Shaman Hatley on Encounters with Goddesses and Women in the Bhairavatantras (4 Dec. 2008)
Dr. Shaman Hatley (visiting from Concordia University, Montreal) has given the following presentation:
Yoginīmelaka: Representations of encounters with goddesses and women in the early Bhairavatantras
- Date: 4 December 2008, 4pm
- Venue: Room 222, Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 (Ostflügel)
Visionary, transactional encounters with the deities, particularly goddesses known as yoginīs, comprise one of the central concerns of the Vidyāpīṭha division of the Śaiva bhairavatantras. Indeed, the entire edifice of ritual appears oriented at this level of the tradition toward bringing about power-bestowing “union” (melaka/melāpa) with the goddesses. This presentation examines representations of these encounters based on early sources such as the Brahmayāmala and Siddhayogeśvarīmata, exploring both the ritual context and doctrinal interpretation of melaka, the variety of its classifications, the transactions envisioned between sādhakas and yoginīs, and later transformations in conceptions of melaka. Depictions of melaka frequently blur the boundaries between yoginīs as goddesses and yoginīs as women, and one of the questions addressed concerns the manner in which representations of melaka afford insight into womens’ ritual roles.