Book Review, 22 June 2025

Studies on Tantra in Bengal and Eastern India edited by Madhu Khanna. Springer, Singapore. 2022. i-x+1-188. EUR 117.69 (eBook). EUR 149.99 (Softcover & Hardcover).

The culturally potent region of Eastern India has been the centre of unprecedented tantric activities of different traditions from the beginning of the Pāla rule. While the Pālas are generally regarded as the patrons of Buddhism, Śaivism began to make its presence felt, particularly during the time of the later Pāla kings. The advent of Śrī Caitanya (1485-1530 AD) ushered in the high tide of Vaiṣnavism. Centred around the cult of Kālī, Śaktism too has remained as a pervasive presence in Bengal. One cannot ignore the influence of the local cults as well. The religious and cultural life of the region, therefore, has been governed by the enmeshing of these streams and is reflected in the beliefs, practices and texts. New composite terms were applied for the emerging sects, new ideologies were advocated to appeal to the votaries of different creeds. Particularly noteworthy in this context is the domination of Śaktism, leading many to equate tantra with the worship of Śakti. In view of such a widespread popularity, this volume, edited by Professor Madhu Khanna, endeavours to study the polymorphous concept of Śakti in Bengal. It takes into account the study of Śākta identity, as undertaken in S. C. Banerji’s Tantra in Bengal: A Study in its Origin, Development and Influence (1992) and Anway Mukhopadhyay’s The Goddess in Hindu-Tantric Traditions: Devi as Corpse (2018), and offers penetrating insights into the arenas of cross-fertilization. The book is undoubtedly a valuable work to understand the cultic democratization of ‘living’ religions that were individually empowered  to challenge the institutionalized orthodoxy. The three sections of the volume are so systematically structured that these progressively broaden the readers’ perspective on the region’s tantric plurality with respect to the Vaiṣnavite influence, the evolution of the sacred sites and the formulation of the advaitic notion. The seven scholarly essays contained in the book explore the frontiers of dialogues and negotiations, given that the religious boundaries were quite porous. Moreover, the idea of Bengal as developed in this volume is not limited to the modern geo-political boundary of the nation state. Rather, it examines the multilayered tantric culture blossoming in Greater Bengal during the medieval period.

The “Introduction” to the volume gives an overview of the three phases of medieval Bengal’s engagement with the tantric culture. It was during the Pāla Age (780-1174 AD) that Bengal’s Buddhist ideals reached the international shores. The reign of the Sena rulers (1178-1206 AD) witnessed the codification of the Śākta tantras in the Bengali vernacular. Finally, Gauḍīya Vaiṣnavism of the fifteenth century further enriched the vibrant tantric culture of the region. The edited volume invites the readers to ponder upon the heterogeneity of tantra, minutely enquired into in the subsequent chapters.

The first section, “Cult Inclusiveness: Tantric Śākta and Vaiṣnava Synthesis,” containing three essays, sets the tone for the dynamic synthesis of various ideas. The essay by Madhu Khanna, “The Making of Tantric Rādhā: A Reading from Kṛṣṇayāmala,” analyzes the tantric identity of Rādhā whose unconditional love for Kṛṣṇa has captured the popular and scholarly attention. However, this essay takes the readers through a different paradigm of power as in the Kṛṣṇayāmala, Rādhā, revered as the sovereign goddess, cannot be captivated by Kṛṣṇa despite all his efforts. The essay highlights the meditative role of Tripurasundarī and traces the development of Rādhā as the supreme Śakti through her identification with the said goddess. To further establish the non-Vedic portrayal of Rādhā, Khanna provides references to the Rādhā Tantra (hereafter RT), where one comes across the intersections of the Śākta and Vaiṣnava traditions through Tripurasundarī’s prescription of the kaulācāra sādhanā and esoteric interpretation of the Harināma mantra. Here, a poignant observation is made regarding the characterizations of Kālī and Rādhā. Rachel Fell McDermott, in Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal (2001), has examined the role of the bhakti tradition in changing the fierce perceptions associated with Dakṣinākālī. In contrast, Rādhā’s acceptance in Śaktism is an assertion of the feminine power. In the gamut of Vaiṣnava literature, the RT thus is presented to be a compelling text where the orthodox “Vaiṣnavas are relegated to the lowest position in the hierarchy of faiths” (29) due to the superior status accorded to the kaulācāra rites.

The commingling of the two religious streams is highlighted in Glen A. Hayes’s essay, “Prema and Śakti: Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā Appropriations of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism and Śaktism in the Ānandabhairava of Prema Dāsa” as well. To familiarize the readers with the mystical world of the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyās, it first offers an overview of the tenets of the sect and then brings up the assimilation of the doctrines of Gauḍīya Vaiṣnavism by the Sahajiyās. While the Sahajiyā materials are extremely esoteric and cryptic, as evident in the Ānandabhairava (AB), Hayes vigorously engages in the “contextual de-codifications of the esoteric meanings of the text” (4). The influence of Śākta theology upon the AB is made apparent by citing the celebration of the power of Ādi Śakti, the cosmic feminine principle. At the same time, Hayes points out that the revelations of the Śakti are predicated upon the Sahajiyās’ foundational principle of the dehatattva. The essay, therefore, is a significant milestone in showing how the coexistence of different currents resulted in the composition of open-ended, hybrid texts. However, the analysis of the Sahajiyā tradition being limited to the physical practices of the dehatattva is opposed by Kaustubh Das in “Tantra in the Vernacular: Secrecy and Inclusivity in the Yogas of the Bāul-Sahajiyā Traditions,” which studies the new dimensions of understanding the experiential reality of the Bāul culture. In view of the failure of the modern scholars to properly probe the aspects of mind and consciousness, Das criticizes their over-reliance on the material and visual sources of the Bāul-Sahajiyās. The omission of subjective experience runs the risk of the interpretations beings misinformed since “it is not possible to study the oral cultures of tantras objectively” (65). Das explores the significance of the term ‘Sahaja’ in a wider philosophical context, through its resonance with Vajrayāna and non-dual Kāśmir Śaivism. Particularly interesting is Das’s emphasis on the musical sound’s ability to elevate the spiritual experience of the singer and the listener of the Bāul songs.

The second section of the volume, “The Śākta Pīṭhas: Great and Small, Ancient and Modern,” turns its attention to the sacred geography of Śaktism. Brenda Dobia’s essay, “Power and Desire in the Worship of the Goddess Kāmākhyā,” enlightens the readers about the importance of Kāmākhyā, renowned as one of the Ādi pīṭhas of Devī. The essay is enriched by the author’s on field research, yielding to the readers an insider’s perspective of the Śākta women practitioners. It offers fresh perspective on the biological body of women by relating the menstruation of the women, the goddess and the site of the pīṭha. While menstrual blood is considered to be a pollutant in the orthodox Brahmanical convention, in the context of Kāmākhyā, it serves as a symbol of the life force of women, resonating the correspondences and exchanges between their corporal and microcosmic entities and the larger rhythms of the universe. The yoni of the goddess is therefore seen as embodying power and desire, channelling creation and sustaining force of the life forms. The configuration of pīṭhas gains new ground in the next chapter by Kamal K. Mishra. The essay, titled as, “The Metamorphosis of the ‘Gāchh Tar Vālī’ and the Making of an Śakti-Pīṭha in Mithila”, delves into the nuances of śakti-pīṭha, siddha-pīṭha, tantra-pīṭha, and traces their historical development. In this context, the shrine of the goddess Tārā in the Mahishi village of the district of Saharsa, North Bihar, is focused upon. Like Dobia, Mishra also examines the processes of assimilation by tracing Tārā’s journey from a local goddess to the second Mahāvidyā. The socio-cultural implications of such development are noted, with the village shrine today being recognized as a śakti-pīṭha. Yet, it is imperative to be aware of the politics of such ‘localization’ process. This has been expressed in Dev Nath Pathak’s essay, “Margin(al) Maithili: Cultural Politics of Engendered Folk in Mithila,” published in the edited volume titled Gender in Modern India: History, Culture, Marginality (2024).Pathak, dwelling on the same Ugratārā festival, has drawn attention to the irony of the ceremony being dissociated from the folkloric polyphony to fit the interests of the upper castes. The systematic obscuration of Buddhism is also implied by Mishra in the analysis of Śrī Ugratārā Māhātmya Darśana, a local text. Another consequence of the socially mediated spectacle is that it raises the pertinent question whether men’s devotional appropriation of the feminine results in the expansion of women’s agency. While Dobia reflects upon the role of gynocentric soteriology in negotiating the positions of women in the patriarchal society, there is ample scope of further research regarding the gender relations in view of the Maithili Śakti cult.

The final section, “Śākta Theology,” concentrates on the development of the Śākta doctrine during the medieval age. Arghya Dipta Kar, in his essay titled , “Gynocentric Cosmogony in the Devībhāgavata Purāṇa,” analyzes how the tripartite narrative structure of the cosmogenic myths in the Devībhāgavata Purāṇa establishes the triumph of the goddess Bhubaneśvarī over the male deities. Kar is attentive to the fact that the text is not completely free of patriarchal inclinations in its treatment of the trinity goddesses. Yet, on the ontological level, the upapurāṇa is found to be noteworthy as it attempts to resolve the contradiction within the Vedic doctrine of puruṣa, the supreme being, by revealing the non-duality between Devī and puruṣa. This monistic confluence is reflected in greater details by Sthaneswar Timalsina. His “Revisiting Śākta Advaita: The Monistic Śākta Philosophy in the Guhyopaniṣad” is concerned with the textual hermeneutics of the Śāktas to attain wider legitimacy through the appropriation of the Vedantic ideas, like Guhyakālī  being equated with the Brahman. To elucidate his point, Timalsina refers to the Guhyopaniṣad, a sectarian proto-Upaniṣad taken from the Mahākālasaṃhitā, that contributed to the solidification of the cult of Guhyakālī and can be regarded as a fine example of the blending of the Upaniṣadic beliefs and the Trika Tantric doctrines. However, the author is also careful to demonstrate that Guhyakālī’s integration into the Vedantic paradigm has not diminished her importance. Her designation as the author of the Vedas is a telling reminder of the reciprocity between different philosophical schools. This is achieved through the skilful appropriation of the divine hierarchy where the goddess is presented as the creator of the world, “primary agent of all creations” (180) and finally, identified as the world itself. Such Śākta constitution of divine hierarchy is also observed by Kar as he relates the account of Bhubaneśvarī’s elevation as the ultimate cosmic reality to the early Viṣṇu-centric creation myths. While the two essays inform the readers of the negotiated ground of different sub-cultures, they are not concerned with finding the authenticity of the practices. The idea that emerges is that “Any and all practices are authentic as long as they reflect the beliefs of the real people in the field and are not fabricated by ethnographers or historians” (174).

The present volume is a valuable testament to Bengal’s Śākta inclusivity that has undergone more than a thousand years of change. By demonstrating the sects’ amenability to the inter-religious negotiations, it brings to the fore the “friendly wedding” (33) between major religious streams. The readers would estimate it as a robust attempt to refute the prevalent notion of the cults’ mutual antagonism. Despite dealing with varied topics, a seamless thematic and chronological transition is maintained through the essays, within each section. The visual representations facilitate the readers’ easy understanding of the essays. While this book mostly covers the tantric landscape of Eastern India till the eighteenth century AD, the readers should be mindful of the continuing changes in the tantric beliefs even in the later years. Moreover, the “Introduction” mentions that the essays undertake the study of the tantric streams of Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Nepal. However, Odisha and Bangladesh were not outside the periphery of Greater Bengal. The scope of the studies , therefore, could have been wider to include  the rich tantric heritage of these two regions.

 References

Banerji, S. C. Tantra in Bengal: A Study in its Origin, Development and Influence. Manohar, 1992.

Mukhopadhyay, Anway. The Goddess in Hindu-Tantric Traditions: Devi as Corpse.

Routledge, 2018.

McDermott, Rachel Fell. Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma

in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal. Oxford UP, 2001.

Pathak, Dev Nath. “Margin(al) Maithili: Cultural Politics of Engendered Folk in Mithila.”

Modern India: History, Culture, Marginality, edited by Lata Singh and Shashank

Shekhar Sinha, Oxford UP, 2024, pp. 263-282.  

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Tathagata Sagar Pal

Senior Research Fellow

Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University