Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies Online
Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies Online
Sadhus, the renouncers of India, have practised austerity and yoga for millennia, and they remain a living presence in Hindu religious life today. This course traces the history of Hindu asceticism from its earliest sources to the present, drawing on firsthand ethnographic fieldwork among contemporary sadhus to show how these practices are lived now.
We begin with the evolution of asceticism and its tantric and devotional currents, then turn to the major ascetic orders of today, including the Naths, Dasnamis, Ramanandis, and Udasis. Later sessions examine tapas, the generation of spiritual heat through austerity, in both texts and the lives of modern sadhus; hatha-yoga as defined in Sanskrit sources and as understood by ascetics themselves; and the encounter between sadhus and modern global yoga, from social media to Baba Ramdev and the International Day of Yoga.
The course is written and tutored by Daniela Bevilacqua, a researcher at CRIA in Lisbon who worked on the ERC-funded Hatha Yoga Project at SOAS and is the author of Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India. It runs over seven weeks, with five and a half hours of video lectures, a 168-page coursebook, and an essay assessment.
In this first session we explore the supposed sources of asceticism and the practices involved. Then we will focus our attention on theistic movements introducing the tantric and the devotional currents. We aim to understand their main features in their historical context and to understand the plurality of their ascetic practices.
A person with nothing sleeps, and awakes, in happiness. Not possessing anything is the medication for happiness in the world. […] this path is extremely difficult for those who have enemies. […] Without renunciation, one cannot enjoy supreme happiness. Without renunciation, one can neither sleep, nor be happy in every way. (Mahābhārata 12.171)
We begin this session with a look at the basic structure of Hindu asceticism. We then focus on the historical development, contemporary status, and features of ascetic orders traditionally associated with the practice of yoga – Nāths, Daśnāmīs, Rāmānandīs, and Udāsīs. Ascetic symbology will be explained, and the figure of the ascetic will be compared to that of the lay individual.
In this session we begin a historical perspective of the embodied practices of asceticism. We focus on the meaning of the word tapas (‘spiritual’ heat) and the role of austerities. We will consider textual and visual sources from different historical periods, also stressing the connection between yoga and tapas and how the meanings of these two terms often overlap.
In this session, we compare the past examples of tapasyās with the tapasyās of contemporary sādhus, also taking into account the reasons behind the practice of austerities. The ethnographic data will demonstrate that several understandings of tapasyā coexist.
In this session we gain a wide-ranging perspective of Haṭha-yoga. We consider definitions found in Sanskrit and vernacular textual sources. These descriptions and understandings will be compared with the meanings that the label ‘Haṭha-yoga’ has for sādhus.
In this session we explore yoga sādhanā (spiritual discipline) – dividing it into external and internal practices. We uncover the meaning of yoga among ascetics by investigating how sādhus learn their practices and how they understand yoga texts.
We conclude with sādhus’ reflections on modern yoga and how, or if, this has influenced them. Then, we consider the roles of social media and the Internet, and present the controversial figure of Baba Ramdev and the establishment of the International Day of Yoga.
Course Tutor
Daniela Bevilacqua is an Indianist specialising in Hindu asceticism, investigated through an ethnographic and historical perspective. She is currently a researcher at CRIA (ISCTE-IUL) in Lisbon. She worked as a post-doctoral researcher at SOAS, for the ERC-funded Haṭha Yoga Project (2015–2020). She is the author of Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India, published by Routledge; From Tapas to Modern Yoga (Equinox, 2024); and several articles and book chapters on topics related to Hindu religious tradition, gender, and embodied practices.