[INDOLOGY] Another new title jointly published by the Institut Français de Pondichéry/Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient/Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg

[Anurupa Naik]

*JUST RELEASED*

*The Brahmayāmalatantra or Picumata. Volume II. The Religious 
Observances and Sexual Rituals of the Tantric Practitioner: Chapters 3, 
21, and 45.*

A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation by *Csaba Kiss*, Collection 
Indologie n˚ 130; Early Tantra Series n˚ 3, Institut Français de 
Pondichéry / Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient / Asien-Afrika-Institut, 
Universität Hamburg, 373 p.

Language: Sanskrit, English. *750 Rs (32 *€*). *ISBN: 978-81-8470-207-1 
(IFP) / 978-2-85539-153-3 (EFEO).

The /Brahmayāmalatantra/ (aka /Picumata/) is probably one of the 
earliest surviving Śaiva tantras, and possibly the earliest one known to 
us of the Bhairavatantra tradition. The present volume contains a 
critical edition and annotated translation of three of its chapters: one 
on the central /maṇḍala/ of the cult, one on preliminary religious 
observances (/vrata/) prescribed for all practitioners (/sādhaka/), and 
one on instructions for each individual category of /sādhaka/ — 
instructions on transgressive sexual rituals for the Tālaka, on strict 
rules of conduct for the chaste Carubhojin, and on a combination of 
these for the Mixed Practitioner. This unique system of /sādhaka/s marks 
an early phase in the development of classification of practitioners 
seeking liberation and magical powers, and gives us an insight into the 
tantric world of extremes: of rule-bound sexual encounters involving 
several female partners and highly impure substances on the one hand, 
and of asceticism, strict vegetarianism and chastity on the other.

The introduction deals with the main topics raised by the selected 
chapters, as well as with problems of the sometimes extremely 
non-standard (Aiśa) Sanskrit that the oldest manuscript transmits. One 
of the appendices provides a summary of the first twenty-five chapters 
(about one quarter of the /Brahmayāmala/) to facilitate further study. 
The extensive index includes all important keywords and all major Aiśa 
phenomena.

*Keywords:*Mantramārga, Śaivism, Bhairavatantras, Early Tantra, 
Transgressive Sexual Rituals

**

*About the Editor*

After studies in Budapest, *Csaba Kiss *obtained his doctorate from 
Oxford University for his edition of selected chapters of the 
/Matsyendrasaṃhitā/, a thirteenth-century Śaiva tantric text on yoga. He 
joined the Early Tantra Project in 2008 to produce this volume, and is 
currently research assistant at ELTE University, Budapest, working on 
texts of the tantric Kubjikā tradition and of the /jātiviveka/ genre.


*To order, contact:*

**

Institut Français de Pondichéry

P. B. 33, 11, St. Louis Street,

Pondicherry-605001, INDIA

Ph: +91-413-2231660 / 661. Fax: +91 413-2231605

E-mail: library at ifpindia.org <mailto:library at ifpindia.org>

Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient

P.O. Box 151,16 & 19, Dumas Street

Pondicherry - 605001,INDIA

Ph: +91-413-2334539. Fax +91-413-2330886

E-mail: shanti at efeo-pondicherry.org <mailto:shanti at efeo-pondicherry.org>

-- 
Ms. Anurupa Naik
Head, Library and Publication Division
French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)
UMIFRE 21 CNRS-MAEE
P.B. 33
11, St. Louis Street
Pondicherry-605 001, INDIA

Tel: 91-413-2231660
Fax: 91-413-2231605
e-mail:anurupa.n at ifpindia.org
website:www.ifpindia.org

  







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