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Toyin writes: Brooks' specialty is the Hindu Srividya schook of Sakta, Hindu Goddess culture. This culture was developed centuries ago to a very high level of ideational, artistic (verbal,visual and dramatic) religious and philosophical power, an achievement preserved and developed further in the present day. Srividya is particularly amazing among religious and philosophical cultures on account of the boldness of its central imaginative form, describing the creator of the universe as a beautiful and erotically attractive woman, and the cosmos as emerging from her coupling with her consort, Siva. This idea is developed in terms of a dazzling wealth of ideas and imagery in poetry, ideational exposition and abstract and figurative visual art.
Brooks' books on this school are deeply informative and inspiring, a gift to spiritual and philosophical learning and practice. His companion volume to this one, Auspicious Wisdom: The Texts and Traditions of Srividiya Sakta Tantrism in South India, demonstrates the ideational density and structural and logical rigour of an uncompromising academic work, while distilling the imaginative detail, poetic power and minutiae of ritual. I expect this book, The Secret of the Three Cities: Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism, should be as compelling, particularly since it contains a translation of what is described as a sublime work by the central scribal master of the Srividya school, Bhaskararaya.
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