Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas

Abstract

This is a groundbreaking examination of the art and legends of some of the most colourful figures in South Asian and Himalayan culture. With contributions from ten prominent world scholars, it provides both an exhaustive survey of the Mahasiddhas in art, as well as essays on all associated themes: iconographic, canonical, literary, historical, sociological and anthropological. The Mahasiddhas were instrumental in transmitting tantric Buddhism to the Himalayan region in the 7th to 11th centuries, and their stories are imbued with mysticism, magic and miraculous events within a context of idiosyncratic, eccentric behaviour. They are seen as being possessed of the great wisdom that emerges from direct religious epiphany. The enduring appeal of these saints and their lives is expressed in vivid and entertaining poetry in prose, as well as in the beautiful painting and sculpture that continues to the present day. This book offers a comprehensive catalogue of the wonderful eulogies to the Mahasiddhas, textual and visual, from world collections, as well as those in situ. Its value lies not only in its extensive nature and the sheer beauty of the photography and reproduction, but also in the fact that it presents some complete series or cycles for the first time, drawn together from disparate collections.

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