Books
Tantra
Item Code: IDE800by D.C. SircarHardcover (Edition: 2004)Motilal Banarsidas Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 8120808797 Size: 8.75" X 5.75" Pages: 140 Weight of the Book: 325 gms |
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times since 1st Mar, 2012The holy places, associated with the Mother Goddess and spread over various parts of the Indian subcontinent, have been popular pilgrim spots for a long time. According to some late Tantric texts ascribable to Eastern India, the number of such Sakta-Tirthas is fifty-one, and the present monograph is a dissertation on the origin and development of this conception. Thus it is, at the same time, the study of a number of Tantric and other texts as well as of certain problems of Tantric religion and of historical geography. It is unique in its approach because Tantra Studies have not progressed satisfactory so far on scientific lines. The present monograph has been regarded by a competent authority as 'a mode of accurate and penetrating investigation', which has brought honour to its author.
About the Author:
Dr. Dines Chandra Sircar was formerly Government Epigraphist for India in the Archaeological Survey and Carmichael Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Calcutta University. He was General President of the All-India Oriental Conference in 1972 and had previously presided over sessions of the Numismatic Society of India and Sections of the Indian History Congress and the All-India Oriental Conference, besides being Chief Guest at the All-Orissa History Congress.
Prof. Sircar has written on most aspects of early Indian History during the past four decades. Besides editing a large number of volumes of different types, he has published numerous books and monographs and more than a thousand papers, notes and reviews appearing in various periodicals in India and abroad.
| Foreword (Louis Renou) | vii |
| The Pithanirnaya or Mahapithanirupana | 3 |
| Date of its Composition | 4 |
| An Ancient Legend | 5 |
| Its Development into the Daksa-yajna Story | 5 |
| Further Development of the Legend to explain the Origin of the Pithas | 6 |
| Conception of the Yonikunda and Stanakunda associated with that of the Linga | 7 |
| Some Early Tirthas associated with the Limbs of the Mother-goddess | 8 |
| The Tradition about Four Pithas | 11 |
| The Tantric Schools of North -Western and Eastern India | 15 |
| Different Traditions regarding the Number of the Pithas | 17 |
| Evidence of the Jnanarnava and the Tantrasara regarding the Number of the Pithas | 20 |
| The tradition about 108 Pithas | 24 |
| Freedom of the Writers on the Pithas from any common Tradition | 32 |
| The List of the Pithas in the Pithanirnaya (Mahapithanirupana) | 35 |
| Modification of the Pithanirnaya (Mahapithanirupana) in the Sivacarita | 38 |
| List of the Pithas (Mahapithas) and Upapithas in the Sivacarita | 39 |
| Materials utilized in the Present Edition of the Pithanirnaya (Mahapithanirupana) | 41 |
| Text of the Pithanirnaya (Mahapithanirupana) | 42 |
| Appendix I - A. Probable Original Text of the Pithanirnaya (Mahapithanirupana) Reconstructed on the basis of Manuscript G and the Annadamangala | 59 |
| B. Modified Text of the Pithanirnaya as found in Manuscript H | 61 |
| Appendix II - Puranic Text containing 108 Names of the Mother-goddess (Namastottarasatam) | 66 |
| Appendix III - Evolution of the Daksayajna Story (Daksayajna-katha-mulam | 70 |
| Appendix IV - Date of the Tantrasara | 74 |
| Appendix V - An Index of Pithas | 80 |
| Appendix VI - Siva and Sakti in the Orthodox Indian Pantheon | 100 |
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