Samdarshi, Pranshu (2014). The Concept of Goddesses in Buddhist Tantra Traditions. (Harish Trivedi, Ed.) The Delhi University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (1), 87-99. 20 pages

Current Issue - DU E-Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences

http://journals.du.ac.in/humsoc/about.html[3/10/2014 1:56:54 PM]


EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor

Harish Trivedi

University of Delhi

Editorial Advisory Board

Arindam Chakrabarti Philosophy

University of Hawaii

Dipesh Chakrabarty History

University of Chicago

Veena Das Sociology

Johns Hopkins University

Sudhir Kakar Psychology

University of Cologne/University of Goa

Sheldon Pollock Sanskrit

Columbia University

Rupert Snell Hindi

University of Texas at Austin

Robert J. C. Young English

University of Oxford/New York University

EDITORIAL

The Delhi University Journal of the Humanities and the Social Sciences, of which this is the inaugural issue, sets itself a

twin agenda. It seeks to publish some of the best research and scholarship from anywhere in the world while it also

proposes to project and promote the research being produced in India and in particular in the University of Delhi by our

senior as well as younger colleagues and researchers. We must realistically and modestly acknowledge that at present there

exists a gap between our two objectives and that we may have a steep curve to climb. An enabling beginning may perhaps

be made by putting the best in the world and what aspires to join it one day by putting both within the same covers if not

quite on the same page – as this journal seeks to do.

No new journal could hope to get off to a better start than we do. Our opening article is a contribution by Gayatri

Chakravorty Spivak, one of the foundational theorists of our times of postcolonial studies, feminism, and poststructuralism,

whose work has exercised global influence and who emphasizes in her essay here the importance of the

locally and historically specific in an increasingly borderless world. Our other invited article is by Vijay Mishra, author of

widely circulated books on the Indian diaspora and on Hindi cinema, whose contribution here combines both those

concerns and uses privileged access to the manuscript archives of the iconic postcolonial writer Salman Rushdie.

Of the six other articles in this first issue, five are by contributors from the University of Delhi, most of them young

researchers including three who are yet to get their doctoral degree, and two for whom this is their first scholarly

publication. Our remaining contributor is a young academic from a small college in a small town, Sangamner, which even

fellow Indians may find it difficult to place on the map, and which is as local as New York may be global in terms of

academic prominence.



Together, these contributors address a wide range of multidisciplinary issues, from the visual politics of the

postcolonial to the Dalit representation of the female, the struggle of female street vendors in a metropolis, the medium of

tertiary education in India and the politics of language, the Buddhist Tantric conceptualization of goddesses, and the extent

to which our gradually evolving syllabi represent a process of imperfect decolonization in the case of the arch-colonial

subject of English Studies. And our four book reviews reflect our policy of having scholarship from wherever assessed by

our own colleagues in the University of Delhi, which has about ten thousand members of faculty with their respective

specializations.

Journals, unlike books, need to grow in successive instalments to fulfil their vision and purpose and to realize their

identity. As this journal of ours circulates and word begins to spread, we hope it will find its own place under the global sun

and serve as a flagship for our university and our part of the academic world.

Acknowledgements This journal is an initiative of the present Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi, Professor

Dinesh Singh. We are grateful to the authors of the fifty-seven contributions we received and reviewed for this issue, our

referees in the USA, the UK, Europe, Australia and India, our copy-editor, and the Delhi University Computer Centre for

its technical support.

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITORIAL

GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK

Forever on the Road to Byzantium

VIJAY MISHRA

Tuneless Soloists in Salman Rushdie: Cinema, Sound and Sense

CHRISTEL R. DEVADAWSON

The Irrelevance of Empire: Visual Politics and the Working of Beast and Man in India

SHWETA SINGH

Representation of Dalit Women in Dalit Men’s and Women’s Autobiographies

APARAJITA SHARMA and DIPJYOTI KONWAR

Struggle for Spaces: Everyday Life of a Woman Street Vendor in Delhi

RAVINDRA B. TASILDAR

English Studies in India: Some Reflections on the Present Scenario

NARENDRA PANDEY and ASHWIN PARIJAT ANSHU

The Language of Knowledge?: A Case Study of the Medium of Teaching in Delhi University

PRANSHU SAMDARSHI

The Concept of Goddesses in Buddhist Tantra Traditions

BOOK REVIEWS



ASHOK VOHRA

Tradition and Modernity, the Local and the Global (Kapila Vatsyayan, Plural Cultures and Monolithic

Structures: Comprehending India.)

NIVEDITA SEN

Genius and Psychoanalysis (Sudhir Kakar, Young Tagore: The Makings of a Genius)

CHARU GUPTA

Indian Sexualities (Sanjay Srivastava (ed.), Sexuality Studies)

SONALI AGARWAL

Transitory Post-Millennial (E. Dawson Varughese, Reading New India: Post- Millennial Indian Fiction in

English.

CONTRIBUTORS

© Copyright 2014. University of Delhi


THE DELHI UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

OF THE HUMANITIES & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES VOLUME 1: 2014 | Page 87

The Concept of Goddesses in Buddhist Tantra

Traditions

PRANSHU SAMDARSHI

University of Delhi

______________________________________________________________________________

Abstract

Tantra has been integral part of several ancient Indic–religious traditions. Its roots are very old,

presumably as old as the Mohenjodaro civilization. All of the tantra traditions had a live

engagement with the feminine divine. Like other religions in India, Buddhism too has an

affiliation with female divinities. The Vajrayāna tradition especially is pervaded with a diverse

range of feminine imagery. In Buddhist tantra the symbolism of tantric goddesses and their

practices is backed by profound philosophical doctrines. However, unlike other religious

tradition, the non-theistic framework of Buddhism does not consider the intrinsic existence of

tantric goddesses and their appearance and practices are meant to serve the purpose of

transcending all sorts of dualistic thoughts for attaining enlightenment.

This paper inquires into the evolution of tantra in different religious traditions in general, and in

Buddhism in particular. The focal point of the discussion is the practices of goddesses in

Buddhist tantra. The interaction and influence of other religious traditions on Buddhism too is

pointed out. On the one hand this paper explores textual sources for explaining abstract

appearances and unusual practices associated with tantric goddesses and on the other, the

functional aspects of tantric goddesses in ancient religious settings. The neo-orientalist

interpretation of tantra as given by Western scholars is examined to point out their

misinterpretations of tantric symbols and rituals. After documenting some of the diverse

traditions of goddesses within tantric cults, this paper makes an effort to find harmony between

the overlapping layers of popular belief and the profound philosophy of Buddhist tantrism.

Keywords: Tantrism, goddesses, Vajrayāna, Yakşi, feminine imagery, female Buddhas,

Chinnamunḍā Vajrayoginī.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

When I first entered on a study of this Śāstra, I did so in the belief that India did

not contain more fools than exist amongst other peoples... Behind the

unintelligent practice, which doubtless to some extent exists amongst the

multitude of every faith, I felt sure there must be a rational principle, since men

SAMDARSHI GODDESSES IN BUDDHIST TANTRA TRADITIONS VOLUME 1: 2014 | Page 88

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

on the whole do not continue throughout the ages to do that which is in itself

meaningless and is therefore without result. I was not disappointed

(Woodroff 2001: VI).

Since time immemorial, one of the basic motivations of the human mind has been gaining

control over visible and invisible natural forces. This ancient quest of molding nature and

manipulating it for the benefit of humankind has played a crucial role in the development of

modern western science. In the east, this quest of conquering was not only limited to the outer

domain but conquest over bodily physical and psychic forces of the inner domain was more

emphasized upon. This resulted in the development of pragmatic rituals and practices in the

religious system which consisted of techniques that tried to trigger a man’s individual energy to

harmonize with the universal cosmic energy. Such practices were developed in various religious

traditions in India.

The concept behind these practices consisted of a strong association with the idea of

symmetrical contiguity such as considering the body as a microcosm of the cosmic macrocosm.

The rationale behind it was given as the hypostatized macrocosmic equivalents in the human

body (Benard 2010: 83), that is, each part of the body is a homology of a place or a thing in the

universe. By accepting this macrocosm-microcosm homology, the practitioner merged the inner

effulgence of an individual with cosmic effulgence.

The formalization of such practices took a concrete shape in Yogasutra of Pātnjali which

appeared around third century CE. However such practices have been part of the religious

system in India since a much earlier period of time. Archaeological evidences from the Indus

valley civilizations such as the three headed figure of Paśupati depicts yogic practices present at

that time. The Athŗva Veda (Sarasvati 1992: 84) has reference of yogic practices and role of the

prāņa (breath) within the body. Different schools of philosophy developed in the post-Vedic

period exhibit a tendency to have control over the unseen world through similar means.

In the early medieval period all such practice led to the development of a coherent set of

techniques which appeared in a more structured way in all religions. This system was termed

‘tantra’ which was concerned with a disciplined and systematic method for training and

controlling the mind-body complex and reshaping the human consciousness towards a higher

spiritual goal.

As the tantric movement gained immense popularity after sixth century CE in northern

and central India, every religion had a tendency to have its own form of a tantric system. Around

the eighth and ninth century CE, the phenomenon of developing tantric traditions could be

observed in all the religious traditions in India which incorporate esoteric practices, deities,

mantras and other occult elements. These technique and practices were formulated on indigenous

customs and belief systems.

Broadly, Buddhism has been classified into three divisions wherein Tantra or Vajrayāna

is considered as the third major yāna alongside of Theravada and Mahāyāna. However, there

exists another classification which suggests the twofold division of Mahāyāna: Pāramitāyāna—

the Sutra vehicle and Mantrayāna—the Tantra vehicle. The tantra tradition, which happened to

be an esoteric tradition initially, was later popularized among the common masses by the

Siddhachāryas through their miraculous yogic powers. A reference to magical and occult

elements could be observed even during the period of the Buddha. There are references in Pāli

and Sanskrit sources about the inclination of some of Buddha’s disciples towards this. In Dīgh

Nikāya’s Aţānāţiya Sutta (David 1921: 190), Vaiśravaņa can be seen reciting the protection spell



on Gŗidhakūţa hill in the presence of the Buddha. Tantric literature claims that Buddha himself

preached the doctrine of tantra (Upadhyaya 1999: 231).

Mahāyāna’s scholastic tradition which developed around the second century CE led to

development of literature containing mantra and the vocabulary of tantra. Several sūtras and

tantra literature came into existence which later served as Vajrayāna’s canonical literature. The

early philosophy was symbolically depicted through a personified form of Dhyāni Buddhas and

their family which consisted of several divinities (Bagchi 1965: 111).

From the seventh century CE to the tenth century CE, tantric Buddhism continued to

develop and various Siddhachāryas popularized it with their tantric-yogic practices and mystical

songs known as Caryāgeeti and Caryāpada compiled in Dohā Koşa. Another distinguishing

feature of this phase of Buddhism was adopting the language of the common masses. The

language of Caryāgeeti and Caryāpada which were written by some of the Siddhachāryas was

not Sanskrit but the local vernacular. Their teachings also had a great influence on established

monastic universities such as Nālandā and Vikramśilā. During this period, tantric Buddhism also

made its advent in Tibet, Nepal, Japan and other neighbouring countries and assimilated their

local practices and deities into it. Buddhism in this period had an all-embracing nature and

incorporated several local traditions.

Early Sanskrit Buddhist textual sources suggested that the seeds of esotericism were

inherent in the scriptures of the early Mahāyāna period. One of the earliest records of esoteric

rituals can be found in Mahāyānasutrālaǹkār and Abhisamayālaǹkār written by Arya Maitreya

in the third century CE (Bhattacharyya 1982: 83). Similarly the ending dhāriņi of the Heart sutra

which although it does not belong to tantra, shows a tendency towards the development of the

mantra tradition.

Tantric Buddhism had its foundation in Mahāyāna philosophy. However, it laid more

emphasis on the practice technique than on philosophy. Esoteric practices distinguish tantric

Buddhism from Mahāyāna. Sutras important to Mahāyāna became important to tantra too.

Guhyasamāja Tantra claims that the reason why it had not been preached before was that there

was no one sufficiently learned to understand it (Bhattacharyya 1956: 268). This also indicates

that tantric Buddhism happened to be a finer version of Mahāyāna.

Tantric Buddhism used the language of symbolism to illustrate its deeper thoughts. Some

deep concepts were represented through the symbolic union of male and female figures. Intuitive

wisdom (prajña) was considered to be a passive female quality of human nature while

compassionate action was the male quality (upāya) and a union of both in the process of

enlightenment was represented by an ecstatic union of male and female deities. Such symbolism

implied that a similar union of the male and female mode could be experienced on a higher plane

of consciousness where all opposites appear in dynamic unity.

The term tantra is derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘tan’ which means to elongate or

extend (Kane 1941: 14). Tantra is practical knowledge to extend the potentiality of individual

human consciousness to achieve cosmic effulgence and liberation (White 1998: 263). In its

practical aspect, tantra uses a variety of methods to achieve this stage. It consists of a set of

spiritual techniques which gradually take the consciousness of the practitioner to a non-duel

liberating state. Preliminary tantric practices emphasize the external purity of the body, speech

and mind. The body in a correct meditation posture is visualized as a virtual shrine where

offerings are made and hand gestures (mudrās) are performed. Speech is used for reciting

mantras while the mind is used for contemplating upon the deity and imprinting itself with the

visual form of deity. The deity here represents some philosophical idea in an anthropomorphic


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

form. As the practitioner invokes the quality of the deity, he tries to awaken similar features

within him.

In Tantric Buddhism at the primary level, the approach is that of having control over

sensual desires. However, at the higher level a revolutionary approach of not subjugating but

exploring a psychological path of transformation of desire into spiritual bliss is followed. This is

achieved through a tantric-yogic process of manipulating subtle wind channels that act as a link

between the body and the mind. In the higher stages, the use of transgressive practices

associated with the cremation ground and so forth are recommended in tantric texts such as the

Hevajra Tantra (Farrow and Menon 1992: 172)and the Guhyasamāja Tantra (Shastri 1984: 110)

for achieving an insight of non-dual wisdom.

It is suggested that in tantra at certain transitional states, such as meditation and

dreaming, the body-mind is in a very subtle state which can be used by advanced practitioners to

transform the mind-stream. Thus, by changing the gear of consciousness, the practitioner

accelerates the process of enlightenment. These transitional states are used for penetrating very

deep inside the human psyche. Tantra recommends transgressive actions in order to take apart

the sense of duality, that is, a knowledge of good and evil and making the mind free from any

sort of conditioning. Such concepts of tantra point to the idea of emptiness (Śunyata), that alone

exists, beyond good or evil, and the tantric practitioner must act only with compassion for the

benefit of the salvation of the world.

Thus, tantric practices are designed in a way to process the dismantling, the ‘conditioned

known’ and getting to Sahaja, the last achievement of all thought perceiving every phenomenon

as pure and void (Coomaraswamy 1999: 140). Such ideologies can be commonly found in the

verses of the 84 Siddhas of tantric Buddhism, who claimed to be in state of ‘Sahaja’.

Traditionally the practice of tantra is supposed to be kept secret. As a result of this tantra has

often been subjected to a great deal of misunderstanding. Some of the early researchers wrongly

positioned it in the mode of immoral worship with a repulsive outward sign and a strange inner

meaning (Urban 2010: 8).

All tantra texts warn about its secrecy and put restrictions on independent practice of

tantra in the absence of a qualified guru. The texts clearly state that teachings should not be

revealed to those who are not initiated and who lack faith. Thus, public accessibility to authentic

tantric teachings is limited.

In recent decades, some of the Tibetan Buddhist lamas have been more willing to bestow

initiations and impart commentary on tantric sādhanas and scholars in the academic world have

begun compiling and translating tantric teachings and texts. H. H. the fourteenth Dalai Lama’s

advice (Dhargyey 2006: VII) of partially lifting the secrecy in order to avoid the great

misunderstandings, has made the written commentary on some of the secret practices readily

available to the academic world.

Early researches on Buddhist tantra were mainly focused on the socio-religious aspect

and viewed it more as a magical cult and rituals. Books authored by Herbert V. Guenther, David

Snellgrove and Alex Wayman are valuable accounts of Buddhist tantric traditions practiced in

Tibet and other Himalayan regions in India. The works of Indian authors such as P. C Bagchi

and N. N. Bhattacharyya are also helpful in understanding different tantric traditions in India.

Anand Coomaraswamy and Binoytosh Bhattacharyya were amongst the earliest indigenous

scholars of Buddhist art and iconography. While Anand Coomaraswamy focused on the

idealistic-philosophical aspects of Buddhist art, Binoytosh Bhattacharyya dealt with the

iconography of tantric deities and also edited Nişpannayogāwali and two volumes of



Sādhanamālā manuscripts obtained from Nepal. In recent years the voluminous works of Lokesh

Chandra has also contributed to research of Tibetan and Nepalese iconography. However, the

difficulty with these researchers, who are established scholars, research is that they do not have

any real experience of tantrism as practitioners. Their explanations about tantric concepts are

based on textual accounts. Scholars such as Binoytosh Bhattacharyya have admitted their

limitations in this regard (Bhattacharyya 1940: 637).

In the last decade, tantra has also come to the centre of a much larger debate on the

politics of scholarship and the interpretation of South Asian traditions. A number of Western

scholars and their books such as Jeffrey Kripal’s Kali’s Child (1998), David Gordon White’s

Kiss of the Yogini (1998) and Sarah Caldwell’s Oh Terrifying Mother (1999) have received

strong criticism from some Indian readers for their allegedly hypersexual and neo-orientalist

interpretations of tantra.

By and large, much of tantra that we talk about today is a product of the late nineteenth

and twentieth century Hindu and Buddhist renaissance in which Western ideas about

science, psychoanalysis and mental fitness play a crucial role. With the development of

psychoanalysis, researchers on tantra (Child 2007: 5–23) have tried to establish a rational basis

for its sexual practices. The Jungian concept of anima (Brown 2001: 9–42) has been used for

a conceptual definition of female divinities of Buddhist and Śiva tantra. Similar

rationalizations have been widely used by propagators of Indian occult science institutions such

as theosophy and the followers of neo-tantra propagated by Osho (formally known as Rajneesh).

Osho’s commentary on several Buddhist tantric texts has played an important role in

popularizing Buddhist tantra and generated a new readership for it. Similarly, Tibetan tantric

master Chögyam Trungpa’s (Gimian 2003) tantric teachings have led to the evolution of a new

generation of tantric Buddhist adepts and scholars who have tried to give tantra a feminist face.

In recent years the encouragement given by H. H. Dalai Lama to explore Tibetan Buddhism has

given the outside world an opportunity to investigate the rational basis of tantric practices. In this

way a massive multi-level hybridization has taken place in the recent decade and mystical

aspects of tantric practices have been rationalized to some extent.

Because of the rapidly increasing modern interest in Buddhist tantras, a number of works

related to this subject have been published. Some impressive studies on tantric goddesses have

also appeared. These studies tend to range across other academic disciplines also; notably the

image of the yoginī or dākinī has inspired a large body of cross-cultural and feminist theological

discourse. Many writers have drawn upon Buddhist thought in their articulations of feminist

epistemology. Rita M. Gross’s Buddhism after Patriarchy (1993), examines the feminist history

of Buddhism, Tsultrim Allione’s Women of Wisdom (2000) searches for the spiritual potential of

women in Tibetan Buddhism, Simmer S. Brown’s Dākinī’s Warm Breath (2001) interweaves

traditional stories of the feminine divine with commentaries by contemporary teachers.

Similarly, June Campbell’s Traveler in Space (2003) is about the female identity in Tibetan

Buddhism, Serinity Young’s Courtesans and Tantric Consorts (2004) tackles a complex issue of

sexuality and gender by examining textual and historical data and Miranda Shaw’s Passionate

Enlightenment argues against the subordinate role of women in tantric Buddhism and presents

extensive evidence of independent female founders of tantric traditions and their role in

establishing a distinctive vision of gender relations.

Apart from these researches which generally rely on Tibetan sources, works by John

Locke, David Gellner and Todd T. Lewis have opened up a new discourse on contemporary

Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna ritualism and culture of Nepal. By highlighting the ‘popular religion’


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

facet of Buddhism which includes a large degree of practices related to the imagery of

goddesses, they examine the ethnographical aspects of rituals, myths and devotional rites

practiced by the lay Buddhist community in Nepal.

These books have been published in the last two decades and they deal with questions

related to tantrism within South Asian religious culture. Although these books do provide

significant insights in understanding the feminine aspects of tantric Buddhism and goddesses,

however as Rita M. Gross (2000: 109) points out; “...such discussions cannot be done by

outsiders, no matter how knowledgeable and sympathetic they may be.”

When we investigate the origin of the goddess cult in Buddhism, we find that there exists

a vast inconsistency between textual and material evidence as they do not corroborate each other.

The primacy that has been granted to textual sources, despite their obscure nature, creates a

further problem. The golden plaque bearing a naked figure of a goddess obtained along with the

relics from Piprahwā (Kapilvastu) and the Lauriā-Nandangarh Stupa (Joshi 2011: 41) and the

female figures that have been erected in the vihāras imply that Buddhism since its inception had

a rich tradition of goddesses although we seldom find information about these goddesses in Pāli

literature. It could be assumed that the early phase of Buddhism inherited these goddesses from

pre-Buddhist traditions. We find some textual evidence in Pāli literature that points towards the

all-embracing nature of Buddhism which accommodated local goddesses within the Buddhist

framework. Chinese traveller I-tsing reports the presence of statues of yakşi Hārītī on the porches

and in the dining halls in Indian monastic complexes (I-tsing 1966: 37). Similarly, early Buddhist

stupas at Bharhut and Sanchi have several labelled reliefs depicting minor female figures as

supernatural beings which are believed to be female tree spirits.

The encounter between the yakşi Hārītī and the Buddha is an excellent example of the

conversion of local goddesses to Buddhism (Misra 1979: 73–77). The Buddha steps in to remove

a supernatural threat that menaces society at the request of the people of Magadha whose

children were being killed by this ferocious goddess. After her encounter with the Buddha, she

agrees to give the practice of devouring children and in return the Buddha promises her that she

will be given sustenance from the portion of all the goods donated to vihāras. Thus, the Buddha

quells the anger that drives the goddess’s actions. In this manner she was accepted as the goddess

in the Buddhist pantheon and featured prominently in early Buddhist literary and artistic

traditions throughout India.

Female divinities have had associations with different tantric sects for a long time. It is

interesting to see that a fifth-century CE Vaişņava inscription in a temple in Mandasor, which

contains the first archaeological reference to tantra, mentions the existence of the Dākinī cult

(Lorenzen 2006: 71). This inscription implies that the cremation grounds and mountainous

regions were the locus of powerful female spirits such as Dākinīs. At a gross level, the aim of

early tantric practices was accessing the power of these terrible female spirits by delighting them

with transgressive offerings and inducing them to serve the practitioner’s own interests. The

Yakşiņī practices described in the Buddhist text Manjuśrīmūlkalpa (Shashtri 1998: 557) is an

example of such practices prevailing in Buddhist traditions around sixth century CE.

Divyāvadāna, a Sanskrit Buddhist text written around early first century CE mentions a

spell of demigoddesses named ‘Amale-Vimale’. Śardulakarņa, a narrative in Divyāvadāna, (Neil

1886: 611–59) mentions about this spell being practiced by a Mātanga woman. The narrative

indicates that such practices of sorcery were dispensed by some practitioners who belonged to

the lower stratum of ancient Indian society. This form of religion was admittedly doctrinally

alien to Buddhism and such rites made little justification to the Buddhist ethical system.



However in this narrative of Divyavadana, the Buddha is also seen to be prescribing a similar

remedy to counter the evil caused by sorcery.

It can be easily observed that female spirits were an integral part of the religious life of

early India and later on they were accommodated in different religious traditions. That is why in

the later period when tantra appeared in its mature form, it used metaphors from earlier traditions

and gave the utmost importance to female divinities.

Some of the cults of goddesses were common in different traditions. For example, the

cult of goddess Śrī which is still popular in the Hindu sphere in southern India seems to have

existed at the time of the Buddha or even prior to that. Jain literature (Joshi 2011: 40) states that

Mahāvīra’s mother had an auspicious dream of ‘Śrī’ prior to Tīrthaǹkara’s birth. Around the first

century CE, Śrī attained prominence in Buddhism. She is depicted in the relief works of Sānchi

and Bharahut. Similarly, the cult of Aparājitā can be traced to the Mauryan period. Kauţilya’s

Arthśastra (Chaturvedi 2001: 34) also refers to the cult of Aparājitā. This cult continued till the

twelve century CE as the Buddhist text Sādhanamālā (Bhattacharyya 1968) mentions Aparājitā

Sādhana. Her reference appears in Lalitāsahtranām and in Jaina-Rupa-Mandana (Shah 1987:

285) as one of the forms of the great goddess. In Harivamsapurāņa there are hymns for a mother

goddess who holds a peacock feather in her hand (Joshi 2011: 55). She can be identified with one

of the Pancarakşā goddess, Mahāmayurī (Samdarshi 2012: 44–45). In Bhavişyapurāņa (Anon.

1992: 68) a mantra of Buddhist goddess Kurukullā is recommended for protection from snakes.

Several sites of such goddesses can still be identified in various parts of India where Buddhist

goddesses are very popular among the Hindus.

The confluence of Śaivism, Śāktism and tantric Buddhism during the Pāla period

provided the ground in which cults of female deities sprouted (Shaw 2008: 33). The mutual

exchange of female deities between Buddhist and Śākta tantra appears in texts such as

Sādhanamālā (Bhattacharyya 1968) which were composed during this period.

Another tantric Buddhist text Cakrasamvaratantra (Grey 2007) also has close

associations with the non-dual Śiva-Bhairava cult. According to this tantric text, the absolute was

singular in the ultimate essence, manifesting female and male aspects. The text further states that

the male aspect was impotent and could act only through his female consort (Brown 2001: 46).

This concept is resonated in the first verse of Śankarāchārya’s Saundaryalaharī (Brown 1958)

where primordial power is hypostatized as goddess Śakti who without her Śiva is ineffectual. In

Śākta tantric traditions, the goddess ultimately becomes the primary, all-powerful creator and

sustainer of the cosmos.

It is important to note that early tantric traditions were diverse in nature. Most of them

had a preoccupation with a powerful goddess, but the understanding, interpretation and

application of concepts developed in quite different ways. For example, in Śaivite traditions, the

male deity was supreme with a powerful but ultimately subordinate consort (Dwivedi 1970: 49).

In Vaişņava Panchrātra tradition (Basu 2008) Lakşmi as a consort of the god, appears in the

twofold dynamic power, Bhūti and Kriya. The Bhuti aspect of Lakşmi causes the formation of

matter and material world while the Kriya aspect of Lakşmi vitalizes and governs the world.

It can be observed the Śaiva, Vaişņava and Jaina tantric traditions give less importance to

female divinities as compared with their male counterparts. However, Śākta tantra places the

goddess in a supreme position. In Buddhist tantra which is similar to Śākta, the superiority of

goddesses comes across in a substantial way. In tantric Buddhism, goddesses who embodied

supreme enlightenment were designated as “the Buddhas” and “the mother of all Buddhas”


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Shaw 2008: 8). The goal of practices dedicated to such goddesses assured the practitioner that

he would be led to Buddhahood during the present lifetime.

This way the tantric Buddhism places some of these female deities at the pinnacle of the

pantheon, who personify the highest spiritual goals including Buddhahood. Such female

Buddhist divinities are nowadays popularly tagged as ‘Female Buddhas’, a term coined by

modern authors such as G. H. Mullin (Mullin and Watt 2003) and Miranda Shaw (2006) (2008).

However, due to its cultural baggage, the word ‘Buddha’ still reflects a male figure in our minds

though the term is more concerned with the concept of awakening and therefore transcends

gender.

The Buddhist pantheon is rich in a varied range of fascinating female divinities; these

range from tree spirits to compassionate healers and from wrathful protectoresses to a cosmic

mother of liberation. These female Buddhist divinities can be broadly grouped in two categories.

The first represents cosmic power in a feminine form leading to the highest truth and attainments

of liberation, often tagged as ‘Female Buddhas’. This group includes Mahāyāna goddesses such

as Prajñāpāramitā and tantric goddesses such as Vajrayoginī and Nairātmyā. The other group

consists of goddesses who are invoked to accomplish a range of practical aims such as protection

from diseases and enemies, pursuit of knowledge, mental purification and for promoting a

gradual progress towards awakening. The iconographic traits and rituals differ according to the

contrasting roles and statuses of these goddesses.

Tantric Buddhist texts such as Sādhanamālā (Bhattacharyya 1968) and

Nişpannayogāwalī (Bhattacharyya 1972) feature a range of female divinities for specific areas of

human needs. On the one hand they feature a range of powerful protectoresses such as

Sitātapatrā, a guardian against supernatural dangers; Jāńguli who protects against harm by snakes

and poison; and Parņaśavari, a healing deity. On the other hand there are divinities for worldly

benefits such as Vasuādharā, who is the bestower of wealth and abundance; Uşņiśavijayā, who

confers long life and a fortunate rebirth; and Cundā, who inspires and supports spiritual

practices.

Tārā happens to be the most prominent female deity of Himalayan Buddhism. She is a

principal example of a female Buddha who actually achieved enlightenment. According to the

Sūtra tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (Rinpoche 1999: 21) prior to her enlightenment, she was a

Bodhisattva, and was promised that after she reached awakening she would always appear in a

female form for the benefit of all living beings. However, as a fully awakened Buddha in the

Tantra tradition, Tārā is looked to for attaining enlightenment. Thus, depending on the tradition,

she has different manifestations. Goddesses in semi-wrathful female forms, such as Nairātmya,

may wear ornaments of skulls and bones and trample upon a male deity. They embody fierce

energy used in tantric practices to change old habits of the mind and are the personifications of

one of the core philosophies in Buddhism, that all things are without ego and without a true

inherent nature of their own.

It is also commonly accepted in tantric literature that the deities do not have a fixed form

and they may appear as per the visualizations of the practitioner. The deities are referred to as

mind–made formations (manomayakāya) of the practitioner’s own consciousness (Pandey 2001:

X). Different forms and physical features of these goddesses are symbolic and given in a coded

language that is explained in tantric manuals. Depending on the specific enlightened qualities

that they embody, the goddesses may have peaceful or wrathful appearances. The sādhans

prescribed for these goddesses are meant to destroy or transform habits of the mind, often by

radical, unconventional methods.



Visualization is a major component to tantric practices. Most of the tantric goddesses are

visualized with multiple heads, arms and legs, representing the multi-functional nature of an

enlightened mind which they embody. They have key identifiers such as postures, hand gestures

or symbols and colours to tell who they are and what they represent. As these goddesses embody

Buddhist ideals, their forms are created in art for contemplation and used as a tool for spiritual

development.

The appearance of goddesses in tantric Buddhism has twofold facets: the esoteric side

which can be deciphered from tantric texts through lineage teachings held by learned monks and

a facet of popular devotional practices and rituals which plays in the hearts and minds of their lay

adherents in which, the traditions of goddesses vary based on the needs of different people.

In the Tibetan tradition, tantra has been classified into a fourfold system: Kriyā Tantra,

Charyā Tantra, Yoga Tantra and Anuttarayoga Tantra. The diverse array of practices related to

goddesses has also been categorized accordingly. In Kriyā and Charyā Tantra, goddesses are

visualized as external entities and their practices consist of devotion and rituals while goddesses

embodying the more advanced yogic practices are part of Yoga Tantra and Anuttarayoga Tantra.

Anuttarayoga Tantra is further divided into Mother Tantra and Father Tantra. Most of the Mother

Tantra practices consist of self-visualization in which the practitioners visualize themselves as

the central meditational goddess of an elaborate, elegant mandala. However, here the goddess

has to be visualized precisely with her non-inherent existence emanating from the wisdom of

clear light of emptiness. Mother Tantra also consists of yogic practices of dealing with the

systems of the central wind channel of the subtle body in order to gain the subtlest level of

blissful awareness (Gyatso 2000: 202–13).

Vajrayoginī is one of the most popular meditational deities of Mother Tantra.

Conceptually, she is an embodiment of wisdom (prajña), representing the feminine aspect of

one’s innate nature and the clarity gained from the discriminating awareness in female form. She

is one of the most often cited deities in tantric texts and there exist a number of praise verses

(stotra) dedicated to her in different tantric texts (Pandey 1994: 208–12). Most of the

Anuttarayoga Tantra texts such as Guhyasamāja Tantra (Shastri 1984: 1) and Hevajra Tantra

(Farrow and Menon 1992: 3) start with an opening verse which quotes the Buddha residing in the

embryo (bhaga) of the Vajrayoginī as she is the essence of the body, speech and mind of all the

Tathāgatas.

Chinnamunḍā is one of the forms of Vajrayoginī in which she manifests in a three-body

form (Benard 2010: 74–75). This form of Vajrayogini is also referred to as Trikāya Vajrayoginī

in Guhyasamaya Tantra (Pandey 1994: 212) and Bhaţţārikā Vajrayoginī in Sādhnamālā

(Bhattacharyya 1968: 453).

Chinnamunḍā, which literally means severed-headed, is the self-decapitated form of

Vajrayoginī. In this unusual form, Vajrayoginī appears with her two attendant yoginīs,

Vajravairochanī and Vajravarņanī. In Śakta tantras Chinnamunḍā is named as Chinnamastā

where she is amongst the ten great wisdom (Daśmāhvidyā) goddesses. Śakta practitioners

visualize her as an external entity while in Buddhism she is a personal meditational deity,

existing not outside the practitioner’s own mind.

One of the prominent sources for Vajrayoginī practices is Sādhnamālā, (Bhattacharyya

1968: 452–58) in which her seven sādhanas are given. Sādhana 232 portrays her as:

The practitioner should visualize one’s navel as an opened white lotus surmounted by a

red solar disk. On the top of that is a Hŗim (the seed Mantra of Vajrayoginī ). This Hŗim

transforms into the yellow colored Vajrayoginī who is holding her own self–severed head


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

in her left hand and a scimitar in her right hand…. Three streams of blood spurt out from

her severed body as falling into the mouth of her severed head and into the mouths of the

two yoginis, Vajravarņanī, blue in color to her left and Vajravairochanī, yellow in color to

her right both of whom hold a scimitar in their left and right hand respectively, and the

skull cup in the right and left hands respectively…. Their hair is disheveled. On all sides in

the intermediate space between the yoginīs is the very frightening cremation ground.

The esoteric meaning of this ‘awful’ depiction of the goddess is hidden in yogic practice

which is related to the three major wind channels (nāḍī) of the subtle body commonly known as

Lalanā, Rasanā and Awadhūtī in Buddhist tantra. The practice manual of Vajrayoginī, The guide

to Dākinī Land (Gyatso 2000: 218) states that the inner winds are special subtle energy that

flows through channels when the mind is engaged with an external object or activity. The wind

that flows through the left and right channels is impure and causes the false notion of a self–

intrinsic existence of the phenomenal world, obscuring the experience of clear light emptiness.

When the central channel, which is pure in nature, is invoked, the practitioner experiences the

falling off of the false notion of selfhood (ātmagrāha) which gives rise to wisdom of great bliss

and the two other left and right wind channels continue to exist drawing their source from the

central channel.

This yogic sādhana has been portrayed in an anthropomorphic representation of

Chinnamunḍā Vajrayoginī in which she represents the central wind channel while her two



attendants represent the left and right auxiliary channels. The five energy-nodes (Chkaras) that

pass through the central wind channel are also labelled as tantric goddesses.

From this analysis of the iconography of the Vajrayoginī image, it can be observed that

the symbolism of tantra has a profound practical basis inherent in it. Similar to any scientific

research procedure in which experimental facts are correlated with mathematical symbols to

work out a mathematical model, tantric masters also discover the practices by experimenting

with their own psyche and the results obtained from their experiments are given a schematic

form. This scheme which is modelled as an anthropomorphic figure represents yogic practices in

an abstract manner. However, tantric texts are silent on, or speak metaphorically about, these

symbols to avoid their trivialization.

A deeper understanding of tantric iconography reveals that much of the symbolism of

tantra has been derived from a profound practical basis which is often esoteric in nature. Tantric

manuals suggest that the figures are not icons of beings, be it god or human, but that they are

icons of ideas in a stylized mode. With their literature encoded in symbolism and their practices

veiled in secrecy, most often such iconography is improperly assessed by people who are

unaware of these esoteric concepts.

One should also keep in mind that in tantric Buddhism, the concept of a goddess appears

in the framework of non–theism, which means that there is no external supreme being, and hence

all religious symbols of a divinity, rituals and doctrines have just conventional utility rather than

being the ultimate truth.

Works Cited

Allione, Tsultrim. (2000). Women of Wisdom. New York: Snow Lion.

Anon. (ed.) (1992). Kalyana Sankshipt Bhavishyapurana. Gorakhpur: Gita Press.

Bagchi, S. (ed.) (1965). Guhyasamājatantra or Tathāgataguhyaka. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute.

Basu, B. D. (ed.) (2008). Śri Nārad Panchrātram. New Delhi: Cosmo Publication.

Benard, Elisabeth Anne. (2010). Chinnamastā: The Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric

Goddess. New Delhi: Motilal Banrasidas.

Bhattacharyya, Binoytosh. (1940). 'Bauddha Sādhnā', in H. P. Poddar (ed.), Kalyāna Sādhnā

Anka. Gorakhpur: s.n., pp. 636–38.

———. (ed.) (1968). Sādhanamālā. Vol.II. Baroda: Oriental Institute.

———. (ed.) (1972). The Nişpannayogāwalī of Mahāpandita Abhyākaragupta. Baroda: Oriental

Institute.

Bhattacharyya, Haridas. (1956). The Cultural Heritage of India: The Religions. Culcutta:

Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture.

Bhattacharyya, N.N. (1982). History of the Tantric Religion: A Historical, Ritualistic, and

Philosophical Study. New Delhi: Manohar.

Brown, Simmer J. (2001). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism.

Boston: Shambhala.

Brown, W. Norman. (ed.) (1958). The Saundaryalahri or, Flood of Beauty. Cambridge Mass.:

Harvard University Press.

Caldwell, Sarah. (1999). Oh Terrifying Mother: Sexuality, Violence, and the Worship of The

Goddess Kali. New York: Oxford University Press.


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Campbell, June. (2003). Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism.

New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.

Chaturvedi, B. K. (ed.) (2001). Kautilya’s Arthśāstra. New Delhi: Diamond Pocket Books.

Child, Louise. (2007). Tantric Buddhism and Altered State of Consciousness. Hampshire:

Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Coomaraswamy, Anand K. (1969). Introduction to Indian Art. New Delhi: Munshiram

Manoharlal.

———. (1999). The Dance of Shiva. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.

David, T.W. Rhys. (1921). Sacred Books of the Buddhists. London: s.n.

Dhargyey, Geshe Ngawang. (2006). Vajrayogini Sādhna and Commentary. New Delhi: Library

of Tibetan Works and Archives.

Farrow, G.W. and I. Menon (eds). (1992). The Concealed Essence of Hevajra Tantra. New

Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Gimian, Carolyn Rose. (ed.) (2003). The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa. Boston and

London: Sambhala.

Grey, David. (ed.) (2007). The Chakrasamvara Tantra. New York: Columbia University Press.

Gross, Rita M. (1993). Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and

Reconstruction of Buddhism. New York: State University of New York Press.

———. (2000). "Is the Goddess a Feminist?" in A. Hiltebeitel and K.M. Erndl (eds), Is the

Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses. New York: NYUP, pp. 104–12.

Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang. (2000). Guide to Dakini Land. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

I–tsing (1966). A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India and the Maylay

Archipelago AD 671–695. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.

Joshi, Munishchandra. (2011). Eitihāsik Sandarbh Mein Śhakta Tantra. Delhi: Sasta Sahitya

Mandal.

Kane, P. V. (1941). History of Dharmaśāstra. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

Kirpal, Jeffrey J. (1998). Kali's Child. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Lorenzen, David N. (2006). Who Invented Hinduism. New Delhi: Yoda Press.

Misra, Ram Nath. (1979). The Yaksha Cult and Iconography. New Delhi: Munshiram

Manoharlal.

Mullin, G. H. and Watt, J.J., 2003. Female Buddhas: Women of Enlightenment in Tibetan

Mystical Art. New Mexico: Clear Light Books.

Neil, Edward Byles Cowell and Robert Alexander (eds) (1886). The Divyavadana: A Collection

of Early Buddhist Legends. London: Oriental Press.

Osho. (1975). Tantra, The Supreme Understanding: Talks on Tilopa's Song of Mahamudra.

Bombay: Rajneesh Foundation.

Pandey, Janardan Shashtri. ed., 1994. Bauddhastotrasamgraha. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

———. (ed.) (2001). Kurukullakalpah. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies.

Rinpoche, Boker. (1999). Tara The Feminine Devine. San Francisco: Clear Point Press.

Samdarshi, Pranshu. (2012). Role of Goddesses in Tantric Buddhism. M.Phil Dissertation,

University of Delhi.

Sarasvati, Satya Prakash. (ed.) (1992). Atharvaveda. New Delhi: Veda Pratishthana.

Shah, Umakant P. (ed.) (1987). Jaina–Rupa–Mandana. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.

Shashtri, M. M. T. Ganapati. (ed.) (1998). The Aryamanjuşrīmūlakalpa. Delhi: Sri Satguru

Publishers.

Shastri, Swami Dwarikadhish. (ed.) (1984). Guhyasamājatantra. Varanasi: Buddha Bharati.



Shaw, Miranda. (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

———. (2008). Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism. New Delhi:

Munshiram Manoharlal.

Upadhyaya, Baldev. (1999). Bauddha Darśhan Mimansa. Varanasi: Chukhambha Vidya Bhvan.

Urban, Hugh B. (2010). The Power of Tantra. London: I. B. Tauris.

White, David Gordon. (1998). The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India.

Chicago : University of Chicago Press.

———. (2003). Kiss of the Yogini: Tantric Sex in its South Asian Contexts. Chicago and

London: The University of Chicago Press.

Woodroff, John. (2001). The Garland of Letters: Studies in Mantra–Śastra. Chennai: Ganesh

and Co.

Young, Serinity. (2004). Courtesans and Tantric Consorts: Sexualities in Buddhist Narrative,

Iconography, and Ritual. New York: Routledge.



Contributors

Sonali Agarwal is Associate Professor of English, Indraprastha College for Women,

University of Delhi. She obtained her B.A., M.A. and M.Phil. degrees from the University of

Delhi and has previously taught at the Janki Devi Memorial College. She was a Research

Associate at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, from 2008 to 2010. Her

published papers include “National Identity in Ramchand Pakistani” (2009) and “The Desi

Bridget Jones: Reflections on Indian Chick Lit” (2010).

Ashwin Parijat Anshu has taught History for short periods in several colleges of the

University of Delhi and currently teaches in the PGDAV College. He obtained his B.A. from

Kirorimal College and M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the Department of History, University

of Delhi. His doctoral dissertation was on "Ramkatha and the Construction of Hindu

Identity, c. 1800-2000". This is his first research publication.

Christel R. Devadawson, Professor in the Department of English, University of Delhi, was a

Cambridge Nehru Scholar for her Ph.D. Her thesis was published as Reading India, writing

England: The Fiction of Rudyard Kipling and E M Forster (Macmillan 2005). She has edited

Jane Eyre (Macmillan 2000) and A Passage to India for a South Asian edition (Orient

Longman 2004), as well as a critical anthology on A Passage to India with G. K. Das (Delhi:

Pencraft International 2005) and Word, Image Text: Nature and Time in Literature and the

Visual Arts with Shormishtha Panja and Shirshendu Chakrabarti (Orient Blackswan 2009).

Her book, Out of Line: Cartoons, Caricature and Contemporary India, is due for publication

later this year (Orient Blackswan).

Charu Gupta is Associate Professor in the Department of History, University of Delhi. She

was Visiting Faculty at the Washington University and the University of Hawaii and a Fellow

at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, the Social Science Research

Council, New York, the Wellcome Institute, London and the University of Oxford. Her

publications include Sexuality, Obscenity, Community: Women, Muslims and the Hindu

Public in Colonial India (Permanent Black/Palgrave 2002) and Contested Coastlines:

Fisherfolk, Nations and Borders in South Asia (Routledge 2008). She has also published a

book in Hindi, Stritva se Hindutva Tak (Rajkamal 2012), and is currently working on a book

manuscript,“The Gender of Caste: Representing Dalits in Print.”

Dipjyoti Konwar is a Ph.D. student in Human Development and Childhood Studies at Lady

Irwin College, University of Delhi. She obtained her M.A. from the Assam Agricultural

University, Jorhat and started her professional career in the development sector in 2007 as a

Young Professional at the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural

Technology (CAPART) under the Ministry of Rural Development. She has been associated

with SEWA Bharat in Delhi since 2009, and is in particular involved with pilot research

projects on cash transfers. She has published a paper on “Cash in women‟s hands --

experience learnt from two pilot studies in India” (2013).

Vijay Mishra, Ph.D. (Australian National University) and D.Phil. (Oxford), is Professor of

English Literature and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Professorial Fellow at

Murdoch University, Perth, and was the Christensen Professorial Fellow at St Catherine‟s

College, Oxford University during the 2013 Hilary Term. His publications include The Dark

Side of the Dream: Australian Literature and the Postcolonial Mind (1991), The Gothic



Sublime (1994), Devotional Poetics (1998), Bollywood Cinema (2002), The Literature of the

Indian Diaspora (2007) and What was Multiculturalism?(2012). He is currently completing a

book on Salman Rushdie.

He was a Visiting Fellow at the Department of English, University of Delhi in 1997.

Narendra Pandey is Associate Professor of History at the Ram Lal Anand College

(Morning), University of Delhi. He has a M.A. from the University of Delhi and a Ph.D. from

Bihar University, Muzaffarpur. He taught for one year in the Faculty of Social Sciences of

the Eritrean Institute of Technology, Asmara, Eritrea. He is currently the chief project

instructor for two “Innovation Projects” at his college, one on “Deconstructing Farmers‟

Suicides” and the other on “A Gendered and Ecological Reading of MGNREGA.”

Pranshu Samdarshi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History, University of Delhi,

with research interests in the fields of ancient Indian culture and religion, Buddhist Tantra

and iconography and the folk religions of Nepal and Tibet. After taking a bachelor‟s degree

in computer science and engineering, he completed his M.A. and M.Phil. from the

Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, working on the „popular‟ Buddhist

practices of the Himalayan region in India and Nepal. His Ph.D. research on the symbolism

of goddesses in Tantric Buddhism explores the dynamic relationship between sacred

feminine imagery and Buddhist Tantra practices. This is his first scholarly publication.

Nivedita Sen is Associate Professor of English at Hans Raj College, University of Delhi. Her

doctoral degree in Comparative Literature from the Department of Modern Indian languages,

University of Delhi, focused on children‟s literature in Bangla. She works on post-colonial

writing, popular fiction and translation studies. Her translations from Bangla into English

include Rabindranath Tagore‟s novel Ghare Baire (The Home and the World; Srishti 2004)

and “The In-Between Woman” in Radha Chakravarty and Fakrul Alam (eds), The Essential

Tagore (Harvard UP 2011). She has co-edited an anthology of recent criticism on Mahasweta

Devi (New Delhi: Pencraft 2008).

Aparajita Sharma has a Ph.D. from the Department of Social Work, University of Delhi,

where she currently works as a guest lecturer. She is a professional social worker and has

worked for over seven years with various marginalized communities, NGOs, state

organizations and also corporate groups. Her areas of interest are popular culture, ideology,

pedagogy (both vocational and school education), gender and inclusive development. She has

published papers on hegemony and education and “Education for Peace”.

Shweta Singh is a M.Phil. student in the Department of History, University of Delhi. She

graduated from Lady Shri Ram College and obtained her M.A. in Ancient Indian History

from Hindu College, University of Delhi. Her areas of interest include the social and

economic history of India and archaeology. This is her first publication.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor at Columbia University, is a feminist

and postcolonial theorist and critic, translator and activist for rural education. Her

publications include the essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?”(1988) and In Other Worlds:

Essays in Cultural Politics (1987), Selected Subaltern Studies (ed., 1988), The Post-Colonial

Critic: Interviews, Strategies, Dialogues (1990), Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993), A

Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999), Death of a Discipline (2003), Other Asias (2005)

and An Aesthetic Education in the Age of Globalization (2012). She has translated Of

Grammatology by Jacques Derrida (1976), several volumes of fiction by Mahasweta Devi



(1997, 1999, 2002) and Songs of Kali: A Cycle by Ramproshad Sen (2000). She was awarded

the Sahitya Akademi prize for translation in 2005 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013.

She delivered a public lecture in 2005 and a keynote address in 2011 at the

Department of English, University of Delhi.

Ravindra B. Tasildar is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, S.N. Arts, D.J.M.

Commerce and B.N.S. Science College, Sangamner, district Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), a

college affiliated to the University of Pune. He has published a book on reference skills and

articles on General and Special English courses and comparative studies in

Indian universities. He has a Ph.D. in ELT from the University of Pune and is

currently working on a UGC-funded research project on the MA (English) courses.

Ashok Vohra, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Delhi, was a student of the

university from 1969 to 1975 and taught at St Stephen‟s College from 1975 to 1986. He has

published more than 170 research papers and articles in national and international research

journals, anthologies and newspapers. He is the author of Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Mind

(London and Sydney 1986) and is the co-author of Radhakrishnan: His Life and Ideas (New

York 1990). He has translated into Hindi Ludwig Wittgenstein‟s Philosophical Investigations

(1996), On Certainty (1998) and Culture and Value (1998). He has co-edited The Philosophy

of K. Satchidananda Murty (1996) and Dharma: The Categorial Imperative (2005). He writes

regularly for several national newspapers on philosophical themes with a view to

popularizing them.

Samdarshi, Pranshu (2014). The Concept of Goddesses in Buddhist Tantra Traditions. (Harish Trivedi, Ed.) The Delhi University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (1), 87-99. 20 pages

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?