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Saiva

On Goddesses and the Category Śakti in Early Tantric Śaivism: the case of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā

Lecture Type: 
Sakta Conference 2011
Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Shaman Hatley
Date: 
Saturday, September 10, 2011 - 11:00 to 12:00
Location: 
Somerville College, Oxford

This presentation explores the nature and historical development of goddesses and the category of Śiva’s “power(s)” (śakti) in the archaic Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā. It is observed that while female deities have limited cultic importance, their significance increases in the later strata of the text, especially the Guhyasūtra. A shift from apotheoses of feminine-gendered cosmological categories to embodied goddesses appears evident, as are early developments in characteristic Śaiva doctrines concerning the roles of śakti in cosmogony and grace.

First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Shaman

Two South Indian Hindu comparativists: J. M. Nallaswamy Pillai (Saiva) and Algonda Govindacharya (Vaishnava)

Lecture Type: 
Fin de siecle seminar
Full Name (inc. titles): 
Professor Francis X. Clooney, SJ
Date: 
Thursday, May 6, 2004 - 12:15
Location: 
First name (inc. titles): 
Professor Francis X.

Siva in sculpture, painting, and dance

Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Anne-Marie Gaston
Date: 
Friday, May 14, 2004 - 12:15
Location: 
First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Anne-Marie

Saivite views on consciousness

Lecture Type: 
Majewski Lecture
Full Name (inc. titles): 
Christopher Wallis
Date: 
Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - 10:45
Location: 
First name (inc. titles): 
Christopher

Dextrous deity, diffident devotee: A study of the Shivanadalahari

Lecture Type: 
Shivdasani Seminar
Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Nilima Chitgopekar
Date: 
Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 16:15
Location: 

Nilima Chitgopekar is Associate Professor of History in the Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University. She has written books dealing with the Shaiva pantheon which include, Encountering Sivaism: The Deity, the Milieu, the Entourage (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers), and The Book of Durga (Penguin), and edited Invoking Godesses: Gender Politics in Indian Religion (Shakti Books). Her forthcoming title, Rudra:The Idea of Shiva (Penguin), a fictionalised biography of Shiva, will be released in June 2005.

First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Nilima

What did Ramakantha contribute to the Buddhist-Brahmanical atman debate?

Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Alex Watson
Date: 
Thursday, February 8, 2007 - 10:15
Location: 

In attempting to refute the Buddhist doctrine of no-Self, Ramakantha absorbed many features of Buddhism. For example, he sided with Buddhism against Nyaya and Vaisesika in denying the existence of property-possessors (dharmins) over and above properties (dharmas), and in denying a Self as something that exists over and above cognition. For him the Self simply is cognition (jnana, prakasa, samvit) and so he has to prove that cognition is constant and unchanging. I will present those arguments of Ramakantha's that strike me as his strongest and most original.

First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Alex

Towards a comparative theology of the person

Lecture Type: 
Graduate seminar
Full Name (inc. titles): 
Nicholas Bamford
Date: 
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 10:00
Location: 

Comparative theology is an important area of research in the contemporary world. This paper will develop the idea of the person as a fruitful category for comparative theological inquiry. The seminar will raise questions about the person as an ontological category and its possible future development with particular reference to Saiva theology in dialogue with Orthodox Christianity.

First name (inc. titles): 
Nicholas

The dancing Shiva as a focus for teaching cultural diversity

Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Anne-Marie Gaston
Date: 
Monday, May 7, 2007 - 17:45
Location: 

This seminar examines representations of the deity Shiva, and explores the possibilities of the image of the dancing Shiva as a pedagogical focus in teaching cultural diversity.

First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Anne-Marie

Pancartha and Pasupata: Notes on the historical development of the Pasupatas

Lecture Type: 
Majewski Lecture
Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Peter Bisschop
Date: 
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - 15:45
Location: 
First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Peter

Devised lineages and pliant biographies: A study of Shiva and his retinue

Full Name (inc. titles): 
Dr Nilima Chitgopekar
Date: 
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 09:30 to 17:30
Location: 
First name (inc. titles): 
Dr Nilima

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