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Front Cover

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The Ethnography of Tantra: Textures and Contexts of Living Tantric Traditions

Author:Carola E. Lorea and Rohit Singh (editors)
ISBN:9789395474115
Binding:Hardcover
Year:2026
Pages:380 with 31 b/w illustrations
Size:16 x 24 x 3 cm
Weight:656 grams
Price:INR27951796.00
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About the Book
Presents Tantra from an ethnographic vantage point, through a series of case studies grounded in diverse settings across contemporary Asia.

This is the first collection of essays to approach the topic of Tantric Studies from the vantage point of ethnography and lived religion, moving beyond the centrality of written texts and giving voice to the everyday life and livelihoods of a multitude of Tantric actors. Bringing together a team of international scholars whose contributions range across diverse communities and traditions in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan region, the book connects distant shores of Tantric scholarship and lived Tantric practices. The contributors unpack Tantra’s relationship to the body, ritual performance, sexuality, secrecy, power hierarchies, death, magic, and healing, while doing so with vigilant sensitivity to decolonization and the ethics of fieldwork. Through diverse ethnographies of Tantra and attention to lived experiences and life stories, the book challenges normative definitions of Tantra and maps the variety of Tantric traditions, providing comparative perspectives on Tantric societies across regions and religious backgrounds. The accessible tone of the ethnographic case studies makes this an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate audiences working on the topic of Tantra.
About the Author
G.C. Chauhan

G.C. Chauhan is a scholar of ancient Indian history, specialising in social institutions and economic history. He has authored sixteen books and published over seventy research papers in national and international journals. His notable works include Ancient India: Insights into Social & Economic Dynamics (Sanctum Books, New Delhi); An Overview of Historiographical Approaches; Reflections: Looking Back on Social Institutions of Ancient India; Economic History of Mauryan India; Early Indian Feudal Society and its Culture; Agrarian Economy of Ancient India; What Happened in Ancient India, Vol. II: From the Mauryas to 1200 CE; Agrarian Economy of Ancient India (from the earliest times to 1200 AD); Light and Shades of Popular Beliefs in Hill States: A Case Study of Shimla Hills; Indian Buddhism: A Historical Overview; Some Aspects of Early Indian Society; Origin and Growth of Feudalism in Early India (from the Mauryas to 650 AD); and Economic History of Early Medieval Northern India.

Professor Chauhan’s works are widely recognised for their depth of analysis and insightful interpretation of ancient India’s social and economic structures.
Editorial Reviews



The Ethnography of Tantra is valuable to scholars as a model of different applications of ethnography.”
Nova Religio
“This is a superb and truly refreshing contribution to the study of Tantra and religion more broadly. As the volume makes clear, Tantric studies have tended to focus on texts, history, and esoteric practices without contextualizing these in everyday life. By focusing on ethnography, this volume is an excellent intervention to those more abstract, textual, historical, idealized, exotified, and often problematic depictions of Tantra.”
—Lisa I. Knight, author of Contradictory Lives: Baul Women in India and Bangladesh
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