Perfected Body, Divine Body and Other Bodies in the Nātha-Siddha Sanskrit Texts

Ondračka, Lubomír

doi:10.1093/jhs/hiv015

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Obtaining the nectar of immortality and, thanks to it, an immortal physical body is the main goal of the haṭhayogic and Nath yogic traditions; see Mallinson 2007and Ondračka 2007. Mallinson (2015 proposes that there may have been an early, nonsectarian tradition of ascetics, the precursor of what is later known as haṭhayoga, for which he finds traces already in the Pali Canon.…”

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Why Are the Skull-Bearers (Kāpālikas) Called Soma?

Törzsök¹

2020

Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions

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The Kāpālikas or Skull-Bearers, who formed the third group of the Atimārga, alongside the Pāśupatas and the Lākulas,1 were perhaps the most notorious Śaiva ascetics of classical India. They were known for their cremation ground rituals and for wandering around with a skull for an alms bowl. The skull (kapāla), their most conspicuous attribute, also provided their name. But the Kāpālikas are also designated as Somasiddhāntins, "Those of the Soma Doctrine,"2 or the "Soma People with the Skull."3 These appellations seem to have been of some importance because their initiation names also included or ended in-soma in most cases (e.g. Satyasoma, Devasomā,4 Somibhaṭṭāraka5). What was this Somasiddhānta, doctrine of Soma or teaching about (the) Soma?

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Why Are the Skull-Bearers (Kāpālikas) Called Soma?

Törzsök¹

2020

Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions

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“… 2 The term siddha deha has been dealt with and debated extensively in literature on bodies in other kinds of esoteric contexts, such as among the Natha-Siddhas. The consensus, however, is that, as a critical term in Sanskrit literature, it is of special relevance to Bengal-Vaishnavas and sahajiyas (see Ondracka 2015: 8).…”

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The Body–Mind Challenge: Theology and phenomenology in Bengal-Vaishnavisms

Sarbadhikary¹

2018

Mod. Asian Stud.

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Recent studies of Asian religious traditions have critiqued Western philosophical understandings of mind–body dualism and furthered the productive notion of mind–body continuum. Based on intensive fieldwork among two kinds of devotional groups of Bengal—claimants to an orthodox Vaishnavism, who focus on participating in the erotic sports of the Hindu deity-consort Radha-Krishna in imagination and a quasi-tantric group, which claims to physically apprehend Radha-Krishna's erotic pleasures through direct sexual experience—I demonstrate that, although these devotional groups stress on combating theologies, with emphases respectively on the ‘mind’ and the ‘body’, in their narrations of religious experiences, however, both groups allude to rarefied phenomenological states of cognition and embodiment. So, while influenced by ideas of (mental) ‘purity’ and (bodily) ‘actuality’, respectively, practices of both groups rely on similar states of mind–body continuum. So I argue that the mind–body complex has intensely nuanced articulations in the discursive and experiential domains of these non-Western religious contexts. Through my analyses of the texts and embodiments of these opposed devotional groups, I show that theology gets both organically entangled with as well as challenged by phenomenological experiences. I further argue that explorations in the tenor of religious studies sharply enrich the anthropology of religiosities. Also, such engagements between theology and anthropology have been relatively lacking and need more emphasis in studies of contemporary South Asian religions.

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“…Sastri based much of his entry on the Tamil Siddha tradition and this southern slant, together with the Bengali focus of Dasgupta and Mallik, has led to an undue emphasis being placed on notions such as the siddhadeha, alchemy (on which see note 32) and sinister characteristics in subsequent analyses of yoga. On this academic lineage and its rôle in mistaken understandings of the yogic body, see Ondračka 2007. As far as I am aware, Sastri coined the term Nāth(a) Siddha, which is not found in the writings of the Nāth order itself until the second half of the twentieth century.…”

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The Yogīs’ Latest Trick

Mallinson

2013

J.R. Asiat. Soc. G.B. Irel.

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David Gordon White's wide-ranging scholarship on tantra, yoga and alchemy has inspired many students and scholars to undertake research in those fields. White worked as an assistant to Mircea Eliade and his doctorate from the University of Chicago was in History of Religions. His research methodology, true to this scholastic heritage, is not as deeply rooted in textual criticism as that of the current vanguard of scholars working on tantra and yoga, whose philological studies rarely reference his work. The accessibility of his books and articles, however, together with his engaging writing style and the excitement that imbues his scholarship, mean that indologists specialising in other fields, and authors addressing non-scholarly audiences, frequently draw on his publications. White's prominence in the study of yoga and tantra requires all scholars working on those subjects to address his work.

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Perfected Body, Divine Body and Other Bodies in the Nātha-Siddha Sanskrit Texts

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Why Are the Skull-Bearers (Kāpālikas) Called Soma?

Why Are the Skull-Bearers (Kāpālikas) Called Soma?

The Body–Mind Challenge: Theology and phenomenology in Bengal-Vaishnavisms

The Yogīs’ Latest Trick

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