Early Tantra: Discovering the interrelationships and common ritual syntax of the Saiva, Buddhist, Vaisnava and Saura traditions
Final Report Abstract
The project made it possible for us to prepare critical editions, translations, and studies of large parts of key works of the early tantric traditions. Of great importance for this was the three workshops that we were able to organize, events in which we concentrated for two weeks each time on reading closely and discussing together drafts of those editions. We were extremely fortunate that many leading scholars of tantric traditions participated actively in these workshops. In the course of this work we were able to clarify, as had been hoped, much of the 'common syntax' of the early traditions, uncovering hitherto unnoticed parallels and commonalities between them. We were also able to shed some further light on the factors that distinguish the Buddhist from the Śaiva and the Vaiṣṇava traditions. Our principal results in this area are to be found in the introduction to the edition (by Goodall, Sanderson and Isaacson) of major parts of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā), and in the volume of articles that are outcomes of the project. The results of the project are invaluable to all those interested in understanding a forgotten chapter in the religious history of South Asia, that of the early tantric traditions, as well as more broadly to those studying tantric religions and their profound influence, even extending to the present day, on religious thought and practice across Asia. Our studies have provided a firm scholarly basis for the study of the early history of these traditions; have made important texts accessible for the first time both in careful critical editions and in annotated translations; and have shed light on the close relationships and common ritual syntax of the several tantric traditions, particularly those of Śaiva and Buddhist tantra.
Publications
- The Textual Sources of the Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa): With Special Reference to its Early Nepalese Witness NGMPP A39/⒋. In: Journal of the Nepal Research Centre 14 (2012), pp. 55–7⒌
Martin Delhey
- Early Tantric Vaiṣṇavism: Three Newly Discovered Works of the Pañcarātra. The Svāyambhuva-pañcarātra, Devāmṛtapañcarātra and Aṣṭādaśavidhāna. Critically edited from their 11th- and 12th-century Nepalese palmleaf manuscripts with an Introduction and Notes. Pondichéry: Institut Français de Pondhichéry/École Française d’Extrême-Orient/Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg, 20⒖ Collection Indologie 129 = Early Tantra Series ⒉
Diwakar Acharya:
- The Brahmayāmalatantra or Picumata: Volume II. The Religious Observances and Sexual Ritual of the Tantric Practitioner: Chapters 3, 21 and 45. A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation. Pondichéry: Institut Français de Pondhichéry/École Française d’Extrême-Orient/Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg, 20⒖ Collection Indologie 130 = Early Tantra Series ⒉
Csaba Kiss
- The Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā: The Earliest Surviving Śaiva Tantra. Volume 1: A Critical Edition & Annotated Translation of the Mūlasūtra, Uttarasūtra & Nayasūtra. Pondichéry: Institut Français de Pondhichéry/École Française d’Extrême-Orient/Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg, 20⒖ Collection Indologie 128 = Early Tantra Series ⒈
Dominic Goodall, in collaboration with Harunaga Isaacson and Alexis Sanderson
