Mantra

Harvey P. Alper was Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University from 1974 to 1987. As a Sanskritist, his primary interest was the religious traditions of South Asia. He served as editor of the SUNY series on Saiva Traditions of Kashmir. Professor Alper died suddenly on April 4, 1987 after completing the editorial work on the present volume.

"This is the single best effort to date on the whole issue of mantra." —Paul R. Courtright, University of North Carolina at Greensboro"I know of nothing in its field that approaches this collection in scope and quality. Superior both in objectivity and in command of Sanskrit, its contributors represent the new grade of excellence in Asian studies produced in half a century of academic maturation in America. In this continent, no better selection could have been made." —Norvin J. Hein, Yale University

• INTRODUCTION Harvey P. Alper1. Mantra kavisasta: Speech as Performative in the RgvedaEllison Banks Findly2. Vedic MantrasFrits Staal3. The Mantra in Vedic and Tantric RitualWade T. Wheelock4. Mantra in Ayurveda: A Study of the Use if Magico-Religious Speech in Ancient Indian MedicineKenneth G. Zysk5. Are Mantras Speech Acts? The Mimamsa Point of ViewJohn Taber6. The Meaning and Power of Mantras in Bhartrhari's VakyapadiyaHarold Coward7. Mantras in the SivapuranaLudo Rocher8. The Use of Mantra in Yogic Meditation: The Testimony of the PasupataGerhard Oberhammer9. The Pancaratra Attitude to MantraSanjukta Gupta10. The Cosmos as Siva's Language-Game: "Mantra" According to Ksemaraja's SivasutravimarsiniHarvey P. AlperCONCLUSION: Mantras - What Are They?Andre PadouxNOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORSABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS VOLUMEBIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST