Dear Dominic,

An early attestation for the terms in the context of praa.naayaama is the Nyaayaagamaanusaari.nii of Si.mhasuuri (C6th?), the commentary on the Dvaada"saaranayacakra of Mallavaadin. The terms occur in an important passage on .Sa.da"ngayoga, clearly referring to a "Saiva tradition of yoga, thus confirming your hypothesis. The passage (p.332, ll. 18--20, edition Jambuuvijayajii) reads as follows:

praa.naayaamas trividha.h -- recaka.h kumbhaka.h puuraka iti| tatra recaka aantara.m vaayu.m bahir ni.skraa"sayati naasikaadvaare.na| puuraka.h baahyam anta.h prave"sya puurayati| kumbhaka.h puur.nakumbhavad aspanda.m vaayu.m saamiipyenaavasthaapayati|

I don't know of an earlier source for these terms than Kau.n.dinya's work.

Best wishes,
Peter

On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 10:02 AM, Dominic Goodall <dominic.goodall@gmail.com> wrote:
Many thanks, Christophe, for these references.

What I was hoping for was something closer in date to Kau.n.dinya’s Pa~ncaarthabhaa.sya (C4th–C6th??), which I imagine to be considerably earlier than the Yogabhaa.syavivara.na (C7th–9th??), and earlier than the passages you quote.  I was wondering whether anybody might be aware of evidence that would weaken or strengthen the hypothesis that the recaka-puura.na-kumbhaka terminology comes from a Shaiva tradition of yoga.  After Kau.n.dinya, the next passage in which the terminology occurs, it seems to me, may be chapter 4 of the Nayasuutra of the Ni"svaasatattvasa.mhitaa (C6th?), and there kumbhaka has joined recaka and puura.na.

Yours,
Dominic

On 21-Mar-2011, at 3:37 PM, Christophe Vielle wrote:

Dear Dominic,

I do not have any idea of the relative date ascribed to the Yoga-yaajña-valkya where the terms are used (6.24-25), but there is also the BhaagavataPuraa.na 3.28.9,
and also the Ii/svaragiitaa of the KuurmaPuraa.na (XI.36 transl. Dumont 1933: 142-3):
recaka.h puuraka/s caiva praa.naayaamo 'tha kumbhaka.h /
procyate sarva/saastre.su yogibhir yatamaanasai.h //
(nothing seen in the paa/supatayoga of the VaaP 10.73 sq. // MaarkP ch. 39 Bibl. Ind., mainly on maatraas in the praa.naayaama)
See also the later Ii/saana/sivagurudevapaddhati (IV - Yogapaada, pa.tala 2, v. 42 sq. = TSS vol. 4 p. 625),
and the JaiSa (unpublished) adh. 51 (or 52) v. 35:
recapuurakakumbhaadinyaayenaabhyasata.h /sanai.h /
a/se.sapaapak.sayak.rt praa.naayaamo dinedine //

Best,
Christophe

Dear list,

I hope you won't mind a another terminological discussion related to yoga !

Is it known when the terminology of recaka, p•raka/p•ra?a, kumbhaka first started to be used for prÇ?ÇyÇma ?

It seems that the Yogas•tra (2.49) and YogabhÇ?ya speak rather of ÊvÇsa and praÊvÇsa (in 2.49). 

In the tradition of commentaries on the s•tras perhaps it is the YogabhÇ?yavivara?a which first uses the recaka-p•raka-kumbhaka terminology ?

Kau??inya's PañcÇrthabhÇ?ya (on PÇÊupata 1.16) refers to recaka and p•ra?a. Are there other attestations likely to be earlier than the YogabhÇ?yavivara?a ?


Dominic Goodall
École française d'Extrême-Orient,
Pondicherry


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