The Body Divine: Tantric Śaivite Ritual Practices in the Svacchandatantra and Its Commentary
This work examines ritual, cosmology, and divinization as articulated in select passages of the Svacchandatantra and its commentary by the late tenth century non-dual theologian, Kṣemarāja. Both the Svacchandatantra and its commentary prescribe the worship of the deity Svacchandabhairava, a form of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
[2014]
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| In: |
Religions
Year: 2014, Volume: 5, Issue: 3, Pages: 738-750 |
| Further subjects: | B
Kṣemarāja
B Tantric Śaivism B Tantra B Hinduism |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This work examines ritual, cosmology, and divinization as articulated in select passages of the Svacchandatantra and its commentary by the late tenth century non-dual theologian, Kṣemarāja. Both the Svacchandatantra and its commentary prescribe the worship of the deity Svacchandabhairava, a form of Śiva, and his consort Aghoreśvarī. Drawing on Gavin Flood’s notion of entextualization, I examine how the rituals described seek to inscribe the corporeal body so that the practitioner is made part of the larger Tantric body and tradition. This present study serves to illustrate the formulation of a Tantric body in the rituals prescribed in the Svacchandatantra and commentary and to extend the theory of entextualization to include the ritual environment. I argue that a Tantric Śaivite religious identity is formulated through rituals which seek to create linkages between the cosmos, the body, and by extension, the ritual environment. |
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| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel5030738 |