Timeline of Yoga Texts

Excerpted with permission from Roots of Yoga by James Mallinson & Mark Singleton

Abbreviations of categories: A = Avadhi romance; B = Buddhist; BC = Buddhist Canonical; BT = Buddhist Tantra; E = ‘Hindu’* Epic/Narrative; H = Haṭhayoga; HC = ‘Hindu’ Compendium; HL = ‘Hindu’ Law; HP = ‘Hindu’ Philosophy; J = Jain; PE = Persian Ethnography; ŚT = Śaiva Tantra; T = Travel Report; V = Vedic; VA = Vedānta; VT = Vaiṣṇava Tantra”

1500–1000 BCE Vedas (Ṛg, Sāma, Yajur and Atharva) (V)

1000–700 BCE Brāhmaṇas (V)

700–500 BCE Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Chāndogya Upaniṣads (V)

3rd century BCE Kaṭha Upaniṣad (V)

1st century BCE Cūḷavedalla Sutta (BC), Saccavibhaṅga Sutta (BC), Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (BC), Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (V)

1st century CE Mahābhārata Śāntiparvan (E) completed

2nd century CE Rāmāyaṇa (E) completed, Pāśupatasūtra (ŚT)

3rd century CE Mahābhārata (E) completed, Manusmṛti (HL)

4th century CE Vaiśeṣikasūtra (HP), Sthānāṅgasūtra (J), Patañjali’s Yogaśāstra, Pañcārthabhāṣya (ŚT)

5th century CE Visuddhimagga (B)

6th century CE Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (V), Padārthadharmasaṃgraha (HP), Vaikhānasadharmasūtra (HL)

6th–10th century CE Early Tantras: Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā (ŚT), Vīṇāśikha (ŚT), Vairocanābhisaṃbodhisūtra (BT), Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa (BT), Brahmayāmala (ŚT), Hevajra (BT), Jayadrathayāmala (ŚT), Mṛgendra (ŚT), Kiraṇa (ŚT), Parākhya (ŚT), Mataṅgapārameśvara (ŚT), Sarvajñānottara (ŚT), Siddhayogeśvarīmata (ŚT), Mālinīvijayottara (ŚT), Svacchanda (ŚT), Netra (ŚT), Kaulajñānanirṇaya (ŚT), Kubjikāmata (ŚT), Vimānārcanākalpa (VT), Pādmasaṃhitā (VT)

7th–10th century CE Early Purāṇas: Skanda, Vāyu, Kūrma (inc. Īśvaragītā), Liṅga, Bhāgavata, Mārkaṇḍeya

8th century CE Tantravārttika (HP), Brahmasūtrabhāṣya (HP), Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa (HP)

9th century CE Spandakārikā (ŚT)

10th century CE Vijñānabhairava (ŚT), Paramokṣanirāsakārikāvṛtti (ŚT)

11th century CE Hemacandra’s Yogaśāstra (J), Chos drug gi man ngag zhes bya ba (BT), Spandasaṃdoha (ŚT), Amṛtasiddhi (H), Kathāsaritsāgara (E), Vimalaprabhā (ŚT)

12th century[…]” “century CE Saṃgītaratnākara (ŚT), Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā (H), Candrāvalokana (H), Matsyendrasaṃhitā (ŚT), Vivekamārtaṇḍa (H), Gorakṣaśataka (H), Dattātreyayogaśāstra (H), Jñāneśvarī (H)

14th century CE Tirumantiram (ŚT), Aparokṣānubhūti (HP), Yogatārāvalī (H), Śaṅkaradigvijaya (VA), Amaraughaprabodha (H), Yogabīja (H), Khecarīvidyā (H), Śivasaṃhitā (H), Gorakṣavijaya (E), Śārṅgadharapaddhati (HC), Jīvanmuktiviveka (VA), Lallāvākyāni (ŚT), Reḥla of Ibn (T)

15th century CE Śivayogapradīpikā (H), Rtsa rlung gsang ba’i lde mig (BT), Haṭhapradīpikā (H), Ḥawż al-ḥayāt (H), Mahākālasaṃhitā (ŚT)

16th century CE Baḥr al-ḥayāt (H), Miragāvatī (A)

17th century CE Haṭharatnāvalī (H), Nādabindūpaniṣad (H), Yogaśikhopaniṣad (H), Sarvāṅgayogapradīpikā (H)

18th century CE Rājayogāmṛta (H), Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati (H), Yogamārgaprakāśikā (H), Haṃsavilāsa (HP), Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā (H), Bṛhatkhecarīprakāśa (H), Haṭhapradīpikā (Long Recension) (H), Haṭhatattvakaumudī (H), Jogpradīpakā (H), Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati (H)

19th century CE Tashrīh al-Aqvāṃ (PE)