YOGA HISTORY

                      The history of Yoga Asanas can be traced from Vedic scripture to the modern period, throughout which they underwent successive refinements. Yoga as a discipline was detailed first by Patanjali (BCE 600) in his Yoga Sutras, the first systematized treatise on Yogic theory and praxis. However, a physical culture existed prior to this, and Patanjali`s achievement lies in collating all these diverse traditions.

                      The textual evidence indicates that Yoga Asanas have evolved concomitantly with the general progress of Indian thought. Yoga Asanas were first mentioned in the Atharva Veda Samhita (1500 BCE), which uses the term asana in a specifically Yogic context. The Sanskrit word `asana` derives from the verbal root meaning "to sit" or `to be present` and in the context of the Yoga tradition `asanas` means `to be established in a particular posture`, and the textual context indicates the latter meaning.

                       There are various references in the Vedas, Brahmanas and Upanishads which indicate that the practices must have already been in existence prior to their being noted in these texts. Several Yogis scrutinized their relative merits by analytical comparisons and thus formulated a complete course of posture training. A few early postures, mostly meditative, in turn passed through a series of modifications before the whole system of physical education was finally perfected by the early Hatha Yogis.

                        The first major treatise on Yoga, the Yoga Sutras (600 BC), was written by Patanjali. The text is a seminal work in Yoga practice and there are very few other texts devoted to the subject. Patanjali is observably influenced by Buddhism, which had a significant number of adherents then, and his discussion of asanas and the rest of Yogic practice is pragmatic and avoids discussing the spiritual aspects of Yoga. Early works like the Atharva Veda Samhita and the Patanajali Yoga Sutra mentioned Asanas in general as postures conducive to spiritual development.

                   The Mahabharata (400 BC) mentions two specific asanas, without description: Mandukasana and Virasana. Although Patanjali does not mention specific asanas, it is the first text to identify right posture or asanas as part of Yogic discipline. Indeed, Asanas in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali form the third limb of the eightfold Ashtanga Yoga. Later Yoga treatises like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Yoga Upanishads provided detailed descriptions of several specific Yoga Asanas. Modern works largely refer to these texts while detailing Asanas. Yoga Yajnvalkya, written by the legendary sage Yajnavalkya and compiled around 200