JUST RELEASED

The Brahmayāmalatantra or Picumata. Volume I: Chapters 1–2, 39–40 & 83. Revelation, Ritual, and Material Culture in an Early Śaiva Tantra.

Shaman Hatley, Collection Indologie n˚133; Early Tantra Series n˚ 5, Institut Français de Pondichéry / Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient / Asien-Afrika Institut, Universität Hamburg, 2018, xiv, 695 p.
Language: Sanskrit, English. 1600 Rs (70 €). ISBN: 978-81-8470-226-2 (IFP) / 978-2-85539-231-8 (EFEO)

The Brahmayāmala or Picumata is one of the earliest surviving goddess-oriented (śākta) tantras, its core probably dating back to the late seventh or early eighth century. Though long forgotten, it is thus crucial to understanding the early history of the Tantric traditions. Spanning more than twelve-thousand verses and 104 chapters, this monumental work is transmitted in a beautiful Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript of the eleventh century, which forms the principal basis for this critical edition. Complementing volume II, edited by Csaba Kiss in the same series, this volume includes the first published edition and annotated translation of five chapters of the Brahmayāmala. The volume also presents pioneering studies on topics these chapters illuminate: Tantric Śaiva conceptions of revelation and the canon, the history of Tantric coital ritual, the mythology of Bhairava, and the iconography and symbolism of the skull-staff (khaṭvāṅga). As with other texts published in the Early Tantra Series, study of the Brahmayāmala helps reshape our knowledge of Tantric Śaivism and religion in early medieval India.

About the author

After completing an interdisciplinary liberal arts degree at Goddard College (1998), Shaman Hatley studied Indology and Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, completing his doctorate in 2007 under the direction of Harunaga Isaacson. He taught at Concordia University, Montréal, from 2007 to 2015, and is now Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research concerns Tantric Śaivism, yoga, and goddess cults in early medieval India.  

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