[Reader-list] apropos shuddha: iconoclasm and shaivism

[Aarti Sethi]

Dear Shuddha,

Thank you for a fantastic set of reflections on the many histories of
iconoclasm in Kashmir. I was just wondering, apropos an informal
discussion we were having, whether in your close reading of Kalhana
what he has to say about the particular case of Kashmiri shaivism and
its relationship to Buddhism.

>From my own cursory and sketchy reading it seems that by the 10th
century Buddhism has taken a decisive beating, and you see the rise of
the Shaivite kings and the rise of a shaivite brahmin bureaucracy. I
am wondering if the iconoclasm of the shaivite rulers has something to
do with the particular development of Kashmiri Shaivism and its
relationship to philosophical abstraction. Therefore tantric ritualism
is highly numerical and relies on the logic of the symbolic in a
particular way. So then we have this very interesting relationship
with a "secularisation" of a sort (because of abstraction) coupled
with a high degree of ritual.

Wondering what your thoughts were from your readings on Kashmiri
shaivism, which actually develops some of the most philosophically
sophisticated and rich discourses within the tantric tradition.

Thanks again Shuddha. This set of writings were a real treat :)

best
Aarti