The Roots of Tantra (Suny Series in Tantric Studies) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791453065 ISBN 13: 9780791453063

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2002

Synopsis

Collective works of this kind are notoriously difficult to summarize and assess. Here, the authors, scholars across various fields, attempt to deal with different aspects of the origins of Tantra as a movement in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Perhaps most interesting are M.C. Joshi's essay, "Historical and Iconographic Aspects of Sakta Tantrism," Thomas McEvilley's "The Spinal Serpent," and editor Harper's "Warring Saktis." Like the contributors, this reviewer flinches from the task of defining Tantrism. Suffice it to say that this volume is a savory and well-illustrated collection on certain aspects of religion in the Indian subcontinent. Highly recommended.

About this title

About the Author:

Katherine Anne Harper is Associate Professor of Art History at Loyola Marymount University and the author of The Iconography of the Saptamatrikas: Seven Hindu Goddesses of Spiritual Transformation.

Robert L. Brown is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Curator of Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is the author of The Dvaravati Wheels of the Law and the Indianization of South East Asia, and editor of Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God, also published by SUNY Press, and Art from Thailand.

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0791453065
• ISBN 13: 9780791453063
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280
• Editor: Harper Katherine Anne, Brown Robert L.