Dr James Mallinson is Senior lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical Indian Studies at SOAS, University of London. His main research areas are yoga and asceticism, and their practitioners. He has published editions and translations of kāvya and yoga texts. HIs most recent publication, co-authored with Dr Mark Singleton, is Roots of Yoga (Penguin Classics), an anthology of translations of passages on yoga from over 150 texts in 12 languages. Dr Mallinson is currently leading a 5-year, 5-person research project on the history of haṭhayoga funded by the European Research Council, whose primary outputs will be critical editions and translations of ten texts, and four monographs.