KISS OF THE YOGINI "Tantric sex" in its South Asian context David Gordon White Table of Contents List of Illustrations Preface Note on Transliteration Abbreviations of Titles of Sanskrit Works 1. Tantra in Its South Asian Contexts 2. The Origins of the Yogini: Bird, Animal and Tree Goddesses and Demonesses in South Asia 3. The Blood of the Yogini: Vital and Sexual Fluids in South Asian Thought and Practice 4. The Mouth of the Yogini: Sexual Transactions in Tantric Ritual 5. The Power of the Yogini: Tantric Actors in South Asia 6. The Consort of the Yogini: South Asian Siddha Cults and Traditions 7. The Flight of the Yogini: Fueling the Flight of Tantric Witches 8. The Sublimation of the Yogini: The Subordination of the Feminine in High Hindu Tantra 9. Tantra New Millennium Notes Bibliography Index

By reconstructing the medieval South Asian Kaula and Tantric traditions that involved sexual practices, David White hopes to restore the dignity and autonomy of the people who invented them and continue to practise them. This monumental scholarly work does precisely that.
Major review by the TLS