Ebook: Body and Cosmology in Kashmir Saivism

"Kashmir Saivism" refers to monistic Hindu Saiva traditions which developed from the 9th to 11th centuries B.C. This book places the idea of the "body" in the Saiva world of religious meaning by showing how Siva, equated with pure consciousness, is thought to become embodied in the universe through a process of emanation. The text seeks to show the importance of the body - thought to contain pure consciousness, and the cosmos, in the yogic and ritual paths of transformation; these paths lead the monistic Saiva to the recognition of his identity with supreme consciousness and the awareness that his body is coterminous with the universe.