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The Resource The alchemical body : Siddha traditions in medieval India, David Gordon White

The alchemical body : Siddha traditions in medieval India, David Gordon White

Creator
Summary
  • "Beginning in the fifth century A.D., various Indian mystics began to innovate a body of techniques with which to render themselves immortal. These people called themselves Siddhas, a term formerly reserved for a class of demigods, revered by Hindus and Buddhists alike, who were known to inhabit mountaintops or the atmospheric regions. Over the following five to eight hundred years, three types of Hindu Siddha orders emerged, each with its own specialized body of practice. These were the Siddha Kaula, whose adherents sought bodily immortality through erotico-mystical practices; the Rasa Siddhas, medieval India's alchemists, who sought to transmute their flesh-and-blood bodies into immortal bodies through the ingestion of the mineral equivalents of the sexual fluids of the god Siva and his consort, the Goddess; and the Nath Siddhas, whose practice of hatha yoga projected the sexual and laboratory practices of the Siddha Kaula and Rasa Siddhas upon the internal grid of the subtle body. For India's medieval Siddhas, these three conjoined types of practice led directly to bodily immortality, supernatural powers, and self-divinization; in a word, to the exalted status of the semidivine Siddhas of the older popular cults."
  • "In The Alchemical Body, David Gordon White excavates and centers within its broader Indian context this lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. Working from a body of previously unexplored alchemical sources, he demonstrates for the first time that the medieval disciplines of Hindu alchemy and hatha yoga were practiced by one and the same people, and that they can only be understood when viewed together. Human sexual fluids and the structures of the subtle body are microcosmic equivalents of the substances and apparatus manipulated by the alchemist in his laboratory. With these insights, White opens the way to a new and more comprehensive understanding of the entire sweep of medieval Indian mysticism, within the broader context of south Asian Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam." "This book is an essential reference for anyone interested in Indian yoga, alchemy, and the medieval beginnings of science."--Jacket
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xviii, 596 pages
Contents
  • 1. Indian Paths to Immortality
  • 2. Categories of Indian Thought: The Universe by Numbers
  • 3. The Prehistory of Tantric Alchemy
  • 4. Sources for the History of Tantric Alchemy in India
  • 5. Tantric and Siddha Alchemical Literature
  • 6. Tantra in the Rasarnava
  • 7. Corresponding Hierarchies: The Substance of the Alchemical Body
  • 8. Homologous Structures of the Alchemical Body
  • 9. The Dynamics of Transformation in Siddha Alchemy
  • 10. Penetration, Perfection, and Immortality
  • Epilogue: The Siddha Legacy in Modern India
Isbn
9780226894973
Instance
Label
The alchemical body : Siddha traditions in medieval India
Title
The alchemical body
Title remainder
Siddha traditions in medieval India
Statement of responsibility
David Gordon White
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
  • "Beginning in the fifth century A.D., various Indian mystics began to innovate a body of techniques with which to render themselves immortal. These people called themselves Siddhas, a term formerly reserved for a class of demigods, revered by Hindus and Buddhists alike, who were known to inhabit mountaintops or the atmospheric regions. Over the following five to eight hundred years, three types of Hindu Siddha orders emerged, each with its own specialized body of practice. These were the Siddha Kaula, whose adherents sought bodily immortality through erotico-mystical practices; the Rasa Siddhas, medieval India's alchemists, who sought to transmute their flesh-and-blood bodies into immortal bodies through the ingestion of the mineral equivalents of the sexual fluids of the god Siva and his consort, the Goddess; and the Nath Siddhas, whose practice of hatha yoga projected the sexual and laboratory practices of the Siddha Kaula and Rasa Siddhas upon the internal grid of the subtle body. For India's medieval Siddhas, these three conjoined types of practice led directly to bodily immortality, supernatural powers, and self-divinization; in a word, to the exalted status of the semidivine Siddhas of the older popular cults."
  • "In The Alchemical Body, David Gordon White excavates and centers within its broader Indian context this lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. Working from a body of previously unexplored alchemical sources, he demonstrates for the first time that the medieval disciplines of Hindu alchemy and hatha yoga were practiced by one and the same people, and that they can only be understood when viewed together. Human sexual fluids and the structures of the subtle body are microcosmic equivalents of the substances and apparatus manipulated by the alchemist in his laboratory. With these insights, White opens the way to a new and more comprehensive understanding of the entire sweep of medieval Indian mysticism, within the broader context of south Asian Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam." "This book is an essential reference for anyone interested in Indian yoga, alchemy, and the medieval beginnings of science."--Jacket
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
White, David Gordon
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
BL1241.56
LC item number
.W47 1996
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Siddhas
  • Alchemy
  • Alchemy
  • Hatha yoga
  • Tantrism
  • Nātha sect
  • Siddhas
  • Alchimie
  • Yoga, Haṭha
  • Tantrisme
  • Nāths
  • Alchemie
  • Yoga
  • Tantrisme
  • Siddha Yoga
  • Alchimie
  • Tantrisme
  • Sectes hindoues
  • Nāths
  • Hatha-yoga
  • Siddha
  • Tantrismus
  • Alchemie
  • Inde
  • Indien
Label
The alchemical body : Siddha traditions in medieval India, David Gordon White
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 521-554) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
1. Indian Paths to Immortality -- 2. Categories of Indian Thought: The Universe by Numbers -- 3. The Prehistory of Tantric Alchemy -- 4. Sources for the History of Tantric Alchemy in India -- 5. Tantric and Siddha Alchemical Literature -- 6. Tantra in the Rasarnava -- 7. Corresponding Hierarchies: The Substance of the Alchemical Body -- 8. Homologous Structures of the Alchemical Body -- 9. The Dynamics of Transformation in Siddha Alchemy -- 10. Penetration, Perfection, and Immortality -- Epilogue: The Siddha Legacy in Modern India
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xviii, 596 pages
Isbn
9780226894973
Isbn Type
(cloth : alk. paper)
Lccn
96016977
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (OCoLC)34545939
  • (OCoLC)ocm34545939
Label
The alchemical body : Siddha traditions in medieval India, David Gordon White
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 521-554) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
1. Indian Paths to Immortality -- 2. Categories of Indian Thought: The Universe by Numbers -- 3. The Prehistory of Tantric Alchemy -- 4. Sources for the History of Tantric Alchemy in India -- 5. Tantric and Siddha Alchemical Literature -- 6. Tantra in the Rasarnava -- 7. Corresponding Hierarchies: The Substance of the Alchemical Body -- 8. Homologous Structures of the Alchemical Body -- 9. The Dynamics of Transformation in Siddha Alchemy -- 10. Penetration, Perfection, and Immortality -- Epilogue: The Siddha Legacy in Modern India
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xviii, 596 pages
Isbn
9780226894973
Isbn Type
(cloth : alk. paper)
Lccn
96016977
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (OCoLC)34545939
  • (OCoLC)ocm34545939

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