Table of Contents

Preface

List of Figures and Tables

Notes on Contributors

A Note on Alexis Sanderson and Indology

 Dominic Goodall and Harunaga Isaacson

Bibliography of the Published Works of Alexis G.J.S. Sanderson



Introduction



Part 1 Early Śaivism



1 From Mantramārga Back to Atimārga: Atimārga as a Self-referential Term

 Peter Bisschop



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

 Judit Törzsök



3 Dressing for Power: On vrata, caryā, and vidyāvrata in the Early Mantramārga, and on the Structure of the Guhyasūtra of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā

 Dominic Goodall



Part 2 Exegetical and Philosophical Traditions



4 Further Thoughts on Rāmakaṇṭha’s Relationship to Earlier Positions in the Buddhist-Brāhmaṇical Ātman Debate

 Alex Watson



5 Some Hitherto Unknown Fragments of Utpaladeva’s Vivṛti (II): Against the Existence of External Objects

 Isabelle Ratié



6 Alchemical Metaphors for Spiritual Transformation in Abhinavagupta’s Īśvarapratyabhijñāvimarśinī and Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivṛtivimarśinī

 Christopher D. Wallis



7 On Vāgīśvarakīrti’s Influence in Kashmir and among the Khmer

 Péter-Dániel Szántó



8 Reflections on the King of Ascetics (Yatirāja): Rāmānuja in the Devotional Poetry of Vedānta Deśika

 Srilata Raman



Part 3 Religion, the State, and Social History



9 Not to Worry, Vasiṣṭha Will Sort It Out: The Role of the Purohita in the Raghuvaṃśa

 Csaba Dezső



10 Buddhism, Kingship and the Protection of the State: The Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra and Dhāraṇī Literature

 Gergely Hidas



11 Adapting Śaiva Tantric Initiation for Exoteric Circles: The Case of the Lokadharmiṇī Dīkṣā and Its History in Early Medieval Sources

 Nina Mirnig



12 Innovation and Social Change in the Vale of Kashmir, circa 900–1250 C.E.

 John Nemec



13 Toward a History of the Navarātra, the Autumnal Festival of the Goddess

 Bihani Sarkar



Part 4 Mantra, Ritual, and Yoga



14 Śārikā’s Mantra

 Jürgen Hanneder



15 The Kāmasiddhistuti of King Vatsarāja

 Diwakar Acharya



16 The Lotus Garland (padmamālā) and Cord of Power (śaktitantu): The Brahmayāmala’s Integration of Inner and Outer Ritual

 Shaman Hatley



17 The Amṛtasiddhi: Haṭhayoga’s Tantric Buddhist Source Text

 James Mallinson



18 A Sexual Ritual with Māyā in Matsyendrasaṃhitā 40

 Csaba Kiss



19 Haṭhayoga’s Floruit on the Eve of Colonialism

 Jason Birch



Part 5 Art and Architecture



20 The Early Śaiva Maṭha: Form and Function

 Libbie Mills



21 The Kriyāsaṃgrahapañjikā of Kuladatta and Its Parallels in the Śaiva Pratiṣṭhātantras

 Ryugen Tanemura



22 Mañjuśrī as Ādibuddha: The Identity of an Eight-Armed Form of Mañjuśrī Found in Early Western Himalayan Buddhist Art in the Light of Three Nāmasaṃgīti-Related Texts

 Anthony Tribe



23 Life and Afterlife of Sādṛśya: Revisiting the Citrasūtra through the Nationalism-Naturalism Debate in Indian Art History

 Parul Dave-Mukherji



Index

About the Author

Dominic Goodall studied under Alexis Sanderson at Oxford (doctorate 1996), joined the École Française d’Extrême-Orient (2000), and is now head of its Pondicherry Centre. He has published editions and translations of Śaiva works, Sanskrit poetry and Cambodian inscriptions. He is joint-editor, with Marion Rastelli, of the Vienna dictionary of tantric terminology (Tāntrikābhidhānakośa).

Shaman Hatley studied under Harunaga Isaacson at the University of Pennsylvania (doctorate 2007), taught at Concordia University until 2015, and is now Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research mainly concerns Tantric Śaivism, yoga, and medieval goddess cults, and his publications include The Brahmayāmalatantra or Picumata, vol. I, (Pondicherry, 2018).

Harunaga Isaacson, PhD in Sanskrit (University of Leiden, 1995), was a post-doctoral research fellow at Oxford University (1995 to 2000), and held positions at Hamburg University (2000-2002) and the University of Pennsylvania (2002- 2006) before joining Hamburg University as Professor of Classical Indology in 2006. His main research areas are South Asian tantric traditions, especially Vajrayāna Buddhism; classical Sanskrit poetry; Indian philosophy; Purāṇic literature; and manuscript studies.

Srilata Raman studied with Alexis Sanderson between the years 1986-1988, taking her M.Phil under his supervision at Oxford University. She is currently Associate Professor of Hinduism at the University of Toronto and specializes on the textual history of Tamil religion in both its Sanskrit and Tamil iterations, focusing on specific figures in both the Śrīvaiṣṇava and Tamil Śaiva traditions between the 12-14th and the 18-19th centuries.

Reviews

'To sum up, this is an extraordinary volume on a wide range of subjects. A sizable portion of these essays are of major significance to their respective areas,and all have something worthwhile to offer the study of Indian history. It is a fitting tribute to the brilliant life and work of Alexis Sanderson.

Michael Slouber, Western Washington University, Indo-Iranian Journal (2021)

'There is much to appreciate in this book. In brief: it makes a key chapter of the Śivadharmaśāstra accessible for diverse readers through a transparent critical edition and a clear annotated translation; it introduces the reader not just to this text, but to the active scholarly subfield investigating the corpus of early lay Śaiva literature commonly known as the Śivadharma; and it reflects on the methodological principles guiding a philological approach to this corpus. Notably, the book is available as an Open Access ebook thanks to the generosity of the J. Gonda Fund Foundation.' - Hamsa Stainton, McGill University JAOS, 141.4 (2021)