Saivism is one of the pervasive expressions of Indian Religious Culture stretching to the dim past of pre-history and surviving as a living force in the thought and life of millions of Hindus especially in Southern India and Northern Ceylon. The present work is scholarly reconstruction of Saivism in its characteristic and classical from as Saiva Siddhanta, focusing mainly on the philosophical doctrine and presenting a conceptual analysis of its formative notions, problems and methods. Anteceding the rise of the great systems of Vedanta including that of Sankara, Saiva Siddhanta in its fully systematised form as Mystical Theology in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries represents a constructive reaction to the theological, ethical and aesthetic aspects of Vedanta as a whole. A patient study of this much neglected phase of religo-philosophical development of India should prove useful for a more balanced understanding of Indian religiosity, providing a corrective to the view entertained not without justification that Indian religious thought does not affirms the values of freedom, love and personality. This methodical study, appended with very exhaustive glossary, bibliography and index and two-hundred pages of references and foot-notes is designed to meet the requirements of seriious students of Eastern religious thought.

On understand the Tantrism in light of the Tantrāloka of Abhinavagupta.

This constitues the first volume of the series. It indicates the scope of the project and provides a list of sources which will be surveyed in the sebsequent volumes, as well as provide a guide to secondary literature for further study of Indian Philosophy. It lists in relative chronological order, Sanskrit and Tamil works. All known editions and translations into European languages are cited; where puplished versions of the text are not known a guide to the location of manuscripts of the work is provided.

After presenting a general survey of spiritual practice in the different schools of Indian philosophy, the author focuses on the Trika School, popularly called Kashmir Shaivism. He deals clearly and exhaustively with such topics as Shaktipat (the descent of Divine Grace), Diksha (initiation), and the role of the Guru. His treatment of the various paths (upayas) appropriate for the different types of practitioners is especially useful. The book ends with a chapter on enlightenment (jivanmukti). This chapter not only presents the meaning of self-realization-in-this-lifetime, but offers material on this topic for the first time in English.

The present book being an English translation of a German book entitled Der Saiva Siddhanta by H.W. Schomerus gives a full and documented account of this theistic movement then as now little known in the West. The book quickly became and still is the major reference work in this field in any European language. Schomerus cites siddhanta scriptures on each point. His book thus offers a systematic theology of the movement from its own basic texts many of which are not otherwise available in English.

The papers published in this volume were originally read and discussed at a three day seminar sponsored by the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion/Societie Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses at Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, May 28th to 30th, 1976. This seminar served the important function of bringing together the majority of the Canadian scholars who specialize in Indian Philosophy and Religion. The topic, Language was chosen a year earlier so that advance study on a common theme could be undertaken by all who participated. Some thirty professors, as well as a few senior graduate students, engaged in the discussion. An additional and important feature of the seminar was that since it was held during the Learned Societies meetings, a number of Western scholars with an interest in language were able to listen in to the thinking of their Eastern colleagues. This provided the basis for some interesting and informed dialogue.

"This book attempts to reveal the full implication of the theory of language propounded by the tradition of Indian classical dualist Śaiva Siddhānta. The first part of the study draws an outline of dualist Śaiva Siddhānta withing the contextual setting of Tantric cults. The second part explores the field of theories of language through the discussion between three classical Indian traditions: Mīmāṁsā, Nyāyā, and the school of Bhartṛhari. The third part focuses on the important Śaiva Siddhānta text Nādakārikā by Rāmakaṇṭha, which is translated, analyzed and interpreted in the light of the classical traditions. In the fourth part the findings are further connected to the crucial initiation ritual, the dīkṣā, which shows the theory of nāda (subtle sound) 'in action', not unlike the role of eternal sounds within the orthodox Mīmāṁsā tradition. In the fifth part the dualist Śaiva Siddhānta is presented as a theory of language and sound which points to a radical concept of a (non)existent Self, as a pre-conceptual absolute 'Other' behind the pervasive matter. Thus, liberation is seen as an absolute event, manifested in speech as holding both a revealing and concealing potential; a tension or a strife which ultimately, in Heidegger's terms, conditions the fate of possibility of the (re)appearing of gods."--Back cover.