Tantra - Hedonism and Indian Culture PDF
Tantra - Hedonism and Indian Culture PDF
Tantra - Hedonism and Indian Culture PDF
Prem Saran
ISBN 81-246-0097-X
First Published in India in 1994
Second impression in 1998
Third impression in 1999
Fourth impression in 2006
© Author
MATTISON MINES
Professor and Chair
Department of Anthropology
University of California
Santa Barbara, California
U.S.A.
Preface
PREM SARAN
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface xi
List o f Plates xv
Bibliography 85
Glossary 93
Index 97
List of Plates
of Tantrism in India.
Tantrism is an important “offshoot of Hindu
religiosity”.1Till the recent past, however, it was disparaged
by many Western scholars as a mixture of “magic,
superstition and revolting rituals”,2 and Hindu intellectuals
tend to echo these attitudes.
It was Sir John Woodroffe, a former Justice of the
British High Court of Calcutta, who prepared some editions
and translations of Tantric works in his Tantrik Texts Series,
at the beginning of this century. In spite of his
commendable efforts, however, Tantric studies are still
inchoate, mainly because of their delicate erotic core.
References
9. Ibid, p. 6
10. Padoux, p. 273
11. Mircea Eliade, quoted in Padoux, p. 273
12. Padoux, p. 274
13. /bid, p. 276
14. Gupta et al, pp. 40-46
15. /bid, pp. 25-28
16. Bharati (1965 : 20)
17. Payne, p. 44
18. Padoux, p. 274
19. Gupta et al, pp. 29-35
20. /bid, p. 34
21. /bid, pp. 47-67
22. Bharati (1965 : 31)
23. Gupta et al, p. 123
24. Bharati (1965 : 20)
2
Contradictory Arguments
Let us now take a more detailed look at some of Desai’s
involved and contradictory arguments. Though she does
not deny the spiritual aspect of Tantrism, she feels that
its goal of achieving the “Divine Bi-sexual Unity” of
mysticism is not really relevant here.47 At another point,
she declares of-hand that the depiction of human sexual
couples and orgies is not “functionally” (sic) related to
12 Tantra : Hedonism in Indian Culture
References
1. C f Tucci
2. Bharati (1976 a: 299)
3. Bharati (1981 : 13)
4. Bharati (1977 : 195)
5. Bharati (1978 : 319)
6. Bharati (1977 : 230)
7. Ibid
8. Bharati (1978 : 299)
9. Chandra, pp. 98 and 100
10. Ibid, p. 98
11. Ibid
12. Cf. e.g. the Nayars or “royal shudras”, vide Bharati (1977 : 91)
13. Bharati (1978 : 334-336)
14. Ibid
15. Ibid
16. Bharati (1977 : 42)
17. Bharati (1978 : 81)
18. Desai (1975), pp. 135 and 141
19. Chandra, p. 103, n. 1
20. Bharati (1977 : 213)
21. Cf. chh. 10
22. Cf Chandra
23. Bharati (1977 : 51)
24. Desai (1984 : 149)
25. Bharati (1977 : 137)
26. For a definition of “mystic”, cf Chh. 4
27. Ibid, p. 29-30
28. For a definition of “Tantra”, cf Chhs. 1 and 10
29. Bharati (1978 : 331)
30. Ibid, p. 284
31. C f Plates 69, 111, etc. in Desai (1975), and Fig. 7 in Chandra
32. Cf Rawson
33. Bharati (1977 : 95)
34. Desai (1975 : 153)
35. Ibid, p. 2
36. C f Ryle
37. Desai (1975 : 122)
38. Bharati (1977 : 125-126)
39. Ibid, p. 55
40. Ibid, pp. 199-200
41. Ibid, p. 170
42. Bharati (1981 : 61)
Tantrism and the Khajuraho Temples 17
References
Analysis
As La Barre commented in his bibliographic essay on “Crisis
Cults”,14 taxonomies of revitalization movements are not
very useful. That work has been done quite some time
back, by Wallace and others. So I shall content myself
taxonomically by pointing out that the revitalization
movement described here is “redemptive”, to use Aberle’s
terminology.15 I shall turn instead to a consideration of
the ecstatic and other connected hedonistic aspects of this
movement. I propose to bring out these elements by
juxtaposing the Indian and the Western cultural traditions.
If I sound polemical, it is because I use as my tool Bharati’s
concept of “cultural criticism”.16 This refers to the pointed
criticism of the aesthetic or other aspects of a culture,
whereby the anthropologist elicits data from informants in
order to elucidate its structure, dynamics, etc.
As La Barre has pointed out, Aberle’s classification
of revitalization movements is inadequate. It is based on
the stingy, economic concept of “relative deprivation”. Ag^in,
Barbara Lex has commented that “scant attention has been
addressed to the pleasurable emotions that are educed by
participating in such movements”.17 She adds, “one need
not invoke the strains produced by clashing cultures or
the boredom of modem civilized *life to understand the
attractiveness of transcendent ecstasy, whatever means
are employed to that end, by human beings in any society
at any time.”18 In this connection, one may also refer to
Bharati’s remark that the mystical experience is a “peak
experience, in one category perhaps with totally
consummated erotic experiences . . .”.19
One reason why the ecstatic element in revitalization
movements has been underplayed could be the Judaeo-
Christian orientation of most observers, who have been
Western. As Bharati points out, the Judaeo-Chnstian
tradition has tended to shortchange ecstasy.20Then, another
reason could be that, as Bharati again remarks, academics
fear ecstasy because of the “endless circumlocutions” that
are part of the academic life.21
The same scholar has identified the need for ecstasy
as the raison d'etre of the Krishna Consciousness and
Chaitanya, Tantrism and Hedonism in Bengal 29
References
1. Bharati (1982)
2. Cf. Stevenson
3. Bharati (1977 : 31)
4. Dimock (1966 : 10)
5. Bharati (1978 : 84)
6. Dimock, op cit, p. 26
7. Ibid
8. Ibid
9. Ibid, pp. 30-31
10. Ibid, p. 26
11. Ibid, p. 32
12. Ibid, pp. 26-27
13. Ibid, p. 71
14. Cf. La Barre
15. C f Aberle. (This Chapter is based on a term-paper, which I wrote
in Prof. Anthony F. C. Wallace’s course on “Revitalization
Movements”, during my M.A. at the University of Pennsylvania.)
16. Bharati (1978 : 259 ff.)
17. C f Lex
18. Ibid
19. Bharati (1977 : 75)
20. Ibid, p. 233
21. Ibid, p. 64
22. Ibid, p. 233
23. Ibid, pp. 202-203; cf also Saran (1985)
24. Bharati (1977 : 117)
25. Ibid, pp. 196-197
26. Ibid, p. 162
27. Bharati (1978 : 332)
28. Ibid, p. 57
Chaitanya, Tantrism and Hedonism in Bengal 31
References
1. This Chapter, and the following one, are based on the author’s
M.A. paper, written at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987
under the supervision of Prof. Arjun Appadurai
2. Cf. Parkin
3. Ibid, pp. 291-292
4. Ibid
5. Bharati (1981), p. 21, n. 3
6. Ibid
7. Gupta et al, pp. 5-9
8. Padoux, pp. 273
9. Gupta et al, pp. 36-39
10. Cf. Payne
11. Bharati (1978 : 168)
12. Bharati (1976a : 85)
13. Bhattacharya (1982 : 375)
14. Padoux, p. 275
15. Bharati (1978 : 168-169)
16. Bharati (1976a : 220)
17. Ibid, pp. 202-205
18. Ibid, p. 224, n. 2
19. Ibid, p. 206
20. Ibid, pp. 286-289
21. Ibid, p. 289
22. Ibid, pp. 233-235
23. Ibid, p. 242
24. Ibid, pp. 240-242
25. Bharati (1978 : 169-170)
26. Ibid, p. 170
27. Bharati (1976a : 290)
28. Ibid, pp. 289-290
29. Ibid, pp. 240-246
30. Ibid, p. 21.
31. Bharat (1964 : 149-154)
32. Ibid
33. Ibid, p. 161
34. Bharat (1978 : 290)
35. Ibid, pp. 171-172
36. Bharati (1977 : 206)
37. Bharati (1976b), Vol. 2, p. 3
38. Dumont, pp. 278-282
39. Bolle, (1965), Foreword, pp. XIV to XV
40. Padoux, p. 273
41. Ibid, p. 277
42. Bharati (1978), 189-190 et passim
43. Ibid, pp. 330-331
44. Padoux, p. 274
45. Ibid, p. 275
46. Bharati (1981 : 34)
48 Tantra : Hedonism in Indian Culture
47. Payne, p. 94
48. Bhattacharya (1974 : 134-145)
49. Dimock, (1966 : 121)
50. Ibid
51. Ibid, p. 83
52. Ibid, pp. 37-39
53. Ibid, pp. 39-40
54. Bharati (1971 : 100)
55. Bharati (1981 : 17-18)
56. Bharati (1978 : 175-176)
57. Ibid, p. 300
58. Ibid, p. 171
59. Ibid, p. 30
60. Ibid, p. 171
61. Ibid, p. 172
62. Bhattacharya (1982), Introduction, p. 30
63. Bharati (1978 : 171)
64. Payne, p. 3
65. Bharati (1976a), Preface, pp. 9-10
66. Bharat (1978 : 173-175)
67. Ibid
68. Bharati (1976a : 242-243)
69. Cf. Killingley
70. Suniti Kumar Chatteijee, in Ray, p. 37
71. Payne, p. 98
72. Bharati (1978 : 175)
73. Bolle (1965), Foreword, p. XVI
74. Dasgupta, p. 76
6
References
7. Ibid
8. Ibid, p. 347
9. Ibid, p. 191
10. Leonard A. Gordon, in Kopf, p. 89
11. Ibid, p. 119
12. Cf. William Gunderson, in Dimock (1967)
13. Ibid
14. Ibid
15. David Kopf, in Kopf, p. 51
16. Ibid, p. 52
17. Ibid, p. 53
18. Ibid, p. 54
19. Suniti Kr. Chatteijee, in Ray, p. 37
20. Ray, Editorial Essay, pp. xxvi-xxvii
21. Dasgupta, p. 76
22. Ibid, p. 155
23. William Gunderson, in Dimock (1967), p. 147
24. Ibid
25. Clark, in Dimock (1967), p. 89
26. Bhattacharya (1974 : 157)
27. Ibid, p. 159
28. Clark, op cit, p. 89
29. Bhattacharya, op cit, p. 156
30. Ibid, p. 155
31. Payne, p. 100
32. Van Kooij, Introduction, p. 10
33. Ibid, pp. 4-5
34. Ibid, p. 5, n. 5
35. Ibid, p. 1
36. Vein Kooij, Preface, p. vii
37. Van Kooij, Introduction, p. 10
38. Bhattacharya, op cit, pp. 134-135
39. Ibid, pp. 157-158
40. Bharati, (1978 : 170)
41. Isherwood, p. 89 & pp. 101-102
42. Madhavananda, pp. 195-196 & p. 204
43. Payne, pp. 98-99
44. Ibid, p. 4
45. Ibid
46. Ibid
47. Ibid, p. 97
48. Ibid, p. 95
49. Ibid, p. 99
50. Bhattacharya, op cit, p. 161
51. Bhattacharya, op cit, pp. 161-163
52. Payne, op cit, pp. 102-103
53. Ibid, pp. 103-104
54. Ibid, p. 104
55. Bhattacharya, op cit, pp. 162-163
56. Payne, pp. 104-105
Tantrism and the “Hindu Renaissance” in Bengal 63
References
References
References
References
G h a tterjee, D elhi:
Ramanand Vidya Bhawan,
pp. 84-6; Prof. H. D.
Sankalia Felicitation Vol.
(1989c), “Attitudes to Tantrism in
‘Hindu Renaissance’ Bengal,
1857-1947, in Studies in
Indian History and Culture,
eds. R. D. Choudhury and
Bhagawan Singh, Delhi:
Ramananda Vidya Bhawan,
pp. 127-144; K a n a k la l
Barua Commemoration V ol
(1990) , “‘C ultural D eb ate’ and,
Bengali Attitudes Towards
Tantrism”, in Golden Jubilee
Souvenir o f the Assam State
Museum, eds. Atulananda
G osw am i and G unin
B huyan, G u w ahati:
Directorate of Museums,
Assam, pp. 64-73.
(1991) , The Hedonistic Element in
R eligio n : Th e M ystic
C h a ita n y a and His
Movement”, in Aspects o f
History and Culture, eds. R.
D. C h ou dh u ry and
Bhagawan Singh, Delhi:
Ramanand Vidya Bhawan,
pp. 97-104; Ananda
C h a n d ra A ga rw a la
Commemoration Vol.
Sengupta, S.C. (1977), Bankimchandra Chatterjee,
New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
Sharma, T. C. (1983), “The Indo-Mongoloids and
Their Contributions to the
Culture and Civilization of
India”, Bulletin o f the Tribal
Research Institute o f Assam:
I. 1.
92 Tantra : Hedonism in Indian Culture
With a Foreword by
Prof. Mattison Mines
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