Emotions in Indian Thought-Systems

300 Pages·2015·3.419 MB·English

by  Purushottama Bilimoria (editor), Aleksandra Wenta (editor)

Emotions in Indian
Thought-Systems
Introduction ￿ i
The stereotypical image of the Indian holy man, or the Buddha, detached from
the world and unencumbered by emotional states, encourages the impression
that Indian spirituality has no place for emotion. While acknowledging the dis-
paragement of emotion in certain schools of thought, the book draws attention to
the range of Indian traditions — from philosophy to aesthetics to tantra — that
value it profoundly and look upon emotions as offering pragmatic processes
for moral, aesthetic and spiritual development. The subtle understandings of
emotional life outlined in these essays will be useful not only to those interested
in Indian thought as such, but to those concerned with emotional intelligence
in cross-cultural thinking.
— Kathleen Higgins, University of Texas
The book presents an excellent array of scholarly essays to be read by South Asian
specialists. Indeed, they offer Western (and Indian) researchers and laypersons
myriad pointers within dharma traditions that enrich the much-popularised
concept of ‘enlightenment-as-sheer-presence’ with an emotional (rasa) infusion
of auspicious longings, conative-affective truths, transformable feeling-states,
spiritually matured erotic passion and ranges of personal ‘intensity’. Thus, the
volume continues the Foucaldian critique of the current scientia sexualis
psychologies with their terminal maturity of the ‘well-adjusted, desiring-ego’,
while also presenting glimpses of alternative ‘paths of emotional profundity’.
— Stuart Sovatsky, California Institute of Integral Studies
ii ￿ Amita Shah and Jharna Pathak
Emotions in Indian
Thought-Systems
EDITORS
Purushottama Bilimoria
Aleksandra Wenta
LONDON NEW YORK NEW DELHI
Introduction ￿ iii
First published 2015 in India
by Routledge
912 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110 001
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla
Typeset by
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Delhi 110 096
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-138-85935-7
iv ￿ Amita Shah and Jharna Pathak
For Professor Peter Ronald deSouza
Introduction ￿ v

Contents
Preface | ix
Emotions in Indian Thought-Systems: An Introduction | 1
Purushottama Bilimoria and Aleksandra Wenta
Part I: Tantrism
1. Passions and Emotions in the Indian
Philosophical–Religious Traditions | 57
Raffaele Torella
2. Intensity of Emotions: A Way to Liberation in
the Advaita Śaiva Āgamas and Their Exegetes | 102
Bettina Sharada Bäumer
3. Between Fear and Heroism:
The Tantric Path to Liberation | 114
Aleksandra Wenta
Part II: The Bhakti Movement
4. Principal Emotions Contributing to the Supreme
Love of Śiva: A Study of Early Śaiva Hymnal Corpus | 137
T. Ganesan
5. Love Never Tasted Quite Like This Before:
Śṛṅgāra-rasa in the Light of Two Texts from
a Sahajiyā Vaiṣṇava Notebook | 156
Neal Delmonico and Aditi Nath Sarkar
Introduction ￿ vii
Part III: Buddhism, Pātañjala
Yoga and Śaiva Siddhānta
6. The Buddhist Psychology of Emotions | 185
Varun Kumar Tripathi
7. Between Impetus, Fear and Disgust: ‘Desire for
Emancipation’ (Saṃvega) from Early Buddhism
to Pātañjala Yoga and Śaiva Siddhānta | 199
Andrea Acri
Part IV: Aesthetics
8. Moha Kāla: Aporias of Emotion in
Indian Refl ective Traditions | 231
D. Venkat Rao
9. Aesthetics of Despair | 266
Sharad Deshpande
About the Editors | 281
Notes on Contributors | 282
Index | 285
viii ￿ Amita Shah and Jharna Pathak
viii Contents
Preface
T
his volume consists in a selection of essays stemming from papers
originally presented at the seminar, ‘Refl ection on Emotions in Indian
Thought-Systems’, held at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS)
in Shimla on 4–6 September 2012. The seminar provided a forum where
eminent scholars from India and the West could present stimulating
papers covering a wide range of approaches to conceptualising emotions
in pre-modern Indian traditions of knowledge. For both intellectual
and practical reasons, the editors have included essays from authors
who were unable to attend the seminar, but whose presence was, in a
way, still felt — their long-standing engagement in our chosen fi eld of
enquiry informed our debate on several occasions. As it turns out, the
topics and approaches of their essays nicely complement those of our
initial pool of participants.
The essays in this volume are based on either textual or theoretical
research (or both) on a variety of classical Indian traditions, such as
Jainism, Buddhism, Classical Yoga, Bhakti, Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava Tantrism,
and Aesthetics. Most essays deal with Sanskrit texts and some with
vernacular (i.e., Tamil, Bengali, Pāli, and Old Javanese) texts; as such,
they include a large body of quotations from primary sources in those
languages.
Special thanks go to Professor Peter Ronald deSouza, former Director
of IIAS, for kindly agreeing to host and sponsor this event, as well
as for encouraging me to carry out this kind of intellectual inquiry;
and to Dr Debarishi Sen, Academic Officer, IIAS, for successfully han-
dling the organisational matters. I express my gratitude to Professor
T. R. S. Sharma, a senior fellow at IIAS, who selfl essly dedicated much
of his personal time and skills to making this event happen. My special
thanks go also to Dr Andrea Acri, who, in a true spirit of sevā, helped
Introduction ￿ ix