Gorakṣaśataka 34–41: The Solar Method, Ujjāyī and Śītalī

The exact connection of catuṣkam, “fourfold”, remains uncertain; I provisionally relate it to vātadoṣam. vāta and kṛmi belong to the historical medical system. The claim establishes no present-day medical efficacy.

36ab concludes the solar method; 36cd begins Ujjāyī. sūryābhedam is the working text’s form, including its long ā. Its grammatical form is not wholly regular.

sasvanam denotes audible breathing. “From the throat as far as the heart” belongs to the source’s account of the body.

I retain the five surviving Anuṣṭubh pādas. The middle line, dehānalavivardhanam, is an additional eight-syllable pāda with the ending LGLG usual in even-numbered quarters. Its position between two half-verses requires no supplementation of syllables. The first pāda follows the Na-vipulā pattern. The verse is thus described as two half-verses with an inserted pāda; no regular group of four is claimed.

Yogakuṇḍalinī-Upaniṣad 1.28 places sarvarogaharaṃ puṇyaṃ before dehānalavivardhanam. I do not supplement the text from this parallel. The sequence nāḍījalodarādhātu remains grammatically unusual; I render its recognisable terms. The extensive claims of efficacy remain historical statements.

39ab concludes Ujjāyī; 39cd begins Śītalī, the cooling breath method. gacchataḥ and tiṣṭhataḥ are genitives referring to the practitioner. The working text construes kumbhakam as neuter.

The list of diseases continues in 41. pittaṃ and jvaraṃ are accusative and can be connected to nihanti, “destroys”, in 41. I reflect this connection across the verse boundary.

I identify the verse as Anuṣṭubh with an atypical final cadence. The fourth pāda, kṣayaṃ yānti pittaṃ jvaraṃ, has eight syllables and the pattern LGGLGGLG; the fifth syllable pit is heavy before tt, where a regular even quarter requires a light syllable. The checked vipulā patterns concern odd quarters and do not explain this finding. The phonetic form is retained; I assume neither an unattested shortening of pit nor a particular vipulā subtype.

41ab concludes the claims of efficacy for Śītalī. Bellows breathing begins at 41cd. samagrīvodaraḥ names the neck and abdomen; I do not replace “abdomen” with the more expected “torso”.