Anga Meaning: The Limbs of Yoga and the Word Behind Ashtanga

Anga (Sanskrit: अङ्ग, aṅga) means "limb". It can also mean a part of the body, a member of a group, or one component of a larger whole. In yoga you meet it inside the word Ashtanga, ashta (eight) plus anga (limb): the eight limbs of yoga described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

What does anga mean?

The first meaning is physical. An anga is an arm, a leg, a finger, any part of the body. From there the word stretches the same way "limb" and "member" do in English. A branch of a tree, a section of a text, a supporting part of a ritual: each can be called an anga.

That second sense is the one that matters in yoga. An anga is a part that belongs to a body of practice and cannot be pulled out without changing the whole. The limbs of a body work at the same time. Keep that picture in mind when you read about the eight limbs, because it answers a common question further down.

How to say it: two syllables, AHN-gah. The ṅ is the nasal sound in "sing", so the n runs straight into the g.

Anga in the word Ashtanga

Patanjali introduces the eight limbs in Yoga Sutra 2.29. Sutra 2.28 comes first and gives the reason to practise them: as you practise the limbs of yoga, impurity fades and discernment grows. The eight are:

1. Yama: restraints in how you treat others, such as non-harming, truthfulness and brahmacharya (moderation). The five are covered in the yamas explained.
2. Niyama: observances for yourself, such as cleanliness, contentment and self-study. See the five niyamas.
3. Asana: the seated posture, which Patanjali describes as steady and comfortable. Today the word covers every pose. More in asana explained in depth.
4. Pranayama: regulating the breath. Our guide to pranayama and prana starts here.
5. Pratyahara: drawing the senses in from their objects.
6. Dharana: holding attention on one point.
7. Dhyana: meditation, when that attention flows without breaking. The beginner's guide to meditation shows how to sit and where to start.
8. Samadhi: absorption, when the sense of a separate meditator drops away.

For the whole path in one place, read the 8 limbs of yoga explained.

Outer limbs and inner limbs

Patanjali groups the limbs himself. In Sutras 3.7 and 3.8 he calls dharana, dhyana and samadhi the inner limbs, antaranga, compared with the five before them. Later commentators call the first five the outer limbs, bahiranga. Practised together on one object, the three inner limbs are called samyama (Sutra 3.4).

Then he adds a twist. Even the inner limbs are outer compared with the deepest samadhi, the one without a seed. So anga is relative. What counts as inner depends on what you compare it with.

On the mat this grouping is easy to feel. Asana works on the body you can see. Pranayama works on the breath. By pratyahara you are working with where your attention goes, and nothing on the outside moves.

Limbs or steps?

Many books call the eight limbs a ladder: master the yamas, then the niyamas, then asana, and so on up. The word anga argues against a strict ladder. A body does not grow its legs first and its arms later. Many teachers read the eight as parts you practise side by side, with the later ones getting more room as the earlier ones settle.

Both readings have support. The list has a clear order, and Patanjali describes each limb as a condition for the next in places: a steady asana comes before breath regulation in Sutra 2.49. Yet no one waits for perfect non-harming before sitting down to breathe. Most modern classes, including an Ashtanga yoga class, mix asana, breath and a fixed gaze in the same hour.

Other uses of the word

Search for anga and you find much more than yoga. A few meanings you may run into:

• The kingdom of Anga. An ancient kingdom in the east of the Ganges plain, in today's Bihar and Bengal. Its capital, Champa, lay near modern Bhagalpur. Buddhist texts count Anga among the sixteen mahajanapadas, the great kingdoms of the Buddha's time, and it was later absorbed by Magadha. In the Mahabharata, Karna is made king of Anga.
• The name of the kingdom. The Ramayana links it to Kama, the god of desire. Shiva burned Kama with the fire of his third eye, and the place where Kama lost his body, his anga, took the name. Kama is called Ananga, "the bodiless", ever since. Other sources name a king called Anga as the founder. Both are traditional stories.
• Vedanga. The six "limbs of the Veda": the supporting sciences of phonetics, metre, grammar, etymology, ritual and astronomy.
• Ashtanga Ayurveda. Ayurveda also has eight angas, its eight branches of medicine.
• Jain Angas. The oldest Jain scriptures are a group of texts called the Angas.
• Music. In Carnatic music an anga is one section of a tala, the rhythmic cycle.
• Ang in Punjabi and Hindi. The same word, shortened, still means limb or body. In Sikhism a page of the Guru Granth Sahib is respectfully called an ang.
• Anga in Maori. A different word altogether, with meanings like aspect, shape and direction. It only looks the same.

Where the sources disagree

• How many limbs. Eight is Patanjali's number, and the one yoga classes use. The Maitri Upanishad describes a six-limbed yoga, shadanga, that leaves out yama, niyama and asana and adds tarka, reflection. The Goraksha Shataka also teaches six limbs. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika organises its practice in four parts: asana, breath retention, mudra and inner sound. So "the limbs of yoga" depends on the text you read.
• Ladder or body. A sequence, as the numbering suggests, or parts practised together, as the word anga suggests. Teachers land on both sides, and the Sutras give each some support.
• Ashtanga the method. Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, taught by K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, takes its name from the eight limbs. Its classes are mostly the third limb, asana, with breath and gaze built in. Jois taught that the other limbs grow out of that practice. Critics answer that the name promises more philosophy than a typical class holds. Both describe the same classes from different angles.
• Old translations. Samadhi is often glossed as "union with the Divine". Patanjali's system is closer to Samkhya, where the goal is awareness standing free of the mind, so "absorption" is the safer word.

If you want to read Patanjali with a teacher, the introduction to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali takes the text one idea at a time, and 50 Sanskrit yoga terms covers the words that come up on the way.

Frequently asked questions

What does anga mean in Sanskrit?

Anga means limb or part of the body. By extension it means any part of a larger whole: a branch, a section, a component. In yoga it is best known from Ashtanga, the eight limbs of yoga.

What is the meaning of Ashtanga?

Ashtanga is ashta, eight, plus anga, limb. It names the eight limbs of yoga in the Yoga Sutras: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. It is also the name of the Ashtanga Vinyasa style taught by Pattabhi Jois.

What are the angas of yoga?

In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras there are eight: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Other texts count differently. The Maitri Upanishad and the Goraksha Shataka teach a yoga of six limbs.

What is the difference between antaranga and bahiranga?

Antaranga means inner limb and bahiranga outer limb. Patanjali calls dharana, dhyana and samadhi the inner limbs compared with the first five, which later commentators call the outer limbs.

What is ang meaning in English?

Ang is the Punjabi and Hindi form of the Sanskrit anga. It means limb, body or part of the body. In Sikhism it is also the respectful word for a page of the Guru Granth Sahib.

What does anga anga mean?

Repeating the word gives the sense of every limb or limb by limb, as in the Hindi phrase ang ang, the whole body. The repetition is a common way to say "each and every" in Indian languages.

Where was the kingdom of Anga?

Anga lay in the eastern Ganges plain, in what is now Bihar and part of Bengal. Its capital was Champa, near today's Bhagalpur. Buddhist texts list it among the sixteen great kingdoms, and Magadha later absorbed it.