Hatha Ratnavali Of Srinivas Bhatta
M. Venkata ReddyThe age old art of yoga, hitherto almost buried into the annals of Indian civilisation has now been excavated by the East as well as the West in the last few decades. Yoga is not a religious dogma. It is both a science and philosophy- cience in the sense tbat it is a well defined technique besed on modern physiological principles; and philosophy because it teaches a way of life.
Hathayoga literature flourished in Andhra and reached its zenith during Srinivasa's period. Svatmarama, whose work-Hathapradipika (HP) is a monumental work, also belongs to Andhra and he proved 10 be a source of inspiration to many a writer on yoga all over the country. Srinivasa belonged to a later date and also came under the spell of Svatmarama to whom he refers in the very introduction of his work Hatharatnavali (HR). A large number of scholars and writers in Andhra like Bhogeswara Yogi, author of Yogaratnapradipika, Raghava, author of Satkarma Sangraha and others followed Srinivasabhatta.