Living Mantra

Living Mantra is an anthropology of mantra-experience among Hindu-tantric practitioners. In ancient Indian doctrine and legends, mantras perceived by rishis (seers) invoke deities and have transformative powers. Adopting a methodology that combines scholarship and practice, Mani Rao discovers a continuing tradition of visionaries ( rishis /seers) and revelations in south India's Andhra-Telangana. Both deeply researched and replete with fascinating narratives, the book reformulates the poetics of mantra-practice as it probes practical questions. Can one know if a vision is real or imagined? Is vision visual? Are deity-visions mediated by culture? If mantras are effective, what is the role of devotion? Are mantras language? Living Mantra interrogates not only theoretical questions, but also those a practitioner would ask: how does one choose a deity, for example, or what might bind one to a guru? Rao breaks fresh ground in redirecting attention to the moments that precede systematization and canon-formation, showing how authoritative sources are formed.

An intellectual journey through mantra practice at three Goddess-centered mantra communities in Andhra-Telangana, India Combines narrative, autoethnography, and recent scholarship to paint a full picture of mantra as lived experience Reinterprets mantra in the light of fieldwork to bring a new understanding of mantra to anthropological and religious scholarship

Auteur
Mani Rao, PhD, is a poet and independent scholar. She has nine poetry books and two books in translation from Sanskrit including The Bhagavad Gita and Kalidasa for the 21 st Century Reader . See manirao.com for links and updates.

Résumé

"This is a valuable book for scholars of Religious Studies, South Asian Studies, and Anthropology- one that should inspire further ethnographic engagement with these vital traditions." (Finnian M.M. Gerety, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 46 (3), September, 2020)

"Rao dovetails scholarship and practice to grapple with the captivating, eye-opening, mind-blowing narratives of the practitioners ... Living Mantra documents the modern-day existence of seers (rishis), thus underscoring the open, ongoing nature of divine revelation in Hindu traditions." (Raj Balkaran, New Books network, newbooksnetwork.com, February 01, 2019)

Contenu

Part 1: Preparation.- 1. Introduction.- 2. A Mountain of Scholarship.- 3. Crossing Over.- 4. Are there Revelations Today? - Part 2: Fieldwork.- 5. Body-Yantra: Sahasrakshi Meru Temple, Devipuram.- 6. Self-Made: Svayam Siddha Kali Pitham, Guntur.- 7. "I am in Mantra, Mantra is in me": Nachiketa Tapovan, Kodgal.- Part 3.- 8. Understanding Mantra Again. <p