|
TANTRIC
images, and yantras |
|
|
 |
In general, tantra relies on an
analogy
between the microcosm (the physical body) and the macrocosm (the
universe).
Magical incantantations, proper meditation (often on suitable yantras)
and ritualized bodily behavior can thus have powerful effects in the
larger
world. |
 |
Tantric techniques have included
the sexual:
the union of purusha and shakti, two yang-yin halves of the cosmos, may
be either imagined or acted out. Thus tantra gave a great fillip to the
worship of goddesses. |
 |
Meditative attention-focusing
diagrams called
"yantras" ("devices, instruments") have been widely used in tantric
practices |
 |
Sometimes yantras were made small
and plain,
for convenience and portability, or were combined with deity images |
 |
Each of the ten Mahavidyas, or
goddesses
of (secret) knowledge, is equipped with her own yantra |
 |
Many tantric images show not only
macro/microcosms,
but also deceptive, confusing, or paradoxical forms |
 |
Tantric imagery is often oblique,
obscure,
and multivalent |
 |
Sometimes tantric imagery seems to
be deliberately
pushed to a kind of transgressive limit |
 |
Other examples of modern tantric
paintings |
|
|
 |
Bengal has had a particularly
strong tradition
of (tantric and other) goddess-worship |
 |
Durga, as Mahishasura-mardini, the
"Slayer
of the buffalo-demon," tends to be depicted more violently but less
erotically
then Kali; she's also treated as the chief of the "Nine Durgas"
|
|
|