Hindu God Of Sexuality

  hindu god of sexuality: God of Desire Catherine Benton, 2006-06-01 Presents Kamadeva, the Hindu god of desire, in tales, art, and ritual. Also covers Kamadeva's appearance in Buddhist lore.
  hindu god of sexuality: Given to the Goddess Lucinda Ramberg, 2014-09-17 Who and what are marriage and sex for? Whose practices and which ways of talking to god can count as religion? Lucinda Ramberg considers these questions based upon two years of ethnographic research on an ongoing South Indian practice of dedication in which girls, and sometimes boys, are married to a goddess. Called devadasis, or jogatis, those dedicated become female and male women who conduct the rites of the goddess outside the walls of her main temple and transact in sex outside the bounds of conjugal matrimony. Marriage to the goddess, as well as the rites that the dedication ceremony authorizes jogatis to perform, have long been seen as illegitimate and criminalized. Kinship with the goddess is productive for the families who dedicate their children, Ramberg argues, and yet it cannot conform to modern conceptions of gender, family, or religion. This nonconformity, she suggests, speaks to the limitations of modern categories, as well as to the possibilities of relations—between and among humans and deities—that exceed such categories.
  hindu god of sexuality: Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex Amara Das Wilhelm, 2010-05-18 Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex is a collection of years of research into a topic seldom discussed or easily found within the Hindu/Vedic scriptural canon. Based entirely upon authentic Sanskrit references and modern concurring facts, the book guides us through the original Hindu concept of a third sex (defined as homosexuals, transgenders and the intersexed), how such people were constructively incorporated into ancient Indian society, and how foreign influences eventually eroded away that noble system. It discusses how this concept can be practically applied in today’s modern world, the importance of all-inclusiveness in human society, and the spiritual principle of learning to transcend material designations altogether. Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex will be a valuable source of reference for anyone interested in Hindu/LGBTI studies whether they are newcomers to the field or seasoned veterans of Vedic knowledge. It offers a veritable treasure trove of fresh information and ideas that will likely challenge the reader to rediscover and rethink Hinduism’s traditional understanding and treatment of gay, lesbian, and other gender-variant people within its culture. The recognition of a third sex in ancient India and Hinduism is highly relevant in many ways. Our own modern-day society has only recently begun to understand sexual orientation, transgender identity, and intersex conditions, and our legal and social systems are just beginning to catch up with and accommodate such people in a fair and realistic way . . . yet ancient India had already addressed and previously resolved this issue many thousands of years ago in the course of its own civilization ́s development. Indeed, there is much we can learn from ancient India ́s knowledge regarding the recognition and accommodation of a 'third sex' within society. -Amara Das Wilhelm In India there is a system where such people (the third sex) have their own society, and whenever there is some good occasion like marriage or childbirth, they go there and pray to God that this child may be very long living. -A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Gay and lesbian people have always been a part of society from Vedic times to our postmodern times. They should be accepted for what they are in terms of their sexual orientation and encouraged like everyone else to pursue spiritual life. -B.V. Tripurari Swami Initially, I did not really allow myself to go deep in trying to understand the third sex. I figured that this was necessary only for those who are insensitive, arrogant and fundamentalist . . . who think that they are compassionate and tolerant while basically being superficial and even condescending. It is quite amazing how most of us can be so prejudiced about so many things and not even know it . . . .I thank you and several others for your compassion and for your tolerance in making efforts to educate your Godfamily, so that we can be more authentic servants of the servant. -H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami
  hindu god of sexuality: Gods of Love and Ecstasy Alain Daniélou, 1992-05 Dani鬯u examines the earliest traditions of the Hindu and Greek gods of magical power, ecstatic sexuality, and transcendence.
  hindu god of sexuality: Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature Dr Gwendolyn Leick, 2013-01-11 Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature is a new contribution to current debates about sex and eroticism. It gives an insight into Mesopotamian attitudes to sexuality by examining the oldest preserved written evidence on the subject - the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform sources - which were written between the 21st and the 5th centuries B.C. Using these long-neglected and often astonishing data, Gwendolyn Leick is able to anlayse Mesopotamian views of prostitution, love magic and deviant sexual behaviour as well as more general issues of sexuality and gender. This fascinating book sheds light on the sexual culture of one of the earliest literate civilisations.
  hindu god of sexuality: Splitting the Difference Wendy Doniger, 1999-06 Hindu and Greek mythologies teem with stories of women and men who are doubled. This text recounts and compares a range of these. The comparisons show that differences in gender are more significant than differences in culture.
  hindu god of sexuality: Śiva, the Erotic Ascetic Wendy Doniger, 1981 On Hindu mythology and the god Siva.
  hindu god of sexuality: Hindu Goddesses David Kinsley, 1998 Hindu Goddesses is a valuable sourcebook and reference work for students and scholars of Hindu goddesses and of Hinduism in general. Each goddess is dealt with as an independent deity with a coherent mythology, theology and, in some cases, cult of her own. Within the complex, diverse, and rich goddess traditions of Hinduism, one can find suggestions of nearly every important theme in the Hindu religion. In many ways, this book is as much a study of the Hindu tradition itself as it is a study of one aspect of that tradition. No other living religious tradition has displayed such an ancient, continuous, and diverse history of goddess worship.
  hindu god of sexuality: When God is a Customer Kṣētrayya, 1994-04-15 How is it that this woman's breasts glimmer so clearly through her saree? Can't you guess, my friends? What are they but rays from the crescents left by the nails of her lover pressing her in his passion, rays now luminous as the moonlight of a summer night? These South Indian devotional poems show the dramatic use of erotic language to express a religious vision. Written by men during the fifteenth to eighteenth century, the poems adopt a female voice, the voice of a courtesan addressing her customer. That customer, it turns out, is the deity, whom the courtesan teases for his infidelities and cajoles into paying her more money. Brazen, autonomous, fully at home in her body, she merges her worldly knowledge with the deity's transcendent power in the act of making love. This volume is the first substantial collection in English of these Telugu writings, which are still part of the standard repertoire of songs used by classical South Indian dancers. A foreword provides context for the poems, investigating their religious, cultural, and historical significance. Explored, too, are the attempts to contain their explicit eroticism by various apologetic and rationalizing devices. The translators, who are poets as well as highly respected scholars, render the poems with intelligence and tenderness. Unusual for their combination of overt eroticism and devotion to God, these poems are a delight to read.
  hindu god of sexuality: Meeting God , 1999-01-01 Huyler provides an introduction to the scope of Hindu beliefs and practices, accompanied by his arresting photographs documenting the spirituality of common men and women in India. 200 color illustrations.
  hindu god of sexuality: Hindu Gods & Goddesses S. P. Gulati, 1986
  hindu god of sexuality: The Hindus Wendy Doniger, 2009 An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions, The Hindus elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds. The Hindus brings a fascinating multiplicity of actors and stories to the stage to show how brilliant and creative thinkers have kept Hinduism alive in ways that other scholars have not fully explored. In this unique and authoritative account, debates about Hindu traditions become platforms to consider history as a whole.
  hindu god of sexuality: God Is Not Great Christopher Hitchens, 2008-11-19 Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s bestseller The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.
  hindu god of sexuality: Kali's Child Jeffrey J. Kripal, 1995-10-16 The nineteenth-century Bengali mystic Ramakrishna played a major role in the development of Hinduism and is regarded as a modern saint. Yet he remains an enigma to followers unable to reconcile his saintly status with his eroticized language and actions. In this work, Jeffrey J. Kripal attempts to untangle the paradox. He demonstrates that Ramakrishna's famous mystical experiences were driven by erotic energies that he neither fully accepted nor understood; the key to understanding this extraordinary figure, Kripal argues, lies in Tantra and its ritual, symbolic, and doctrinal equation of the mystical and the erotic. Moving through Ramakrishna's world both chronologically and conceptually, Kali's Child employs two complementary interpretive strategies, a nuanced phenomenological reinterpretation of original Bengali texts and a nonreductive psychoanalytic reading of Ramakrishna's mystical eroticism. Kripal shows how the heterosexual structure of Tantric symbolism, the abusive way its rituals were often forced upon the saint, and Ramakrishna's own homosexual desires all came together to produce in him profound feelings of shame, disgust, and fear. Kripal establishes that the homosexuality of this great, if unwilling, Tantric mystic is linked inextricably to virtually every aspect of his life and teachings.
  hindu god of sexuality: Indian Sex Life Durba Mitra, 2020-01-07 How British authorities and Indian intellectuals developed ideas about deviant female sexuality to control and organize modern society in India During the colonial period in India, European scholars, British officials, and elite Indian intellectuals—philologists, administrators, doctors, ethnologists, sociologists, and social critics—deployed ideas about sexuality to understand modern Indian society. In Indian Sex Life, Durba Mitra shows how deviant female sexuality, particularly the concept of the prostitute, became foundational to this knowledge project and became the primary way to think and write about Indian society. Bringing together vast archival materials from diverse disciplines, Mitra reveals that deviant female sexuality was critical to debates about social progress and exclusion, caste domination, marriage, widowhood and inheritance, women's performance, the trafficking of girls, abortion and infanticide, industrial and domestic labor, indentured servitude, and ideologies about the dangers of Muslim sexuality. British authorities and Indian intellectuals used the concept of the prostitute to argue for the dramatic reorganization of modern Indian society around Hindu monogamy. Mitra demonstrates how the intellectual history of modern social thought is based in a dangerous civilizational logic built on the control and erasure of women's sexuality. This logic continues to hold sway in present-day South Asia and the postcolonial world. Reframing the prostitute as a concept, Indian Sex Life overturns long-established notions of how to write the history of modern social thought in colonial India, and opens up new approaches for the global history of sexuality.
  hindu god of sexuality: Shiva to Shankara Devdutt Pattanaik, 2017-04-10 We live in times where people have extreme views. On the one hand, there are scholars who describe Shiva's linga literally as a phallus, and see all metaphoric meaning as embarrassed apology of the uneducated. On the other hand, we have puritanical Hindus who want to strip the Shiva linga of all sexual meaning and sanitize Shiva's lore. In both cases, a symbol is being reduced to a sign. In Shiva to Shankara, Devdutt Pattanaik, India's leading mythologist, seeks to bridge the gap. As he explores the layers of meanings embedded in Shiva's linga, we discover why and how the Goddess transforms Shiva, the hermit, into Shankara, the householder.
  hindu god of sexuality: Afro-Caribbean Religions Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, 2010-01-25 Religion is one of the most important elements of Afro-Caribbean culture linking its people to their African past, from Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santeria—popular religions that have often been demonized in popular culture—to Rastafari in Jamaica and Orisha-Shango of Trinidad and Tobago. In Afro-Caribbean Religions, Nathaniel Samuel Murrell provides a comprehensive study that respectfully traces the social, historical, and political contexts of these religions. And, because Brazil has the largest African population in the world outside of Africa, and has historic ties to the Caribbean, Murrell includes a section on Candomble, Umbanda, Xango, and Batique. This accessibly written introduction to Afro-Caribbean religions examines the cultural traditions and transformations of all of the African-derived religions of the Caribbean along with their cosmology, beliefs, cultic structures, and ritual practices. Ideal for classroom use, Afro-Caribbean Religions also includes a glossary defining unfamiliar terms and identifying key figures.
  hindu god of sexuality: Same-Sex Love in India R. Vanita, S. Kidwai, 2016-08-02 Same-Sex Love in India presents a stunning array of writings on same-sex love from over 2000 years of Indian literature. Translated from more than a dozen languages and drawn from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and modern fictional traditions, these writings testify to the presence of same-sex love in various forms since ancient times, without overt persecution. This collection defies both stereotypes of Indian culture and Foucault's definition of homosexuality as a nineteenth-century invention, uncovering instead complex discourses of Indian homosexuality, rich metaphorical traditions to represent it, and the use of names and terms as early as medieval times to distinguish same-sex from cross-sex love. An eminent group of scholars have translated these writings for the first time or have re-translated well-known texts to correctly make evident previously underplayed homoerotic content. Selections range from religious books, legal and erotic treatises, story cycles, medieval histories and biographies, modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays and poems. From the Rigveda to Vikram Seth, this anthology will become a staple in courses on gender and queer studies, Asian studies, and world literature.
  hindu god of sexuality: Sexuality in Classical South Asian Buddhism Jose Ignacio Cabezon, 2017-10-10 More than twenty-five years in the making, this detailed sourcebook on Buddhist understandings of sexuality, desire, ethics, and deviance in classical South Asia is filled with both engaging translations and original and provocative analysis. Cabezón marshals an incredible array of scriptures, legal and medical texts, and philosophical treatises, explaining the subtleties of this ancient literature in lucid prose. This work will be of immense interest not only to scholars of Buddhism and gender studies but also to lay readers who want to learn more about traditional Buddhist attitudes toward sex--Page 2 of dust jacket.
  hindu god of sexuality: The Regulation of Sex-Themed Visual Imagery Lyombe Eko, 2016-04-29 Lyombe Eko carries out an historical and cultural survey of the regulation of visual depictions of explicit human sexual conduct from their earliest appearance on the clay tablets of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in ancient Mesopotamia, to the tablet computers of Silicon Valley. The Regulation of Sex-Themed Visual Imagery analyzes the contemporary problem of the applicability of the human right of freedom of expression to explicit imagery in the face of societal interests in the regulation of representations of human sexuality. This book will be of interest to scholars, students, and broad audiences interested in comparative studies in pornography regulation, the history of pornography, the law of pornography and obscenity, and visual culture and history alike.
  hindu god of sexuality: Goddess Signs Angelica Danton, 2004 Angelica Danton is a friendly guide on the road to self-discovery, helping women tap into their own goddess power. A professional astrologer for twenty years, she has discovered a fascinating correlation between the Chinese zodiac and characteristics of ancient goddesses. The result is twelve Goddess Signs that help women understand their goddess potential. Learning the characteristics of each Goddess Sign facilitates insight into relationships, work, health, childhood, and spirituality. Recommended magical symbols, lucky numbers, colors, ritual robes, tarot cards, incense, and herbs are also included for each sign.
  hindu god of sexuality: Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṁsa Narasingha Sil, 1991-09 This study seeks answers to several questions hitherto ignored by most biographers of Rāmakṛṣṇa: what really accounted for his relentless admonitions against sex life? What made him think that he was god or avatār, that is, a divine incarnation? And finally, why and how did he convince people that he was divine
  hindu god of sexuality: Introduction to Hinduism Jayaram V, 2012-07-01 Hinduism is the oldest living religion of the world and the most complex in terms of its philosophy and practices. This volume looks at the antiquity, definition, and significance of Hinduism, providing a thorough and scholarly understanding of the basic and essential aspects of the eternal tradition useful to both lay practitioners and students.
  hindu god of sexuality: The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity Chad V. Meister, 2011 This substantial volume of thirty-three original chapters covers the full range of issues in religious diversity. An indispensable guide for scholars and students, its essays make novel contributions and are crafted by recognized experts who represent a wide variety of religious and philosophical perspectives and backgrounds.
  hindu god of sexuality: Dancing with Siva Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, 2004-08 This 1,008-page sourcebook answers many questions to quench the soul's thirst for God and Self-knowledge. Every spiritually-inclined human being will be enriched by the path revealed in this extraordinary book. India's tolerant and diverse vision of the Divine is all here: meditative, devotional, philosophical, scriptural and yogic. In question-and-answer style, Dancing with Siva guides the aspirant deep into the Hindu heart. Lavishly illustrated with 165 black and white reproductions of paintings from India. Resources include a Hindu timeline, comparisons of 12 world religions, a children's primer and more.
  hindu god of sexuality: Tamil Temple Myths David Dean Shulman, 2016-04-19 South India is a land of many temples and shrines, each of which has preserved a local tradition of myth, folklore, and ritual. As one of the first Western scholars to explore this tradition in detail, David Shulman brings together the stories associated with these sacred sites and places them in the context of the greater Hindu religious tradition. Originally published in 1980. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
  hindu god of sexuality: Awakening Shakti Sally Kempton, 2015
  hindu god of sexuality: God and Popular Culture Stephen Butler Murray, Aimée Upjohn Light, 2015-08-11 This contributed two-volume work tackles a fascinating topic: how and why God plays a central role in the modern world and profoundly influences politics, art, culture, and our moral reflection—even for nonbelievers. God—in the many ways that people around the globe conceptualize Him, Her, or It—is one of the most powerful, divisive, unifying, and creative elements of human culture. The two volumes of God and Popular Culture: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Entertainment Industry's Most Influential Figure provide readers with a balanced and accessible analysis of this fascinating topic that allows anyone who appreciates any art, music, television, film, and other forms of entertainment to have a new perspective on a favorite song or movie. Written by a collective of both believers and nonbelievers, the essays enable both nonreligious individuals and those who are spiritually guided to consider how culture approaches and has appropriated God to reveal truths about humanity and society. The book discusses the intersections of God with film, television, sports, politics, commerce, and popular culture, thereby documenting how the ongoing messages and conversations about God that occur among the general population also occur within the context of the entertainment that we as members of society consume—often without our recognition of the discussion.
  hindu god of sexuality: Governing Gender and Sexuality in Colonial India Jessica Hinchy, 2019-04-04 Examines the colonial and postcolonial governance of gender and sexuality through the history of transgender Hijras in north India.
  hindu god of sexuality: Shiva Wolf-Dieter Storl, 2004-09-14 An extensive look at all the aspects of multi-natured Shiva • Explores the shamanic roots of world spirituality as exemplified by this Hindu god who shares many of the attributes of the Norse Odin and the Celtic Cernunnos • Looks at Shiva’s relation to contemporary culture, Tantra, and the dualistic religions of the West To his devotees Shiva is the entire universe and the core of all beings. Hindu myth shows him appearing at the beginning of creation as a giant pillar of fire from which this world sprang forth. Yet he is also the most approachable of gods, for he is the lover of lovers and the devotee of his devotees. Of the 1,008 names of Shiva, Pashupati, Lord of Animals, is one of the most common. His special relation to animals along with his trickster nature reveal the deep connection of Shiva to shamanism and other gods such as the Norse Odin and the Celtic Cernunnos that came out of the Paleolithic traditions. Ethnologist Wolf-Dieter Storl was first captivated by Shiva when he was in India as a visiting scholar at Benares Hindu University. In this book he invites readers to join in the lively and mythical world of Shiva, or Mahadev, God of All Gods. Shiva is a study in contrasts: As the lord of dance he loses himself in ecstatic abandon; with his consort Parvati he can make love for 10,000 years. Both men and women worship him for his ability to unite and balance masculine and feminine energies. But as the ascetic Shankar he sits in deep meditation, shunning women, and none dare disturb him lest he open his third eye and immolate the entire universe. Lord of intoxicants and poisons, he is the keeper of secret occult knowledge and powers, for which he is worshipped by yogis and demons alike. Shiva dances both the joy of being and the dance of doom--but in every aspect he breaks through the false ego to reveal the true self lying within. This is his true power.
  hindu god of sexuality: God and Governing Roger N. Overton, 2009-07-01 Abortion. Poverty. Pornography. More than thirty years ago evangelical conservatives, moderates, and liberals alike began tackling these and other major social problems head on through concerted political effort. The intervening decades witnessed the rise of groups such as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, which supported numerous politicians and religiously driven policies. Why is it, then, that despite the seemingly great potential of these and other similar groups, the same pervading social problems still persist? How is it that evangelicals have been so ineffective at changing the political and social landscape of the United States in a positive way? Based on a conference organized by Trinity Law School, God and Governing brings together theologians, politicians, law professors, and cultural critics in order to examine the root causes of evangelical political failure over the past thirty years. With a foreword by Charles Colson, contributors include David Wells, Paul Marshall, Os Guinness, Patrick Nolan, Vishal Mangalwadi, Dallas Willard, Donald McConnell, and Stephen Kennedy.
  hindu god of sexuality: Sex and Religion Dag Ølstein Endsjø, 2012-01-01 Sex and religion are inevitably and intricately linked. There are few realms of human experience other than sex in which religion has greater reach and influence. The role of religion, of any faith, to prohibit, regulate, condemn, and reward, is unavoidably prominent in questions of sex—namely with whom, when, how, and why. In Sex and Religion, Dag Øistein Endsjø examines the myriad and complex religious attitudes towards sex in cultures throughout the world. Endsjø reflects on some of the most significantly problematic areas in the relationship between sex and religion—from sex before or outside of marriage to homosexuality. Through many examples from world religions, he outlines what people mean by sex in a religious context, with whom it’s permissible to have sex, how sex can be a directly religious experience, and what consequences there are for deviance, for both the individual and society. As Endsjø explains, while Buddhist monks call attention to gay sex as a holy mystery, the Christian church questions a homosexual’s place in the church. Some religions may believe that promiscuity leads to hurricanes and nuclear war, and in others God condemns interracial marriage. Sex and Religion reveals there is nothing natural or self-evident about the ways in which various religions prescribe or proscribe and bless or condemn different types of sexuality. Whether sex becomes sacred or abhorrent depends entirely on how a religion defines it. Sex and Religion is a fascinating investigation of mores, meanings, rituals, and rules in many faiths around the globe, and will be of interest to anyone curious about the intersection of these fundamental aspects of human history and experience.
  hindu god of sexuality: The Clash Within Martha C. Nussbaum, 2009-01-15 As Nussbaum reveals in this penetrating look at India today, the forces of the Hindu right pose a disturbing threat to its democratic traditions and secular state. Nussbaum’s long-standing professional relationship with India makes her an excellent guide to its recent history.
  hindu god of sexuality: Hinduism in the Modern World Brian A. Hatcher, 2015-10-05 Hinduism in the Modern World presents a new and unprecedented attempt to survey the nature, range, and significance of modern and contemporary Hinduism in South Asia and the global diaspora. Organized to reflect the direction of recent scholarly research, this volume breaks with earlier texts on this subject by seeking to overcome a misleading dichotomy between an elite, intellectualist modern Hinduism and the rest of what has so often been misleadingly termed traditional or popular Hinduism. Without neglecting the significance of modern reformist visions of Hinduism, this book reconceptualizes the meaning of modern Hinduism both by expanding its content and by situating its expression within a larger framework of history, ethnography, and contemporary critical theory. This volume equips undergraduate readers with the tools necessary to appreciate the richness and diversity of Hinduism as it has developed during the past two centuries.
  hindu god of sexuality: Hinduism Roshen Dalal, 2014-04-18 An invaluable encyclopedia of Hinduism Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions; an amalgam of diverse beliefs and schools, it originates in the Vedas and is rooted in Indian culture. Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide illuminates complex philosophical concepts through lucid definitions, a historical perspective and incisive analyses. It examines various aspects of Hinduism, covering festivals and rituals, gods and goddesses, philosophers, memorials, aesthetics, and sacred plants and animals. The author also explores pivotal ideas, including moksha, karma, dharma and samsara, and details the diverse commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and other important texts. Citing extensively from the regional languages, the book describes Hinduism’s innumerable myths and legends, and looks at the many versions of texts including the Ramayana and Mahabharata, placing each entry in its historical context and tracing its evolution to the present. • Outlines all eighteen major Puranas, the 108 Upanishads, and a selection of Vaishnava, Sahiva and Tantric texts • Provides quotations from rare original texts • A product of years of research, with a wide range of entries
  hindu god of sexuality: Mahābhārata , 1997
  hindu god of sexuality: Dancing after the Whirlwind Linda J. Tessier, 1998-11-01 Dancing after the Whirlwind explores how the denial of a sexual self affects a woman's spiritual identity and her understanding of her place in the world. L. J. Tessier traces the deep roots of this denial and separation of sexuality and spirituality in both Western and Eastern religions. She examines the experiences of three groups of women whose sexual desires, memories, and experiences are routinely denied by society: lesbians, survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and HIV-positive women. Drawing on their powerful examples, Tessier offers us strategies for reclaiming the whirlwind of erotic power and seeing it for what it is-the sacred force through which we most deeply touch one another as human beings.
  hindu god of sexuality: The Revival of Ancient Hindu Values Towards Female Sexuality Kati Neubauer, 2009-08 Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Theology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, Muhlenberg College, course: The Feminine in South Asia, language: English, abstract: In Hinduism the role of females is strictly defined and tied closely to the almost live lasting goal of childbearing. In the ancient texts the Ramayana, the Puranas, and the Mahabharata, female characters function as role models of feminine behavior and their expectations towards motherhood are displayed in the Indian society again today. This essay discusses how the ancient values made their way back in today's Indian society and reveals the controversy that development accumulates.
  hindu god of sexuality: Religion, the Body, and Sexuality Nina Hoel, Melissa Wilcox, Liz Wilson, 2020-09-10 How does religion relate to bodies and sexualities? Many people would answer, simply, through repression, but the relationship is much more complicated than that. While many religions draw boundaries between what they consider to be appropriate and inappropriate use of the human body, especially in the realm of sexuality, the same religions often celebrate human sexuality and even expect sexual partners to provide each other with sexual pleasure. Celibacy, too, is more than just repression, and sometimes it is even seen as providing the practitioner with great spiritual power; in other settings, the sex act itself is understood to provide this power. Religion, the Body, and Sexuality offers students and general readers a sophisticated and accessible exploration of the connections between religion, sexuality, and the body, through case studies and overviews in the following thematic chapters: Celibacy Regulation Controversy Violence Innovation Instrumentalization Ecstasy Each chapter includes suggestions for further reading, questions for further thought, and a list of relevant media resources. This engaging book is an excellent addition to introductory courses on religion or sexuality and is a much-needed new volume for advanced courses on the intersections of these areas of human experience.
  hindu god of sexuality: African American Religious Cultures Anthony B. Pinn, 2009-09-10 This encyclopedia offers the most comprehensive presentation available on the diversity and richness of religious practices among African Americans, from traditions predating the era of the transatlantic slave trade to contemporary religious movements. Like no previous reference, African American Religious Cultures captures the full scope of African American religious identity, tracing the long history of African American engagement with spiritual practice while exploring the origins and complexities of current religious traditions. This breakthrough encyclopedia offers alphabetically organized entries on every major spiritual belief system as it has evolved among African American communities, covering its beginnings, development, major doctrinal points, rituals, important figures, and defining moments. In addition, the work illustrates how the social and economic realities of life for African Americans have shaped beliefs across the spectrum of religious cultures.
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