Yoga : the art of transformation / Debra Diamond ; David Gordon White, Tamara I. Sears, Carl W. Ernst, James Mallinson, Joseph S. Alter, Mark Singleton, Sita Reddy ; with contributions by Molly Emma Aitken ... et al.

"Published by the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on the occasion of the exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation, October 19, 2013 - January 26, 2014. Organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the exhibition travels to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, February 22-May 18, 2014, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, June 22-September 7, 2014."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 318-319) and index.

Essays :  Yoga: the art of transformation /  Debra Diamond --  Yoga in transformation /  David Gordon White --  From guru to god: yogic prowess and places of practice in early-medieval India /  Tamara I. Sears --  Muslim interpreters of yoga /  Carl W. Ernst --  Yogis in Mughal India /  James Mallinson --  Yoga, bodybuilding, and wrestling: metaphysical fitness /  Joseph S. Alter --  Globalized modern yoga /  Mark Singleton.

Catalogue. pt. 1. The path of yoga. Manifestations of Shiva ; Portraying the guru ; Yoginis ; Nath Siddhas ; Jain yoga: nonviolence for karmic purification ; Yoga and tapas: the Buddhists and Ajivikas ; Austerities ; Meditation ; Asana ; The cosmic body ; The subtle body ; The militant ascetic body ; Illusion and reality in the Yoga vasishta -- pt. 2. Landscapes of yoga. Ashram and math ; Pilgrimage ; The cremation ground -- pt. 3. Yoga in the Indian imagination, 16th-19th century. Yogis in the literary imagination ; Transcendence and desire in Ragamala paintings ; Mughal albums -- pt. 4. Yoga in the transnational imagination, 18th-20th century. Company paintings ; Colonial photography ; The bed of nails: the exotic across borders and media ; Fakirs, fakers, and magic -- pt. 5. Modern transformations. Vivekananda and rational spirituality ; Medical yoga ; Modern postural yoga.

Yoga: The Art of Transformation is the companion book to the first ever exhibition of the visual history of yoga, a discipline that is thousands of years old and practiced today by millions of people. Like the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery exhibit, this large pictorial uses a wealth of materials from ancient stone and bronze temple sculptures to early 20th century photographs to illuminate yoga's central tenets and its still partly un-delineated traditions. Explore the discipline's goals of spiritual enlightenment, worldly power, and health and well-being through the beauty and profundity of Indian art.