Chinnamasta: The Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric: v. 22 (Buddhist Tradition) - Tapa blanda

The entire Hindu "Chinnamastatantra" section from the Sakta Pramoda, the Buddhist "Chinnamunda Vajravarahisadhna" and the "Trikayavajrayoginistuti" are translated for the first time into English. Since Chinnamasta is a rare goddess, her texts were not popularized or made "fashionable" according to the dictates of a particular group at a particular time. The earliest extant texts date from the ninth and tenth centuries-a time when Hindu and Buddhist Tantras were developing under common influences in the same places in India. Having such texts about Chinnamasta. Chinnamunda from these centuries, one can begin to understand the mutuality of a general Tantric tradition and the exclusivity of a particular Hindu or Buddhist Tantric tradition.

Elisabeth Benard became interested in India at the age of twelve years when her father first brought back Hindu images from a trip to India. She researched in India under the auspices of the American Institute of Indian Studies and received her doctrate from Columbia University. She has lectured widely in the United States, including at Smithsonian Institute and Asia Society, as well as in India and Japan. She has taught at Princeton, Rutgers University of Hawaii at Manoa. Presently she is teaching Hinduism, Women in Religion, and the Asian Religions in Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.