Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Preface and Acknowledgments xi
5. Abbreviations xv
6. Introduction: Diagnosing the “Disease” of Tantra 1
7. 1. The Golden Age of the Vedas and the Dark Age of Kàlí: Tantrism, Orientalism, and the Bengal Renaissance 44
8. 2. Sacrificing White Goats to the Goddess: Tantra and Political Violence in Colonial India 73
9. 3. India’s Darkest Heart: Tantra in the Literary Imagination 106
10. 4. Deodorized Tantra: Sex, Scandal, Secrecy, and Censorship in the Works of John Woodroffe and Swami Vivekananda 134
11. 5. Religion for the Age of Darkness: Tantra and the History of Religions in the Twentieth Century 165
12. 6. The Cult of Ecstasy: Meldings of East and West in a New Age of Tantra 203
13. Conclusion 264
14. Notes 283
15. Bibliography 337
16. Index 367