Abhinavagupta: The Kula Ritual as Elaborated in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka.

• Author: Smith, Frederick M.
• Position: Book review

Abhinavagupta: The Kula Ritual as Elaborated in Chapter 29 of the Tantraloka. By JOHN R.DUPUCHE. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2003. Pp. xv + 532. Rs. 795.

This carefully thought-out book, a revised Ph.D. dissertation from La Trobe University, originally written under the supervision of Greg Bailey, but also with the advice of Alexis Sanderson and Hemendranath Chakravarti, explicates a very esoteric and succinct text by the tenth-century Kashmiri philosopher Abhinavagupta. The twenty-ninth chapter of Abbinavagupta's Tantraloka, containing 292 verses, supplemented by the commentary of Jayaratha, records a complex ritual called kula, which represents the epitome of the Saiva rituals of Kashmir. This chapter is particularly legendary for its difficulty, and for this reason we are grateful to Dupuche for carefully unpacking it along with its textual history.

Dupuche begins with a long "Prolegomena" to the Tantraloka, to Jayaratha's commentary (which he also translates), and to the secret rituals described therein. These rituals, many of which are sexual in nature, contribute to the realization, within the ritual, of kula, in which the worshipper enters into the worship of a "family" of goddesses, "the totality of cosmic powers" (p. 16). It is slightly disappointing that Dupuche did not attempt to interpret the sexuality of these sexual rituals, even if he provides an adequate textual summary of them (pp. 124ff.). He does, however, cogently explore the history of the kula ritual, the textuality that Abhinavagupta brings to the topic, and the stages of the ritual. The ritual, inclusive of its initiations, is described in the latter part of the text, and is intended for one "who is already liberated and who desires immediate enjoyments" (p. 166). Before this final expression of the state of enlightenment, however, the...