Language of Images: Visualization and Meaning in Tantras (Asian Thought and Culture Book 71)

While Indian visual culture and Tantric images have drawn wide attention, the culture of images, particularly that of the divine images, is broadly misunderstood. This book is the first to systematically address the hermeneutic and philosophical aspects of visualizing images in Tantric practices. While examining the issues of embodiment and emotion, this volume initiates a discourse on image-consciousness, imagination, memory, and recall. The main objective of this book is to explore the meaning of the opaque Tantric forms, and with this, the text aims to introduce visual language to discourse. Language of Images is the result of a long and sustained engagement with Tantric practitioners and philosophical and exegetical texts. Due to its synthetic approach of utilizing multiple ways to read cultural artifacts, this work stands alone in its attempt to unravel the esoteric domains of Tantric practice by means of addressing the culture of visualization. Cover Contents List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements Copyright Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Chapter 1: Image, Imagination, and Meaning Hermeneutics of Tantric Visualization Imagination and Meaning The Visual Domain of Language Chapter 2: Image and Visualization in Classical Hinduism Historical Overview Enlivening Images: The First Step towards Visualization Significance of Visualization in Classical Hinduism Visualization: Where Imagining Becomes a Ritual Conclusion Chapter 3: Better than Real: Imagining the Body in Tantric Rituals Transforming the Image of the Body Elements of the Tantric Body The Mantra Body Maṇḍala as an Integral System Body as a Temple The Body is Identical to the Cosmos Body as an Extension of Bliss and Awareness Chapter 4: Materializing Space and Time in Tantric Images Background Image and Space The Union of Physical Space and Mythical Planes Āmnāyas and the Directionality of Emanations of the Goddess Mental Space, Gocarīs, and Khecarīs The Space Divine: Images of Bhuvaneśvarā and Tripuā The Image of Time The Mistress of Time: Kālī and Her Manifestations Twelvefold Sequence Samaya and Samayā Kāmakalākāli Analysis and Conclusion Chapter 5: Transformative Role of Imagination in Visualizing the Image of Bhairava Introduction Encountering Bhairava Chapter 6: Surplus of Imagination: Images with Multiple Arms Imagination and Meaning Engaging History: A Case of Visualizing Viṣṇu Deciphering Complex Tantric Images Analysis and Conclusion Appendix I: Bhairavānukaraṇastava Hymns in Imitation of Bhairava Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index I: Deity Names and Technical Terms Index II: Scholars Cited