Maharshi Patanjali, Author Of The Yogasootras

While many consider Maharshi Patanjali to be the founder of yoga, it is laid down in the classical texts of hathayoga that the system of yoga has only one divine founder and that is Lord Adinath. He is the first guru (teacher) of yoga; His wife, Devi Parvati, the first shishya (student). The entity known as Patanjali today was a pre-Vedic sage (a great rshee) who collated all the prevailing knowledge on yoga in His time and put them into a series of sootras known as the yogasootras today.

He is a well-built young man of considerable personal beauty. From the navel downwards, however, His body comprises but the multitudinous coils of a snake. Myth has it that this serpent, the kundalini, lies predominantly supta (asleep) at the base of the human spine, its state of wakefulness indicative of the individual’s level of absolute consciousness.

Sculpted from wood and finished with a wide palette of colours, this Maharshi Patanjali murti would be a valuable addition to the space of any yoga exponent. He is chaturbhujadhari (possessed of four arms), the anterior hands gathered in the namaskaram mudra. Behind the crown tapering above His head a seven-hooded snake bares its powerful fangs. From the colourful petals engraved upon the pedestal to the pillas flanking the central murti and the vine-aureole surrounding Him, this murti is carved after the style of classical temple architecture of the South.