THE DANCE OF DEATH Skulls, Bones, and Ashes in Hindu Necromancy
THE DANCE OF DEATH
Skulls, Bones, and Ashes in Hindu Necromancy
Reader Edition — US$45 (soft Cover) Hardcover — US$75 (Printed Cover) Special Leather Edition — US$120 (includes Altar Cloth)
Large format: 6.50 × 9.25 inches
Through this book we go deeply into this captivating and unsettling realm, exploring the intricate relationship between life, death, and the divine as understood through the lens of Hindu necromancy, the cult of death, and its veneration. Revealing the depths of the human experience, confronting the raw and visceral realities of death and decay. To challenge conventional notions of spirituality, morality, and the nature of the divine through necromancy. Through these seemingly dark and unsettling practices lies profound wisdom, a recognition of the interconnectedness of all things, and a path to spiritual liberation that encompasses the entirety of existence, life, death, and everything in between. Navigating this vaporous and dark landscape of Hindu necromancy, to illuminate the shadowy corners where death is not simply an end but a transforming force, a gateway to spiritual and primal awakening, as a source of profound power.
We will explore the sacred grounds of crematories, where skulls become sacred vessels, bones whisper ancient secrets, and ashes have the potential for both destruction and rebirth. Here, amidst the remnants of mortality, we meet the Aghori, enigmatic ascetics who have dedicated their lives to facing death head-on, embracing its taboo aspects as a path to liberation. We will explore the esoteric practices of Shava Sadhana, the corpse ritual, and Cita Sadhana, the cremation field practice, where practitioners engage with death in its most visceral forms, seeking to dismantle the ego and awaken to a deeper reality. A captivating and challenging exploration, venturing beyond fear and loathing to discover the hidden wisdom and transformative potential within the embrace of death and the realms of Hindu necromancy.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction — Entering the Cremation Ground
Death, Transgression, and the Necromantic Imagination in Hindu Traditions
Chapter I — Death, Karma, and the Journey Beyond the Body
The Hindu Architecture of Death and Rebirth
Chapter II — The Dead, the Ancestors, and the Necromantic Question
Pitṛs, Śrāddha, Ancestor Veneration, and Communication with the Departed
Chapter III — Between Ritual and Necromancy
Defining the Forbidden Territory of Hindu Death Practices
Chapter IV — The Cremation Ground as Sacred Territory
Śmaśāna, Fire, Liminality, and the Geography of the Dead
Chapter V — Skulls, Bones, and Ashes
The Ritual Power of Mortal Remains
Chapter VI — Ashes of the Body, Ashes of the Self
Bhasma, Impermanence, Purification, and Transformation
Chapter VII — The Aghori Current
Death, Pollution, Transgression, and Radical Non-Duality
Chapter VIII — Kāpālika Shadows
Skull Bearers, Cremation Grounds, and the Historical Roots of Transgressive Śaivism
Chapter IX — The Left-Hand Path of Tantra
Vāmācāra, Taboo, Desire, and the Dissolution of Duality
Chapter X — Bhairava: Lord of the Cremation Ground
Fear, Death, Time, and the Terrible Face of Śiva
Chapter XI — Kālī and the Black Field of Time
Death, Liberation, and the Body Beneath the Goddess
Chapter XII — The Mahāvidyās and the Wisdom of Dissolution
The Divine Feminine at the Edge of Death
Chapter XIII — The Corpse as Threshold
The Symbolism and Metaphysics of Śava Sādhana
Chapter XIV — Śava Sādhana
The Corpse Rite and the Transformation of Consciousness
Chapter XV — Whispers from the Pyre
Citā Sādhana and the Ritual Consciousness of the Cremation Ground
Chapter XVI — The Siddhis of the Dead
Spirit Contact, Power, Vision, and the Invisible World
Chapter XVII — Bhūtas, Pretas, Piśācas, and Vetālas
Mapping the Spirits of the Hindu Dead
Chapter XVIII — From Preta to Pitṛ
The Transformation of the Dead Through Ritual
Chapter XIX — The Psychology of the Cremation Ground
Fear, Disgust, Mortality, Ego, and Altered Consciousness
Chapter XX — Jīvanmukti and the Death of Identity
Liberation While Living
Chapter XXI — The Dance of Death
Śiva, Time, Dissolution, and the Cosmic Cycle
Chapter XXII — The Necromantic Body
Ash, Bone, Breath, Mantra, and Ritual Identity
Chapter XXIII — The Living and the Dead
Contact, Memory, Presence, and the Liminal Imagination
Chapter XXIV — Beyond the Cremation Fire
Death as Initiation and Consciousness as Continuity
Epilogue — When the Ashes Become Silent