Like a Tree Universally Spread: Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga (OXFORD STU WESTERN ESOTERICISM SERIES)
by: Keith Edward Cantú (Author)
Publisher: OUP USA
Publication Date: 5 Mar. 2024
Language: English
Print Length: 496 pages
ISBN-10: 0197665470
ISBN-13: 9780197665473
Book Description
This book examines the life of a nineteenth- to early twentieth-century Tamil yogin named Sri Sabhapati Swami (Śrī Sabhāpati Svāmī or Capāpati Cuvāmikaḷ, ca. 1828-1923/4) and his unique English, Tamil, Hindi, and Bengali literature on a Sanskrit-based system of yogic meditation known as the "Rājayoga for Śiva" (Tamil: civarājayōkam, Sanskrit: śivarājayoga), the full experience of which is compared to being like a "tree universally spread." Its practice was based on a unique synthesis of Tamil Vīraśaiva and Siddhar cosmologies in the colonial period, and the yogic literature in which it is found was designed to have universal appeal across boundaries of caste, gender, and sectarian affiliation. His works, all of which are here analyzed together for the first time, are an important record in the history of yoga, print culture, and art history due to his vividly-illustrated and numbered diagrams on the yogic body with its subtle physiology. This book opens with a biographical account of Sabhapati, his editor Shrish Chandra Basu, and his students as gleaned from textual sources and the author's ethnographic field work. Sabhapati's literature in various languages is then analyzed, followed by a comprehensive exposition of his Śaiva cosmology and religious theories. Sabhapati's system of Śivarājayoga and its subtle physiology is then treated in detail, followed by an analysis of Sabhapati's aesthetic integration of aural sound and visual diagrams and an evaluation of the role of "science" in the swami's literature. Sabhapati also appealed to global authors and occultists outside of South Asia, so special attention is additionally given to his encounter with the founders of the Theosophical Society and the integration of his techniques into the thelemic "Magick" of Aleister Crowley, the German translation of Bavarian theosophical novelist Franz Hartmann, and the American publication of New Thought entrepreneur William Estep. To these are appended a never-before-translated Tamil hagiography of Sabhapati's life, a lexicon in table-form that compiles some archaic variants and Roman transliterations of technical terms used in his work, and a critically-edited passage on an innovative technique of Śivarājayoga that included visualizing the yogic central channel as a lithic "pole."
About the Author
Review Excavating the massive archive of the heretofore unexplored writings of the late nineteenth-century South Indian visionary Sri Sabhapati Swami, Keith Cantú's magisterial work opens vast new horizons in the field of Modern Yoga Studies. Essential reading for both scholars and practitioners. ― David Gordon White, author of Sinister Yogis and The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A BiographyA work of exceptional scholarship, this carefully crafted exploration of Sabhapati Swami's life and work demonstrates deft historical and linguistical detective-work. Cantú provides a transparent map of this Swami's previously under-appreciated reach and influence, an exemplary model for future explorations of vernacular transmissions of yoga. Sabhapati's legacy has both 'deep roots and far out branches' relevant to anyone interested in the development of yoga traditions as well as processes of knowledge transmission. ― Suzanne Newcombe, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, The Open University and Honorary Director of Inform based at King's College London
About the Author Keith Edward Cantú is a Research Affiliate at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School and a Visiting Assistant Professor at St. Lawrence University. He has previously held roles as a postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, in the DFG-funded project "CAS-E: Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective," Assistant Professor (Postdoc/Research Associate) at the Jagiellonian University, and was also a teaching assistant at University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his doctoral degree in 2021. His previous publications include the chapter "Sri Sabhapati Swami: Forgotten Yogi of Western Esotericism" and (as co-editor) City of Mirrors: Songs of Lālan Sāi, published with OUP's South Asia Series in 2017.
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