Centre for Tantric Studies

We are pleased to announce recent appointments in projects connected with the Centre for Tantric Studies:

• The Early Tantra project brings Dr. Martin Delhey to the ‘Nepalese Manuscript of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa‘ sub-project.
• The Manuscript Cultures Research Group has two sub-projects of relevance to tantric studies. Mr. Camillo Formigatti, M.A., comes to Hamburg for the ‘Indian and Nepalese Manuscript Annotations‘ sub-project. Dr. Orna Almogi is attached to the ‘Variants in Manuscripts of the rNying ma rgyud ‘bum‘ sub-project.

For further information, please see our page on research projects.

An interdisciplinary project, the Manuscript Cultures Research Group at the University of Hamburg, has just been awarded three years’ funding by the DFG. The Group aims to advance the study of the vast manuscript heritage of India, Tibet, Japan, China, Iran, Ethiopia and the Arab world.

Of particular relevance to tantric studies are the projects on the Manuscript Collections of the Ancient Tantras (rNying ma rgyud ‘bum) and Marginal Annotations in Sanskrit Manuscripts, both to be overseen by Prof. Harunaga Isaacson.
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We are pleased to announce that funding for a major project in tantric studies has just been confirmed — ‘Early Tantra: Discovering the Interrelationships and Common Ritual Syntax of the Śaiva, Buddhist, Vaiṣṇava and Saura traditions’.

This project, a collaboration with the École française d’Extrême-Orient, directed on the French side by Dominic Goodall and on the German side by Harunaga Isaacson, and funded by the ANR (Agence Nationale de Recherche) and DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), aims to uncover connections between tantric systems through the study of a number of early sources. Texts to be edited include the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā, Brahmayāmala, the Nepalese Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa manuscript and the Trisamayarājatantra commentary. It will be carried out over the next three years.

• Please visit our Early Tantra project page for further information.