History of the Sakta Religion

The Present work deals comprehensively with genesis and development of Saktism as an organized but flexible and receptive religion, its primitive, ancient, medieval and modern forms, its involvement with other religious system and finally its function role, in every turning point of Indian history. The social forces determining the process of historical development of Saktism from crude primitive fertility beliefs to more refined ideas and broader sentiments have been reviewed in this book in the general background of the corresponding historical development of other forms of Indian religious system as well. The author has succeeded in making a comparative analysis of their contents in chronological sequences and form a carefully worked out sociological approach. This has made the work indeed valuable for the basic understanding of the religious history of India as whole. This is a revised and enlarged edition and some of the views and conclusions of the earlier edition have been changed besides new chapters have also been added.

About the Author

Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya does not require any special introduction in the field on Indological studies. Though religious history is his forte he works at ease in diverse branches of ancient Indian history and civilization.

His important publication in English include Indian Puberty Rites; Indian Mother Goddess; History of Indian Cosmogonical Ideas; Ancient Indian Rituals and Their Social Contents; History of Indian Erotic Literature, Jain Philosophy: Historical Outline, History of Researches on Indian Buddhism; History of Tantric Religion; A Glossary in Indian Religious Terms and Concepts; Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Early Medieval India; Ancient Indian History and Civilization: Trends and Perspective, Buddhism in the History of Indian Ideas; and Indian Religious Historiography, vol I.

He has edited R.P. Chanda's Indo-Aryan Races and N.C. Bandyopadhyay's Development of Hindu Polity and Political Theories. He has also edited Medieval Bhakti Movement in India, a collection of papers by eminent scholars, on the occasion of Sri Caitanya's quicentenary, and Prakrit and Jain Studies, essay in honour of Prof. J.C. Jain.

Prof. Bhattacharyya teaches in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture University of Calcutta.