Lecture tag: Texts

Readings in the Netratantra: Session one (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

Readings in the Netratantra: Session two (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

Readings in the Netratantra: Session three (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

Text, paratext, and practice of the Devīmāhātmya (MT19)

The Devīmāhātmya, the core text of Hindu Śāktism, exist in numerous editions today and is one of the most popular ritual texts among practicing Hindus. While it has been studied extensively for its “crystallization” of the Goddess tradition and importance for the formation of a Śākta theology, less attention has been paid to the role, function and reception of the Devīmāhātmya as a ritual text in mainstream Hinduism. Based on textual analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, this lecture will discuss the practice of ritually reciting the Devīmāhātmya and its interpretation among contemporary practitioners in Varanasi. Particular attention is given to the paratextual elements that figures in the manuscripts and printed editions that circulates in present-day Varanasi, and how they impact the reception of the text. A broader question addressed in the lecture is how we can understand the role and function of Sanskrit texts in popular Hinduism.

Silje Lyngar Einarsen is an Associate Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University and co-manager for the Śākta Traditions research programme at the OCHS. Her research is concerned with the relationship between Hindu scriptures and religious practice. She has conducted research on the role of Śākta texts and ritual performances during Navarātri in Benares, combining textual and ethnographic research methods. She is co-author on a Danish standard introduction to Hinduism with a focus on Varanasi (Systime, 2015) and is currently working on a Danish translation of the Haṭhapradīpikā. She has also published articles on the Navarātri festival and the Devīmāhātmya.

Readings in the Netratantra: Session four (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

Readings in the Netratantra: Session five (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

Readings in the Netratantra: Session six (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

Theorizing the interaction between textual tradition and contemporary practices in Hindu studies (MT19)

A key problem, not only of Hindu studies but of the Comparative Study of Religion in general, is the relationship between the representations or ‘worldviews’ expressed in religious texts, and the experiences, practices and interpretations of actual practitioners. Using examples from research on the Sanskrit Devīmāhātmya in a site-specific context, this lecture will address theoretical and methodological questions central to Hindu Studies such as how (and why) to combine philological and ethnographic methods, how to understand the overlap or lack of overlap between the textual representations and the representations of religious practitioners, and how to theorize the relationship between textual semantics and embodied knowledge.

Silje Lyngar Einarsen is an Associate Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University and co-manager for the Śākta Traditions research programme at the OCHS. Her research is concerned with the relationship between Hindu scriptures and religious practice. She has conducted research on the role of Śākta texts and ritual performances during Navarātri in Benares, combining textual and ethnographic research methods. She is co-author on a Danish standard introduction to Hinduism with a focus on Varanasi (Systime, 2015) and is currently working on a Danish translation of the Haṭhapradīpikā. She has also published articles on the Navarātri festival and the Devīmāhātmya.

Readings in the Netratantra: Session eight (MT19)

The Netratantra is an important early medieval Śaiva/Śākta tantric text in Kashmir and Nepal, dating from around the early ninth century, and widely disseminated during the eleventh and probably tenth centuries. The text is a ‘universal’ (sarvasāmānya-) tantra, which overrides the distinctions between various tantric traditions and branches (e.g. between the Mantramārga and Kulamārga).

This term we will continue our reading of the Netratantra and discuss chapter seven on the subtle visualising meditation (sūkṣmadhyāna) based on the oldest available manuscript found in the National Archives of Kathmandu (NAK). In our translation of the text we will refer to and compare with other Nepalese manuscripts as well as the published edition in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies (KSTS). Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning from the perspective of the history of religions with an emphasis on models of the human in tantric Hinduism.

The Tantrāloka of Abhinavagupta: Introduction and Readings: Session one (HT20)

In these lectures Professor Sanderson will introduce the Tantrāloka of Abhinavagupta (fl. c. 975–1025), that author’s monumental exposition of the Śaiva Tantras from the standpoint of the Śākta Śaiva tradition known as the Trika and the philosophical non-dualism of the Pratyabhijñā texts, contextualizing his undertaking within the religious developments of the early medieval period. He will then translate and explain Abhinavagupta’s own introduction to his work (1.22–106), in which he sets out the fundamentals of his system.

Prof. Alexis Sanderson began his Indological career as a student of Sanskrit at Oxford in 1969, studied the Kashmirian Śaiva literature in Kashmir with the Śaiva Guru Swami Lakshman Joo from 1971 to 1977. He was Associate Professor (University Lecturer) of Sanskrit at Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College from 1977 to 1992 and then the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College from 1992 to 2015. From 2015 to the present he has been the Academic Director of the Institute for Śaiva and Tantric Studies in Portland, Oregon, where he is preparing a critical edition of the Tantrāloka with a translation and commentary. His field is early medieval religion in India and Southeast Asia, focusing on the history of Śaivism, its relations with the state, and its influence on Buddhism and Vaishnavism.