Beauty And The Saint Sankara's Saundaryalahari

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Buddhism, after a spell of dormant state for almost a millennium, seems to be attracting attention and we are witnessing the beginning of a sort of revival of Buddhist studies in the recent past. The present study is in the form of collection of essays written over the years, which have been duly modified and updated in the light of subsequent study and reflection. The subjects covered in the work include : 'Rise of Heterodoxy', 'Date of Buddha', 'Evolution of the Order', 'Origin of Sects', 'Doctrinal Disputes', 'Dilution of Arhatship', 'Buddha's Divinisation', 'Reflections on Nirvana', 'Asoka and Buddhism', 'Buddhism and Social Change', 'Women Images', 'Universality of Buddhism', 'Ascetic Rivals'. The thematic essays are followed by an appendix about Early Buddhism in the Himalayas. The entire work is intended to evince not only a strong thread that binds the kindred subjects together but it also delineates a sequential evolution to justify the context.

Some might say, with great justification, that is foolhardy to write another book about the perennial tantric-devotional classic Saundaryalahari which has an honored place in just about every Indian household, guiding the lives of worshippers and practitioners of Devi rituals ever since Sankara gave finishing touches to Sri Cakra. The Indeed, every verse of the poem has been thoroughly analyzed, the Tantra has been explained, and the supreme beauty of Devi, the consort of Śiva, who is an integral aspect of His perfection and His performance. He is simply incomplete without Her. And they, together, constitute Universal Consciousness that is Brahman. My aim is rather humble. While it is true that just about every aspect of the poem has been written about already, it seemed to me that the preponderant philosophy of the text rather choked off its art-the poetry. It makes me rather sad that the best Sankara scholars somehow overlooked the literary component of his profoundly beautiful poetic craft. Advaita shines through every poem that he wrote, with all the artistic devices that he employed serving the single unwavering message tat tuam asi, "That you are!' Given this modest aim, a brief digest of the principles of Tantra, the tradition of Śri Cakra worship, the meanings of the thousand names of Lalita, and other general background information has been presented, so that readers would have a comprehensive picture of the genesis and provenance of the poem. Those devices are aplenty in his hymns, ranging from simple alliteration to complex metaphors, and basic sound effects to amazing syntactic patterns. His imagery is ever fresh, and his diction invariably provocative. The result is blissful poetry whose impact on the reader is indelible. In short, it makes the reader gobble up scores of his verses, and then come back for seconds. If Sankara wrote nothing but his hymnals, without exaggeration, he would be the foremost devotee, the foremost poet, and the foremost wordsmith in the whole of Sanskrit literature. This book is the third in the series Dr. I. S. Madugula of Austin, Texas has written on Sankara and his work.

**Contents and Sample Pages**