Kālīkrama and Abhinavagupta - The Epistemological Ethos of a Tāntric Tradition #876987

The Krama School of the Trika Œaivism of Kashmir, more familiar as KÀlÁkrama in the contemporary parlance, has turned out to be the most crucial among the monistic Œaiva traditions of medieval Kashmir after the PratyabhijðÀ school, a scenario people could hardly envisage six decades back when it first came to the notice of modern scholarship. The doctrine of KÀlÁkrama, lit. sequential order of consciousness deities called KÀlÁs, constitutes the most pivotal aspect of this school marked by a synchronous resonance between the esoteric/TÀntric and cognitive/metaphysical undercurrents of the system.
In order to delve deeper into the doctrine of KÀlÁkrama the present monograph does some loud thinking in three important areas: (a) the role of cognitivization in the ultimate realization; (b) the theoretical background of the mystical experience built around the consciousness deity(ies); and (c) the inconclusiveness of the hidden meaning posing an epistemological barrier in the study of an esoteric TÀntric tradition. In all these areas one cannot miss the imprints of Abhinavagupta’s profound contribution. As such, the present study journeys into three directions: (1) a short genealogy of modern Krama studies; (2) the epistemology of the esoteric internalization embodied in the doctrine of KÀlÁkrama; and (3) the role played by Abhinavagupta as its foremost architect. As such, the present study needs be construed as a small step towards discovering the intrinsic epistemological ethos of an esoteric Tantric tradition.