Early Tantric Theogonies: The Genesis of Pantheons in the Streams of the Current of the Bhairava Tantras

Early Tantric Theogonies: The Genesis of Pantheons in the Streams of the Current of the Bhairava Tantras

Mark Dyczkowski (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi)
Wednesday, May 19 / 5:00 pm
2001 Social Sciences and Media Studies Building

One of the most notable features of the development of tantric scriptural traditions, especially in the early period of their formation, is the extensive proliferation of divine forms. This takes place systematically—that is, in consonance with the development of tantric systems. This lecture examined some of the underlying principles at work in tantric theogony and the development of tantric systems that constitute the streams of the great current of the early Bhairava Tantras.

Mark Dyczkowski, a Research Scholar associated with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi, is a leading world specialist of Hindu Tantra. His publications include The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism; The Stanzas on Vibration: The Spandakarika With Four Commentaries; A Journey in the World of the Tantras; and, most recently, a fourteen-volume edition and translation of the Kumarikakhanda of the Manthanabhairava Tantra.