James Mallinson
Faculty/College:
Research Interests:
Indian religious and cultural history; asceticism and yoga, and their practitioners in India; tantra; pilgrimage; textual criticism and the editing of Sanskrit texts; old Hindi; Zoroastrianism; art historical and ethnographic study of Indian asceticism.
Current Projects:
Light on Haṭha: A critical edition of the Haṭhapradīpikā, the most important text on physical yoga. Joint UK-Germany project funded by the AHRC and DFG.
The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel of Yoga; A critical edition of the Yogacintāmaṇi of Śivānandasarasvatī. Funded by the NEH.
Courses Taught:
- Introduction to the Study of India
- Introduction to the History of India
- Śaivism
Recent Publications:
(With Mark Singleton) 2017. Roots of Yoga. London: Penguin Classics.
2018. ‘Yoga and Sex: What is the Purpose of Vajrolīmudrā?’ pp.181–222 in Yoga in Transformation, ed. Philipp Maas. Vienna: V and R unipress.
2019. ‘Kālavañcana in the Konkan: How a Vajrayāna Haṭhayoga Tradition Cheated Buddhism’s Death in India’, pp.1–33 in Religions 10, 273.
2020. ‘The Amṛtasiddhi: Haṭhayoga’s Tantric Buddhist Source Text’, pp. 409–425 in Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions, ed. S.Hatley, D.Goodall, H.Isaacson and S.Raman. Leiden: Brill.
2020. “Haṭhayoga’s Early History: from Vajrayāna Sexual Restraint to Universal Somatic Soteriology”, pp. 177–199 in Hindu Practice, ed. Gavin Flood. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(With Péter-Daniel Szántó). 2021. The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla: The Earliest Texts of the Haṭhayoga Tradition. Pondicherry: Institut français de Pondichéry/École française d'Extrême-Orient.
2022. “Yogi Insignia in Mughal Painting and Avadhi Romances” in Objects, Images, Stories: Simon Digby’s Historical Method, ed. Francesca Orsini. London: OUP.
Current Students:
Andrew Jasko (MPhil)
