Siddhasiddhantapaddhati of Gorakshanatha

The publishers of a translation of the Siddhasiddhantapaddhati, an abstract of which is on this site, have kindly sent me a review copy of their book.

This is a handsome, illustrated edition which collates five manuscripts and four printed texts - this is a very sound version of the Sanskrit text.

The English translation is also sympathetic and good. This text contains many technical terms of the Natha sampradaya, and both footnotes and a glossary are provided. There are also numerous charts and illustrations, for example identifying the position of the various cakras and the like on the human body. The book also comes with a bibliography and a brief English introduction to the text and to the Natha sampradaya, and which also lists some other works attributed to Gorakhnath.

In fact, the appendix to this work is, in many ways, more useful than the introduction. It describes the different worlds, cakras, adharas and other features mentioned in the text, and which show that man is a microcosm, containing the heavens, the hells, the mountains and the seas. This book is a useful addition to the corpus of works ascribed to the Natha sampradaya - we're sure much remains to be discovered.

Artwork is © Jan Bailey, 1996-2018. Translations are © Mike Magee 1996-2018. Questions or comments to mike.magee@btinternet.com