Body Building in the Hindu Tantric Tradition
The Advantages and Confusions of Scriptural Entextualization in the Worship of the Goddess K?l?”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.38087Keywords:
Bengal, bhakti, entextualization, Hindu goddesses, Kali, kundalini yoga, Syama Sangit, TantraAbstract
This article investigates what happens when Tantra, a Hindu esoteric system that is based on the interpretation of the human being as a living, ritualized embodiment of scripture, becomes exotericized through a devotional framework. Building upon the work of Gavin Flood, who coins the term “entextualization” to refer to the way a textual tradition is “written upon” or divinizes the human body, we chart the changes in the medieval Sanskrit Tantric tradition of internalizing the Hindu goddess K?l? when it is taken up by eighteenth-century Bengali devotional poets. What is lost when the esoteric comes out into the open?
References
Assmann, Jan. 2006. Religion and Cultural Memory: Ten Studies, translated by Rodney Livingstone. Stanford: Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698008097401
Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. 1990. The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/463302
Coburn, Thomas B. 1984. Dev?-M?h?tmya: The Crystalization of the Goddess Tradition. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
———. 1991. Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of the Dev?-M?h?tmya and a Study of its Interpretation. Albany: State University of New York Press. https://doi.org/10.3406/rhr.1993.1438
Davidson, Ronald M. 2002. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/507859
Flood, Gavin. 2006. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. London: I. B. Taurus.
Goudriaan, Teun and Sanjukta Gupta. 1981. Hindu Tantric and ??kta Literature. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00159453
Harper, Katherine Anne and Robert L. Brown, eds. 2002. The Roots of Tantra. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Isl?m, K?z? Nazrul. 2008. Ra?ga Jab?, collected in Najrul-Racan?bal?, 12 vols. Dhaka: Bangla Academy.
Padoux, André. 2017. The Hindu Tantric World: An Overview. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McDermott, Rachel Fell. 2000. “Raising Snakes in Bengal: The Use of Tantric Imagery in ??kta Poetry Contexts.” In Tantra in Practice, edited by David Gordon White, 167–183. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691190457-015
———. 2001a. Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: K?l? and Um? in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/375102
———. 2001b. Singing to the Goddess: Poems to K?l? and Um? from Bengal. New York: Oxford University Press.
———. 2011. Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals. New York: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/mcde12918-toc
McDermott, Rachel Fell and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds. 2003. Encountering K?l?: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x04310256
Orzech, Charles. 2017. “Liturgy, Icon, and Text in the Development of Esoteric Buddhism.” Talk delivered at the Asian Centre of the University of British Columbia. 9 February.
Rawson, Philip. 1995. The Art of Tantra. London: Thames & Hudson.
Samuel, Geoffrey. 2008. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511818820
Slouber, Michael. 2017. Early Tantric Medicine: Snakebite, Mantras, and Healing in the Garu?a Tantras. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341429
White, David Gordon. 2000. “Introduction.” In Tantric in Practice, Princeton Readings in Religions, edited by D. G. White, 3–38. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691190457-001
———. 2003. Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex”in its South Asian Contexts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226027838.001.0001
Woodroffe, Sir John. 1964. The Serpent Power, being the ?a?-cakra-nir?pa?a and P?duk?-Pañcak?. Fourteenth edition. Madras: Ganesh.
Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. 1990. The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/463302
Coburn, Thomas B. 1984. Dev?-M?h?tmya: The Crystalization of the Goddess Tradition. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
———. 1991. Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of the Dev?-M?h?tmya and a Study of its Interpretation. Albany: State University of New York Press. https://doi.org/10.3406/rhr.1993.1438
Davidson, Ronald M. 2002. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/507859
Flood, Gavin. 2006. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. London: I. B. Taurus.
Goudriaan, Teun and Sanjukta Gupta. 1981. Hindu Tantric and ??kta Literature. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00159453
Harper, Katherine Anne and Robert L. Brown, eds. 2002. The Roots of Tantra. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Isl?m, K?z? Nazrul. 2008. Ra?ga Jab?, collected in Najrul-Racan?bal?, 12 vols. Dhaka: Bangla Academy.
Padoux, André. 2017. The Hindu Tantric World: An Overview. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McDermott, Rachel Fell. 2000. “Raising Snakes in Bengal: The Use of Tantric Imagery in ??kta Poetry Contexts.” In Tantra in Practice, edited by David Gordon White, 167–183. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691190457-015
———. 2001a. Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: K?l? and Um? in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/375102
———. 2001b. Singing to the Goddess: Poems to K?l? and Um? from Bengal. New York: Oxford University Press.
———. 2011. Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals. New York: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/mcde12918-toc
McDermott, Rachel Fell and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds. 2003. Encountering K?l?: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x04310256
Orzech, Charles. 2017. “Liturgy, Icon, and Text in the Development of Esoteric Buddhism.” Talk delivered at the Asian Centre of the University of British Columbia. 9 February.
Rawson, Philip. 1995. The Art of Tantra. London: Thames & Hudson.
Samuel, Geoffrey. 2008. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511818820
Slouber, Michael. 2017. Early Tantric Medicine: Snakebite, Mantras, and Healing in the Garu?a Tantras. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341429
White, David Gordon. 2000. “Introduction.” In Tantric in Practice, Princeton Readings in Religions, edited by D. G. White, 3–38. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691190457-001
———. 2003. Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex”in its South Asian Contexts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226027838.001.0001
Woodroffe, Sir John. 1964. The Serpent Power, being the ?a?-cakra-nir?pa?a and P?duk?-Pañcak?. Fourteenth edition. Madras: Ganesh.
Published
2019-08-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
McDermott, R. F. (2019). Body Building in the Hindu Tantric Tradition: The Advantages and Confusions of Scriptural Entextualization in the Worship of the Goddess K?l?”. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 10(1-2), 70-87. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.38087
