This paper analyses the representation of kuṇḍalinī in the haṭha corpus in relation to her śaiva inheritance by examining alphabetic characterisation, the use of mantra in association with kuṇḍalinī, the broader use of 'investigation into sound' (nādānusandhāna)—not explicitly associated with kuṇḍalinī but associated with laya yoga—and the reworking of dissolution (laya) as force (haṭha) that we see in the concept of the 'key of force'.
Kuṇḍalinī has a key explanatory role in the technique of haṭha yoga in Sanskrit textual sources from the first half of the second millennium. This role increases throughout the corpus: unnamed in the c. 11th century CE Amṛtasiddhi, 'she' (grammatically feminine though perhaps not essentially so) is the foundation of all yoga teachings by the c. 15th century Haṭhapradīpikā. Genealogically-derived from a tantric śaiva context kuṇḍalinī retains sonic and cosmogonic features, creatively reworked within the embodied, 'forceful' rationale of haṭha yoga. Kuṇḍalinī is adapted as the 'key of force' (kuñcika haṭha) while retaining features of sonic and material dissolution. As such kuṇḍalinī is a nexus for haṭha (forceful) yoga and laya (dissolution) yoga. This paper sets out the mantric and sonic nature and practice of kuṇḍalinī in premodern yoga to highlight the tensions and possibilities of kuṇḍalinī as force and dissolution.
Kuṇḍalinī, literally the 'key of force' in the Vivekamārtaṇḍa and Haṭhapradīpikā, can be understood as the key that forces open the door to liberation. There is a conceptual tension in whether a key functions to open a lock through force or release. The force notion fits the typology of haṭha as the yoga of force, the release notion fits the typology of laya as the yoga of release or dissolution. Laya and haṭha are two of the fourfold paths to yoga first brought together in the c. 12th century Amaraugha, alongside mantra and rāja yoga. These fourfold yogas are formulated in a variety of hierarchies until the c. 1450 Haṭhapradīpikā establishes rāja yoga as the highest objective, haṭha yoga as the key technique to rāja yoga, and associates laya and mantra with initial or more novice stages. Though the emphasis in the haṭha corpus is on physical techniques, mantra and laya are genealogically connected with kuṇḍalinī and with the genealogy of kuṇḍalinī in śaiva tantra.
Kuṇḍalinī's genealogical origins lie largely in śaiva tantra (and a little in vajrayāna). In many śaiva traditions kuṇḍalinī is 'the goddess of creation, the supreme energy which makes manifest the elemental principles (tattvas) and effects the evolution of sound'... '[i]n the most common formulations, the ascent of a single Kuṇḍalinī reverses her cosmogonic role. As she rises through cakras associated with increasingly subtle elements, creation is resorbed until finally she goes to dissolution (laya) by uniting with Śiva, the supreme element' (Mallinson and Singleton 2017 p. 178). In these earlier formulations kuṇḍalinī is associated with the alphabet goddess (mātrikā) and is a goddess of language related to cosmo-genesis and phonematic emanation (Williams 2023).
The śaiva sources attribute cosmogonic power to kuṇḍalinī as primordial sound manifesting through the alphabet. There are remnants of this orientation in the haṭha sources. This material is not prominent in the haṭha corpus but is evident for example in the Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā: kuṇḍalī has the form of eight prakṛtis coiled eight times starting with the syllable a and ending with kṣa (Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā 2.16abcd). In the later haṭha corpus this inheritance may be subsumed under the rubric of dissolution through sound (nādānusandhāna). Birch notes that in the later corpus nādānusandhāna becomes entirely associated with laya yoga (Birch 2013 p. 51). The haṭha corpus contains some associations between kuṇḍalinī and the production of sound as a cosmogonic process. In the Vivekamārtaṇḍa the gāyatri arises from kuṇḍalinī (Vivekamārtaṇḍa 31). In relation to prāṇāyāma the Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā teaches that the praṇava has a creative and destructive role: the first two sounds relate to creation and maintenance and the last, ma, is the destroyer or annihilator (Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā 3.4). The later Jogpradīpikā has an explicitly tantric breath-control to re-enact the process of creation before enacting dissolution. Here the Sanskrit syllabary is internally recited in sequence while inhaling, holding the breath and exhaling; reciting it in reverse order re-enacts the process of destruction (Mallinson and Singleton 2017 p. 264). The alphabetic cosmogony and dissolution of kuṇḍalinī seems the model for this practice.
Bridging the śaiva and haṭha sources is the 12th century Śāradātilakatantra, a 'post-scriptural digest' of śaiva tantra (Hatley 2020 p. 767) with a 'conspicuous' śākta emphasis on kuṇḍalinī's identity as the supreme deity. This source combines a cosmogonic syllabary role for kuṇḍalinī with procreative and propagative imagery (Śāradātilakatantra 25.50-63). We find such procreative associations in vajrayāṇa conceptions of caṇḍālī, the fiery correlate of kuṇḍalinī, set out for example in the 10th century Hevajratantra. These elements are clearly in the haṭha corpus in the reproductive model of semen (bindu) and menses (rajas). The Śāradātilakatantra thus demonstrates a key moment in the transition from śaiva to haṭha sources.
The creative re-use of kuṇḍalinī from her origins in laya-oriented systems of tantric śaivism to become the functional heart of haṭha yoga helps explicate the relationship between the four yogas of mantra, laya, haṭha and rāja. This analysis demonstrates the importance of laya and mantra yoga not only to the genealogy of haṭha yoga but also underscores the importance of laya and mantra as the foundation of haṭha yoga.
Kuṇḍalinī has a key explanatory role in the technique of haṭha yoga in Sanskrit textual sources from the first half of the second millennium. This role increases throughout the corpus: unnamed in the c. 11th century CE Amṛtasiddhi, 'she' (grammatically feminine though perhaps not essentially so) is the foundation of all yoga teachings by the c. 15th century Haṭhapradīpikā. Genealogically-derived from a tantric śaiva context kuṇḍalinī retains sonic and cosmogonic features, creatively reworked within the embodied, 'forceful' rationale of haṭha yoga. Kuṇḍalinī is adapted as the 'key of force' (kuñcika haṭha) while retaining features of sonic and material dissolution. As such kuṇḍalinī is a nexus for haṭha (forceful) yoga and laya (dissolution) yoga. This paper sets out the mantric and sonic nature and practice of kuṇḍalinī in premodern yoga to highlight the tensions and possibilities of kuṇḍalinī as force and dissolution.