Illustrated Persian yoga treatise with 40 miniatures

Satidas, Ray (“'Arif”). Muhit-i Ma'rifat ("Ocean of Knowledge" or Yoga).

Auf Anfrage

A rare treatise on yoga and esoteric knowledge, here in an illustrated copy produced in western India and richly augmented with approximately forty Indian School miniatures showing asanas and Hindu deities.

The colophon names the author as Ray Satidas, son of Ram Bhai, of the Khatri community, poetically known as “ Arif”, and records copying in Mumbai by Muhammad Baqir in Jumada I 1237H.

The text engages with Sanskrit sources and the Hindavi tradition; Ross and Browne describe Muhit i Ma rifat as based principally on the Hindi Svarodaya of Charana Dasa, a disciple of Sukhadevaji, and note discrete chapters on Sankhya, Raja and Hatha yoga, as well as sections “On the knowledge of the colours of the elements” and “On the knowledge of death and life”. The present manuscript typifies a broader Indo Persian intellectual milieu in which Sanskrit philosophical and yogic materials were rendered into Persian for new audiences; the added miniatures - likely workshop additions - visualize the practice-oriented portions of the text and expand the volume’s didactic appeal.

A compelling witness to 19th century cross confessional knowledge transfer at the interface of Persianate and Hindu traditions.