वाराणसी
Books:
Visualizing space in Banaras: images, maps, and the practice of representation
BY Martin Gaenszle,Jörg Gengnagel
Nyāsa Ritual in Kulārṇava Tantra
It is a well-known fact that, despite their unique and distinctive formulations over centuries, the tantric systems of the Indian subcontinent do share in common a sophisticated body of cosmological literature where we find detailed maps of worlds extending from heavens to the earth and beyond. [1] A striking feature of these models appears to be their emphasis on the individual human body as a kind of microcosm or unity that corresponds in very specific ways to the larger universe. Classical tantric texts like ’Vi ś vasāra Tantra’, ’Pratyabhijñāh ṛ dayam’ of the Kashmiri Shaiva tradition, as well as the ’Kulār ṇ ava Tantra’, among several others, are filled with expressed correlations between the physical body and the cosmic dimension. In ’Viśvasāra Tantra’, we find the statement: "What is here is elsewhere; what is not here is nowhere" ( yadīhasti tadanyatra yannehasti natatkvacit ) [2] and Pratyabhijñāh ṛ dayam’ contains the following: ...
