Review

Reviewed Work(s):
Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahāvidyās
by David Kinsley
Review by: Jacob N. Kinnard
Source: History of Religions, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Feb., 2000), pp. 310-313
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3176423
Accessed: 25-04-2024 15:52 +00:00

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310 Book Reviews

demonstrates
demonstrates in
in his
hisdiscussion
discussionof
ofrhetorical
rhetoricalstrategies,
strategies,
the
the
oldold
terms
terms
continued
continued
to to
carry
carry some
some weight.
weight.
Campany's
Campany's discussion
discussionof
ofBuddhism,
Buddhism,Daoism,
Daoism,and
and
the
the
other
other
-isms
-isms
of of
Chinese
Chinese
religion
religion bears
bears fruit
fruitwhen
whenhe
heturns
turnstotothe
thebroader
broaderhistorical
historical
question
question
of of
whywhy
thisthis
kind
kind of
of writing
writing flourished
flourishedwhen
whenititdid,
did,and
and
what
what
that
that
signifies.
signifies.
Here,
Here,
too,
too,
Campany
Campany
takes
takes issue
issue with
with thethestandard
standardaccounts,
accounts,which
which tend
tend to to
view
viewanomaly
anomaly accounts
accountsas as
a reflection
reflection of
of the
thesocial
socialand
andpolitical
politicaldisorder
disorderofof
the
thetime
timeand and
as as
a weak
a weak
attempt
attempt
to keep
keep up
up with
with thethechanges
changesininthetheChinese
Chinese worldview
worldview brought
brought about
aboutby by
Bud-Bud-
dhism.
dhism. Compared
Compared to tothe
thepre-Buddhist
pre-Buddhisttradition
traditionofofcosmographic
cosmographic collecting,
collecting,thethe
later
later anomaly
anomaly accounts
accountsconceived
conceivedofofa amuch
much broader
broadermoral
moral community,
community, extending
extending
the structures
structures of of obligation
obligationtotonew
newcategories
categories ofofbeings
beings such
suchas as
local
local
gods,
gods,
un-un-
settled
settled spirits
spirits of
of the
thedead,
dead,and
andanimals.
animals.This
Thisbroadening
broadening of of
thethe
claims
claims
of of
reciproc-
reciproc-
ity cannot
cannot simply
simplybe bedue
duetotothe
theinfluence
influence ofof
avadana
avadana tales
tales
andandBuddhist
Buddhist ideas
ideas
of of
rebirth,
rebirth, says
says Campany,
Campany,because
becausemany
manyauthors
authors ofofanomaly
anomaly accounts
accounts announce
announce
their
their antipathy
antipathy toward
towardBuddhist
Buddhistritual
ritualand
and
evince
evince
nono
sympathy
sympathy
forfor
other
other
Buddhist
Buddhist
teachings.
teachings. Rather,
Rather,anomaly
anomalyaccounts
accountswere
werealso
also
a response
a response
to to
thethe
loss
loss
of of
an an
impe-
impe-
rial center
center and
and to
to the
theDaoist
Daoistclaim
claimthat
thatmoral
moralobligations
obligations
were
were
invalidated
invalidated
by by
thethe
primacy
primacy of
of the
the natural
naturalorder
orderover
overthe
thesocial
social
order.
order.In In
this
this
context,
context,
stories
stories
about
about
unruly
unruly local
local gods
gods provided
provideda anew
newway
wayofofthinking
thinking through
through traditional
traditionalmoral
moralis- is-
sues,
sues, just
just as
as tales
tales about
aboutunusual
unusualanimals
animalshelped
helped
toto
fortify
fortify thethe
normal
normaldistinctions
distinctions
between
between species.
species. Hence,
Hence,Buddhism,
Buddhism,ininCampany's
Campany's view,
view,waswasan an
ally
ally
in in
thethe
largely
largely
traditional
traditional Chinese
Chineseeffort
effortto
totie
tiethe
theuniverse
universetogether
togetherin in
a single
a single
moral
moral
andand
ritual
ritual
system.
Strange Writing is the definitive treatment of a major genre of Chinese litera-
ture. Its documentary chapters provide a valuable entre to the corpus of surviving
texts, and its programmatic chapters offer rewards for any thoughtful reader. The
book does more than draw our attention to the broader religious situation in which
the texts were written; it changes the way we view their context. Together with
the last twenty years of scholarship on early Daoism, Campany's study of anom-
aly accounts succeeds in rewriting the history of medieval Chinese religion.

STEPHEN F TEISER

Princeton University

Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahdvidyds. By DAVID KINS-
LEY. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997. Pp. 328,
41 b/w illustrations. $45.00 (cloth); $16.95 (paper).
One would not want to judge this book by its cover, which seems more the
stuff of a B-horror movie than an academic monograph. It depicts the nude god-
dess Chinnamasta, one of the ten goddesses who make up the Mahavidya group,
sitting casually atop a couple in flagrante delicto; from her headless body spouts
a fountain of blood that flows into the mouth of her severed head, which she
holds in one of her arms, and into the mouths of her two nude attendants; in her
other hands she holds a skull cup, along with a sword and a very lethal-looking
pair of scissors. Certainly, the Hindu pantheon is populated by a panoply of

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History of Religions 311

fierce and terrifying figures, but it would be difficult to come up with a more bi-
zarre and horrific divine group than that which is the subject of David Kinsley's
lucid and highly readable new book. Indeed, to the outside observer such god-
desses-as the figure of Chinnamasta so graphically illustrates-are repulsive
and puzzling, both in terms of their individual and group character as well as the
motivations of those who venerate them.

Kinsley, however, is very aware of the perplexing nature of such goddesses and
the larger tantric tradition of which they are a part, and among the many virtues
of Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine is his consistent anticipation and ex-
plication of his readers' most basic questions. The book thus begins: "What is one
to make of a group of goddesses that includes a goddess who cuts her own head
off, another who prefers to be offered polluted items by devotees who themselves
are in a state of pollution, one who sits on a corpse while pulling the tongue of
a demon, another who has sex astride a male consort who is lying on a cremation
pyre?" (p. 1). And what is one to make of the practitioner whose aim it is to
establish and maintain an intimate relationship with one of these goddesses?
According to Kinsley, it is precisely because they are so shocking and outrageous
that one approaches these goddesses, for in keeping with the basic tenor of tantric
practice, it is in confronting the fears that these figures instill-fears of pollution,
death, and wanton sexuality-that one is able to gain release from the inherited
and inhibiting categories of proper and improper, pure and polluted, and in the
process to gain release from the bondage of samsdra. Through these goddesses,
one is able to cut away the illusion of the world and to get to the real: "The world
is not the way we like to think it is, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we
will make progress in acquiring spiritual maturity. The Mahavidyas, as antimod-
els, are awakeners, visions of the divine that challenge comfortable and comfort-
ing fantasies about the way things are in the world" (p. 7).
Although each of these goddesses has her own independent identity-an
identity that can be, as in the case of Kali, quite prominent in the larger Hindu
tradition-it is the particular grouping of these ten that most interests and most
perplexes Kinsley, for as he points out, "If there is an internal coherence to the
group that explains how its members are related to each other, it is not readily
apparent" (p. 38). He begins by observing that in both the literary and icono-
graphic material, the impression is that the ten goddesses are different forms of
the one overarching, transcendent female reality, Mahadevi. Thus, although the
individual goddesses possess very individualized characteristics and do very
different things, it is the unity of the ten that is most consistently emphasized.
"The impression is difficult to avoid that each Mahavidya is one facet of a mul-
tifaceted Great Goddess and that each facet contains all the others-that if one
observes intensely and carefully enough, one will find all forms inhering in each
particular form" (p. 39).
Kinsley's tone here and elsewhere in the book may sound somewhat tentative;
much to his credit, though, he consistently resists the urge to draw the kinds of easy,
essentializing conclusions that are so common in studies of tantra. For instance,
toward the end of part 1 he explores several possible ways in which the individual
Mahavidyas might be related to one another, providing in the process a very useful
typological analysis of the various traits of the Mahavidyas. In the end, however,

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312 Book Reviews

he acknowledges that the evidence that ties them together-thematically, symbol-

ically, and ritually-is too thin to make any definite conclusions: "We seem left,
then, with no entirely satisfactory key to understanding the connections among the
Mahavidyas. Perhaps the best we can hope for is to combine all the possibilities
we have mentioned, or some subset of them, in our efforts to discern the coherence
of the group, to understand how such a curious mix of goddesses has come together
to form the ten Mahavidyas" (p. 49). There may be no explicit coherence within
this group, but there is unity to be found in the salvational role that the goddesses
play, as a group and as individuals. They are, Kinsley argues, the manifestation of
the mantra, perhaps the most elemental and most powerful element in tantric rit-
ual, and as such these goddesses are both the embodiment and the bestowers of
salvifically efficacious knowledge (mahavidya). "The ten Mahavidyas, then, are
ten forms in which the goddess brings about enlightenment by means of liberating
knowledge" (p. 59).
Part 2 consists of focused studies of each of the ten Mahavidyas, beginning
with the most prominent and most paradigmatic of the group, Kali. It is Kali
who, as Kinsley notes, really sets the tone for the Mahavidyas, such that the
other goddesses in the group can, on one level, be seen as variations and elabo-
rations on her basic traits. Kinsley thus carefully analyzes her symbolic charac-
ter-her lolling tongue, wild hair, thirst for blood, unbridled sexual appetite, and
association with death-in order to establish the basic themes that he will illu-
minate in his discussions of the other nine goddesses in the group. This is a par-
ticularly effective technique, because rather than ten disjointed microstudies,
part 2 of the book consists of a series of interrelated discussions that very much
fit together to create a whole. Again, although there may be no single element
that unifies the ten Mahavidyas, Kinsley deftly ties them all together without
blurring their individual characteristics. For example, in his discussion of Chin-
namasta, Kinsley elaborates on the rich significance of the severed head, a
prominent symbol in the iconography of Kali and several other of the Mahavid-
yas. These disembodied heads represent the goddess's sheer physical power to
conquer her (and her devotees') enemies, as well as her transcendence of the
conventional categories of purity and pollution (as a decidedly liminal object,
the disembodied head is a powerful symbol of matter out of place). There is
more, though, for as Kinsley argues, the chopped-off head is also a powerful
symbol of the liberation of the mind from the body. As he puts it, "the image of
cutting off one's own head might be taken as a dramatic rendering of the enlight-
enment process: the adept or devotee completely destroys false consciousness
by 'decapitating' himself or herself, getting rid of his or her own ego-ridden
mind, which was the hindrance of a true apprehension of reality" (p. 163). And
finally, these severed heads, all of which wear a look of peace and satisfaction,
can also be seen as signifying the symbolic death and the transcendent con-
sciousness of the goddess's true devotee.
Kinsley's command of his materials is impressive, and his extensive notes con-
tain a wealth of details and specific textual references. Furthermore, the book is
clearly organized and gracefully written, and he weaves throughout it classical
and modern texts, anthropological data, iconography (the many illustrations are
especially effective), and personal anecdotes. Early on, Kinsley states that his

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History of Religions 313

goal
goal in
inwriting
writingthis
this
book
book
waswas
"to "to
bring
bring
a preliminary
a preliminary
ordering
ordering
to the to
Mahavidya
the Mahavidya
tradition
traditionininthe
thehope
hopethat
that
it will
it will
encourage
encourage
otherother
scholars
scholars
to undertake
to undertake
more de-more de-
tailed
tailed studies
studiesofofthe
the
group
group
andand
of its
of individual
its individual
members"
members"
(p. 2). (p.
He has
2). He
admirably
has admirably
realized
realizedthis
thisgoal,
goal,
and
and
this
this
book
book
should
should
indeed
indeed
serveserve
as a foundation
as a foundation
for further
for further
study
study ofofthis
thisgroup.
group.
Certainly,
Certainly,
there
there
are many
are many
topicstopics
and issues
and issues
that are
that
absent
are in
absent in
this
this book,
book,and
andsome
somereaders
readers
willwill
findfind
these
these
absences
absences
both glaring
both glaring
and trouble-
and trouble-
some.
some. For
Forinstance,
instance,the
the
issue
issue
of the
of the
representation
representation
and role
andofrole
women
of women
in the tantric
in the tantric
tradition
traditionisisparticularly
particularlyproblematic,
problematic,
and and
the few
the pages
few pages
that Kinsley
that Kinsley
devotesdevotes
to the to the
topic
topic toward
towardthe
theend
end
of of
thethe
book
book
do little
do little
moremore
than than
skim the
skimsurface
the surface
of the real
of the real
issues
issues that
thatlurk
lurkthere.
there.
Nonetheless,
Nonetheless,
eveneven
given
given
his deliberately
his deliberately
limitedlimited
scope, Kins-
scope, Kins-
ley
ley has
hastoo
toomodestly
modestlystated
stated
his his
goals,
goals,
for for
one comes
one comes
away away
from Tantric
from Tantric
Visions Visions
of
of the
the Divine
DivineFeminine
Femininewith
with
both
both
a thorough
a thorough
understanding
understanding
of the of
individual
the individual
and and
group
group dynamics
dynamicsofof
the
the
Mahavidyas,
Mahavidyas,and and
also also
withwith
a nuanced
a nuanced
appreciation
appreciation
of the of the
symbolic
symbolicand
anddevotional
devotionalworld
world
of tantra
of tantra
in the
in greater
the greater
HinduHindu
context.
context.

JACOB N. KINNARD
Northwestern University

Ascetes et rois: Un monastere de Kdnphata Yogis au Nepal. By VERONIQUE

BOUILLIER. Paris: CNRS Editions, 1997. Pp. 263. Fr 245.00.

As recent events in India have reminded us, Hindu sects and religious orders
can be as much a part of the South Asian political scene as political leaders, par-
ties, and coalitions. When one looks at the "theocratic" Visva Hindu Parisad
(VHP), whose links to the ruling BJP are open and uncontested, one finds a
significant number of sadhus and mahants in its leadership. Among these is Ma-
hant Avaidyanath, the abbot of the preeminent Kanphata Yogi ("Split-Eared"
Yogi) monastery at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh). Mahant Avaidyanath's active role
in power politics is in fact but a continuation of the precolonial legacy of the Kan-
phata Yogis (also known as the Naths or Nath Siddhas), a tantric order whose
members were by turns mercenaries, royal ministers, and power brokers in a num-
ber of kingdoms of the subcontinent. One of these was the Gorkha kingdom of
Nepal, which was founded with the active military and political support of the
Naths in 1768.
The Naths were an important presence in Nepal long prior to this date, their
leaders serving as rdjgurus (royal preceptors) to a number of kings, including
those of Dang, a kingdom of the Terai whose east-west borders were circum-
scribed by the Mahabharat and Siwalik mountain ranges. It is on the subject of the
intimate relationship between kings and Naths in the Dang Valley, from its mythic
beginnings down to the present, as refracted through Caughera, the principal Nath
monastery of the region, that Veronique Bouillier has written this lucid and en-
gaging account. This book is, in a sense, the full fruition of nearly two decades
of writing and (sometimes participatory) ethnological research that this author has
devoted to the subject, beginning with her Naftre renoncant: Un caste de Sann-
yasi villageois au Nepal central (1979) and continuing through a dozen articles
on the social, political, legal, and religious history of the Naths in Nepal.

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