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History of The Tantric Religion

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Especificaciones

Código del Artículo: IDK106

por N. N. Bhattacharyya

Paperback (Edición: 2005)

Manohar Publishers & Distributors
ISBN 8173046506

Tamaño: 8.5" X 5.5"
Páginas: 482

Precio: Euro 22.87

Descripción

Back of the Book

In this book, the author presents in historical outline, the genesis, development and structural analysis of the Tantric tradition in India and its place in the Indian religious and philosophical systems. It studies the different aspects of Tantrism, its vastness and intricacies, its heterogeneous and contradictory elements and gives a historical perspective to the conglomeration of ideas and practices through space and time.

After an introduction to the meaning of Tantra, the work outlines the various texts, which comprise Tantric literature. The development of Tantrism is traced from pre-vedic times through the Vedic, post-Vedic, early Buddhist an Jain periods down to the evolution of the concept of Sakti in Indian religious thinking. The sequence is carried forward by a study of the development of Tantric Buddhism in India and Tantric Ideas and practices in medieval religious systems. The 'Lokayata' tradition and its connection with Tantrism and finally the emergence of sophisticated Tantras with Sakta orientation completes this historical study of Tantrism through the ages.

This important work also incorporates a review on Tantric art and a glossary of Tantric technical terms with reference to text, and intermeniaries.

As an Indologist, N.N. Bhattacharyya requires no introduction. He retired as professor of History from Calcutta University and passed away in 2001. He wrote a large number of books most of which have gone into several printings.

Preface

The present work, as its name implies, proposes to present, in an historical outline, the genesis, development and structural analysis of what is known as the Tantric tradition of India. Its main purpose is to determine the exact place of Tantrism in Indian religious and philosophical systems and to find out the social and functional significance of certain Tantric ideas and their derivatives which have not as yet been absolutely obscured in the efflux of time.

Tantrism with its vast literature containing intricate ritualistic and theoretical details occupies a significant place in the religious and social life of India. But the subject is still an enigma to us, not with standing numerous works in this field, scholarly as well as amateurish. This has been due to the fact that there has hitherto been no attempt to interpret the essentials of Tantrism by detecting and analyzing, in a historical sequence, the origins and development of the components by which it is constituted.

Earlier scholars relegated Tantra to a class of black magic, unworthy of study by a man of good taste, while the advocates of Tantra like John Woodroffe, Sibchandra Vidyarnava, Panchanan Tarkaratna, Gopinath Kaviraj and others equated it with the totality of Hinduism and declared it to be the essence of the Vedas. (They were, however, inclined to think that for the purpose of interpreting Tantrism it was sufficient to remain confined to those thoughts and ideas, which were in fact superimposed on its original contents). Most of the modern writers on this subject insist solely on its sexual elements, minimal though they are, compared to the vastness of the subject, and purport to popularize certain modern ideas pertaining to sex problems in the name of Tanra.

Thus the historical study of Tantrism has been handicapped, complicated and conditioned by the preoccupations of the writers in this field. It is perhaps inevitable, because the vision of the historian is always circumscribed by the dominant outlook of his own age. As Mircea Eliade had rightly observed:

When one approaches an exotic principality, one understands principally what one is predestined to understand by one's own vocation, by one's own cultural orientation and that of the historical moment to which one belongs. This truism is of general application.

As a result, in the field of Tantric studies, we find the emergence of various theoretical approaches, each claiming to have explained all the intricacies of the subject in its own way. Among these, the traditional Indian approach finds no difficulty in equating the essentials of Tantrism with the Vedantic interpretation of the contents of the major Saiva-Sakta schools. So far as the modern approaches are concerned, the principal one seeks to find certain norms in Tantrism with a pragmatic anticipation of the peculiar and manifold mental, emotional and spiritual problems of our times, as if these are intended to explore the obscure zones of the unconscious to which are attributed the problems of man's physiological, social, cultural and religious conditioning.

Scholasticism belonging to the former category, despite its inherent contradictions caused by the conscious and surreptitious, but often unsuccessful, attempts of the medieval commentators and their modern counterparts to convert Tantra into a kind of Vedanta, is however, intelligible. Followers of this line have a locus standi. Because of their complete dependence on the texts, saturated and overburdened though they are by superimposed elements, they have some sort of objectivity in their approach. And they are apparently justified when they equate Tantrism with the totality of Hinduism because Tantric ideas are so inextricably blended with different aspects of the Hindu way of life and with the doctrines of various religious sects and communities that it becomes a matter of proverbial difficulty to separate the Tantric elements from the huge conglomeration of materials accrued in space and time.

The psychological approach, outlined above, seeking to explore the obscure zone of the unconscious with the Tantric key, has eventually resulted in the study of the so called sexual elements found in the Tantras which have been interpreted by the traditionalists as 'purely symbolical' and by the others as 'appliedly symbolical'. According to H.V. Guenther, the sexual aspects of the Tantras are nothing but the corrective against the one-sided intellectualism and rationalism, which is unable to cope with the problems of every day life. The symbolic yuganaddha points to the unique harmony and interpenetration of masculinity and femineity. Bi-sexuality is inherent in all beings and this aspect has to be exercised in order to understand the truth of one's own nature. Sexual partnership is therefore the best expression for the most intimate relation between the two opposites. For the man, woman is the material object of concentration, a goddess for meditation and a symbolic truth for comprehension.

Contents

	Preface to the Second Edition	5
	Preface of the First Edition	7
Chapter 1.	Introduction	19-50
	What is Tantra? 19. Veda and Tantra 20. The Parallel Tradition 23. 'Pure knowledge' versus Empirical knowledge 26. Tantra and Science 31. Tantric Texts on Chemical Sciences 35. Tantric Alchemy and the Concept of Revitalizing the Body 39. The Apathy towards Tantra 41. The Other Side 43. Tantrism and Hindu Religion 46.
Chapter 2.	Tantric Literature	51-95
	The Traditional Classification, Nature, Date, etc. 51. The Pancaratra Samhitas 54. The Ahirbudhnya Samhita 58. The Laksmitantra 59. The Saiva Agamas 61. The Nisvasatattva Samhita 65. Saiva Tantras in the Far East 66. Some saiva Tantras of the Nepal Collection 67. The Buddhist Tantras 69. The Guhyasamaj Tantra 72. The Manjusrimulakalpa 73. The Sadhanamala and the Nispanayogavah 74. The Prajnopaya and the Hevajratantra 75. The Sakta Tantras 76. The Paranandasutra 81. The Kularnavatantra 82. The Saradatilaka 83. The Mahanirvanatantra 84. A few other sakta Tantras 85. Tantras of Other Religious Sects 87.
Chapter 3.	External Influences and Interactions	96-112
	Tantrism and the Universal Mother Goddess Cult 96. Scholars on Foreign Elements in Tantrism 97. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism: Background of Chinese Influence 98. Taoism and Tantra 103. Vasistha and Cinacara 107. The Tara Cults: Its Renovation, Migration and Influence 109.
Chapter 4.	The Primitive Substratum	113-155
	Vamacara and the Primitive Female-dominated Societies 113. Role of Woman in Tantric Cults 122. Maithuna: Social Significance of the Sex Rites 125. Kha-puspa or Menstrual Blood 133. Savasadhana: Concept of Death and Resurrection: Fertility Beliefs 137. Madya: The Efficacy of Wine 140. Diksa or Initiation 144. the So-called Black Acts and Miraculous Powers 147.
Chapter 5.	Tantrism and the Earlier Forms of Indian Religious Systems	156-205
	Tantrism in Pre-Vedic Religion 156. Tantrict Elements in the Vedic Religion 159. Tantra in Post-Vedic Though 169. Tantric Influence on Early Buddhism and Jainism 176. Tantra and Early Vaisnavism 182. Tantra and the Pasupata Saivism 188. Evolution of the Concept of Sakti 195.
Chapter 6.	Development of Tantric Buddhism	206-237
	Tantric Background of the Buddhist Doctrine of Elements 206. The Mahayana: Its Tantric Association 208. Tenets of Tantric Buddhist and Hindu Tantras: Similarities in Modus Operandi 218. The Vajrayana Pantheon 219. Kalacakrayana 230. Sahajayana 233.
Chapter 7.	Tantric Ideas and Practices in Medieval Religious Systems	238-61
	Tantrism and Medical Vaisnavism 238. Tantrism and Southern Saivism 242. Tantrism and Virasaivism 245. Tantrism and Kasmira Saivism 247. Tantrism and Saktism 248. The Atimargika sects: Kapalikas, Kalamukhas, Mattamayuras 252. Tantrism and the Smarta Pancopasana 258.
Chapter 8.	Tantrism and the Religion of the Masses: The Lokayata Tradition	262-291
	The Siddhacaryas: Buddhist Tantric Influence 262. Tantrism and the Natha Siddha Tradition 265. Sahajayana in the Carya Poems 270. Sahajayana and the Female Principle 274. The Sahajiya Spirit in Jain Dohas 276. The Vaisnava Sahajiyas 277. Tantric and Sahajiya Ideals in Medievel Religious Reform Movements and in the Teachings of the Saints 279. Sufism and Tantric-Sahajiya Tradition 286.
Chapter 9.	The Sophisticated Tantras with Sakta Orientation	292-340
	Tantric Substratum of Saktism 292. The Functional Aspects of the Sakta Tantras 294. The Satcakra: Conceptual Transformation 298. Deities, Mantras and Letters: Their Position in the Cakras 301. Employment of the Mantras and Allied Methods 305. Yogic Exercises: Awakening of Kundalini 308. Use of Chemical Drugs: Rasesvara Darsana 312. Vamacara: Its Professed Anti Brahmanism 315. The Sakta-Tantric Deities 320. Philosophy of the Sakta Tantras 328.
Chapter 10.	Tantric Art: A Review	341-366
	The Problem 341. Tantric Architecture: Some Aspects 345. Sexual Depictions: Their Tantric Probabilities 348. Tantric Icons 352.
Chapter 11.	A Glossary of Tantric Technical Terms	367-453
	Bibliography	455
	Index	461