An Overview of Hatha Yogic Practices in Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita and Shiva Samhita

Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a very important Hatha yoga manual. Similarly, there are other two vital Hatha yoga books, namely Gheranda Samhita and Shiva Samhita which are very useful till date. Swami Svatmaram (15th century C.E) was the author of Hatha Yoga Pradipika.The text contains different Hatha yogic practices in four chapters. The other text Gheranda Samhita (late 17th-century) serves the purpose of an encyclopedia on Hatha yoga. The seven fold yoga of Gheranda Samhita is unique which can not be found in other Hatha yoga books. There are seven chapters in the text and the text focuses on the ṣaṭkarmas.That is the reason the text is sometimes known as a book of “Ghatastha yoga”. Apart from Gheranda Samhita the other texts of Hatha yoga are Shiva Samhita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Shiva Samhita is a comprehensive Hatha yogic text explained in a democratic manner. James Mallinson is of the opinion that Shiva Samhita must have been composed before 1,500 CE . The Author of this text is unknown till date. Various Hatha yogic practices have been incorporated in this text in five chapters. In this article authors have tried to present an overview of the practices in these three texts in a summarized manner.