Yoga as political thought and practice

Traditionally, the focus has been on two spheres of yoga practices, commonly identified as the psychophysical and the philosophical. These two spheres of yoga have been made famous over millennia, more so by charismatic individuals like Vivekananda and Iyengar, who, doing the last century, brought these kinds of yoga globally renown. But yoga is more than just these two spheres; it has an enduring third sphere of political thought and practice, which extends beyond the two regimes of psychophysical practice and a school of philosophy.  

Combining textual reading and archival work, Sunila Kale and Christian Novetzke have teamed together to chart the political conceptualization of yoga, the third sphere, which controls one’s antagonists as well as the conditions that antagonize. The third sphere of yoga emerged as a political thought and practice through history, long drawn into it during the late classical, medieval, and early modern periods. Scholars suggest that during much of these periods, many of those were adept at psychophysical yoga were also warriors. These yogis wielded power in the worlds of war, intelligence, and diplomacy, including Akbar, who had a special fascination for it.  

Yoga and politics have remained inseparable over the long duration of time in history. It is undoubtedly a point of pride for the country, a monumental sculpture at the Indira Gandhi International Airport depicting each position of the Surya Namaskar is a visual presentation of this political soft power.  

The location of the sculpture is apt because the yoga position has long existed within the world of politics and power. It emerged as the quintessential form of postural yoga, a kind of subdued resistance to colonial rule popularized by the Raja of Aundh, Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi, during the early 1920. The Yoga of Power examines various aspects of yoga to suggest its role in both psychophysical practice and political strategy.  

It is a brilliant piece of scholarship on the enduring tradition of thought and practice, where yoga, religion, and politics intersect. It defines yoga as a means, method, and technique shared between a subject and an object which is expressed as a dialectic of power. However, yoga has remained secular in both dualist and nondualist philosophical and theological schools of thought. It is shared by Hindus seeking the true self, by Buddhists seeking no-self, by Muslims seeking allah, or by atheists seeking to chill. As a result, the psychophysical application to the mind-body problem crosses the barrier of religions and remains widely relevant as a practice.        

Both professors at the University of Washington, Kale and Novetzke provide a rare masterful insight connecting mythological yoga with modern political thought. Although the concept of yoga as political thought was sublimated, its ubiquitous proliferation on yoga mats has remained dominant. Mahatma Gandhi used yoga to rupture the boundaries between public and private and sought to redefine the language of politics through his attire. The Father of the Nation used yoga as an intramural political force, to shed new light on political thought and history. 

The Yoga of Power scans a period from 1400 BCE to notice how yoga as a political thought endured through history, and how it has been appropriated now with the rising swell of nationalism. Yoga is now referred to as a product of India’s premodern education system and is cited as a mode of ‘internationalization’ by way of a subject that has global recognition. It is predominantly conceived as a mode of public health, which echoes the Raja of Aundh’s understanding of the Surya Namaskar as medicine for public health.  

Its chequered history notwithstanding, yoga is a preeminent technology of the self for which the State has crafted institutional mechanisms for its support and promotion. Yoga as philosophy comes to share space with yoga as politics. The implication of history should guide the aspiring yogi to engage the psychophysical practice in its sociopolitical context. The book presents yoga as a political thought and practice that intersects with yoga as philosophy and psychophysical practice. The Yoga of Power has shed new light on the political history of thought, which can guide the reader to view yoga differently. 

The Yoga of Power
by Sunila Kale and Christian Lee Novetzke
Columbia University Press, New York
Extent: 256, Price: $35.

First published in the Outlook on June 28, 2025.

The Yoga of our times

Yoga, as it is beamed through television channels today, is not what was written by Patanjali in the first centuries of the Common Era.

Yoga, as it is beamed through television channels today, is not what was written by Patanjali in the first centuries of the Common Era. Consisting of fewer than two hundred verses, the Yoga Sutra has virtually nothing to say on the postures and the stretching and breathing exercises that the contemporary yoga gurus have reduced the philosophical text into. In reality, Yoga Sutra is a classical work of moral philosophy, guiding men to become morally perfect in the world.  

One of the six Indian philosophical systems, Yoga Sutra is an investigation into the relationship between spirit and matter; an account of workings of the mind and ways of knowing what is true; a study of cause and effect in the workings of the universe; and a guide to salvation. The compact definition of yoga, as Patanjali had postulated, is composed of four words: yoga=citta-vritti-nirodha. A simple translation should read something like: yoga is the stoppage of the turning of thought. Since the workings of the mind are both the source and the potential solution to the problem of suffering, yoga liberates the subject from the distorting effects of the mind-stuff for attaining salvation. Drawing inferences from a dozen classical commentaries on this book, David Gordon White, a professor of Comparative Religions at the University of California reconstructs the rise, fall and rise of this perennial classic in the biography of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.   

White brings to light the astonishing fact that Patanjali’s classic work was not only forgotten in India for hundreds of years but its first discovery in the West was viewed with disdain too. It is believed that the onslaught of Islam in the northern part of the sub-continent, somewhere around the sixteenth century, had led to forging a new religio-philosophical paradigm between the theism of the Puranas and Vedanta philosophy that excluded all non-Vedic traditions including Yoga. Yoga Sutra’s glorious days had lasted from the seventh to the eleventh centuries, during which its popularity had stretched from Central Asia to Indonesia. Its subsequent resurrection by the British Orientalist Henry Thomas Colebrooke in 1823 saw its popularity surge in Europe and America, and predominantly in English. Could this be the reason that the yoga of India’s past bears little resemblance to the yoga practiced today?

In following the strange and circuitous journey of this timeless classic, from its ancient origins to its modern resurgence, White offers critical views on the manner in which Vedanta-inspired intellectuals of Bengal had mainstreamed Yoga Sutra. Notable amongst them was Swami Vivekananda who not only seized upon Yoga as an ideal platform from which to assert the antiquity and superiority of Indian science over the West, but used its popular demand in the United States to finance the humanitarian work he had planned for India. Vivekananda’s appropriation of Patanjali’s work set the die for much of what has followed down to the present day. However, none can take away credit from Vivekananda whose work had fashioned yoga as a cultural symbol, in harmony with the religious and intellectual aspirations of educated Indians.    

Whether or not authorship to this classic could be attributed to Patanjali is still being debated among cultural-historians and scholars, the dramatic revival of Yoga Sutra after a long hiatus remains somewhat of an enigma nonetheless. With the classic having been translated in as many as 46 languages, its readership is no longer restricted to an intellectual elite. However, the sub-culture of ‘yoga practice’ has made it reach even further. White’s exhaustive research presents authentic treatise on the remarkable journey of this classic till now, without drawing any roadmap on its future. While scholars will continue on grinding the Yoga Sutra, a mass-based sub-culture of yoga practice is providing solace and inspiration to millions. 

Based on fascinating historical documentation, Prof David Gordon White provides insights on the profound philosophy of Yoga Sutra, which is as important to comprehend as getting the breathing exercises right. To that end, White helps to bridge the theory-practice divide. 

The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali 
by David Gordon White
Princeton University Press, UK
Extent: 172, Price: £16.95 

This review was first published in The Hindustan Times on May 16, 2015