu. Mallinson argues that the Rāmānandī case challenges the popular sectarian mapping of Haṭha Yoga onto non-Vaiṣṇava traditions, and urges a reevaluation of yoga’s historical and institutional diversity.
