Goddess Traditions in India: Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurārahasya

About the Book

This book on the Tripurarahasya, a South Indian Sanskrit work which occupies a unique place in the Sakta literature, is a study of the Srividya and Sakta traditions in the context of South Indian intellectual history in the late middle ages.

Associated with the religious tradition known as Srividya and devoted to the cult of the Goddess Tripura, the text was probably composed between the 13th and the 16th century CE. The analysis of its narrative parts addresses questions about the relationships between Tantric and Puranic goddesses. The discussion of its philosophical and theological teachings tackles problems related to the relationships between Sakta and Saiva traditions. The stylistic devices adopted by the author(s) of the work deal uniquely with doctrinal and ritual elements of the Srividya through the medium of a literary and poetic language. This stylistic peculiarity distinguishes the Tripurarahasya from many other Tantric texts, characterized by a more technical language.

The book is intended for researchers in the field of Asian Studies, Indology, Philosophical, Theological or Religious Studies, Hindu Studies, Tantric Studies and South Asian Religion and Philosophy, in particular those interested in Sakta and Saiva philosophic-religious traditions.