Synopses & Reviews
John Nemec examines the beginnings of the non-dual tantric philosophy of the famed Pratyabhijña or "Recognition [of God]" School of tenth-century Kashmir, the tradition most closely associated with Kashmiri Shaivism. In doing so it offers, for the very first time, a critical edition and annotated translation of a large portion of the first Pratyabhijña text ever composed, the Sivadrsti of Somananda. In an extended introduction, Nemec argues that the author presents a unique form of non-dualism, a strict pantheism that declares all beings and entities found in the universe to be fully identical with the active and willful god Siva. This view stands in contrast to the philosophically more flexible panentheism of both his disciple and commentator, Utpaladeva, and the very few other Saiva tantric works that were extant in the author's day. Nemec also argues that the text was written for the author's fellow tantric initiates, not for a wider audience. This can be adduced from the structure of the work, the opponents the author addresses, and various other editorial strategies. Even the author's famous and vociferous arguments against the non-tantric Hindu grammarians may be shown to have been ultimately directed at an opposing Hindu tantric school that subscribed to many of the grammarians' philosophical views. Included in the volume is a critical edition and annotated translation of the first three (of seven) chapters of the text, along with the corresponding chapters of the commentary. These are the chapters in which Somananda formulates his arguments against opposing tantric authors and schools of thought. None of the materials made available in the present volume has ever been translated into English, apart from a brief rendering of the first chapter that was published without the commentary in 1957. None of the commentary has previously been translated into any language at all.
Review
"This praiseworthy work will guide many scholars in this field."--Religious Studies Review
About the Author
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Table of Contents
I. Introduction to the Translation.
1. Introduction
2. About this book
Somananda's Works and His Biography
3. The Author and His Works
4. Somananda's Biography and Autobiography
The Author's Thought and the Intellectual History of the Pratyabhijña
5. Somananda's Settled Opinion (siddhanta)
6. Divergences Between the Writings of Somananda and Utpaladeva
7. The Use of Trika and Technical Terminology in the Sivadrsti
8. The Influence of the Trika VBh on the Sivadrsti
Somananda's Tantric Interlocutors, and the Philosophy of the Grammarians
9. The Tantric Post-Scriptural Schools and Authors Known to Somananda
10. The Sivadrsti and the Spanda School
11. Krama Influences on the Sivadrsti
12. Somananda and the Saiva Siddhanta
13. The Sivadrsti and the Philosophy of the Grammarians
14. Bhatta Pradyumna and his Tattvagabhastotra
15. Conclusions: Somananda's Sivadrsti and the Emergence of the Pratyabhijña
About the Edition and the Translation
16. The Manuscripts of the Sivadrsti
17. About the Edition
18. About the Translation
Abbreviations
II. The Translation.
Chapter One of the Sivadrsti and Sivadrsativrtti: Siva and His Powers
Chapter Two of the Sivadrsti and Sivadrsativrtti: The Arguments Against the Grammarians
Chapter Three of the Sivadrsti and Sivadrsativrtti: The Arguments Against the Saktas
III. The Edition.
Critical Edition of Chapter One of the Sivadrsti and Sivadrsativrtti
Critical Edition of Chapter Two of the Sivadrsti and Sivadrsativrtti
Critical Edition of Chapter Three of the Sivadrsti and Sivadrsativrtti
Bibliography