Siva: The Erotic Ascetic

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Oxford University Press, May 28, 1981 - Religion - 416 pages
Originally published under the title Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva, this book traces the development of an Indian approach to an enduring human dilemma: the conflict between spiritual aspirations and human desires. The work examines hundreds of related myths and a wide range of Indian texts--Vedic, Puranic, classical, modern, and tribal--centering on the stories of the great ascetic, Siva, and his erotic alter ego, Kama.
 

Contents

PROBLEMS AND METHODS II
11
MOTIFS OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY
21
E THE NATURE OF MYTHOLOGICAL CONTRADICTION
33
ASCETICISM AND EROTICISM IN EARLY INDIAN
40
THE VEDIC ANTECEDENTS OF STVA
83
AGNI THE EROTIC FIRE
90
OPPOSITION AND IDENTITY
111
Siva and kAma
141
Siva as ascetic and householder
210
THE CONTROL AND TRANSFORMATION
255
CYCLES OF ASCETICISM AND SEXUALITY
293
THE PENDULUM OF EXTREMES
314
APPENDIX B MAJOR OCCURRENCES OF THE MAIN
321
APPENDIX E BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES
341
APPENDIX F INDEX OF MOTIFS
375
APPENDIX G INDEX OF CHARACTERS
381

Siva in the pine forest
172

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Page 2 - The layered structure of myth to which I draw attention... allows us to look upon myth as a matrix of meanings which are arranged in lines or columns, but in which each level always refers to some other level, whichever way the myth is read. Similarly, each matrix of meanings refers to another matrix, each myth to other myths.

References to this book

On Glory Roads
Eleanor Munro
No preview available - 1988

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