घेरण्ड संहिता (महर्षि घेरण्ड - सप्ताङ्ग हठयोग सटीक)

xvi INTRODUCTION color, a shape, a location in the body, and a mantra, but these are confused and omitted in the Gheranda Samhita. In verse 3.62, for example, the wind element is said to be black, smoky, and white, while in the Goraksha Samhita it is just black. I have somewhat boldly decided to adopt the readings of the Goraksha Samhita for the entire passage. That all the Gheranda Samhita manuscripts present a similarly incoherent description of the dharanas is surpris- ing and points to two possible scenarios. Either they are descended from a single flawed manuscript or the compiler of the Gheranda Samhita was using a flawed manuscript of the Goraksha Samhita to write the text. The first hypothe- sis requires a lengthy and improbably irregular manuscript tradition predating the earliest extant manuscript, which, in the absence of external evidence for the text's existence prior to 1802 C.E., is unlikely. I am thus inclined to believe the second hypothesis. In translating, I have tried to be as literal as possible without sacrificing readability. I have sought not to add anything to what is found in the Sanskrit text—commen- tary and elucidation are for the practitioner's guru. Thus where the instructions for a practice are ambiguous, they have been left that way. The photographs of the asanas and mudras draw from the descriptions in the text. In a few instances those descriptions do not provide all the informa- tion necessary to be sure of the correct posture. For those cases I have relied on current practice and common sense to fill in the gaps.