MANTRATANTRAM
Monsoon Asia as the Nexus for the Transfer of Tantra along the Maritime routes
Part of the ERC Consolidator Grant that takes place from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2029.
Andrea Acri
Andrea Acri's research focuses on the religious history of India and Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on the circulation of Shaivist and Buddhist tantric traditions.
Project summary
For centuries, Tantra has shaped the socio-religious landscape of Southeast Asia, but it remains poorly understood and has often been misrepresented in modern popular culture. In this context, the project will study Tantric traditions in their broader historical and geographical contexts across monsoon Asia. This geoenvironmental region, comprising South and Southeast Asia as well as large areas of Central and East Asia, is the most populous on the planet and can be seen as forming an extremely diverse but historically, culturally and linguistically interconnected network, dominated by shared environmental factors such as seasonal monsoon winds and rainfall patterns.
This initiative aims to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and the limitations of regional studies by examining tantric traditions as a dynamic and interconnected phenomenon. Focusing on the medieval period, maritime connectivity, and cross-cultural exchanges (and also between elite and non-elite communities), the project will analyze various textual sources in Sanskrit, South Asian vernaculars, and non-Indo-Aryan languages (e.g., Old Javanese, Tibetan, and Chinese), as well as remnants of art history. In doing so, it will reveal the complex web of cultural exchange of tantra, enhancing our appreciation of its impact on the region's shared religious heritage.
See also