Description
Illness and Immortality examines a medieval Sanskrit text, the Netra Tantra, which is devoted to health and healing through a yogic practice dedicated to the chanting of mantras, the building of mandalas, and meditation. Patricia Sauthoff examines the role of such ritual elements in rites to alleviate illness and death. She includes analysis of the various forms of the deity Amrtesa or Mrtyuñjaya (Conqueror of Death), the nature of mantra, and the relationship between the tantric practitioner and the patient. This work explores what is meant by immortality within the medieval context and how one goes about attaining it. It asks how ritual alleviates illness, what role the deity plays in health and healing, and finally who has access to the rites described within the text. Central to this study is the conception of a body vulnerable to demons and reliant on deities for continued existence, and how the three yogic bodies (sthula, suksma, and para) play a role in physical and spiritual well-being. Featuring new translations of large sections of the Netra Tantra, the book offers readers various points of entry into the text so that tantric practitioners and scholars alike can access the influential and important concepts and practices found within this long-revered but under-studied work.
Table of Contents
Preface IntroductionA. SummaryB. Importance of StudyChapter One: MantraI. Om Jum Sah: decoding the mantraA. Overview of Tantric mantrasB. Encoding the mantra: NT 2.17-33II. Language, the Body, and MantraA. The Nature of MantraB. Mantric Physicality: Siva, anu, and consciousness, NT 21.1-19C. The Mrtyuñjaya Mantra: Exposition on the components of om jum sah NT 22.5-18Chapter Two: IconographyI. Iconography: the various forms of AmetesaA. Visual representations in art historyB. The mythology of SivaII. Mrtyujit in literatureA. Worshipping AmrtesaB. Deities in the Netra TantraChapter Three: MandalasI. Mandala: locating the divine in the physical worldII. ConclusionChapter Four: DiksaI. Creating the Tantric IdentityII. Caste: initiation and purityIII. Purity and Interpretation: auspicious and inauspicious in the Svacchanda TantraChapter Five: NirajanaI. Diksa: building a new identity through initiationA. Transgression: the benefits of breaking the rulesII. Religion of MonarchsA. Kings, Poets and PatronageB. Protecting the King: Netra Tantra 19.84-133C. Private nirajana: Netra Tantra 15.1-19aIII. ConclusionChapter Six: YogaI. Conquering Death Through RitualA. Impurities, Kapalikas, and ExorcismB. Vanquishing Death: mrtyu vañcana II. Sthula YogaA. Maintaining the Physical BodyB. Easing the Pain of Death and DiseaseC. Mandalas of ProtectionD. Mantra and ColorIII. Visualizing Amrta: Svacchanda Tantra 7.207-225IV. ConclusionConclusion
