Tantric Revisionings is a collection of articles relating to Tibetan Budhdism and Indian Religion. Five of these appear here for the first time. The remainder have been published previously, though many of the publications are not easily accessible. The articles presented here are linked by a common approach to ‘religion’ as something that can be understood in at least two ways. In the first perspective, religion is a central expression of human creativity, linked to the core of what we are as human beings. In the second, it is a vital aspect of how we live together in society. Geoffrey Samuel adopts the historically and textually informed anthropological approach, seeking to locate and understand religion in its social and cultural context. The question of the relation between ‘popular’ (folk, domestic, villages, shamanic) religion and elite (literary, textual, monastic) religion forms a recurring theme through these studies. The Buddhist and Hindu traditions in their many manifestations are part of humanity’s common heritage. Articles in this book try to move towards a fuller and more inclusive understanding of these traditions and their social context.
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