HAA 282K - Art of Indian Esoteric Buddhism

This seminar explores the art of Indian Esoteric Buddhism from various interpretive vantage points. After a brief historiographical introduction, we will examine scholarly discourses on Esoteric or Tantric Buddhism in relation to the artistic productions in medieval South Asia (ca. 800-1200CE). We will read sādhanas (ritual texts for visualization practices) and study the formal and historical structure of Esoteric Buddhist iconography as it developed in the Indian sub-continent. The two main topics for this semester will be 1) Śaiva-Buddhist interactions as manifested in iconographic and artistic articulations, and 2) women in the age of tantra. Students will engage in case studies exploring a historical relationship between ritual practices and artistic outputs in various Esoteric Buddhist contexts, which may include comparative examples from outside the Indian sub-continent.