Atkinson/Krishnamacharya, 3. Kuṇḍalinī in Other Vaiṣṇava Texts

Chapter 3 builds upon the work of academics including James Mallinson, Lidia Schwartz-Linder and Dominic Wujastyk and greatly expands upon their contributions to trace the textual origins of Krishnamacharya’s teachings on kuṇḍalinī. It shows how verses from the Yogayājñavalkya came from the Vasiṣṭhasaṁhitā, which in turn took some of those verses from the Pādmasaṁhitā – a text of the Vaiṣṇava (Viṣṇu- worshiping) sect of temple priests known as Pāñcarātra. The chapter traces similar teachings to another Pāñcarātra text, the Ahirbudhnyasaṁhitā. It presents lengthy translations from previously untranslated sections of the Ahirbudhnyasaṁhitā, together with original observations about the inconsistency of that text in relation to kuṇḍalinī. The chapter also identifies similar teachings in the rival Vaiṣṇava sect of Vaikhānasa.