Literatur 2013 Rastelli, Goodall

This third volume (out a projected five) of definitions of tantric terms covers the letters ta through pha. As before, the Sanskrit terms are first translated into French, English and German, and paragraphs of explanation then follow in one or more of those languages about the meaning and usage of the terms with quotations from Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava literature. The conventions of the earlier volumes have been observed, but the bibliography of published and unpublished sources that are drawn upon has been further expanded – thanks in part to easier access to manuscript sources because of digital imagery and a growing shared corpus of machine-searchable electronic texts – and the volume is thus a little thicker than its predecessors. The expansion of source material has also meant that we have been able, in several articles devoted to complex and evolving concepts, to map out patterns of change and so give some sense of historical depth in this portrait of the Mantramārga. The entries have again been composed and discussed by a team of internationally renowned scholars. As more of the dictionary is realised, more cross-references can be followed up, and its value as a companion to the study of Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva tantric literature increases.