Editing Sun Salutation (section)

==Etymology and origins==

[[File:Pant_Pratinidhi_1928_Surya_Namaskar_Sequence.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.75|[[Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi]] provided this double-page guide to the Sun Salutation at the back of his 1928 book ''The Ten-Point Way to Health: Surya Namaskars'' as well as in the body of the text, stating that it could be removed for use without damaging the text of the book.<ref name=PP/>{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=180–181, 205–206}}]]

The name Surya Namaskar is from the [[Sanskrit]] सूर्य ''Sūrya'', "Sun" and नमस्कार ''Namaskāra'', "Greeting" or "Salute".{{sfn|Mehta|Mehta|Mehta|1990|pp=146–147}} [[Surya]] is the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] god of the sun.<ref name="Dalal 2010">{{cite book |author=Dalal, Roshen |title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA343 |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=343}}</ref> This identifies the Sun as the [[soul]] and source of all life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Suman |first=Krishan Kumar |title=Yoga for Health and Relaxation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ijWWEl5ktccC&pg=PA83 |year=2006 |publisher=Lotus |isbn=978-81-8382-049-3 |pages=83–84}}</ref> Chandra Namaskara is similarly from Sanskrit चन्द्र ''Chandra'', "Moon".<ref name="Sinha1996">{{cite book |last=Sinha |first=S. C. |title=Dictionary of Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zzRvh1fRzEC&pg=PA18 |date=1 June 1996 |publisher=Anmol Publications |isbn=978-81-7041-293-9 |page=18}}</ref>

The origins of the Sun Salutation are vague; Indian tradition connects the 17th century saint [[Samarth Ramdas]] with Surya Namaskara exercises, without defining what movements were involved.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hindu Vishva |year=1980 |volume=15 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR41AAAAIAAJ |quote=Sri [[Samarth Ramdas|Samarath Ramdas]] Swami took Surya Namaskar exercises with the [[Mantra]]s as part of his [[Sadhana]].}}</ref> In the 1920s, [[Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi]], the Rajah of [[Aundh State|Aundh]], popularized and named the practice, describing it in his 1928 book ''The Ten-Point Way to Health: Surya Namaskars''.<ref name=PP>{{cite book |last=Pratinidhi |first=Pant |author-link=Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi |title=The Ten-Point Way to Health {{!}} Surya Namaskars |year=1928 |publisher=[[J. M. Dent and Sons]] |url=https://pdfslide.net/documents/surya-namaskara-1928-the-ten-point-way-to-health-by-shrimant-balasahib-rajah-of-aundh.html |pages=113–115 and whole book |quote=The ten positions of a Namaskar are repeated here and may be detached without damaging the book. The pages are perforated for easy removal. |access-date=29 July 2019 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123075747/https://pdfslide.net/documents/surya-namaskara-1928-the-ten-point-way-to-health-by-shrimant-balasahib-rajah-of-aundh.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=180–181, 205–206}}<ref>S. P. Sen, ''Dictionary of National Biography''; Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta 1972 Vols. 1–4; Institute of Historical Studies, Vol 3, page 307</ref>{{sfn|Alter|2000|p=99}}  It has been asserted<!--Alter states that Dr Kumar Pal of the Yoga International Institute for Psycho-Physical Therapy said this in 1994.--> that Pant Pratinidhi invented it,{{sfn|Alter|2004|p=163}} but Pant stated that it was already a commonplace [[Marathi people|Marathi]] tradition.{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=124}}

Ancient but simpler Sun salutations such as [[Aditya Hridayam]], described in the "Yuddha Kaanda" Canto 107 of the ''[[Ramayana]]'',<ref name="Puranic Origins">{{cite web|author=Murugan, Chillayah |website=The Milli Gazette-Indian Muslim Newspaper |title=Surya Namaskara — Puranic origins of Valmiki Ramayana in the Mumbai Court order on Surya Namaskar for Interfaith discrimination and curtailment of fundamental rights |date=13 October 2016 |url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/14834-mumbai-order-on-surya-namaskar-interfaith-discrimination-and-curtailment-of-fundamental-rights |access-date=13 Oct 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://sanskrit.safire.com/pdf/ADITYA_TRANS.PDF sanskrit.safire.com, Aditya Hrudayam with English translation]</ref><ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry502.htm Translation of Ramayana by Griffith]</ref> are not related to the modern sequence.{{sfn|Mujumdar|1950}} The anthropologist [[Joseph Alter]] states that the Sun Salutation was not recorded in any [[Hatha yoga|Haṭha yoga]] text before the 19th century.{{sfn|Alter|2004|p=23}} At that time<!--1928-->, the Sun Salutation was not considered to be yoga, and its postures were not considered asanas; the pioneer of [[yoga as exercise]], [[Yogendra]], wrote<!--''Yoga Asanas Simplified'', 1928, The Yoga Institute.--> criticising the "indiscriminate" mixing of sun salutation with yoga as the "ill-informed" were doing.{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=180–181, 205–206}}

[[File:Vishnu-devananda's_Soorya_Namaskar_positions_5_to_8.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Elliott Goldberg]] called [[Vishnudevananda]]'s 1960 sequence (positions 5 to 8 shown) in his ''[[The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga]]'' a "new utilitarian conception of Surya Namaskara", in which he rejected his guru [[Sivananda]]'s view of it as a health cure.{{sfn|Goldberg|2016|pp=329–331}}]]

The yoga [[Scholar practitioner|scholar-practitioner]] [[Norman Sjoman]] suggested that [[Krishnamacharya]], "the father of modern yoga",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mohan |first1=A. G. |author1-link=A. G. Mohan |last2=Mohan |first2=Ganesh |title=Memories of a Master |publisher=[[Yoga Journal]] |date=29 November 2009 |url=http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2590}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Anderson |first=Diane |title=The YJ Interview: Partners in Peace |website=[[Yoga Journal]] |date=9 August 2010 |url=http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2605}}</ref> used the traditional and "very old"{{sfn|Sjoman|1999|p=54}} [[Indian wrestling|Indian wrestlers]]' exercises called ''dandas'' (Sanskrit: दण्ड ''daṇḍa'', a staff), described in the 1896 ''Vyayama Dipika'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bharadwaj |first1=S. |title=Vyayama Dipika {{!}} Elements of Gymnastic Exercises, Indian System |date=1896 |publisher=Caxton Press |location=Bangalore |pages=Chapter 2}}</ref> as the basis for the sequence and for his transitioning [[vinyasa]]s.{{sfn|Sjoman|1999|p=54}} Different ''dandas'' closely resemble the Sun Salutation asanas [[Tadasana]], [[Padahastasana]], [[Caturanga Dandasana]], and [[Bhujangasana]].{{sfn|Sjoman|1999|p=54}} Krishnamacharya was aware of the Sun Salutation, since regular classes were held in the hall adjacent to his Yogasala in the Rajah of Mysore's palace.{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=175-210}} The yoga scholar [[Mark Singleton (yoga scholar)|Mark Singleton]] states that "Krishnamacharya was to make the flowing movements of ''sūryanamaskār''<!--sic, his italics and diacritics--> the basis of his [[Mysore style|Mysore yoga style]]".{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=180}} His students, [[K. Pattabhi Jois]],<ref name="Donahaye 2010">{{cite book |last=Donahaye |first=Guy |title=Guruji: A Portrait of Sri K Pattabhi Jois Through The Eyes of His Students |year=2010 |publisher=D&M Publishers | location=USA |isbn=978-0-86547-749-0 }}</ref> who created [[Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga]],{{sfn|Ramaswami|2005|pp=213-219}} and [[B. K. S. Iyengar]], who created [[Iyengar Yoga]], both learned Sun Salutation and flowing [[vinyasa]] movements between asanas from Krishnamacharya and used them in their styles of yoga.{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=175-210}}

The historian of modern yoga [[Elliott Goldberg]] writes that [[Vishnudevananda]]'s 1960 book ''[[The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga]]'' "proclaimed in print" a "new utilitarian conception of Surya Namaskara"{{sfn|Goldberg|2016|pp=329–331}}{{sfn|Vishnudevananda|1988}} which his guru [[Sivananda]] had originally promoted as a health cure through sunlight. Goldberg notes that Vishnudevananda modelled the positions of the Sun Salutation for photographs in the book, and that he recognised the sequence "for what it mainly is: not [[Yoga for therapeutic purposes|treatment for a host of diseases]] but fitness exercise."{{sfn|Goldberg|2016|pp=329–331}}