Yoga: The Art of Transformation

Transmission of Teachings from the Gods
page 3 from a manuscript of the Nath Charit (Stories of the Naths)
1823
By Bulaki (Indian, active early 1800s)
India; Rajasthan state, former kingdom of Marwar, Jodhpur
Opaque watercolor, gold, and tin alloy on paper

Mehrangarh Museum Trust, RJS 2400

These images of perfected practitioners (siddhas) from Stories of the Naths represent a transcendent lineage of yoga. The practitioners are depicted as teachers in a chain of authoritative revelation; several touch forefingers to thumbs in a gesture of imparting knowledge. Hovering in a subtle realm on a silvery universal sea, they are, from left to right, progressively more material emanations of the Absolute. The Absolute is represented on the manuscript’s first page as an empty space, also on view in this gallery.