The Art of Tantra

In this comprehensive study of Tantric art, Philip Rawson invites us to join a meditative and visual exploration of the self and the universe. Originating in India in 600 AD and increasingly linked with recent trends of Western art, Tantra is a metaphysical fusion of eroticism, mathematics, and magic, a diffuse worldview in which the cult of ecstasy reigns. It is through the astonishing collection of illustrations in the book--sixteenth century engravings of the process of Creative Generation, reliefs of Hindu goddesses made for worship, a Tibetan magician's costume made of human bone--that Rawson makes accessible the mystical and fundamentally undefinable world of Tantra. 169 illus., 25 in color. "A book to have for beauty and interest, which may well be a guide to an understanding of life." --Arts Review