The impact of other Yoga-systems on Hemacandra's Yogashastra
By Sagarmal Jain
Summary
Hemacandra’s Yogashastra is one of the most comprehensive medieval Jaina treatises on yoga. The article surveys the rich intellectual environment from which it emerged and argues that Hemacandra was less an original author than a compiler who brought together a wide range of Jaina and non‑Jaina yogic materials. It first situates his work within the Jaina tradition. Earlier mendicant‑scholars such as Jinabhadragaṇi, Puṇyapada Devanandi, Haribhadra and Śubhacandra produced texts on meditation, posture and ethical conduct; Hemacandra cites their Yogaviniścikā, Yogabindu and Jñānārṇava extensively. Because he wrote during the reign of King Kumārpāla, when Kashmiri Śaiva traditions were fashionable, Hemacandra incorporated breath regulation (prāṇāyāma), mantras and tantric rituals that were unusual in canonical Jainism. He also adopted the fourfold typology of meditation developed by Subhacandra – dharmya (ethical), ārta (repentant), arpaṇa (aspirational) and śukla (pure) – and welded it to the Jaina path of purification. The article notes that Hemacandra’s classification of the five great vows (mahāvratas), five carefulnesses (samitis) and three restraints (guptis) at the start of his text reflects earlier Digambara manuals. The second half of the piece examines the influence of non‑Jain traditions. Hemacandra quotes Patañjali’s Yogasūtra and later Haṭha‑yoga texts, such as the Gheraṇḍa‑saṃhitā and Haṭhayogapradīpikā, to describe postures, breath‑control and sense‑withdrawal. He also acknowledges Buddhist Yogācāra theories of mindfulness and cites Śaiva works on mantras and chakras. The author argues that by weaving together these sources Hemacandra created a syncretic yogic path that would appeal both to ascetic mendicants and lay householders. Unlike earlier Jain authors who restricted yoga to mental contemplation, Hemacandra presented it as a multi‑limbed discipline of ethical conduct, bodily discipline, breath regulation, concentration and mantra‑recitation. The article concludes that his Yogashastra marks the culmination of a long process in which Jain teachers assimilated Brahmanical and Śaiva yogic doctrines while maintaining the core Jain values of non‑violence and multiple viewpoints.
Conclusion
By tracing the sources that Hemacandra drew upon, the article shows that his Yogashastra is best understood as an encyclopedic digest rather than a strictly doctrinal text. Hemacandra brought together canonical Jain ethics, early Jain meditation manuals, Patañjali’s psychological analysis and the mantra‑tantra practices of Kashmiri Śaivism. The resulting synthesis allowed later Jain teachers to participate in the broader yoga renaissance of medieval India without abandoning the core Jain commitments to non‑violence, karma theory and the plurality of viewpoints.