Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Patricia Sauthoff (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Alberta)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 23.90cm
, Height: 2.20cm
, Length: 16.40cm
Weight: 0.499kg
ISBN: 9780197553268
ISBN 10: 0197553265
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 29 April 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
This is one of a very short list of books on Hindu Tantra that works to provide an overview of the subject accessible to non-specialists... We as scholars owe it to our discipline to make true scholarship accessible and relevant, and [Sauthoff's] book does just that. * David Gordon White, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara *
Author Information
Patricia Sauthoff is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Alberta and the ERC-funded AyurYog project. She received her PhD from SOAS, University of London, in South Asian Languages and Cultures. Her research focuses on health and immortality in the tantric and rasasastric traditions. She is particularly interested in the role women played in medieval ritual and health practices.
