Uploaded August 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
AyurYog Project:
Christèle Barois (University of Vienna),
Longevity practices from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad onwards
Medicine and Yoga in South and Inner Asia: Body Cultivation, Therapeutic Intervention and the Sowa Rigoa Industry.
University of Vienna
1st - 3rd August, 2017
Longevity practices from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad onwards
Vayas, a key term for “age” in the ayurvedic treatises, is a heuristic concept that is helpful in reflecting on issues of longevity, rejuvenation, and immortality. When considering longevity specifically, the Chāndogya Upaniṣad III.15-16 provides extensive material for reflection. In the context of ritual invocations aiming at longevity, it offers a meaning of vayas close to that found in medical treatises; it describes three periods of life, and provides us with a canonical human lifespan of 116 years. I propose to examine the conditions and reasons for prolonging life as explained in this passage, and to explore how the commentarial tradition attached to the Chāndogya Upaniṣad takes up the subject of longevity in further discussions.
AyurYog Project:
Christèle Barois (University of Vienna),
Longevity practices from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad onwards
Medicine and Yoga in South and Inner Asia: Body Cultivation, Therapeutic Intervention and the Sowa Rigoa Industry.
University of Vienna
1st - 3rd August, 2017
Longevity practices from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad onwards
Vayas, a key term for “age” in the ayurvedic treatises, is a heuristic concept that is helpful in reflecting on issues of longevity, rejuvenation, and immortality. When considering longevity specifically, the Chāndogya Upaniṣad III.15-16 provides extensive material for reflection. In the context of ritual invocations aiming at longevity, it offers a meaning of vayas close to that found in medical treatises; it describes three periods of life, and provides us with a canonical human lifespan of 116 years. I propose to examine the conditions and reasons for prolonging life as explained in this passage, and to explore how the commentarial tradition attached to the Chāndogya Upaniṣad takes up the subject of longevity in further discussions.
