Power of Tantra Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies

Name: Power of Tantra Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies
Price: 42.03 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781845118747

ISBN-10: 184511874X

ISBN-13: 9781845118747

Edition: 2009

Authors: Hugh B. Urban

List price: $44.99

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Description:

In the West, the varied body of texts and traditions known as Tantra for more than two centuries has had the capacity to scandalise and shock. For European colonisers, Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries of the Victorian era, Tantra was generally seen as the most degenerate and depraved example of the worst tendencies of the so-called 'Indian mind': a pathological mixture of sensuality and religion that prompted the decline of modern Hinduism. Yet for most contemporary New Age and popular writers, Tantra is celebrated as a much-needed affirmation of physical pleasure and sex: indeed as a 'cult of ecstasy' to counter the perceived hypocritical prudery of many Westerners. In…

Book details

List price: $44.99
Copyright year: 2009
Publisher: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited
Publication date: 10/30/2009
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 264
Size: 6.10" wide x 9.33" long x 0.78" tall
Weight: 0.968
Language: English



List of Illustrations


Acknowledgments


Introduction Tantra and the Politics of South Asian Studies



Matrix of Power: The &Sacute;&abar;kta P&ibar;&tbdot;has and the Sacred Landscape of Tantra



Blood for the Goddess: Animal Sacrifice and Divine Menstruation



Goddess of Power: Tantra, Kingship, and Sacrifice in South Asian History



The Sacrifice of Desire: Sexual Rites and the Secret Sacrifice



What About the Woman? Gender Politics and the Interpretation of Women in Tantra



The Power of God in a Dark Valley: Reform, Colonialism, and the Decline of Tantra in South Asia



The Power of the Goddess in a Postcolonial Age: Transformations of Tantra in the twentieth and twenty-first Centuries


Conclusions Tantra and the End of Imperialism: Beyond "Deep Orientalism" and "Third-Worldism"


Notes


Select Bibliography


Index