Like a Tree Universally Spread

This book examines the life of a nineteenth- to early twentieth-century Tamil yogin named Sri Sabhapati Swami (Sri Sabhapati Svami or Capapati Cuvamika?, ca. 1828-1923/4) and his unique English, Tamil, Hindi, and Bengali literature on a Sanskrit-based system of yogic meditation known as the 'Rajayoga for Siva' (Tamil: civarajayokam, Sanskrit: sivarajayoga), the full experience of which is compared to being like a 'tree universally spread.' Its practice was based on a unique synthesis of Tamil Virasaiva and Siddhar cosmologies in the colonial period, and the yogic literature in which it is found was designed to have universal appeal across boundaries of caste, gender, and sectarian affiliation. His works, all of which are here analyzed together for the first time, are an important record in the history of yoga, print culture, and art history due to his vividly-illustrated and numbered diagrams on the yogic body with its subtle physiology. This book opens with a biographical account of