Feb. 5 Kashmir workshop at Columbia

[Joel Bordeaux]

The Southern Asian Institute, Barnard Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures and Columbia University Department of Religion/Religion Graduate Students Association are pleased to announce a workshop on Saturday, February 5, 2005 entitled:

Tantric Traditions of Medieval Kashmir

To be held at:

420 West 118th Street
International Affairs Building, Room 1512
New York NY 10027

10:00-10:45 Muller-Ortega “On the Primacy of ‘Tarka’ in the Yoga of the Tantraloka.”
10:45-11:00 Response, David Mellins, discussion until 11:30.

11:30-12:15 Davidson title TBA.
12:15-12:30 Response TBA, discussion until 12:45.

12:45-2:00 Lunch break.

2:00-2:45 White “Bhairava/Yogi: Divine Paradigm and Human Practice in Kashmir Shaivism.”
2:45-3:00 Response, TBA, discussion until 3:30.

3:30-4:00 Tea/Coffee break in 1134 IAB.

4:00-5:00 Wrap-up Panel.

About the presenters/panelists:

Ronald Davidson (University of California, Berkeley) is professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University, Connecticut. He is the author of Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (Columbia University Press, 2002), Buddhist systems of transformation: Ashraya-parivrtti among the Yogacara (University of California Press, 1985) and the forthcoming Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture and the Rise of Sakya.

Paul Muller-Ortega (University of California, Santa Barbara) is professor of Religion in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. He is the author of The Triadic Heart of Shiva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir (State University of New York Press, 1988) and the forthcoming Journey to Cidambaram: Approaching Shiva and the Ecstatic Yoga of Shaivism and Born of the Yogini's Heart: Reflections on the Hindu Tantra.

David G. White (University of Chicago) is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was editor of Tantra in Practice (Princeton University Press, 2000) and author of The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India (University of Chicago Press, 1996) and Kiss of the Yogini: Tantric Sex in its South Asian Contexts (University of Chicago Press, 2003). His current research interests include Kaula Tantras and the pan-Asian cult of Bhairava.

Please R.S.V.P. to jeb2104 at columbia.edu if you would like to attend dinner afterward.