Kiss of the Yogini

by White, David Gordon

• ISBN13: 9780226894843
• ISBN10: 0226894843
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

WithKiss of the Yogini, David Gordon White sweeps away centuries of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, returning to original texts, images, and ritual practices to reconstruct the history of South Asian Tantra from the medieval period to the present day.Kiss of the Yoginicontains White's own translations from over a dozen Tantras that have never before been translated into any European language. It will prove to be the definitive work for anyone seeking to understand Tantra and the crucial role it has played in South Asian history, society, culture, and religion. "Kiss of the Yoginiis one of the few good, interesting books about Tantra, a passionately argued work that transforms scholarly understanding of its subject. . . . By reconstructing the medieval South Asian Kaula and Tantric traditions that involved sexual practices, David White hopes to restore the dignity and autonomy of the people who invented them and continue to practise them. This monumental scholarly work does precisely that."Wendy Doniger,Times Literary Supplement

Author Biography

David Gordon White is professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Myths of the Dog-Man and The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India, both published by the University of Chicago Press, and the editor of Tantra in Practice.

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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
Note on Transliteration	xvii
Abbreviations of Titles of Sanskrit Works	xix
1. Tantra in Its South Asian Contexts
2. The Origins of the Yogini: Bird, Animal and Tree Goddesses and Demonesses in South Asia	27	(40)
3. The Blood of the Yogini: Vital and Sexual Fluids in South Asian Thought and Practice	67	(27)
4. The Mouth of the Yogini: Sexual Transactions in Tantric Ritual	94	(29)
5. The Power of the Yogini: Tantric Actors in South Asia	123	(37)
6. The Consort of the Yogini: South Asian Siddha Cults and Traditions	160	(28)
7. The Flight of the Yogini: Fueling the Flight of Tantric Witches	188	(31)
8. The Sublimation of the Yogini: The Subordination of the Feminine in High Hindu Tantra	219	(39)
9. Tantra for the New Millennium	258	(15)
Notes	273	(62)
Bibliography	335	(22)
Index	357