Yogasopana Purvachatushka
yoga
The Yogasopana Purvachatushka (Marathi: योगसोपान पूर्वचतुष्क (in Devanagari script)) or Stairway to Yoga is a 1905 book in Marathi on hatha yoga by Yogi Narayana Ghamande. It describes and illustrates 37 asanas including Matsyendrasana and Sarvangasana, along with mudras such as Viparita Karani. It was the first and probably the only textbook on yoga to be illustrated with halftone plates. It was influential as the first illustrated yoga textbook to be printed. The book was transitional in several ways: from traditional secrecy to public access to hatha yoga's practices; from symbolic to naturalistic representation of the yoga body, its halftone engravings forming a halfway house between painting and photography; and from spiritual description to art.
Book
The Yogasopana Purvachatushka is written in the style of an instruction manual. It covers yoga in terms of Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga, with sections on the yamas (prohibitions), niyamas (observances), asanas (postures), and pranayama (breath control). It describes 37 asanas including Dhanurasana, Kukkutasana, Matsyendrasana, Mayurasana, and Sarvangasana, along with mudras such as Mahamudra and Viparita Karani. Each posture is illustrated with a halftone plate by Purusottam Sadashiv Joshi of the author, Yogi Narayana Ghamande, demonstrating the practice.
The book is written in Marathi and published in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1905 by Janārdana Mahādeva Gurjara at Nirṇayasāgara Press.
“Yogasopana Purvachatushka” enters the record as yoga. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yogasopana, Purvachatushka and yoga can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Yogasopana Purvachatushka” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yogasopana, Purvachatushka and yoga provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q65118737. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1905.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Yogasopana Purvachatushka”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Yogasopana Purvachatushka primary sources, Yogasopana Purvachatushka archive and Yogasopana research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Yogasopana Purvachatushka”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Yogasopana Purvachatushka” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.