A radically alternative vision of the fakir is given in surviving medieval (Bng. madhya- ug, "Middle Age") and pre-modern textual sources that predate and coincide with the colonial period, such as the widely influential 17th century Yoga Kalandar text as well as B ul oral traditions deeply influenced by this text's cosmology. This book aims therefore to fulfill three key objectives: 1) to historically situate the Yoga Kalandar text and its practitioners; 2) to describe the distinctly yogic and tantric aspects of its theology, with specific reference to the way the text harmonizes Sufi and...