She Whose Speech is True: The Yoga Library and Oeuvre of Om Prakash Swamigal

The first part of this paper introduces the life and library of the Tamil yogin and author Om Prakash Swamigal (Om Pirakāca Cuvāmikaḷ, August 11, 1872 – December 14, 1947), specifically his role as an important bridge figure between colonial and postcolonial contexts in which a mantra-based yoga was practiced. Trained as an engineer, Om Prakash Swamigal was socially active as a yogin and established an Assembly for the Benefit of the People (Lokopakāra Sabhā), a legacy that lives on at a school for children at the site of his ashram outside of Ooty (modern Udhagamandalam). By the 1930s his ashram called Sri Dakshinamurthi Mutt and the Assembly were so prominent that even Mahatma Gandhi thought it worthwhile to pay him a visit while visiting the Nilgiris. At the same time, after his death Om Prakash's society-focused vision of yoga were almost entirely eclipsed by groups like the Ramakrishna Mission and Divine Life Society, and as a result Om Prakash's own idiosyncratic vision of yoga and the impressive library of printed materials that he collected has remained entirely absent from discussions on yoga or mantras. This despite the fact that Om Prakash Swamigal trained several students of yoga at his ashram, including a female student and author named Ganga Devi.

The second part of the paper examines Om Prakash Swami's main work Srisatsambhashini, "She Whose Speech is True," and its claim to be an authoritative text on yoga despite being a modern printed dialogue between a student and teacher. The findings suggest that new models of authenticity should be considered that account for such original early modern printed works, as otherwise entire histories and practices of yogins like Om Prakash Swamigal are at risk of remaining ignored or not properly contextualized in the study of yoga.