Reconfiguring Asian Modernity: Negotiating Tantric Epistemological Traditions

Abstract

Reconfiguring Asian Modernity:Negotiating Tantric Epistemological Traditions Abhisek Ghosal (bio) and Bhaskarjyoti Ghosal (bio) What Shiva (and the world, according to the tantric episteme) preserves are not the ashes of Sati's corpse but the scattered body parts of that corpse and her ornaments (which, though ostensibly material objects and not organically linked with Sati's body, partake of the energy she embodies), enshrined as the epitomes of the sacred. These physical fragments of the corpse, paradoxically, serve as the most powerful sources of the kinetic energy of life. They are worshipped not just to achieve moksha, liberation from physical existence, but also, and perhaps more importantly for the popular dimension of this religious episteme, in order to live meaningful, happy and even hedonic lives. —Anway Mukhopadhyay (2018, 71)1 Is it possible to identify Tantra as a deified religion, antinomian counterculture, or a social movement that attempts to circumvent racial divides and sexual hegemony? —Justin Hewitson (2021, 32) When Western scholars are engrossed in exploring indigenous cultural patterns by means of employing non-Asian epistemological interventions, it seems quite important nowadays to re-explore and reposition a typically Indian epistemic tradition called Tantric tradition to divulge the importance of having an "Asian theory" to unsettle the conventional Western theoretical inroads into "Asian modernity." For instance, Western scholars have understood the diversity of Asian modernity from the perspectives of colonial discourses, neocolonial frameworks, posthumanism, capitalist hegemony, material realism, and so on. But, surprisingly and unfortunately, no Indic scholar has, as of now, felt an urge to remap Tantric traditions in the context of critical interventions into Asian modernity and to relate it to dominant Western epistemologies so as to underscore the former's ontical and ontological trans-historicality. In addition, Indic scholars are silent on the possibility of engaging Tantric epistemologies in divulging the processuality of Asian modernity, thereby making a modest attempt to destratify theoretical codifications veering around it. [End Page 33] This article seeks to engage Tantric epistemologies in critical dialogue with some contemporary Western thinking traditions, intending to bring up fresh debates on Asian modernity in general. For instance, Western scholars, more or less, assess that Indian modernity is to a large extent contingent upon the Western counterpart, for the people of India always look up to politico-cultural, economic, and critic-philosophical residues of West. This stereotypical formulation could be taken up from Tantric epistemologies to show that Indian modernity, instead of resorting to the cultural remains of the West, could consider an indigenous thinking model called Tantric epistemology, which is capable of vying with Western thinking models, so as to reconfigure Indian modernity from an indigenous critical perspective. It also aims at foregrounding Tantra ecology to address emerging issues pertaining to climate catastrophe. This article is split up into three sections so as to clearly articulate different nuances of Tantra. In the first section, historical background of Tantra is briefly articulated to put focus on various epistemic dimensions of it. In the second section, the notion of "Tantra ecology" is teased out and contrasted to Stacy Alaimo's "trans-corporeality" to bring out the singularity and efficacy of Tantrism. The third section lays out the scientific underpinnings of Tantra to underscore its ability in reshaping Asian modernity, dismissing colonial epistemological legacies. The discussion closes with a prospective conclusion that gives direction to the future of Tantrism in reshaping the contours of Asian modernity. Tantric Epistemologies: Contexts and Concerns What is Tantra? Is the Tantric knowledge system solely predicated upon religio-spiritual accomplishments? Does Tantric epistemology bear the potentials for revolutionary change in the paradigm of critical thinking? Does it provide ecological insights needed for climate thinking? Does Tantra rest on the dynamics of energy? Does the Tantric knowledge system stand in disagreement with (em)bodied thinking propounded by Western thinkers? These questions need to be taken up not just to lay out nuanced dimensions of Tantra and its position in contemporary critical discourse but also to point out how Tantric epistemology exceeds the bounds of temporality and works as a useful tool for building up ecological consciousness within the ambit of Asian modernity. The word tantra has multiple significations and is used in different contexts...