घेरण्ड संहिता (महर्षि घेरण्ड - सप्ताङ्ग हठयोग सटीक)

xvi INTRODUCTION
color, a shape, a location in the body, and a mantra, but
these are confused and omitted in the Gheranda Samhita.
In verse 3.62, for example, the wind element is said to be
black, smoky, and white, while in the Goraksha Samhita it
is just black. I have somewhat boldly decided to adopt the
readings of the Goraksha Samhita for the entire passage.
That all the Gheranda Samhita manuscripts present a
similarly incoherent description of the dharanas is surpris-
ing and points to two possible scenarios. Either they are
descended from a single flawed manuscript or the compiler
of the Gheranda Samhita was using a flawed manuscript of
the Goraksha Samhita to write the text. The first hypothe-
sis requires a lengthy and improbably irregular manuscript
tradition predating the earliest extant manuscript, which,
in the absence of external evidence for the text's existence
prior to 1802 C.E., is unlikely. I am thus inclined to believe
the second hypothesis.
In translating, I have tried to be as literal as possible
without sacrificing readability. I have sought not to add
anything to what is found in the Sanskrit text—commen-
tary and elucidation are for the practitioner's guru. Thus
where the instructions for a practice are ambiguous, they
have been left that way. The photographs of the asanas and
mudras draw from the descriptions in the text. In a few
instances those descriptions do not provide all the informa-
tion necessary to be sure of the correct posture. For those
cases I have relied on current practice and common sense
to fill in the gaps.