Studies On Tantra In Bengal And Eastern India

Author : Madhu Khanna
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2022
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9811930236

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Studies on Tantra in Bengal and Eastern India by Madhu Khanna Pdf

This book explores the tantric concept of Shakti, or the principal female cosmic entity and her pilgrimage sites. It offers a first-hand view of the multidimensional ways in which Shakti asserted its supremacy over existing Vaishnava and orthodox Brahmanical traditions in post mediaeval Bengal and India. The interdisciplinary chapters pave the way to understanding the intra-textual relationships between philosophical and conceptual ideas in literary texts and their oral transmission. Divided into three thematic sections: Cult Inclusiveness, Śakti Pithas, and the Śākta Philosophy, the book invites readers to explore a contested area of scholarship from unique perspectives, offering rich insights into the nature of negotiations between diverse religious streams. It also urges readers to examine the many innovative approaches and theoretical models on the goddess culture of East India. The book is of interest to students and scholars of religious textual studies, anthropology, pilgrimage studies, comparative religion, Sanskrit and Bengali languages, regional studies, South Asian cultures, goddess traditions and cultural history of mediaeval Bengal.

Author : Madhu Khanna
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2023-02-20
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789811930225

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Studies on Tantra in Bengal and Eastern India by Madhu Khanna Pdf

This book explores the tantric concept of Shakti, or the principal female cosmic entity and her pilgrimage sites. It offers a first-hand view of the multidimensional ways in which Shakti asserted its supremacy over existing Vaishnava and orthodox Brahmanical traditions in post mediaeval Bengal and India. The interdisciplinary chapters pave the way to understanding the intra-textual relationships between philosophical and conceptual ideas in literary texts and their oral transmission. Divided into three thematic sections: Cult Inclusiveness, Śakti Pithas, and the Śākta Philosophy, the book invites readers to explore a contested area of scholarship from unique perspectives, offering rich insights into the nature of negotiations between diverse religious streams. It also urges readers to examine the many innovative approaches and theoretical models on the goddess culture of East India. The book is of interest to students and scholars of religious textual studies, anthropology, pilgrimage studies, comparative religion, Sanskrit and Bengali languages, regional studies, South Asian cultures, goddess traditions and cultural history of mediaeval Bengal.

Author : Sures Chandra Banerji
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Bengal (India)
ISBN : UCAL:B3879887

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Tantra in Bengal by Sures Chandra Banerji Pdf

Author : Kathleen Taylor
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2012-10-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781136120909

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Sir John Woodroffe, Tantra and Bengal by Kathleen Taylor Pdf

Working with Bengali mentors, especially his close friend A. B. Ghose, Sir John Woodroffe became the pseudonymous orientalist Arthur Avalon, famous for his tantric studies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Best known for The Serpent Power, the book which introduced 'Kundalini Yoga' to the western world, Avalon turned the image of Tantra around, from that of a despised magical and orgiastic cult into a refined philosophy which greatly enhanced the prestige of Hindu thought to later generations of westerners. This biographical study is in two parts. The first focuses on Woodroffe's social identity in Calcutta against the background of colonialism and nationalism - the context in which he 'was' Arthur Avalon. To a very unusual degree for someone with a high position under the empire, Woodroffe the British High Court Judge absorbed the world of the Bengali intellectuals of his time, among whom his popularity was widely attested. His admirers were attracted by his Indian nationalism, to which his tantric studies and supposed learning formed an important adjunct. Woodroffe's friend Ghose, however, was the chief source of the textual knowledge in which the 'orientalist' scholar appeared to be deeply versed. The second part of this study assesses Woodroffe's own relationship to Sanskrit and to the texts, and highlights his very extensive but gifted use of secondary sources and the knowledge of Ghose and other Indian people. It examines the apologetic themes by which he and his collaborators made Tantra first acceptable, then fashionable. Partly because of his mysterious pseudonym, Woodroffe acquired a near legendary status for a time, and remains a fascinating figure. This book is written in a style that should appeal to the general reader as well as to students of Indian religions and early twentieth century Indian history, while being relevant to the ongoing debate about 'orientalism'.

Author : Jae-Eun Shin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780429831027

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Change, Continuity and Complexity by Jae-Eun Shin Pdf

The Mah?vidy?s are the representative Tantric feminine pantheon consisting of ten goddesses. It is formed by divergent religious strands and elements: the m?t? and yogin? worship, the cult of K?l? and Tripurasundar?, Vajray?na Buddhism, Jain Vidy?dev?s, ?aiva and Vai??ava faith, ?r?vidy?, the Brahmanical strand of Puranic traditions, etc. This volume is the first attempt to explore the historical process, through which these traditions culminated in the Mah?vidy? cult and the goddesses with different origins and contradictory attributes were brought into a cluster, with special reference to socio-political changes in the lower Ga?g? and Brahmaputra Valley between the 9th and 15th centuries CE. Based on a close analysis of Pur??as, Tantras and inscriptional evidence, and on extensive field research on archaeological remains as well as sacred sites, Jae-Eun Shin discusses the two trajectories of the Mah?vidy?s in eastern ??kta traditions. Each led to the systematization of Da?amah?vidy?s in a specific way: one, as ten manifestations of Durg? upholding dharma in the cosmic dimension, and the other, as ten mandalic goddesses bearing magical powers in the actual sacred site. Their attributes and characteristics have neither been static nor monolithic, and the mode of worship prescribed for them has changed in a dialectical religious process between Brahmanical and Tantric traditions of the region. This is the definitive work for anyone seeking to understand goddess cults of South Asia in general and the history of eastern ??kta traditions in particular. To aid study, the volume includes images, diagrams and maps. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Author : Imma Ramos
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 147 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-16
Category : Art
ISBN : 9781351840019

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Pilgrimage and Politics in Colonial Bengal by Imma Ramos Pdf

Reviving Sati's corpse: Mother India tours and Hindutva in the twenty-first century -- Bibliography -- Index

Author : Mandakranta Bose
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780191079696

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The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess by Mandakranta Bose Pdf

The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess provides a critical exposition of the Hindu idea of the divine feminine, or Devī, conceived as a singularity expressed in many forms. With the theological principles examined in the opening chapters, the book proceeds to describe and expound historically how individual manifestations of Devī have been imagined in Hindu religious culture and their impact upon Hindu social life. In this quest the contributors draw upon the history and philosophy of major Hindu ideologies, such as the Purāṇic, Tāntric, and Vaiṣṇava belief systems. A particular distinction of the book is its attention not only to the major goddesses from the earliest period of Hindu religious history but also to goddesses of later origin, in many cases of regional provenance and influence. Viewed through the lens of worship practices, legend, and literature, belief in goddesses is discovered as the formative impulse of much of public and private life. The influence of the goddess culture is especially powerful on women's life, often paradoxically situating women between veneration and subjection. This apparent contradiction arises from the humanization of goddesses while acknowledging their divinity, which is central to Hindu beliefs. In addition to studying the social and theological aspect of the goddess ideology, the contributors take anthropological, sociological, and literary approaches to delineate the emotional force of the goddess figure that claims intense human attachments and shapes personal and communal lives.

Author : Birendra Nath Prasad
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 770 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2021-06-17
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781000416732

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Archaeology of Religion in South Asia by Birendra Nath Prasad Pdf

In the religious landscape of early medieval (c. AD 600-1200) Bihar and Bengal, poly-religiosity was generally the norm than an exception, which entailed the evolution of complex patterns of inter-religious equations. Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism not only coexisted but also competed for social patronage, forcing them to enter into complex interactions with social institutions and processes. Through an analysis of the published archaeological data, this work explores some aspects of the social history of Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jaina temples and shrines, and Buddhist stūpas and monasteries in early medieval Bihar and Bengal. This archaeological history of religions questions many ‘established’ textual reconstructions, and enriches our understanding of the complex issue of the decline of Buddhism in this area. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Author : Hugh B. Urban
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2009-10-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780857715869

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The Power of Tantra by Hugh B. Urban Pdf

In the West, the varied body of texts and traditions known as Tantra for more than two centuries has had the capacity to scandalize and shock. For European colonizers, Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries of the Victorian era, Tantra was generally seen as the most degenerate and depraved example of the worst tendencies of the so-called 'Indian mind': a pathological mixture of sensuality and religion that prompted the decline of modern Hinduism. Yet for most contemporary New Age and popular writers, Tantra is celebrated as a much-needed affirmation of physical pleasure and sex: indeed as a 'cult of ecstasy' to counter the perceived hypocritical prudery of many Westerners. In recent years, Tantra has become the focus of a still larger cultural and political debate. In the eyes of many Hindus, much of the western literature on Tantra represents a form of neo-colonialism, which continues to portray India as an exotic, erotic, hyper-sexualized Orient. Which, then, is the 'real' Tantra? Focusing on one of the oldest and most important Tantric traditions, based in Assam, northeast India, Hugh B Urban shows that Tantra is less about optimal sexual pleasure than about harnessing the divine power of the goddess that flows alike through the cosmos, the human body and political society. In a fresh and vital contribution to the field, the author suggests that the 'real' meaning of Tantra lies in helping us rethink not just the history of Indian religions, but also our own modern obsessions with power, sex and the invidious legacies of cultural imperialism.

Author : Swadhin Sen,Supriya Varma,Bhairabi Prasad Sahu
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 303 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2022-11-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000780758

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The Archaeology of Early Medieval and Medieval South Asia by Swadhin Sen,Supriya Varma,Bhairabi Prasad Sahu Pdf

This book looks at the ways in which archaeological methods have been used in debates concerning the early medieval and medieval periods in South Asia. Despite the incorporation and use of archaeological data to corroborate historical narratives, the theories and methods of archaeology are largely ignored in and excluded from the dominating, institutionalized, and hegemonic disciplinary discourses. The volume offers contesting insights, polemical narratives, and new data from archaeological contexts to initiate a debate on many foundational premises of archaeological and historical narratives. It focuses on the much-neglected region of the Eastern Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin as a spatial frame to do this and studies themes such as spatial and temporal scales of concepts and methods, multi-scaler factors and processes of continuity and changes, the settlement archaeology of the alluvial landscape, changing patterns of agrarian transformation, and material cultures, including coins, inscriptions, pottery, and sculptures, in their contexts in sub-regional, regional, and supra-regional intersections. Dedicated to historian Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, this volume presents a crucial and unprecedented intervention in the study of the early medieval and the medieval periods. It will be useful for scholars and researchers of archaeology, ancient history, medieval history, water history, earth sciences, palaeoecology, historical ecology, epigraphy, art history, material culture studies, Indian history, and South Asian studies in general.

Author : Hugh B. Urban
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 8120829328

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Tantra by Hugh B. Urban Pdf

Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (1928) is Professor and Head of the department of Linguistics at Osmania University, Hyderabad. He received a B.A. (Hons.) Degree (1948) in Telugu language and literature at Andhra University Waltair and an M.A. (1955) and Ph.D. (1957) in linguistics from the university of Pennsylvania U.S.A.

Author : Hugh B. Urban
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2024-03-21
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780226831114

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The Path of Desire by Hugh B. Urban Pdf

A provocative study of contemporary Tantra as a dynamic living tradition. Tantra, one of the most important religious currents in South Asia, is often misrepresented as little more than ritualized sex. Through a mixture of ethnography and history, Hugh B. Urban reveals a dynamic living tradition behind the sensationalist stories. Urban shows that Tantric desire goes beyond the erotic, encompassing such quotidian experiences as childbearing and healing. He traces these holistic desires through a series of unique practices: institutional Tantra centered on gurus and esoteric rituals; public Tantra marked by performance and festival; folk Tantra focused on magic and personal well-being; and popular Tantra imagined in fiction, film, and digital media. The result is a provocative new description of Hindu Tantra that challenges us to approach religion as something always entwined with politics and culture, thoroughly entangled with ordinary needs and desires.

Author : Rachel Fell McDermott
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : History
ISBN : 9780231129190

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Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal by Rachel Fell McDermott Pdf

Annually during the months of autumn, Bengal hosts three interlinked festivals to honor its most important goddesses: Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri. While each of these deities possesses a distinct iconography, myth, and character, they are all martial. Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri often demand blood sacrifice as part of their worship and offer material and spiritual benefits to their votaries. Richly represented in straw, clay, paint, and decoration, they are similarly displayed in elaborately festooned temples, thronged by thousands of admirers. The first book to recount the history of these festivals and their revelry, rivalry, and nostalgic power, this volume marks an unprecedented achievement in the mapping of a major public event. Rachel Fell McDermott describes the festivals' origins and growth under British rule. She identifies their iconographic conventions and carnivalesque qualities and their relationship to the fierce, Tantric sides of ritual practice. McDermott confronts controversies over the tradition of blood sacrifice and the status-seekers who compete for symbolic capital. Expanding her narrative, she takes readers beyond Bengal's borders to trace the transformation of the goddesses and their festivals across the world. McDermott's work underscores the role of holidays in cultural memory, specifically the Bengali evocation of an ideal, culturally rich past. Under the thrall of the goddess, the social, political, economic, and religious identity of Bengalis takes shape.

Author : Rachel Fell McDermott
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2001-06-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780198030713

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Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams by Rachel Fell McDermott Pdf

This book chronicles the rise of goddess worship in the region of Bengal from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present. Focusing on the goddesses Kali and Uma, McDermott examines lyrical poems written by devotees from Ramprasad Sen (ca. 1718-1775) to Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976).

Author : Rawal, Yashwant Singh,Sinha, Rupa,Mukherjee, Sankar Kumar,Batabyal, Debasish
Publisher : IGI Global
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2023-10-24
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781668499597

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Exploring Culture and Heritage Through Experience Tourism by Rawal, Yashwant Singh,Sinha, Rupa,Mukherjee, Sankar Kumar,Batabyal, Debasish Pdf

The impact of disasters and crises on culture, heritage, and religious tourism, have been realized in recent years, creating a need for solutions to heal and prevent future damage to these aspects of tourist regions. There is a need for strategies in mitigating these challenges and preserving cultural sites for the future. An emphasis on the importance of sustainability in cultural and heritage tourism, discussions on digitalization, stakeholder participation, and socio-economic livelihoods must be made to properly address this intricate issue. This book explores the development, marketing, and societal implications of cultural and heritage tourism enterprises, showcasing best practices and innovative business models. Exploring Culture and Heritage Through Experience Tourism is an academic research book that delves into the intricate relationship between tourism, culture, and heritage. It offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary exploration of this evolving field. Drawing on the latest research and international frameworks, this volume identifies new areas of culture and heritage tourism, understand its scope and challenges, and highlight its interlinkages with various sectors of the industry and the broader economy. Designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students of travel and tourism management, this book serves as a valuable resource. It also meets the needs of universities with cultural and heritage tourism in their curricula, and offers insights for industry leaders, policymakers, and researchers interested in multidisciplinary studies.