AIVISM AND THE TANTRIC TRADITIONS EXAM

Examiners: Dr. Shaman Hatley (UMass Boston) and Prof. Anne Monius

Seth Powell

The aim of this exam is to provide a strong foundation and overview of the academic study of
aivism and tantric traditions. The exam draws upon a variety of disciplinary approaches
including philology, art history, philosophy, and religious studies, and considers how they may
be brought together most fruitfully. The exam has been heuristically divided into six sections.
The first four provide a broad overview of: 1) general and early aivism; 2) general studies of
tantra, including Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions; 3) tantric aivism; and 4) the tantric
body. The final two sections of the exam provide surveys of particular aiva/tantric orders or
religious movements: 5) Ntha, Siddha, and Mahsiddha traditions; and 6) Vraaiva or
Ligyata traditions.

PART 1: GENERAL AND EARLY AIVISM

Bakker, Hans T. 2001. Sources for Reconstructing Ancient Forms of iva Worship. In
Les Sources et Le Temps / Sources and Time. A Colloquium, edited by Grimal Francois,
397412. Pondicherry: Institut francais de Pondichery, EFEO.

Bisschop, Peter C. 2006. Early aivism and the Skandapura: Sects and Centres. Vol. 21.
Groningen Oriental Studies. Groningen: Egbert Forsten.

. 2010. aivism in the Gupta-Vkaka Age. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 20
(4): 47788.

. 2014. Invoking the Powers That Be: The ivadharmas Mahnti Mantra.
South Asian Studies 30 (2): 13341.

Dasgupta, Surendranath. 1955. A History of Indian Philosophy. Volume V. Southern Schools

of aivism. Cambridge: University Press.

Doniger, Wendy. 1981 [1973]. iva: the Erotic Ascetic. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kramrisch, Stella. 1992. The Presence of iva. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Meister, Michael W., ed. 1984. Discourses on iva: Proceedings of a Symposium on the
Nature of Religious Imagery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
[selections].

Sears, Tamara I. 2014. Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings: Architecture and Asceticism in
Medieval India. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
PART 2: GENERAL TANTRA STUDIES

Hindu Tantra

Biernacki, Loriliai. 2007. Renowned Goddess of Desire: Women, Sex, and Speech in Tantra.
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

Bhnemann, Gudrun, ed. 2003. Maalas and Yantras in the Hindu Traditions. Brills
Indological Library, v.18. Leiden; Boston: Brill [selections].

Dehejia, Vidya. 1986. Yogin, Cult and Temples: A Tantric Tradition. New Delhi: National
Museum.

Dimock, Edward C. 1966. The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaiava-
Sahajiy Cult of Bengal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Goudriaan, Teun, and S. Gupta. 1981. Hindu Tantric and kta Literature. Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz.

Olesen, Bjarne Wernicke, ed. 2016. Goddess Traditions in Tantric Hinduism: History,
Practice and Doctrine. Routledge Studies in Tantric Traditions. New York, NY:
Routledge [selections].

Padoux, Andr. 1990. Vc: The Concept of the Word in Selected Hindu Tantras. Albany:
State University of New York Press.

Padoux, Andr, and Teun Goudriaan. 1992. Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism:
Studies in Honour of Andr Padoux. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Urban, Hugh B. 1999. The Extreme Orient: The Construction of Tantrism as a

Category in the Orientalist Imagination. Journal of Religion 29: 123146.

. 2003. Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion. Berkeley:
University of California Press.

White, David Gordon, ed. 2000. Tantra in Practice. Princeton University Press.

Buddhist Tantra

Davidson, Ronald M. 2004. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: Social History of the Tantric
Movement. New York: Columbia University Press.

. 2002. Reframing Sahaja: Genre, Representation, Ritual and Lineage. Journal

of Indian Philosophy 30 (1): 4381.

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Gellner, David N. 1992. Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its
Hierarchy of Ritual. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Gray, David B., and Ryan Richard Overbey, eds. 2016. Tantric Traditions in Transmission
and Translation. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press
[selections].

Isaacson, Harunaga. 1998. Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D.
1200). Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2: 2349.

Lopez, Donald S. 1996. Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Stra. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.

Sanderson, Alexis. 1994. Vajrayna: Origin and Function.

Shaw, Miranda Eberle. 1994. Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Snellgrove, David L. 1987. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan
Successors. Boston; New York: Shambhala.

Wallace, Vesna A. 2001. The Inner Klacakratantra a Buddhist Tantric View of the
Individual. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wedemeyer, Christian K. 2013. Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and
Transgression in the Indian Traditions. New York: Columbia University Press.

PART 3: TANTRIC AIVISM

Acharya, Diwakar. 2011. Pupatas. Edited by Jacobsen, Knut A. Brill Encyclopedia of

Hinduism 3: 45866.

Brunner, Hlne. 1992. The Four Pdas of the aivgamas. In Dr. S. S. Janaki
Felicitation Volume. Madras: Kuppuswamy Research Institute.

Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. 1990. The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu
kta Tantrism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Davis, Richard H. 1991. Ritual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshiping iva in Medieval India.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. 1987. The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and
Practices of Kashmir Shaivism. State University of New York Press.

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. 1988. The Canon of the aivgama and the Kubjik: Tantras of the Western Kaula
Tradition. SUNY Press.

Goodall, Dominic. 1998. Bhaa Rmakahas Commentary on the Kiraatantra. Volume I.

Chapters 1-6. Critical Edition and Annotated Translation. Pondicherry: Institut
Franais dIndologie.

. 2011. The Throne of Worship: An Archaeological Tell of Religious Rivalries.

Studies in History 27 (2): 221250.

. 2015. How the Tattvas of Tantric aivism Came to Be 36: The Evidence of the
Nivsatattvasahit. Tantric Studies, November 15, Article 2: 77-111.

Goodall, Dominic, Alexis Sanderson, and Harunaga Isaacson. 2015. The

Nivsatattvasahit: The Earliest Surviving aiva Tantra. Collection Indologie. Early
Tantra Series; 1. Pondicherry, India: Institut Franais de Pondichry; Paris, France
[Introduction].

Hara, Minoru. 2002. Pupata Studies. Edited by Jun Takashima. Publications of the De
Nobili Research Library; v. 30. Vienna: Sammlung De Nobili.

Hatley, Shaman. 2007. The Brahmayamalatantra and Early Saiva Cult of Yoginis.
Ph.D., United States Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania.

. 2010. Tantric aivism in Early Medieval India: Recent Research and Future
Directions. Religion Compass 4 (10): 61528.

Lorenzen, David N. 1972. The Kplikas and Klmukhas; Two Lost aivite Sects. Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Muller-Ortega, Paul E. 1989. The Triadic Heart of iva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta
in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Nemec, John. 2011. The Ubiquitous iva: Somandas ivadi and His Tantric Interlocutors.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rastelli, Marion. 2000. The Religious Practice of the Sdhaka According to the
Jaykhyasamhit. Indo-Iranian Journal 43 (4): 31995.

Sanderson, Alexis. 1985. Purity and Power among the Brahmins of Kashmir. In The
Category of the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy and History, edited by S. Collins, M.
Carrithers, and S. Lukes, 190216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

. 1986. Maala and gamic Identity in the Trika of Kashmir. In Mantras et dia-
grammes rituels dans Lhinduisme, edited by Andr Padoux, 169214. Paris: ditions du
CNRS.

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. 1988. aivism and the Tantric Traditions. In The Worlds Religions: The Religions
of Asia, edited by S. Sutherland, L. Houlden, P. Clarke, and F. Hardy, 660704.
London: Routledge.

. 1990. The Visualization of the Deities of the Trika. In Limage divine: Culte et
meditation dans lhinduisme, edited by Andr Padoux, 3188. Paris: ditions du CNRS.

. 1995. Meaning in Tantric Ritual. In Essais sur le Rituel III. Colloque du centenaire
de la selection des sciences religieuses de lEcole Practique des Hautes Etudes, edited by
Anne-Marie Blondeau and Kristofer Schippers, 1595. Louvain: Peeters.

. 2002a. History through Textual Criticism in the Study of aivism, the

Pacartra and the Buddhist Yogintantras. In Les sources et le temps. Sources and
Time. A Colloquium. Pondicherry 1113 January 1997, edited by Franois Grimal, PDI
91, 1-47. Pondicherry: Institut Franais de Pondichry / Ecole Franaise dExtrme-
Orient.

. 2004. Religion and the State: aiva Ociants in the Territory of the Kings
Brahmanical Chaplain. Indo-Iranian Journal 47 (3-4): 229300.

. 2006. The Lkulas: New Evidence of a System Intermediate between

Pcrthika Pupatism and gamic aivism. Indian Philosophical Annual 24: 143
217.

. 2007. The aiva Exegetes of Kashmir. In Mlanges tantrique la mmoire

dHlne Brunner. Tantric Studies in Honor of Hlne Brunner, edited by Dominic
Goodall and Andr Padoux, 231442. Pondicherry: Institut Franais de Pondichry /
cole Franaise dExtrme-Orient.

. 2009. The aiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of aivism during the Early
Medieval Period. In Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo,
41-350. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo.

. 2013. The Impact of Inscriptions on the Interpretation of Early aiva

Literature. Indo-Iranian Journal 56 (34): 21144.

. 2015. aiva Texts. Brills Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Trzsk, Judit. 2000. Tantric Goddesses and Their Supernatural Powers in the Trika of
Kashmir (Bhedatraya in the Siddhayogevarmata). Rivista degli Studi Orientali 73/14:
131147.

White, David Gordon. 2003. Kiss of the Yogini: Tantric Sex in Its South Asian Contexts.
Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.

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PART 4: THE TANTRIC BODY

Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroe). 1958. The Serpent Power: Being the a-Cakra-
Nirpaa and Pduk-Pacaka: Two Works on Laya Yoga. Madras: Ganesh.

Bouillier, Vronique, and Gilles Tarabout, eds. 2002. Images du corps dans le monde
hindou. Collection Monde Indien. Paris: CNRS [selections].

Heilijgers-Seelen, Dorothea Maria. 1994. The System of Five Cakras in Kubjikmatatantra

14-16. Groningen, the Netherlands: E. Forsten.

Flood, Gavin. 2005. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. I. B. Tauri

. 2009. Body, Breath and Representation in aiva Tantrism. Paragrana

Internationale Zeitschrift Fr Historische Anthropologie 18 (1): 7892.

Hatley, Shaman. 2015. Kualin. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions (Springer).

Padoux, Andr. 1990. The Body in Tantric Ritual: The Case of the Mudrs. In The
Sanskrit Tradition and Tantrism, ed. by Teun Goudriaan, 6675. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

White, David Gordon. 2006. Open and Closed Models of the Human Body In Indian
Medical and Yogic Traditions. Asian Medicine 2 (1): 113.

Wujastyk, Dominik. 2009. Interpreting the Image of the Human Body in Premodern
India. International Journal of Hindu Studies 13 (2): 189228.

PART 5: NTHA, SIDDHA, AND MAHSIDDHA TRADITIONS

Banerjea, Akshaya Kumar. 1962. Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-

Sangraha. Gorakhpur: Mahant Dig Vijai Nath Trust.

Bouillier, Vronique. 2009. The Pilgrimage to Kadri Monastery (Mangalore,

Karnataka): A Nth Yog Peformance. In Patronage and Popularisation, Pilgrimage and
Procession: Channels of Transcultural Translation and Transmission in Early Modern
South Asia: Papers in Honour of Monika Horstmann, edited by Heidi Rika Maria
Pauwels, 13546. Studies in Oriental Religions; v. 58. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
Verlag.

. 2017. Monastic Wanderers: Nth Yog Ascetics in Modern South Asia. Delhi,
Manohar.

Briggs, George Weston. 1989 [1938]. Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis. Delhi: Narendra
Prakash Jain for Motilal Banarsidass.

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Dasgupta, Shashi Bhushan. 1946. Obscure Religious Cults. Calcutta: Firma K.L.
Mukhopadhyay.

Dowman, Keith, and Hugh R. Downs. 1985. Masters of Mahmudr: Songs and Histories of
the Eighty-Four Buddhist Siddhas. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Gold, Daniel. 1999. Nath Yogis as Established Alternatives: Householders and Ascetics
Today. Journal of Asian and African Studies 34 (1): 6888.

Gold, Daniel, and Ann Grodzins Gold. 1984. The Fate of the Householder Nath.
History of Religions 24 (2): 11332.

Horstmann, Monika. 2014. The Emergence of the Nthyog Order in the Light of
Vernacular Sources. International Journal of Tantric Studies 10 (1).

Kiehnle, Catharina. 1997. Songs on Yoga: Texts and Teachings of the Mahrrian Nths.
Stuttgart: FSteiner Verlag.

Linrothe, Robert N., ed. 2006. Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas. New York: Rubin
Museum of Art; Chicago.

Lorenzen, David N., and Adrin Muoz, eds. 2012. Yogi Heroes and Poets: Histories and
Legends of the Naths. New York: State University of New York Press.

Mallik, Kalyani. 1954. Siddha-Siddhnta-Paddhati and Other Works of the Ntha Yogs.
Oriental Book House.

Mallinson, James. 2011. Nth Sapradya. Brill Encyclopedia of Religions 3: 40728.

. Forthcoming. Nth Yogis in Early Material and Textual Sources.

Ondraka, Lubomr. 2015. Perfected Body, Divine Body and Other Bodies in the Ntha-
Siddha Sanskrit Texts. The Journal of Hindu Studies 8 (2): 21032.

Pauwels, Heidi Rika Maria. 2012. Whose Satire? Gorakhnth Confronts Krishna in
Kanhvat. In Indian Satire in the Period of First Modernity, eds. Monika Horstmann
and Heidi Rika Maria Pauwels, 35-64.

Saletore, B.A. 1937. Knapha Jogis in Southern History. The Poona Orientalist 1 (4): 16
22.

Sastri, V.V. Ramana. 1956. The Doctrinal Culture and Tradition of the Siddhas. In The
Cultural Heritage of India, edited by Haridas Bhattacharya, Vol. IV: The Religions:
300309. Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture.

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White, David Gordon. 1996. The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

PART 6: VRAAIVA AND LIGYATA TRADITIONS

Allchin, Raymond. 1971. The Attaining of the Void: A Review of Some Recent
Contributions in English to the Study of Vraaivism. Religious Studies 7 (4): 33959.

Ben-Herut, Gil. 2012. Literary Genres and Textual Representations of Early

Vraaiva History: Revisiting Eknta Rmayyas Self-Beheading.
International Journal of Hindu Studies 16 (2): 12987.

. 2013. Narrating Devotion: Representation and Prescriptions of the

Early Kannada ivabhakti Tradition according to Hariharas ivaaranara
Ragalgalu. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

. Figuring the South-Indian ivabhakti Movement: The Broad Narrative

Gaze of Early Kannada Hagiographic Literature. The Journal of Hindu
Studies 8 (3): 27495.

. 2016. Things Standing Shall Move: Temple Worship in Early Kannada

ivabhakti Hagiographies. International Journal of Hindu Studies, February,
130.

Chandra Shobhi, Prithvi Datta. 2005. Pre-Modern Communities and Modern

Histories: Narrating Vraaiva and Lingayat Selves. PhD Thesis, The
University of Chicago.

Chekki, Danesh A. 1997. Religion and Social System of the Vraaiva Community.
Contributions to the Study of Anthropology; No. 8. Westport, Conn:
Greenwood Press.

Fisher, Elaine M. forthcoming, 2017. Remaking South Indian aivism: Greater

aiva Advaita and the Legacy of the aktiviidvaita Vraaiva Tradition.
International Journal of Hindu Studies.

. forthcoming, 2017. Translating Vraaivism: The Early Modern

Monastery as Transregional Religious Network.

Glasbrenner, Eva-Maria. 2015. Cakra System and Tantric Ritual in Vraaivism.

The Journal of Hindu Studies 8 (2): 180201.

Hiranmaya. 2003 [1967]. Basava and Gorakhnth. In r Basavvara. A

Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume, Edited by
Wodeyar S. S. et al. Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 309

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 23.

Ishwaran, K. 1992. Speaking of Basava: Lingayat Religion and Culture in South Asia.
Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.

Marulasiddiah, G. 1967. Vraaiva Literature During the Vijayanagar Empire [A.

D. 1400- 1800]. In Kaviraj Abhinandana Grantha. Edited by Kulpati Niwas, et.
al. Lucknow: Akhila Bharatiya Samskrta Parisad.

Michael, R. Blake. 1983. Foundation Myths of the Two Denominations of

Virasaivism: Viraktas and Gurusthalins. The Journal of Asian Studies 42 (2):
309.

. 1992. The Origins of Vraaiva Sects: A Typological Analysis of Ritual and

Associational Patterns in the nyasapdane. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers.

Nandimath, S. C. 1979. A Handbook of Vraaivism. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal

Banarsidass.

Ramanujan, A. K. 1973. Speaking of iva. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth:

Penguin.

Ripepi, Tiziana. 2007. The Feet of the Jagama: Identity and Ritual Issues
Among the Vraaivas of Karnataka. Kervan - Rivista Internationale di Studii
Afroasiatici 6: 69- 100.

Rao, Velcheru Narayana, and Gene H. Roghair. 2014. ivas Warriors: The Basava
Pura of Plkuriki Somantha. Princeton University Press.

Steinschneider, Eric. Forthcoming. The Song of Non-Contradiction: Vraaivas

in Late-Precolonial Tamil South India. The Journal of Hindu Studies.

111 Total

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