Archives: Lectures

Approaches to Religion 4: Semiotics

Our last seminar will examine the importance of the philosophy of the sign in the study of religions. A key thinker here who we will look at is Bakhtin introduced to the West by Julia Kristeva.

Keynote: The Rise of Goddess Worship in Early Medieval India

Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson is Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics, All Souls College, University of Oxford. He is a renowned expert on the history of Saivism and on tantric traditions. After taking undergraduate degrees in Classics and Sanskrit at Balliol College, Oxford, he spent six years in Kashmir studying with the celebrated scholar and Saiva guru Swami Lakshman Joo. From 1977 to 1992 he was Lecturer in Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Wolfson College. Since 1992 he has held the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religions and Ethics in the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of All Souls College.

On Goddesses and the Category Śakti in Early Tantric Śaivism: the case of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā

This presentation explores the nature and historical development of goddesses and the category of Śiva’s “power(s)” (śakti) in the archaic Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā. It is observed that while female deities have limited cultic importance, their significance increases in the later strata of the text, especially the Guhyasūtra. A shift from apotheoses of feminine-gendered cosmological categories to embodied goddesses appears evident, as are early developments in characteristic Śaiva doctrines concerning the roles of śakti in cosmogony and grace. The presentation also highlights some of the ways in which ritual forms and concerns of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā presage those of early śākta-oriented tantric systems.

Shaman Hatley (Concordia University, Montréal), researches the literature, ritual, and social history of Tantric Śaivism in medieval India, and religion in premodern Bengal. Hatley’s dissertation, “The Brahmayāmalatantra and Early Saiva Cult of Yoginīs,” analyses the history of the Śaiva cult of yoginīs and provides a partial critical edition of one of its earliest scriptural sources, the Brahmayāmala. Hatley is a contributor to the Tāntrikābhidhānakośa (‘A Dictionary of Technical Terms from Hindu Tantric Literature’), and has authored several articles and book chapters concerning tantric practices and goddess cults. His current research focuses on the ritual roles and divinization of women in early Tantric Śaivism and Buddhism. He completed his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 2007, under the direction of Harunaga Isaacson.

The (un)dreadful goddess: Aghorī in early śākta tantras

This paper proposes to examine the figure and role of the goddess Aghorī (lit. ‘undreadful’) in early śākta tantras from about the seventh to ninth centuries CE, particularly in the Brahmayāmala and the Siddhayogeśvarīmata. In addition to being Bhairava’s consort (and identical with Bhairavī, the Frightening One), Aghorī appears in various sets of eight goddesses, who may represent the eight Mother goddesses (mātṛ). She is also said to be at the origin of all yoginīs. First, I shall try to explore the relation between Aghorī and her vedic counterpart, Aghora, and then to see how she attains the status of the supreme goddess in some contexts. The question of her presence or absence on different maṇḍalas will also be raised, and the consequences such details of the cult may entail will be analysed. Finally, I shall discuss her role in the creation of a specifically śākta pantheon.

Judit Törzsök studied English and Indian Studies at ELTE University, Budapest (MA, 1992), and completed her DPhil under Prof. Alexis Sanderson’s supervision at Merton College, Oxford (2000). After a Junior Research Fellowship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and a post-doctoral year at the University of Groningen, she was appointed Assistant Professor (maître de conférences), at the University of Lille III, where she still teaches Sanskrit and classical Indian religions and literature. In the past four years, she also lectured at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, where she obtained her habilitation in 2010, supervised by Lyne Bansat-Boudon. Her main research areas are pre-twelfth century śaiva tantrism (especially the early phase of goddess cults), classical Sanskrit literature (particularly drama), and purāṇic śaivism, with occasional incursions into classical Tamil devotional literature. She has published articles on various aspects of śaivism and tantrism, contributed to the Clay Sanskrit Library with two volumes, and participates in the Skandapurāṇa Project (Groningen) and the Tāntrikābhidhānakośa (Hindu Tantric Dictionary Project, Vienna).

Varieties of melaka in the Jayadrathayāmala

The encounters with yoginīs, called melaka or melāpa, constitute the core of the post-initiation tantric practice in the Vidyāpīṭha texts, and priya- and haṭha- varieties were well known to the pre-Abhinavagupta śaiva tantric literature. This presentation will explore the nature of the haṭhamelaka as it is described in the Jayadrathayāmala, including its relation to the practice of provoked possession (āveśa), as well as of some other rare varieties of melaka that can be found in this text only.

Olga Serbaeva Saraogi, Post-doc. researcher (Habilitation) at the faculty of Philosophy, Indogermanisches Seminar, Abteilung für Indologie, University of Zurich.