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

In the West, the varied body of texts and traditions known as Tantra for more than two centuries has had the capacity to scandalize and shock. For European colonizers, 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 recent years, Tantra has become the focus of a still larger cultural and political debate. In the eyes of many Hindus, much of the western literature on Tantra represents a form of neo-colonialism, which continues to portray India as an exotic, erotic, hyper-sexualized Orient. Which, then, is the 'real' Tantra? Focusing on one of the oldest and most important Tantric traditions, based in Assam, northeast India, Hugh B Urban shows that Tantra is less about optimal sexual pleasure than about harnessing the divine power of the goddess that flows alike through the cosmos, the human body and political society. In a fresh and vital contribution to the field, the author suggests that the 'real' meaning of Tantra lies in helping us rethink not just the history of Indian religions, but also our own modern obsessions with power, sex and the invidious legacies of cultural imperialism.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION: Tantra and the Politics of South Asian Studies 1. MATRIX OF POWER: The Íåkta P•†has and the Sacred Landscape of Tantra 2. BLOOD FOR THE GODDESS: Divine Menstruation and Animal Sacrifice 3. GODDESS OF POWER: Tantra, Kingship and Sacrifice in South Asian History 4. THE SACRIFICE OF DESIRE: Sexual Rites and the Secret Sacrifice 5. WHAT ABOUT THE WOMAN? Gender Politics and the Interpretation of Women in Tantra 6. “THE POWER OF GOD IN A DARK VALLEY:” Reform, Colonialism, and the Decline of Tantra in South Asia 7. THE POWER OF THE GODDESS IN A POSTCOLONIAL AGE: Transformations of Tantra in the 20th and 21st Centuries CONCLUSIONS: Tantra and the End of Imperialism: Beyond “Deep Orientalism” and “Third-Worldism” Selected Bibliography

About the Author :
Hugh B Urban is Professor of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. One of the leading western scholars of Tantric religion, Professor Urban is the author of several books which include Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism (2006), Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion (2003) and Songs of Ecstasy: Tantric and Devotional Songs from Bengal (2001).

Review :
'A major scholarly treatment of a much-misconstrued esoteric tradition... an impressive achievement.' - Paul B. Courtright, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Emory University; 'Boldly and creatively takes the arguments about Tantra in an entirely new direction.' - Wendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago; 'Writing against and beyond all the old East-West dualisms, Urban has become one of our most able, artful, and careful guides.' - Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University