James Mallinson (author)

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Mahant Sir
James Mallinson
Bt
at Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS
Born (1970-04-22) 22 April 1970 (age 54)
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
OccupationIndology
TitleBoden Professor of Sanskrit at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford
Websitehttp://www.khecari.com/index.html

Sir James Mallinson, 5th Baronet, of Walthamstow (born 22 April 1970) is a British

Indologist, writer and translator. He is Boden Professor of Sanskrit,[1] and recognised as one of the world's leading experts on the history of medieval Hatha yoga.[2]

Early life

Mallinson became interested in India by reading

Hatha Yoga traditions.[4]

Academic career

Mallinson is Boden Professor in Sanskrit at the

Hatha Yoga,[4] on which he is recognised as the world's leading expert.[2] In 2014 he received a European Research Council Consolidator Grant worth €1.85 million for a five-year six-person research project on the history of Hatha Yoga.[7] In 2018, he opened the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies.[8] He was appointed Boden Professor of Sanskrit in 2023,[9] following the retirement of Christopher Minkowski.[10]

Personal life

Mallinson travels to India each year, and has spent months at a time living as a

Allahabad, where he was ordained as a Mahant (Abbot) of the Terah Bhai Tyagi suborder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, the only Westerner to receive this honour.[15][3][17]

Works

Roots of Yoga

Main article: Roots of Yoga
Hatha Yoga practices such as Viparita Karani
.

One of Mallinson's books, Roots of Yoga, with Mark Singleton as co-editor, is accessible to the public as well as to scholars. It contains a selection of texts on yoga from ancient times to the 19th century, presenting the core teachings.

Neil Sims, reviewing the book on the Indian Philosophy Blog, calls the book scholarly, writing that the editors "do an admirable job of letting the texts speak for themselves. No hint of partisanship, or even a preferred view, is given." In Mills's view, the book succeeds both on the level of increasing historical understanding among yoga students and teachers, and in contributing to yoga and South Asian scholarship.[18]

In a review in Yoga Journal, Matthew Remski points to the book's "endlessly diverse sources", which include "new critical translations of over 100 little-known yoga texts dating from 1000 BCE to the 19th century, threaded together with clear and steady-as-she-goes commentary". The translations, he states, "explode the available resources for everyday practitioners." Remski proposes that it may "become the top book on every yoga teacher training reading list in the English-speaking world."[19]

The researcher Adrian Munoz, reviewing the book in Estudios de Asia y África, notes that while it is principally a sourcebook of "innumerable" yoga manuscripts, mainly in Sanskrit, rather than the presentation of any particular thesis, it is accompanied by an erudite 30-page introduction that sets the documents in their historical context.[20]

The yoga teacher Richard Rosen writes that Roots of Yoga is appropriately in Penguin Classics as "this monumental anthology" of some 150 primary Sanskrit sources is destined to become a classic.[21]

The

Indologist Alexis Sanderson writes that the anthology's "unprecedented array of sources [...] will be an indispensable companion for all interested in yoga, both scholars and practitioners".[22]

Major publications

References

  1. ^ "Professor Jim Mallinson | Balliol College". www.balliol.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-78738-192-6
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Interview with James Mallinson 'Sanskrit and paragliding'". Wild Yoga. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d "James Mallinson". SOAS. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  5. ^ Dowling, Tim (9 September 2015). "West Meets East review: the jar of burning dung on the head adds new insight to the old celeb-travel show". The Guardian.
  6. ^ "James Mallinson". www.ames.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  7. ^ "ERC Consolidator Grants 2015 results" (PDF). ERC. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  8. ^ "James Mallinson opens the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies". SOAS. SOAS. 8 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Notices" (PDF). University of Oxford Gazette: 296. 20 April 2023.
  10. ^ "US appointments for Emeriti | Balliol College". www.balliol.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  11. ^ a b Thomas, Priya (25 July 2012). "Do Yogis Still Fly? Fables and Flightpaths of the Itinerant Yogi: An Interview with Jim Mallinson PhD". Shivers up the spine.
  12. ^ "Ozone Paragliders". Ozone Paragliders. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Cross Country Magazine". 14 September 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Isle of Wight Country Press". 2 July 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  15. ^ a b Evans, Jules (27 January 2017). "James Mallinson, the sadhu-academic". Queen Mary University London. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  16. ^ "West Meets East". BBC Four. 8 September 2015.
  17. ^ "The making of a mahant: a journey through the Kumbh Mela festival". Financial Times. 8 March 2013.
  18. ^ Sims, Neil (30 December 2017). "Book Review of Roots of Yoga, Translated and Edited by James Mallinson and Mark Singleton". The Indian Philosophy Blog. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  19. ^ Remski, Matthew (12 April 2017). "10 Things We Didn't Know About Yoga Until This New Must-Read Dropped". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  20. doi:10.24201/eaa.v53i1.2337
    .
  21. ^ Rosen, Richard. "The Roots of Yoga". You and the Mat. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  22. ^ "Roots of Yoga | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
William Mallinson
 Baronet
(of Walthamstow)
1995–present 		Incumbent
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