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Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions: a Symposium in Honour of Alexis G

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Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions: a Symposium in Honour of Alexis G Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions: A Symposium in Honour of Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson The academic study of “Tantrism” has blossomed in recent decades. Once dismissed as marginal, or unworthy of serious attention, we now understand the study of Asia’s Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain esoteric or tantric religious traditions to be integral to the religious and cultural landscapes of medieval South, Southeast, Central and East Asia. This shift in reshaping the historiography of medieval India is in no small measure due to the major contributions of Alexis Sanderson, Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University. The proposed symposium, to be held at the University of Toronto, with Sanderson in attendance, seeks to honour and engage with his scholarship on the eve of his retirement. SPONSORS OF THE SYMPOSIUM • DEPARTMENT AND CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO • ALL SOULS COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD • UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO • CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AT MISSISSAUGA • CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO • BRILL PUBLISHERS, LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS CONVENERS: SRILATA RAMAN (UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO) AND SHAMAN HATLEY (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY) VENUE: CROFT CHAPTER HOUSE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO program synopsis THURSDAY, MARCH 26 FRIDAY, MARCH 27 9:15–9:30 Arrival, coffee 9:30–10:00 “Conceptual and Non-Conceptual Cognition in Early Śaiva 9:30–10:15 Welcome Siddhānta: Some Unanswered Questions” (John Kloppenborg, John Marshall, Srilata Raman, Alexander Watson, Harvard University Shaman Hatley) 10:00–10:30 “Doxastic cognition or epistemic imagination: Ruyyaka and 10:15–10:45 “Alexis Sanderson and Indology” Śobhākareśvaramitra on the definition of utprekṣā” Harunaga Isaacson, University of Hamburg Somdev Vasudeva, Kyoto University 10:45–11:15 “An Overview of the Worship of Rudra in Vedic Ritual” 10:30–11:00 TBA Shingo Einoo, University of Tokyo 11:00–11:20 Coffee break 11:15–11:30 Coffee break 11:20–11:50 “To edit or not to edit: Observations based on Recent Editions of Kashmirian Sanskrit Texts” 11:30–12:00 “The Vedic veneer: On antinomian Tantric movements Jürgen Hanneder, Philipp University of Marburg claiming to follow orthodox Vedic religion and ritual” Judit Törzsök, University of Lille III, France 11:50–12:20 “Innovation and Social Change in the Vale of Kashmir circa 900-1200 C.E.” 12:00–12:30 “The Right Rituals for a Vaidika Vaiṣṇava: John Nemec, University of Virginia The Śrīvaiṣṇava Borders between Vedic and Tantric Saṃskāras” 12:20–1:45 Lunch Srilata Raman, University of Toronto 1:45–2:15 “Haṭhayoga’s Śaiva Idiom” 12:30–2:00 Lunch James Mallinson, School of Oriental and African Studies 2:00–2:30 “From Mantramārga back to Atimārga: Atimārga as a 2:15–2:45 “The Historical Importance of the Yogatārāvalī” self-referential term” Jason Birch, University of Oxford Peter Bisschop, Leiden University 2:45–3:00 Coffee 2:30–3:00 “The usage of the terms Śivadharmin/Śivadharmastha in 3:00–3:30 “The Maṭha, its Form and Function” pre-modern Tantric sources” Elizabeth Mills, University of Toronto Nina Mirnig, Austrian Academy of Sciences 3:30–4:00 “Tantric Iconography in the Manmohan Courtyard in 3:00–3:15 Coffee break Kathmandu’s Hanūmāndhokā Palace” 3:15–3:45 “The Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā’s Guhyasūtra: the latest layer of Gudrun Bühnemann, University of Wisconsin-Madison redaction of the earliest surviving Śaiva Tantra” 4:00–4:30 “The place of Buddhism in the Hindu kingdoms of Dominic Goodall, École française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris medieval Nepal” 3:45–4:15 “The Lotus Garland (padmamālā) and Cord of Power Alexander von Rospatt, University of California-Berkeley (śaktitantu): Body and Ritual in the Tantric Yoga of the Brahmayāmala” 4:30–5:00 “Traditions of the Autumnal Nine Nights Festival of the Goddess” Shaman Hatley, Concordia University, Montreal Bihani Sarkar, University of Oxford 4:15–4:45 “Two ninth-century works against Buddhist antinomian practice” Péter-Dániel Szántó, University of Oxford SATURDAY, MARCH 28 4:45–5:15 “Buddhism, kingship and the protection of the state: 9:30–10:00 TBA notes on the Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra” Harunaga Isaacson, University of Hamburg Gergely Hidas, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 10:00–10:30 “Gateway to Kashmir” Hans Bakker, Groningen University/British Museum 10:30–10:45 Coffee 10:45–11:45 Keynote address Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson, Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics, All Souls College, University of Oxford Seating for the symposium is limited. 11:45–1:15 Lunch Anyone interested in attending the event is requested to contact Eric Steinschneider (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Religion, University of Toronto) [email protected].
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