{"title":"Books by David Gordon White","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780226894997","title":"The Alchemical Body – Siddha Traditions in Medieval India","description":"David Gordon White excavates and seeks to centre within its broader Indian context the lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. This comprehensive study draws upon the ancient Sanskrit and medieval Hindu materials and asserts medieval traditions of Hindu alchemy and \"hatha yoga\" were practiced by one and the same people, and that they can only be understood when viewed together.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56227884499317,"sku":"9780226894997","price":38.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780226894997_be8c0f52-fd6d-4777-9f0c-a0434e9fa97e.jpg?v=1786012641"},{"product_id":"9780226895147","title":"Sinister Yogis","description":"Since the 1960s, yoga has become a billion-dollar industry in the West, attracting housewives and hipsters, New Agers and the old-aged. But our modern conception of yoga derives much from nineteenth-century European spirituality, and the true story of yoga's origins in South Asia is far richer, stranger, and more entertaining than most of us realize. To uncover this history, David Gordon White focuses on yoga's practitioners. Combing through millennia of South Asia's vast and diverse literature, he discovers that yogis are usually portrayed as wonder-workers or sorcerers who use their dangerous supernatural abilities - which can include raising the dead, possession, and levitation - to acquire power, wealth, and sexual gratification. As White shows, even those yogis who aren't downright villainous bear little resemblance to Western assumptions about them. By turns rollicking and sophisticated, \"Sinister Yogis\" tears down the image of yogis as detached, contemplative teachers, finally placing them in their proper context.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56228364747125,"sku":"9780226895147","price":32.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780226895147_9813b88f-d0c8-49d1-a7a1-a8f044037b2d.jpg?v=1786012642"},{"product_id":"9780226894843","title":"Kiss of the Yogini – \"Tantric Sex\" in its South Asian Contexts","description":"With \"Kiss of the Yogini\", David Gordon White sweeps away centuries of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, returning to original texts, images, and ritual practices to reconstruct the history of South Asian Tantra from the medieval period to the present day. \"Kiss of the Yogini\" contains White's own translations from over a dozen Tantras that have never before been translated into any European language. It will prove to be the definitive work for anyone seeking to understand Tantra and the crucial role it has played in South Asian history, society, culture, and religion.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56228760519029,"sku":"9780226894843","price":38.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780226894843_bd2d1a20-0f38-4a18-a09c-43675e479cf4.jpg?v=1786012640"},{"product_id":"9780691197074","title":"The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali – A Biography","description":"The rise, fall, and modern resurgence of an enigmatic book revered by yoga enthusiasts around the worldConsisting of fewer than two hundred verses written in an obscure if not impenetrable language and style, Patanjali's Yoga Sutra is extolled by the yoga establishment as a perennial classic and guide to yoga practice—except it isn't. Virtually forgotten in India for hundreds of years and maligned when it was first discovered in the West, the Yoga Sutra has been elevated to its present iconic status only in the course of the past forty years. David Gordon White retraces the strange and circuitous journey of this confounding work from its ancient origins to today, bringing to life the improbable cast of characters whose interpretations and misappropriations of the Yoga Sutra led to its revered place in contemporary popular culture.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294251823477,"sku":"9780691197074","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780691197074_c8003779-b428-43de-b883-680e7359ddca.jpg?v=1786015175"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-david-gordon-white.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}