The Africans Who Mapped the Universe: Before the Siddhars by Ajarn Shaman Shu
By Ajarn Shaman Shu (Robert S. Shumake) · Buddha University Press · On Google Play and Apple Books
Before the Siddhars, before the yogis, before the sutras were written down, who first mapped the breath, the body and the mind?
The Africans Who Mapped the Universe: Before the Siddhars is the foundation volume of a series that argues for the Black origins of yoga, breathwork, meditation, mudras and yantras. It is written by Ajarn Shaman Shu, who also publishes as Robert S. Shumake, and it is where the series begins.
What the foundation volume sets out to do
Ajarn Shaman Shu, with Shri Surya Nuranyana Swamikal, goes back to the beginning. The book looks to the African peoples and ancient wisdom streams that it presents as the source of inner sciences that later flowered in India, Tamil Nadu and across Asia. It is the groundwork for the Siddhar volumes that follow.
What the book explores
- The book's argument for African roots of the inner sciences, and why it holds that the story of yoga begins long before India
- Breath as the first science, in the book's telling: the origins of breathwork, pranayama and life-force practice
- Meditation and stillness in the earliest spiritual traditions
- Mudras and sacred gesture as a language of the body
- Yantras, sacred geometry and the mapping of cosmic order
- The book's argument for a thread connecting ancient Africa, the Dravidian South and the Siddha tradition
- Why the author holds that reclaiming these origins matters for practitioners, teachers and seekers today.
Who it is for
The book is part history, part spiritual teaching and part reclamation. It is written for yoga practitioners and teachers, students of meditation and breathwork, readers of African spirituality and Black history, and anyone who has wondered where the world's contemplative practices began and wants to weigh the book's argument that they began in Africa.
Get the book
- Google Play Books: Before the Siddhars
- Apple Books: Before the Siddhars
- The Africans Who Mapped the Universe: Before the Siddhars: The African Roots of the Inner Sciences on robertshumake.co
robertshumake.co · Shiva University, the Tamil Siddhars
About the author
Robert S. Shumake, publishing as Ajarn Shaman Shu, has lived two lives in one: the builder and the priest. In business, he rose from a Ford factory floor to become founding president and CEO of Inheritance Capital Group, a Black Enterprise-ranked private equity firm. He served as honorary consul for Botswana and Tanzania. In spirit, he received the name Ajarn Shaman Shu from the traditions that initiated him, including the Tamil Siddha line.
This page describes a book. The African-origins thesis is the author's interpretation, presented as the book presents it. Reading about these practices is study, not initiation.