Vasishtha Samhita

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File:Nath yogi in Mayurasana peacock pose.jpg. Mahamandir temple mural, Jodhpur, India, c. 1810]]

The Vasishtha Samhita (Sanskrit: वासिष्ठसंहिता, Vāsiṣṭha Saṁhitā, Vasishtha's Collection) is a 13th-century medieval Vaishnavite text, one of the first to describe non-seated hatha yoga asanas including the arm-balancing Kukkutasana, Cockerel Pose. It makes use of the 10th-century Vimanarcanakalpa, whose verse it paraphrases in prose to describe what may be the first non-seated asana, the arm-balancing Mayurasana, Peacock Pose. These descriptions in turn were exploited by the 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika.{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=87–88, 104–105}}

The Vasishtha Samhita shares many verses with the Yoga Yajnavalkya, some of which originate in the earlier Padma Samhita. {{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Simon |title=Krishnamacharya on Kundalini : the origins and coherence of his position |date=2022 |publisher=Equinox |location=Bristol |isbn=9781800501522 |page=31-57 |url=https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/krishnamacharya/}}

The text, ascribed to the earlier sage Vasishtha, was compiled by an unknown author of the Vaishnavite Shakta sect. Its 45 chapters cover peace, name-chanting, offerings, sacrifices, astrology, and donation.{{cite book |last=Joshi |first=Dinkar |title=Glimpses of Indian Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fw-0iBvmMAC&pg=PA25 |year=2005 |publisher=Star Publications |isbn=978-81-7650-190-3|page=25}}{{cite book |last=Frawley |first=David |title=Vedic Yoga: The Path of the Rishi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rvQCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT150 |year=2014 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-0-940676-25-1 |page=150}}{{cite book |last=Rosen |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Rosen |title=Original Yoga: Rediscovering Traditional Practices of Hatha Yoga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZeOYkgOQTUC&pg=PA264 |year=2012 |publisher=Shambhala Publications |isbn=978-0-8348-2740-0 |page=264}}