• Review of Bihani Sarkar's Heroic Shāktism: The Cult of Durgā in Ancient Indian Kingship

    Author(s):
    Subhasis Chattopadhyay (see profile)
    Editor(s):
    Swami Narasimhananda
    Date:
    2020
    Subject(s):
    Hinduism, Structuralism, Indian literature, Sanskrit literature
    Item Type:
    Book review
    Tag(s):
    Durga, Sanskrit Studies, Shaivism, Tantra
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/g8b7-5582
    Abstract:
    "One foresees a great academic career for Bihani Sarkar precisely because she has neglected the living tradition(s) of Shakta tantra, which she has mapped wrongly in her espicable book. In short, Bihani Sarkar writes for academic kudos in the Western world. She is like a learned medical student who has only read of human anatomy but never seen a real corpse." Advaita Ashrama which publishes Prabuddha Bharata, the only peer reviewed Journal in India to have missed no issue from 1896 to date; and is the gold standard for all things Hindu; has this to say about Sarkar's scholarship. The Ramakrishna Mission's editorial board comprises of experts in their respective fields. And though this reviewer wrote the review; it was published because many others who know of Sarkar's domain; agreed with the review.
    Notes:
    This reviewer has hardly travelled out of Kolkata. But he saw through Sarah Jacoby's blah. For instance, he had shown the quid pro quos done in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death in Prabuddha Bharata. PB being the mouthpiece of the Ramakrishna Order will be archived and read centuries hence when even this site is no more. Centuries hence, others will judge whether this reviewer was unfair to Bihani Sarkar and the OUP.
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    Published as:
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    Publisher:
    Prabuddha Bharata edited from Uttarakhand and printed by Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, India. It is the mouthpiece of the Ramakrishna Order headquartered at Belur, India.
    Pub. Date:
    1st July, 2020
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    1 month ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
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