Tantric Vision of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas

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What is one to make of a group of goddesses that includes a goddess who cuts her own head off, a goddess who sits on a corpse while pulling the tongue of a demon, or a goddess who prefers sex with corpses? Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine deals with a group of ten Hindu tantric goddesses, the Mahavidyas, who embody habits, attributes, or identities usually considered repulsive or socially subversive. It is within the context of tantric worship that devotees seek to identify themselves with these forbidding goddesses. The Mahavidyas seem to function as "awakeners" – symbols that help to project one’s consciousness beyond the socially acceptable or predictable. Kinsley not only describes the eccentric qualities of each of these goddesses, but seeks to interpret the Mahavidyas as a group and to explain their importance for understanding Tantra and the Hindu tradition. "This is a far-ranging and impressively comprehensive book…. Kinsley's book will set a new standard for the kind of thorough scholarship that can and ideally should be brought to bear upon the interpretation of Hindu goddesses and Tantric deities."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Kinsley

David Kinsley is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. He is the author of other books on Hinduism including The Sword and the Flute-Kali and Krsna, Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime in Hindu Mythology (University of California Press, 1975), The Divine Player-A Study of Krsna Lila (Motilal Banarsidass, 1978)

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Bibliographic information

Title
Tantric Vision of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
812081522X, 9788120815223
Length
x+318p., Figures; Notes; Glossary; Bibliography; Index; 23cm.
Subjects