The Economics of Ecstasy Tantra, Secrecy and Power in Colonial Bengal [Hardcover]

This is a study of the Bengali Kartabhaja sect and its place in the broader movement of Tantrism, an Indian religious movement employing purposely shocking sexual language and rituals. Urban looks closely at the relationship between the rise of the Kartabhajas, who flourished at the turn of the 19th century, and the changing economic context of colonial Bengal. Made up of the poor lower classes laboring in the marketplaces and factories of Calcutta, the Kartabhajas represent the underworld of the imperial city. Urban shows that their esoteric poetry and songs are in fact saturated with the language of the marketplace and the bazaar, which becomes for them the key metaphor used to communicate secret knowledge and mystical teachings.

A Note (or Apology) on Transliteration
Abbreviations
Introduction: Secrecy and Symbolic Power
I. The Secret Marketplace: Historical Origins and Socioeconomic Contexts
1. The Underworld of the Imperial City: The Religious, Social, Economic Context of Early Colonial Bengal and the Rise of the Kartabhajas
2. The Religion of Man (Manuser Dharma): The Religious Ideals and Social Vision of the Kartabhajas
II. The Power of Secrecy: Esoteric Discourse and Practice
3. The Language of the Mint: Secrecy and Esoteric Discourse in the Kartabhajas Tradition
4. The Poor Company: Mercantile Discourse and Its Deformations in theBhaver Gita
5. Secret Bodies: Physical Disciplines and Ecstatic Techniques
III. The Liability of Secrecy: Secrecy as a Source of Scandal and Slander, Elitism and Exploitation
6. The Stinking Fruit in the Garden of Love: The Katabhajas and the Ambivalent Role of Tantra in Colonial Bengal
7. The Economics of Ecstacy: The Economic Hierarchy and Business Tactics of the Katabhajas
8. The Progressive Exotericization and Institutionalization of an Esoteric Tradition
Conclusions and Comparative Comments: Uninitiated UndlcG