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Our understanding of the relationship between the different forms of Yoga and Vedānta philosophies stands to this day on works composed in Sanskrit (i.e. Fort 1998 for Advaita). The connection between Haṭhayoga in particular and Vedānta as well has been explored by scholars through Sanskrit textual sources (i.e. Bouy 1994). This paper proposes to enlarge our insight into the early modern history of Yoga and Vedānta by considering a text in Brajbhāṣā, the Ānandavilāsa (The Manifestation of Bliss), composed by king Jasvant Singh I of Jodhpur in 1669 CE. The sovereign authored several works dealing with Vedānta, most probably Advaita, and the Ānandavilāsa, set as a didactic dialogue, incorporates (Haṭha)yoga as well. Through close reading, the paper will demonstrate that the literary and doctrinal inspirations of Jasvant Singh’s text reside at the crossroad between classical Haṭhayoga texts – such as the Haṭhayogapradīpikā – Pātañjala Yoga, medieval Yogic Advaita texts, and Classical Advaita. The paper will then briefly compare the Jodhpur ruler’s treatment of (Haṭha)yoga with that of a contemporary author from Rajasthan, the Dādūpanthī Sundardās (1596–1689), in his Jñānasamudra and Sarvāṅgayogapradīpikā in Brajbhāṣā. Highlighting the similarities and differences with Sundardās’s works in terms of style and content draws further attention to the existence of a multiplicity of ways in which vernacular authors in 17th century North India sought to integrate (Haṭha)yoga and Vedānta.
