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Archive for September 2013

1. Krishna in the dock: the 1862 Maharaja libel case and its consequences – II

   “Amongst other articles of the new creed, Vallabha introduced one, which is rather singular for a Hindu religious innovator or reformer: he taught, that privation formed no part of sanctity, and that it was the duty of the teachers and his disciples to worship their Deity, not in nudity and hunger, but in costly apparel and choice food; not in solitude and mortification, but in the pleasures of society, and the enjoyment of the world.”
   Horace H. Wilson Sketch of the religious sects of the Hindus (1846, pp76-78)

   Before I get down to examining the 1862 Maharaja libel case in detail, I thought it would be useful to take a brief look at the particular sampradaya – at the heart of the case – the Vallabhacharyas – and examine aspects of its doctrines, practices, and historical development. Continue reading »

   

   September 20th 2013

   Posted by Phil Hine in History, tantra

   Tags: libel case, nineteenth century, Pustimarg, Vaisnava

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2. Book review: Women’s Lives, Women’s Rituals in the Hindu Tradition

   The anthology Women’s Lives, Women’s Rituals in the Hindu Tradition edited by Tracy Pintchman (Oxford University Press, 2007) explores the ways that Hindu women’s engagement in ritual holds agentive and transformative capacity beyond the immediate ritual context, and complicates the limited idea of “domestic” space as an analytic category. As Tracy Pintchman points out in her introduction “In many cultural and historical contexts, including contemporary India, women’s everyday lives tend to revolve heavily around domestic and interpersonal concerns, especially care for children, the home, husbands, and other relatives; hence women’s religiosity also tends to emphasize the domestic realm, and the relationships most central to women. … the domestic religious activities that Hindu women perform may not merely replicate or affirm traditionally formulated domestic ideals; rather these activities may function strategically to reconfigure, reinterpret, criticize, or even reject such ideals.” (p6) Continue reading »

   

   September 14th 2013

   Posted by Phil Hine in Book reviews, Gender, tantra

   Tags: ethnography, Practice, ritual, women

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3. Some reflections on Heart Practice

   “Salutations to Sri Mata
   Salutations to Sri Maharajni
   Salulations to the Queen seated upon the lion-throne
   Salutations to She who resides in the fire of consciousness
   Salutations to She who shines with the red brilliance of a thousand rising suns
   Salutations to She who bears the noose, the goad, the sugarcane bow; the five sense-arrows
   Salutations to She whose red brilliance engulfs the universe.
   Lalitasahasramana

   One of the ways in which I have, for some years now, approached tantra sadhana is to start with something (relatively) simple, and then extend it with other practices as time, circumstances, and insights allow. There’s a tendency in western occulture to make a distinction between “basic” and “advanced” practices – where “basic” practices constitute something that you do for a set period and then never bother with again, and the “advanced” practices which are really, where the action is. In terms of my approach to tantra practice, I tend to think instead of “core” practices – which can be deepened and enriched over time. Continue reading »

   

   September 4th 2013

   Posted by Phil Hine in tantra

   Tags: Heart Practice, Lalita, Practice, reflections, Sri Vidya

   1 comment »