Hinduism cannot be understood without the Great Goddess and the goddess-orientated Sakta traditions. The Goddess pervades Hinduism at all levels, from aniconic village deities to high-caste pan-Hindu goddesses to esoteric, tantric goddesses. Nevertheless, the highly influential tantric forms of South Asian goddess worship have only recently begun to draw scholarly attention. This book addresses the increasing interest in the Great Goddess and the tantric traditions of India by exploring the history, doctrine and practices of the Sakta tantric traditions.

Autorentext

Bjarne Wernicke Olesen is a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK, and a teacher of classical South Asian languages and religions at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Inhalt

Foreword Introduction 1. Sakti in Early Tantric Saivism: Historical Observations on Goddesses, Cosmology, and Ritual in the Nisvasatattvasähita 2. The (Un)Dreadful Goddess: Aghori in Early Sakta Tantras 3. Varieties of Melaka in the Jayadrathayamala: Some Reflections on the Terms Häha and Priya 4. Snakebite Goddesses in the Sìakta Traditions: Roots and Incorporations of Tvarita, Kurukulla, and Bherunòdòa 5. The Cä ali as Sakti: Untouchable Women in Some Tantric Texts 6. Saktism and Hähayoga 7. Saktism, Polity and Society in Medieval Malabar