Hindu Tantra

Catalog description

What is referred to as "Tantra" encompasses a complex set of traditions, practices, and worldviews that have been subjected to a rather extreme degree of misunderstanding, romanticization, cultural appropriation, as well as vilification. This course aims to demystify "Tantra" and create a solid foundation for understanding, appreciating, and historically navigating its many streams, social dynamics, ritual technologies, and philosophies. The timeline of our inquiry spans from Hindu Tantra's first beginnings in fifth- to sixth-century India all the way up to its dramatic metamorphosis in twentieth and twenty-first-century traditions dubbed "Neo-Tantra."