Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson

This collection of original essays providesfascinating insights into yoga as a historical and pluralistic phenomenon flourishing in a variety of religious and philosophical contexts. They cover a wide variety of traditions and topics related to yoga: Classical yoga, Samkhya, Tantric yoga, Bhakti yoga, the Guru, Indic Islamic traditions of yoga, yoga and asceticism in contemporary India, and the reception of yoga in the West. The essays are written by eighteen professors in the field of the history of religions, most of them former graduate students of Gerald James Larson, Rabindranath Tagore Professor Emeritus, Indiana University, Bloomington and Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, an internationally acclaimed scholar on the history of religions and the philosophies of India, and one of the world's foremost authorities on the Samkhya and Yoga traditions. The publication is in honour of him.