The Sri Yantra (with non-traditional colors)

Tantra (Sanskrit: तन्त्र, "loom, warp"; hence "principle, system, doctrine, theory", from the verbal root tan "stretch, extend, expand", and the suffix tra "instrument"), anglicised as tantrism or tantricism, is the name scholars give to a style of religious ritual and meditation that arose in medieval India no later than the fifth century CE,^[1] and which came to influence all forms of Asian religious expression to a greater or lesser degree. Strictly speaking, this usage of the word "tantra" is a scholarly invention, but it is justifiable on the basis of the fact that the scriptures that present these practices are generally known as "tantras", regardless of which religion they belong to.

The historical significance of the Tantric method lies in the fact that it impacted every major Asian religion extant in the early medieval period (c. 500 - 1200 CE): thus Shaivism, Buddhism, Vaishnavism, and Jainism all developed a well-documented body of Tantric practices and related doctrines. Even Islam in India was influenced by Tantra.^[2] Tantric ideas and practices spread far outside of India, into Tibet, Nepal, China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.^{[3] [4]} Today, it is Tibetan Buddhism and various forms of Hinduism that show the strongest Tantric influence, as well as the international postural yoga movement and most forms of American alternative spirituality grouped under the New Age rubric.

Defined primarily as a technique-rich style of spiritual practice, Tantra has no single coherent doctrine; rather, it developed different teachings in connection with the different religions that adopted the Tantric method. These teachings tended to support and validate the practices of Tantra, which in their classical form are more oriented to the married householder than the monastic or solitary renunciant, and thus exhibited what may be called a world-embracing rather than a world-denying character. Thus Tantra, especially in its nondual forms, rejected the renunciant values of Patañjalian yoga, offering instead a vision of the whole of reality as the self-expression of a single, free and blissful Divine Consciousness under whatever name, whether Śiva or Buddha-nature. Since the world was viewed as real, not illusory, this doctrine was a significant innovation over and against previous Indian philosophies, which tended to picture the Divine as absolutely transcendent and/or the world as illusion. The practical consequence of this view was that not only could householders aspire to spiritual liberation in the Tantric system, they were the type of practitioner that most Tantric manuals had in mind. Furthermore, since Tantra dissolved the dichotomy of spiritual versus mundane, practitioners could entail every aspect of their daily lives into their spiritual growth process, seeking to realize the transcendent in the immanent. Tantric spiritual practices and rituals thus aim to bring about an inner realization of the truth that "Nothing exists that is not Divine" (nāśivaṃ vidyate kvacit^[5]), bringing freedom from ignorance and from the cycle of suffering (saṃsāra) in the process. Though the vast majority of scriptural Tantric teachings are not concerned with sexuality, in the popular imagination the term tantra and the notion of superlative sex are indelibly, but erroneously, linked.^[6] This error probably arose from the fact that some of the more radical nondual schools taught a form of sexual ritual as a way of entering into intensified and expanded states of awareness and dissolving mind-created boundaries.^[7]

Definitions[link]

There are a number of different definitions of Tantra, not always mutually consistent. Robert Brown^{[citation needed]}notes that the term tantrism is a construction of western scholarship, not a concept that comes from the religious system itself. In other words, tāntrikas (practitioners of Tantra) never attempted to define Tantra as whole the way Western scholars have. Rather, the Tantric dimension of each South Asian religion had its own name. For example, what scholars call Tantric Shaivism was known to its practitioners as the Mantramārga, Tantric Buddhism has the indigenous name of the Vajrayana, and Tantric Vaishnavism was known as the Pañcarātra. However, we may justifiably use the general term Tantra to denote all the teachings and practices found in the scriptures called tantras or āgamas, a synonym (hence we could equally substitute the adjective Āgamic anywhere we might use Tantric).

The Tantric tradition does offer two important definitions of what constitutes a tantra and why it is named such. The first comes from the Kāmikā-tantra:

Because it elaborates (tan) copious and profound matters, especially relating to the principles of reality (tattva) and sacred mantras, and because it provides salvation (tra), it is called a tantra.^[8]

The second traditional definition comes from the 10th century Tantric scholar Rāmakaṇṭha, who belonged to the dualist school called the Śaiva Siddhānta:

A tantra is a divinely revealed body of teachings, explaining what is necessary and what is a hindrance in the practice of the worship of God; and also describing the specialized initiation and purification ceremonies that are the necessary prerequisites of Tantric practice.^[9]

Modern scholars have also provided definitions of Tantra. David Gordon White of the University of California offers the following:

Tantra is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy of the godhead that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways.^[10]

According to the contemporary Indian philosopher and tantric author, founder of Ananda Marga school of Tantra Yoga, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, also known by his spiritual name, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, tantra had its origin in India and South Asia. Tantra in its Káshmiirii and Gaod'iiya Schools did exist before Shiva, but in a scattered and crude form^[11]. Sarkar aka Shrii Shrii Anandamurti also describes who is a tantric and what is the "tantric cult"^[12]: "A person who, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, aspires for spiritual expansion or does something concrete, is a Tantric. Tantra in itself is neither a religion nor an 'ism'. Tantra is a fundamental spiritual science. So wherever there is any spiritual practice it should be taken for granted that it stands on the Tantric cult". Other scholars have chosen to offer lists of defining features rather than an ostensive definition. Anthony Tribe, a scholar of Buddhist Tantra, offers this list: 1. centrality of ritual, esp. evocation and worship of deities; 2. centrality of mantras; 3. visualisation and self-identification with deity; 4. necessity of initiation / esotericism / secrecy; 5. importance of the teacher (guru, ācārya); 6. ritual use of maṇḍalas; 7. transgressive/antinomian acts; 8. revaluation of the body; 9. revaluation of the status and role of women; 10. analogical thinking [including microcosmic/macrocosmic correlation]; and 11. revaluation of 'negative' mental states.^[13]

History[link]

Tantrism originated in the early centuries CE and developed into a fully articulated tradition by the end of the Gupta period. Tantric movements led to the formation of many esoteric schools of Hinduism and Buddhism. It has influenced the Hindu, Sikh, Bön, Buddhist, and Jain religious traditions and spread with Buddhism to East Asia and Southeast Asia.^[31]

Practices[link]

Rather than a single coherent system, Tantra is an accumulation of practices and ideas, characterized by ritual that seeks to access the supra-mundane through the mundane, identifying the microcosm with the macrocosm.^[32] The Tantric practitioner seeks to use prana, an energy that flows through the universe (including one's own body) to attain goals that may be spiritual, material or both.^[33] Most practitioners of tantra consider mystical experience imperative. Some versions of Tantra require the guidance of a guru.^[34]

Long training is generally required to master Tantric methods, into which pupils are typically initiated by a guru. Yoga, including breathing techniques and postures (asana), is employed to subject the body to the control of the will. Mudras, or gestures, mantras or syllables, words and phrases, mandalas and yantras, symbolic diagrams of the forces at work in the universe, are all used as aids for meditation and for the achievement of spiritual and magical power. During meditation the initiate identifies with any of the numerous Hindu gods and goddesses, visualizes them and internalises them, a process likened to sexual courtship and consummation.^[7] The Tantrika, or tantric practitioner may use visualizations of deities, identifying with the deity so that the aspirant "becomes" the Ishta-deva or meditational deity.^[35]

Scripture[link]

The primary sources of written Hindu Tantric lore are the agama, which generally consist of four parts, delineating metaphysical knowledge (jnana), contemplative procedures (yoga), ritual regulations (kriya), and ethical and religious injunctions (charya). Schools and lineages affiliate themselves with specific agamic traditions. Hindu tantra exists in Shaiva, Vaisnava,^[36] Ganapatya,^[37] Saurya^[38] and Shakta forms, amongst others, so that individual tantric texts may be classified as Shaiva Āgamas, Vaishnava Pāñcarātra Saṃhitās,^[39] and Shakta Tantras, though there is no clear dividing line between these works. The expression Tantra generally includes all such works.^[40]

Relation with Vedic tradition[link]

Various orthodox Brahmanas routinely incorporate Tantric rituals in their daily activities (Ahnikas). For example, sarvA~nga-nyAsas and kara-nyAsas (Tantric techniques for placing various deities) are part of chanting tracts such as the rudra-prashna of the yajurvEda and viShNu-sahasra-nAma; and gAyatrI-AvahanaM is a common part of Sandhyavandanam in south India.^[41] Orthodox temple archakas of various sects profess to follow rules laid out in Tantric texts, for example priests of the Iyengar sect prefer to follow Pañcaratra Agamas.

However, it has been claimed that orthodox Vedic traditions were antagonistic to Tantra. André Padoux notes that in India tantra is marked by a rejection of orthodox Vedic tenets.^[42] Moriz Winternitz, in his review of the literature of tantra, points out that, while Indian tantric texts are not positively hostile to the Vedas, they may regard the precepts of the Vedas as too difficult for our age, while an easier cult and an easier doctrine have been revealed in them.^[43] Many orthodox Brahmans who accept the authority of the Vedas reject the authority of the Tantras.^[44] Although later Tantric writers wanted to base their doctrines on the Vedas, some orthodox followers of the Vedic tradition invariably referred to Tantra in a spirit of denunciation, stressing its anti-Vedic character.^[45]

Relation to Yoga[link]

Shaiva tantra gave us the “Hatha Yoga” manuals, such as the 15th century Hathayoga Pradīpikā and the 16th century Gheranda Samhitā. It is from these manuals that most modern knowledge of Yoga and the subtle body derives.

Yoga as it has been inherited in the modern world has its roots in Tantric ritual and in secondary passages (pādas) within Tantric scriptures, The practices of mantra, āsana (seat/pose), sense-withdrawal (pratyāhāra), breath-regulation (prānāyāma), mental (mantric) fixation (dhāranā), meditation (dhyāna), mudrā, the subtle body (sukshma shārīra) with its energy centers (chakras, ādhāras, granthis, etc.) and channels (nādīs), as well as the phenomenon of Kundalinī Shakti are but a few of the tenets that comprise Tantric Yoga. While some of these derive from earlier, pre-Tantric sources, such as the Hindu Upanishads and the Yoga Sūtra, they were greatly expanded upon, ritualized, and philosophically contextualized in these medieval Tantras." ^[46]

Buddhist Tantra[link]

In Buddhism, defined as a scripture taught by the Buddha describing the Vajrayana practices.^[47]

According to Tibetan Buddhist Tantric master Lama Thubten Yeshe:

...each one of us is a union of all universal energy. Everything that we need in order to be complete is within us right at this very moment. It is simply a matter of being able to recognize it. This is the tantric approach.^[48]

Shaiva Tantra[link]

The tantric Shaiva tradition consists of the Kapalikas, Kashmir Shaivism and Shaiva Siddhanta.

Evolution and involution[link]

Linguistically the three words mantram, tantram and yantram are related in the ancient traditions of India, as well as phonologically. Mantram denotes the chant, or "knowledge." Tantram denotes philosophy, or ritual actions. Yantram denotes the means by which a human is expected to lead his life.^{[citation needed]}

According to Tantra, "being-consciousness-bliss" or Satchidananda has the power of both self-evolution and self-involution. Prakriti or "reality" evolves into a multiplicity of creatures and things, yet at the same time always remains pure consciousness, pure being, and pure bliss. In this process of evolution, Maya (illusion) veils Reality and separates it into opposites, such as conscious and unconscious, pleasant and unpleasant, and so forth. If not recognized as illusion, these opposing determining conditions bind, limit and fetter (pashu) the individual (jiva).^[49]

Generally speaking, the Hindu god and goddess Shiva and Shakti are perceived as separate and distinct. However, in Tantra, even in the process of evolution, Reality remains pure consciousness, pure being and pure bliss, and Tantra denies neither the act nor the fact of this process. In fact, Tantra affirms that both the world-process itself, and the individual jiva, are themselves Real. In this respect, Tantra distinguishes itself both from pure dualism and from the qualified non-dualism of Vedanta.^[49]

Evolution, or the "outgoing current," is only half of the functioning of Maya. Involution, or the "return current," takes the jiva back towards the source, or the root of Reality, revealing the infinite. Tantra is understood to teach the method of changing the "outgoing current" into the "return current," transforming the fetters created by Maya into that which "releases" or "liberates." This view underscores two maxims of Tantra: "One must rise by that by which one falls," and "the very poison that kills becomes the elixir of life when used by the wise."^[49]

The method[link]

The Tantric aim is to sublimate rather than to negate relative reality. This process of sublimation consists of three phases: purification, elevation, and the "reaffirmation of identity on the plane of pure consciousness."^[49] The methods employed by Dakshinachara (right-hand path) interpretations of Tantra are very different from the methods used in the pursuit of the Vamachara (left-hand path).

Ritual practices[link]

Because of the wide range of communities covered by the term tantra, it is challenging and problematic to describe tantric practices definitively. Avalon (1918) does provide a useful dichotomy of the "Ordinary Ritual" ^[50] and the "Secret Ritual".^[51]

Ordinary ritual[link]

The ordinary ritual or puja may include any of the following elements:

Mantra and yantra[link]

As in other Hindu and Buddhist yoga traditions, mantra and yantra play an important role in Tantra. The mantra and yantra are instruments to invoke specific Hindu deities such as Shiva, Shakti, or Kali. Similarly, puja may involve focusing on a yantra or mandala associated with a deity.^[52]

Identification with deities[link]

Tantra, as a development of early Hindu-Vedic thought, embraced the Hindu gods and goddesses, especially Shiva and Shakti, along with the Advaita philosophy that each represents an aspect of the ultimate Para Shiva, or Brahman. These deities may be worshipped externally with flowers, incense, and other offerings, such as singing and dancing. But, more importantly, these deities are engaged as attributes of Ishta Devata meditations, the practitioners either visualizing themselves as the deity, or experiencing the darshan (the vision) of the deity. These Tantric practices form the foundation of the ritual temple dance of the devadasis, and are preserved in the Melattur style of Bharatanatyam by Guru Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer.^{[citation needed]}

Secret ritual[link]

Called the Vamamarga, this branch of Tantra departs from its conventional form or mantra and also from yoga. Secret ritual may include any or all of the elements of ordinary ritual, either directly or substituted, along with other sensate rites and themes such as a feast (representing food, or sustenance), coitus (representing sexuality and procreation), the charnel grounds (representing death and transition) and defecation, urination and vomiting (representing waste, renewal, and fecundity).^{[citation needed]} It is this sensate inclusion that prompted Zimmer's praise of Tantra's world-affirming attitude:

In the Tantra, the manner of approach is not that of Nay but of Yea ... the world attitude is affirmative ... Man must approach through and by means of nature, not by rejection of nature.^[53]

In Avalon's Chapter 27: The Pañcatattva (The Secret Ritual) of Sakti and Sakta (1918),^[51] he states that the Secret Ritual (which he calls Panchatattva,^[54] Chakrapuja and Panchamakara) involves:

Worship with the Pañcatattva generally takes place in a Cakra or circle composed of men and women... sitting in a circle, the Shakti (or female practitioner) being on the Sadhaka's (male practitioner's) left. Hence it is called Cakrapuja. ...There are various kinds of Cakra – productive, it is said, of differing fruits for the participator therein.

Avalon also provides a series of variations and substitutions of the Panchatattva (Panchamakara) "elements" or tattva encoded in the Tantras and various tantric traditions, and affirms that there is a direct correlation to the Tantric Five Nectars and the Mahābhūta.^[55]

Sexual rites[link]

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Sexual rites of Vamamarga may have emerged from early Hindu Tantra as a practical means of catalyzing biochemical transformations in the body to facilitate heightened states of awareness.^[56] These constitute a vital offering to Tantric deities. Sexual rites may have also evolved from clan initiation ceremonies involving transactions of sexual fluids. Here the male initiate is inseminated or ensanguined with the sexual emissions of the female consort, sometimes admixed with the semen of the guru. The Tantrika is thus transformed into a son of the clan (kulaputra) through the grace of his consort. The clan fluid (kuladravya) or clan nectar (kulamrita) is conceived as flowing naturally from her womb. Later developments in the rite emphasize the primacy of bliss and divine union, which replace the more bodily connotations of earlier forms. Although popularly equated with Tantra in its entirety in the West, such sexual rites were historically practiced by a minority of sects. For many practicing lineages, these maithuna practices progressed into psychological symbolism.^[56]

When enacted as enjoined by the Tantras, the ritual culminates in a sublime experience of infinite awareness for both participants. Tantric texts specify that sex has three distinct and separate purposes—procreation, pleasure, and liberation. Those seeking liberation eschew frictional orgasm for a higher form of ecstasy, as the couple participating in the ritual lock in a static embrace. Several sexual rituals are recommended and practiced. These involve elaborate and meticulous preparatory and purificatory rites. The sexual act itself balances energies coursing within the pranic ida and pingala channels in the subtle bodies of both participants. The sushumna nadi is awakened and kundalini rises upwards within it. This eventually culminates in samadhi, wherein the respective individual personalities and identities of each of the participants are completely dissolved in a unity of cosmic consciousness. Tantrics understand these acts on multiple levels. The male and female participants are conjoined physically, and represent Shiva and Shakti, the male and female principles. Beyond the physical, a subtle fusion of Shiva and Shakti energies takes place, resulting in a united energy field. On an individual level, each participant experiences a fusion of one's own Shiva and Shakti energies.^[57][58]

Western views[link]

The Sri Yantra (shown here in the three-dimensional projection known as Sri Meru or Maha Meru used mainly in rituals of the Srividya Shakta sects) is central to most Tantric forms of Shaktism.

Sir John Woodroffe[link]

The first Western scholar to take the study of Tantra seriously was Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936), who wrote about Tantra under the pen name Arthur Avalon. He is generally held as the "founding father of Tantric studies."^[59] Unlike previous Western scholars, Woodroffe was an ardent advocate for Tantra, defending Tantra against its many critics and presenting Tantra as an ethical philosophical system greatly in accord with the Vedas and Vedanta.^[60] Woodroffe himself practised Tantra as he saw and understood it and, while trying to maintain his scholastic objectivity, was considered a student of Hindu Tantra (in particular Shiva-Shakta) tradition.^[61]

Further development[link]

Following Sir John Woodroffe, a number of scholars began to actively investigate Tantric teachings. These included a number of scholars of comparative religion and Indology, such as: Agehananda Bharati, Mircea Eliade, Julius Evola, Carl Jung, Giuseppe Tucci and Heinrich Zimmer.^[62]

According to Hugh Urban, Zimmer, Evola and Eliade viewed Tantra as "the culmination of all Indian thought: the most radical form of spirituality and the archaic heart of aboriginal India", and regarded it as the ideal religion of the modern era. All three saw Tantra as "the most transgressive and violent path to the sacred."^[63]

In the modern world[link]

Following these first presentations of Tantra, other more popular authors such as Joseph Campbell helped to bring Tantra into the imagination of the peoples of the West. Tantra came to be viewed by some as a "cult of ecstasy", combining sexuality and spirituality in such a way as to act as a corrective force to Western repressive attitudes about sex.^[64]

As Tantra has become more popular in the West it has undergone a major transformation. For many modern readers, "Tantra" has become a synonym for "spiritual sex" or "sacred sexuality," a belief that sex in itself ought to be recognized as a sacred act which is capable of elevating its participants to a more sublime spiritual plane.^[65] Though Neotantra may adopt many of the concepts and terminology of Indian Tantra, it often omits one or more of the following: the traditional reliance on guruparampara (the guidance of a guru), extensive meditative practice, and traditional rules of conduct—both moral and ritualistic.

According to one author and critic on religion and politics, Hugh Urban:

Since at least the time of Agehananda Bharati, most Western scholars have been severely critical of these new forms of pop Tantra. This "California Tantra" as Georg Feuerstein calls it, is "based on a profound misunderstanding of the Tantric path. Their main error is to confuse Tantric bliss ... with ordinary orgasmic pleasure.^[66]

Urban goes on to say that he himself doesn't consider this "wrong" or "false" but rather "simply a different interpretation for a specific historical situation."^[67]

Hindu Tantric practitioners[link]

• Akshunnanath Mahaprabhu
• Swami Rama

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Avalon, Arthur (1918). Sakti and Sakta. Essays and Adresses on the Tantra Shastra. Madras: Ganesh and Co. http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/index.htm. 
• Avalon, Arthur (1972). Tantra of the great liberation – Mahanirvana Tantra. New York: Dover publications. ISBN 0-486-20150-3. 
• Bagchi, P.C. (1989). Evolution of the Tantras, Studies on the Tantras. Kolkata: Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture. ISBN 81-85843-36-8.  Second Revised Edition
• Banerjee, Sures Chandra (1988). A Brief History of Tantra Literature. Kolkata: Naya Prokash. 
• Banerjee, Sures Chandra (2002). Companion to Tantra. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 1-70174-022-2. 
• Bhattacharyya, N. N. (1999). History of the Tantric Religion. New Delhi: Manohar. ISBN 81-7304-025-7.  Second Revised Edition
• Bühnemann, Gudrun (1988). The Worship of Mahāgaṇapati According to the Nityotsava. Institut für Indologie. ISBN 81-86218-12-2.  First Indian Edition, Kant Publications, 2003.
• Harper, Katherine Anne (ed.); Robert L. Brown (ed.) (2002). The Roots of Tantra. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-5306-5. 
• Norbu, Chögyal Namkhai (1999). The Crystal and The Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-135-9. 
• Saraswati, Swami Satyananda (2000). Sure Ways to Self Realization. Yoga Publications Trust. ISBN 81-85787-41-7. 
• Urban, Hugh (2003). Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religions. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23656-4. 
• Wallis, Christopher (2012). Tantra Illuminated. ISBN 193710401X. 
• Wangyal Rinpoche, Tenzin; Dahlby, Mark (1998). The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep. N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-101-4. 
• White, David Gordon (ed.) (2000). Tantra in Practice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05779-6. 
• Winternitz, Maurice (1972). History of Indian Literature. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation.  Second revised reprint edition. Two volumes. First published 1927 by the University of Calcutta.
• Yeshe, Lama Thubten (1987). Introduction to Tantra:The Transformation of Desire (2001, revised ed.). Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-162-9. 

Further reading[link]

• Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii (1959). Tantra and its Effect on Society. Ananda Marga Pubs. 
• Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii (Ac. Vijayananda Avt. Editor) (1994). Discourses on Tantra, vol. 1. AMPS-Ananda Printers. ISBN 81–7252–112–X. 
• Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii (Ac. Vijayananda Avt. Editor) (1994). Discourses on Tantra, vol. 2. AMPS-Ananda Printers. ISBN 81–7252–112–X. 
• Anandamurti, Shrii Shrii (Ac. Narayanananda Avt. Editor, Ac. Vijayananda Avt. transl. from Bengali)) (1985). Namah Shivaya Shantaya. AMPS-Ananda Printers. ISBN 81-7252-098-0. 
• Arnold, Edward A., ed. (2009). As Long As Space Endures: Essays on the Kalacakra Tantra in Honor of H.H. the Dalai Lama. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1-55939-303-4. 
• Avalon, Arthur (1928). The Serpent Power. Ganesh & Co.. ISBN 81-85988-05-6. 
• Bagchi, P.C. (1986). Kaulajnana-nirnaya of the School of Matsyendranath Varanasi: Prachya Prakashan. Michael Magee, transl. 
• Davidson, Ronald M. (2003). Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 81-208-1991-8. 
• Davidson, Ronald M. (2005). Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13471-1. 
• Feuerstein, Georg (1998). Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy. Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-304-X. 
• Guenon, Rene (2004). Studies in Hinduism: Collected Works (2nd ed.). Sophia Perennis. ISBN 978-0-900588-69-3. 
• Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang (2003). Tantric Grounds and Paths. Tharpa Publications. ISBN 978-0-948006-33-3. 
• Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang (2005). Mahamudra Tantra. Tharpa Publications. ISBN 978-0-948006-93-7. 
• Gyatso, Tenzin; Tsong-ka-pa, Jeffrey Hopkins (1987). Deity Yoga. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 0-937938-50-5. 
• Kane, Pandurang Vaman. History of Dharmashastra. Pune: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 
• Magee, Michael, tr. (1984). Yoni Tantra. 
• Mahendranath, Shri Gurudev (1990). The Scrolls of Mahendranath. Seattle: International Nath Order. 
• McDaniel, June (2004). Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal. New York: Oxford University Press. 
• Mookerji, Ajit (1997). The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual. London: Thames & Hudson. 
• Rao, T. A. Gopinatha (1981). Elements in Hindu Iconography. 1. Madras: Law Printing House. 
• Smith, Frederick M. (2006). The Self Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature. Columbia University Press, USA. ISBN 0-231-13748-6.
• Urban, Hugh (2002). "The Conservative Character of Tantra: Secrecy, Sacrifice and This-Worldly Power in Bengali Śākta Tantra". International Journal of Tantric Studies 6 (1). 
• Walker, Benjamin (1982). Tantrism: Its Secret Principles and Practices. London: Acquarian Press. ISBN 0-85030-272-2. 
• Wallis, Glenn (2002). Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa. Albany: State University of New York Press. 
• White, David Gordon (2003). Kiss of the Yogini: "Tantric Sex" in its South Asian Contexts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
• White, David Gordon (1998). The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
• Woodroffe, John (1913). Mahanirvana Tantra: Tantra of the Great Liberation. Arthur Avalon, transl. http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/maha/. Retrieved January 13, 2010. 

External links[link]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Buddha oracle#8 Good Relationship (The Secret of Tantra)

• Tantra at the Open Directory Project

Ravi Shankar
Shankar performs in Delhi in March 2009
Background information
Birth name	Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury
Born	(1920-04-07) 7 April 1920 (age 92) Varanasi, United Provinces, Indian Empire
Genres	Hindustani classical music
Occupations	composer, musician
Instruments	sitar
Years active	1939–present
Associated acts	Uday Shankar, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Chatur Lal, Alla Rakha, George Harrison, Anoushka Shankar, Beatles
Website	RaviShankar.org

Ravi Shankar (Bengali: রবি শংকর; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury on 7 April 1920), often referred to with the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the most known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.^[1]

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for sitar and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Early life[link]

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a Bengali Brahmin family as the youngest of seven brothers.^[2][3][4] Shankar's Bengali birth name was Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury.^[2] His father, Shyam Shankar, an administrator for the Maharaja of Jhalawar, used the Sanskrit spelling of the family name and removed its last part.^[2][5] Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London.^[2] There he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Varanasi, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old.^[2] Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun".^[2]

At the age of ten, after spending his first decade in Varanasi, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar.^[6][7] By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments.^[3][4] Uday's dance group toured Europe and America in the early to mid-1930s and Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, and cinema, and became acquainted with Western customs.^[8] Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe.^[8] Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandon touring and come to Maihar.^[8]

Career[link]

Training and work in India[link]

Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the European tour, and touring the West had become difficult due to political conflicts that would lead to World War II.^[9] Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional gurukul system.^[6] Khan was a rigorous teacher and Shankar had training on sitar and surbahar, learned ragas and the musical styles dhrupad, dhamar, and khyal, and was taught the techniques of the instruments rudra veena, rubab, and sursingar.^[6][10] He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.^[9] Shankar began to perform publicly on sitar in December 1939 and his debut performance was a jugalbandi (duet) with Ali Akbar Khan, who played the string instrument sarod.^[11]

Shankar completed his training in 1944.^[3] Following his training, he moved to Mumbai and joined the Indian People's Theatre Association, for whom he composed music for ballets in 1945 and 1946.^[3][12] Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25.^[13][14] He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 to January 1956.^[3] Shankar founded the Indian National Orchestra at AIR and composed for it; his compositions experimented with a combination of Western instruments and classical Indian instrumentation.^[15] Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.^[4][16]

International career 1956–1969[link]

Tabla player Alla Rakha, who was a frequent accompanist of Shankar, in 1988

V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952.^[17] Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation.^[18][19] Shankar declined to attend due to problems in his marriage, but recommended Ali Akbar Khan to play instead.^[19] Khan reluctantly accepted and performed with tabla (percussion) player Chatur Lal in the Museum of Modern Art, and he later became the first Indian classical musician to perform on American television and record a full raga performance, for Angel Records.^[20]

Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.^[21] He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ragas from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album Three Ragas in London, released in 1956.^[21] In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris.^[12] From 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films.^[12] Chatur Lal accompanied Shankar on tabla until 1962, when Alla Rakha assumed the role.^[21] Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai in 1962.^[22]

Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label.^[21] The Byrds recorded at the same studio and heard Shankar's music, which led them to incorporate some of its elements in theirs, introducing the genre to their friend George Harrison of The Beatles.^[23] Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a sitar and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".^[24] This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend.^[24]

Harrison met Shankar in London in 1966 and visited India for six weeks to study sitar under Shankar in Srinagar.^[14][25][26] During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named Raga was shot by Howard Worth, and released in 1971.^[27] Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966.^[3][25] In 1967, he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for West Meets East, a collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin.^[25][28] The same year, the Beatles won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which included "Within You Without You" by Harrison, a song that was influenced by Indian classical music.^[26][28] Shankar opened a Western branch of the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles, California, in May 1967, and published an autobiography, My Music, My Life, in 1968.^[12][22] He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and found he disliked the venue.^[25] In the 1970s Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement.^[29]

International career 1970–present[link]

George Harrison, U.S. President Gerald Ford, and Ravi Shankar in the Oval Office in December 1974

In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music.^[12][30][31] In late 1970, the London Symphony Orchestra invited Shankar to compose a concerto with sitar; Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra was performed with André Previn as conductor and Shankar playing the sitar.^[4][32] Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has criticized the usage of the orchestra in this concert as "amateurish".^[1] George Harrison organized the charity Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, in which Shankar participated.^[25] Interest in Indian music had decreased in the early 1970s, but the concert album became one of the best-selling recordings featuring it and won Shankar a second Grammy Award.^[28][31]

During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording Shankar Family & Friends in 1973 and touring North America the following year to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe with the Harrison-sponsored Music Festival from India.^[33] The demanding schedule weakened Shankar, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in November 1974, causing him to miss a portion of the tour.^[34] In his absence, Shankar's sister-in-law, singer Lakshmi Shankar, conducted the touring orchestra.^[34] The touring band visited the White House on invitation of John Gardner Ford, son of U.S. President Gerald Ford.^[34] Shankar toured and taught for the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s and released his second concerto, Raga Mala, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in 1981.^[35][36] Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie Gandhi, but lost to John Williams' E.T.^[37] He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.^[14][38] Shankar composed the dance drama Ghanashyam in 1989.^[22] His liberal views on musical cooperation led him to collaboration with contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, Passages, in 1990.^[6]

Shankar underwent an angioplasty in 1992 due to heart problems, after which George Harrison involved himself in several of Shankar's projects.^[39] Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation In Celebration, Shankar wrote a second autobiography, Raga Mala, with Harrison as editor.^[39] He performed in between 25 and 40 concerts every year during the late 1990s.^[6] Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play sitar and in 1997 became a Regent's Lecturer at University of California, San Diego.^[40] In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000 and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, Bapi: Love of My Life, in 2002.^[28][41] Anoushka performed a composition by Shankar for the 2002 Harrison memorial Concert for George and Shankar wrote a third concerto for sitar and orchestra for Anoushka and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.^[42][43] In June 2008, Shankar played what was billed as his last European concert,^[29] but his 2011 tour includes dates in the United Kingdom.^[44]

Style and contributions[link]

Shankar plays the raga Madhuvanti at the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran in the 1970s

Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music.^[6] His performances begin with solo alap, jor, and jhala (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious dhrupad genre, followed by a section with tabla accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent khyal style.^[6] Shankar often closes his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical thumri genre.^[6]

Shankar has been considered one of the top sitar players of the second half of the 20th century.^[1] He popularized performing on the bass octave of the sitar for the alap section and became known for a distinctive playing style in the middle and high registers that uses quick and short deviations of the playing string and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string.^[1][6] Narayana Menon of The New Grove Dictionary noted Shankar's liking for rhythmic novelties, among them the use of unconventional rhythmic cycles.^[45] Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other sitar players in the performance of melodic passages.^[1] Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for tabla playing in Hindustani classical music.^[1] Shankar promoted the jugalbandi duet concert style and introduced new ragas, including Tilak Shyam, Nat Bhairav and Bairagi.^[6]

Recognition[link]

Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie Kabuliwala.^[46] He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962,^[47] and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975.^[48] Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honors of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999.^[49] He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award.^[12][28][37] Shankar was awarded honorary degrees from universities in India and the United States.^[12] He received the Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize in 1998.^{[50][51][52][53]} In 2001, Shankar was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II for his "services to music".^[54] Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association.^[6] The American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi Coltrane after Shankar.^[55]

Personal life and family[link]

Shankar in 1988

Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942.^[10] Shankar separated from Devi during the 1940s and had a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, beginning in the late 1940s.^[56] An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979.^[56] In 1981, Anoushka Shankar was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s.^[56] After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981, Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986. He married Sukanya Rajan in 1989.^[56]

Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar often accompanied his father on tours.^[57] He could play the sitar and surbahar, but elected not to pursue a solo career and died in 1992.^[57] Norah Jones became a successful musician in the 2000s, winning eight Grammy Awards in 2003.^[58] Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003.^[58]

Shankar is a Hindu and a vegetarian.^[59][60] He lives with Sukanya in Encinitas, California.^[61]

Discography[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Shankar, Ravi (1968). My Music, My Life. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-20113-1. 
• Shankar, Ravi (1979). Learning Indian Music: A Systematic Approach. Onomatopoeia. OCLC 21376688. 
• Shankar, Ravi (1997). Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar. Genesis Publications. ISBN 0-904351-46-7. 

Notes[link]