© 2018, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847108627 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737008624 Philipp A. Maas Chapter 2: “Sthirasukham A ¯ sanam”: Posture and Performance in Classical Yoga and Beyond * 1. Introduction The present chapter deals with yogic postures (a ¯ sana-s) in Pa ¯tañjala Yoga. Starting with a brief introduction to the main sources of the chapter, i. e. , to the Pa ¯ tañjalayogas ´a ¯ stra (PYS ´ ) and its commentaries, it initially contextualises posture practice within the yogic path to liberation. This outline provides the backdrop for a detailed analysis of PYS ´ 2.46–2.48, the most pertinent source of knowledge about yogic postures and their performance in classical Yoga. This passage is here presented for the first time in a translation of the critically edited text of this passage. The translation provides the basis for an in-depth analysis. By reading the two su ¯ tra-s 2.46 and 2.47 according to Patañjali’s authorial intention, namely as a single sentence, the chapter shows that being steady and comfortable (sthirasukha) is not, as previous scholars have suggested, a general characteristic of yogic postures right from the start and by themselves, but the result either of the meditative practices of merging meditatively into infinity or of a slackening of effort in practice that lead to a steady and comfortable posture performance. Next, the chapter addresses the list of posture names in the Pa ¯ tañjalayogas ´a ¯ stra from various perspectives. At first, the textual variation of each posture name is discussed. Then, the chapter compares the various descriptions of posture per- formance contained in the medieval commentaries on the Pa ¯ tañjalayogas ´a ¯ stra and in the authoritative treatise on yoga (i. e. , “committed activity” from a Jaina perspective) by Hemacandra, the Yogas ´a ¯ stra. This comparison shows that the relationship between the names of yogic postures and the descriptions of their performance is a heterogeneous one. Some explanations of posture names are vague or difficult to comprehend. In other cases, slightly different postures were (or came to be) known by identical names. In still other cases, different names * Many thanks to Jason Birch for the useful suggestions he made in order to improve on an earlier draft version of the present chapter. I am especially grateful to Karin Preisendanz for her numerous and invaluable remarks that helped to improve the present chapter even further. Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-SA 4.0 Yoga in Transformation downloaded from www.vr-elibrary.de by 88.69.244.167 on September, 10 2018 For personal use only.