Tantrapuspanjali: Tantric Traditions and Philosophy of Kashmir

by Bettina Sharada Baumer, Hamsa Stainton, Pandit H.N. Chakravarty

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Pandit H.N. Chakravarty (1918-2011) was a traditional scholar of Tantra and Kashmir Saivism in Varanasi who contributed much to the continued teaching of the tradition. The present volume is a tribute to his memory by some of his students and admirers. It contains original articles on important Tantras and Tantric traditions of Kashmir (by Bettina Sharada Baumer, Advaitavadini Kaul, Mark Dyczkowski, Annette Wilke, John Dupuche) and on the philosophy and aesthetics of non-dualist Kashmir Saivism (by John Nemec, Navjivan Rastogi, Mrinal Kaul, Sadananda Das, David Peter Lawrence, Ernst Furlinger, Aleksandra Wenta, Hamsa Stainton). The volume is illustrated with biographical photos and iconographical images.

Contents: Foreword/Sachchidanand Joshi. Preface/Advaitavadini Kaul. Introduction. Pandit Hemendra Nath Chakravarty: Scholar, Teacher, Sadhaka/Bettina Sharada Baumer. Mudra Photos. Tantrapuspanjali: Offerings in Memory of a True Pandit/Hamsa Stainton. Section One: Tantra. 1. The Yoga of the Netra Tantra: A Translation of Chapters VII and VIII with Introduction/Bettina Sharada Baumer. 2. Svacchanda Bhairava: Blissful Spontaneous Will of Siva/Advaitavadini Kaul. 3. The Khacakrapancakastotra, Hymn to the Five Spheres of Emptiness: Introduction, Edition and Translation/Mark Dyczkowski. 4. Varahi Worship in the Parasurama-Kalpasutra: A Study of Imagination and Transformation in Kaula Srividya/Annette Wilke. 5. The Wisdom of Excess: Guru, Initiation and Practice in an Extreme Tantric Ritual/John Dupuche. Section Two: Philosophy. 6. The Body and Consciousness in Early Pratyabhijna Philosophy: Amurtatva in Somananda’s Sivadrsti/John Nemec. 7. A Brief Hermeneutical Note on Consciousness in Utpaladeva’s Pratyabhijna Texts/Navjivan Rastogi. 8. Ontological Hierarchy in the Tantraloka of Abhinavagupta/Mrinal Kaul. 9. Purnata-pratyabhijna, The Recognition of Fullness of M.M. Acarya Rameshvar Jha: An Introduction/Sadananda Das. 10. Pratyabhijna Philosophy and the Evolution of Consciousness: Religious Metaphysics, Biosemiotics and Cognitive Science/David Peter Lawrence. Section Three: Aesthetics. 11. The Doctrine of Pratibha in Selected Texts of Abhinavagupta/Ernst Furlinger. 12. Smell: The Sense Perception of Recognition/Aleksandra Wenta. 13. Poetry and Ksemaraja’s Hermeneutics of Non-dualism/Hamsa Stainton. Post-Scripts: 14. Ksana: Its Spiritual Significance/Pt. Hemendra Nath Chakravarty. 15. Posthumous Letter to Panditji Hemendra Nath Chakravarty/Bettina Sharada Baumer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bettina Sharada Baumer

Bettina Sharada Baumer, Indologist from Austria and Professor of Religious Studies (Visiting Professor at several universities), has lived and worked in Varanasi since 1967. She is the author and editor of a number of books and over 50 research articles. Her main fields of research are non-dualistic Kashmir Saivism, Indian aesthetics, temple architecture and religious traditions of Odisha, and comparative mysticism. She has been Coordinator of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Varanasi. She has translated important Sanskrit texts into German and English. Her important publication is Abhinavagupta's Hermeneutics of the Absolute, Anuttaraprakriya (2011). In 2015 she received the Padma Shri award from the Presient of India. She has been extensively giving seminars on texts of Kashmir Saivism in India and Europe over the last 20 years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Hamsa Stainton

Hamsa Stainton is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and he earned his Ph.D.from Columbia University. His interests include Saivism and Tantric traditions, religion in Kashmir, Indian aesthetics, bhakti traditions, the Mahabharata, and Sanskrit literature. His current research and recent publications focus on the popular genre of sanskrit devotional poetry called the stotra ("hymn of praise"), especially in the religious and literary history of Kashmir.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pandit H.N. Chakravarty

Pandit H.N.Chakravarty (1918-2011) was a traditional scholar of Tantra and Kashmir Saivism in Varanasi who contributed much to the continued teaching of the tradition. The present volume is a tribute o his memory by some of his students and admirers. It contains original articles on important Tantras and Tantric of Kashmir (by Bettina Sharada Baumer, Advaitavadini Kaul, Mark Dyczkowski, Annette Wilke, John Dupuche) and on the philosophy and aesthetics of non-dualist Kashmir Saivism (by John Nemec, Navjivan Rastogi, Mrinal Kaul, Sadananda Das, David Peter Lawrence, Ernst Furlinger, Aleksandra Wenta, Hamsa Stainton). The volume is illustrated with biographical photos and iconographical images.