aivism and the Tantric Traditions:

A Symposium in Honour of Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson

The academic study of Tantrism has blossomed in recent decades. Once dismissed as marginal, or unworthy of serious attention, we now understand the study of
Asias Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain esoteric or tantric religious traditions to be integral to the religious and cultural landscapes of medieval South, Southeast, Central
and East Asia. This shift in reshaping the historiography of medieval India is in no small measure due to the major contributions of Alexis Sanderson, Spalding
Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University. The proposed symposium, to be held at the University of Toronto, with Sanderson in attendance,
seeks to honour and engage with his scholarship on the eve of his retirement.
S PONS ORS OF T HE S Y MPOS IUM

DEPARTMENT AND CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ALL SOULS COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AT MISSISSAUGA
CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO BRILL PUBLISHERS, LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS

CONVENERS: SRILATA RAMAN (UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO) AND SHAMAN HATLEY (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY)
VENUE: CROFT CHAPTER HOUSE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
program synopsis
THURSDAY, MARCH 26
9:159:30 Arrival, coffee
9:3010:15 Welcome

(John Kloppenborg, John Marshall, Srilata Raman,
Shaman Hatley)
10:1510:45 Alexis Sanderson and Indology

Harunaga Isaacson, University of Hamburg
10:4511:15 An Overview of the Worship of Rudra in Vedic Ritual

Shingo Einoo, University of Tokyo
11:1511:30 Coffee break
11:3012:00 The Vedic veneer: On antinomian Tantric movements
claiming to follow orthodox Vedic religion and ritual

Judit Trzsk, University of Lille III, France
12:0012:30 The Right Rituals for a Vaidika Vaiava:
The rvaiava Borders between Vedic and Tantric
Saskras

Srilata Raman, University of Toronto
12:302:00 Lunch
2:002:30 From Mantramrga back to Atimrga: Atimrga as a
self-referential term

Peter Bisschop, Leiden University
2:303:00 The usage of the terms ivadharmin/ivadharmastha in
pre-modern Tantric sources

Nina Mirnig, Austrian Academy of Sciences
3:003:15 Coffee break
3:153:45 The Nivsatattvasahits Guhyastra: the latest layer of
redaction of the earliest surviving aiva Tantra

Dominic Goodall, cole franaise dExtrme-Orient, Paris
3:454:15 The Lotus Garland (padmaml) and Cord of Power
(aktitantu): Body and Ritual in the Tantric Yoga of the
Brahmaymala

Shaman Hatley, Concordia University, Montreal
4:154:45 Two ninth-century works against Buddhist antinomian
practice

Pter-Dniel Sznt, University of Oxford
4:455:15 Buddhism, kingship and the protection of the state:
notes on the Suvaraprabhsottamastra

Gergely Hidas, Etvs Lornd University, Budapest

Seating for the symposium is limited.

Anyone interested in attending the event is requested
to contact Eric Steinschneider
(Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Religion, University of Toronto)
eric.steinschneider@mail.utoronto.ca

FRIDAY, MARCH 27
9:3010:00 Conceptual and Non-Conceptual Cognition in Early aiva
Siddhnta: Some Unanswered Questions

Alexander Watson, Harvard University
10:0010:30 Doxastic cognition or epistemic imagination: Ruyyaka and
obhkarevaramitra on the definition of utprek

Somdev Vasudeva, Kyoto University
10:3011:00 TBA
11:0011:20 Coffee break
11:2011:50 To edit or not to edit: Observations based on Recent
Editions of Kashmirian Sanskrit Texts

Jrgen Hanneder, Philipp University of Marburg
11:5012:20 Innovation and Social Change in the Vale of Kashmir
circa 900-1200 C.E.

John Nemec, University of Virginia
12:201:45 Lunch
1:452:15 Hahayogas aiva Idiom

James Mallinson, School of Oriental and African Studies
2:152:45 The Historical Importance of the Yogatrval

Jason Birch, University of Oxford
2:453:00 Coffee
3:003:30 The Maha, its Form and Function

Elizabeth Mills, University of Toronto
3:304:00 Tantric Iconography in the Manmohan Courtyard in
Kathmandus Hanmndhok Palace

Gudrun Bhnemann, University of Wisconsin-Madison
4:004:30 The place of Buddhism in the Hindu kingdoms of
medieval Nepal

Alexander von Rospatt, University of California-Berkeley
4:305:00 Traditions of the Autumnal Nine Nights Festival of the
Goddess

Bihani Sarkar, University of Oxford
SATURDAY, MARCH 28
9:3010:00 TBA

Harunaga Isaacson, University of Hamburg
10:0010:30 Gateway to Kashmir

Hans Bakker, Groningen University/British Museum
10:3010:45 Coffee
10:4511:45 Keynote address

Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson, Spalding Professor of Eastern
Religion and Ethics, All Souls College, University of Oxford
11:451:15 Lunch