Statement:

The academic study of South Asian religions, both in India and the West, has generally taken a selection of the textualist traditions of religious elites to be normative for the "great traditions" of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam on the subcontinent. Yet, when one observes religion as it has been practiced "on the ground" in India, one finds that it bears little resemblance to these elite traditions. The mythologies and apologetic or propagandistic literature of established sects, religious orders, temples, pilgrimage sites, and interest groups are of very limited used to the scholar who would attempt to piece together a history of South Asian polytheism as it has evolved over time. Far more reliable guides for such historical development are to be found in Indian art, secular literature, epigraphy, and numismatics, as well as colonial and post-colonial ethnographic literature. On the basis of these sources, as well as fieldwork, one in fact finds that "Tantra" has been the predominant form of religious belief and practice in South Asia since at least the medieval period. On the basis of these sources, as well as fieldwork, one in fact finds that "Tantra" has been the predominant form of religious belief and practice in South Asia since its emergence in the medieval period. My work over the coming decades will consist of describing the parameters of Tantra in India, and arguing for its status as the true "great tradition" of South Asian religion, over and against the invented traditions of colonial and post-colonial "reform" Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam.

Recent Publications:

• Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex” in its South Asian Contexts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). It was ritual transactions in sexual fluids between human practitioners and superhuman female beings called Yoginis that gave Tantra its specificity in medieval South Asian religions.
• Tantra in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000). I am the editor of this volume, as well as the author of its introductory essay, "Tantra in Practice: Mapping a Tradition."
• The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). Between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, the alchemical, hathayogic and erotico-mystical practices of religious sects and orders who called themselves Siddhas were mutually informing.
• "Dogs Die," in History of Religions 29, no. 4 (May 1989), pp. 283-303. The sacrifice of a "four-eyed dog" at the beginning of the great Horse Sacrifices makes sense when interpreted in the context of the ancient Indian game of dice.
• "Why Gurus are Heavy," in Numen 31, no. 1 (July 1984): 40-73. Preliminary study of Indian alchemy and hatha yoga, which eventually led to the publication of The Alchemical Body in 1996.

Current Research/Projects:

Forthcoming book: Sinister Yogis (University of Chicago Press, 2008). Using textual, iconographic, and ethnographic data from the third millennium BCE down to the present, I argue in this book that the most perennial and pervasive form of yogic practice in South Asia has comprised techniques for exiting one’s body, either to fuse with the Absolute or to take over the bodies of other creatures.

Planned Research:

• the pan-Asian cult of Bhairava, the "horrific" lord of spirits of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and Muslims.
• a revisionist history of South Asian polytheism, in which worship without devotion is highlighted.
• a study of the Indo-European symbolism of "binding" in legal, medical, and mythological traditions.

Courses Taught:

Undergraduate:

• RS 12 Religious Approaches to Death
• RS 136 Creation Myths
• RS 160 Religious Traditions in India
• RS 169 Hindu Devotional Traditions
• Alchemy (Freshman Seminar)

  Graduate:

• RS 206: Seminar in South Asian Religious Studies (topics include Hindu Epics, Hindu Tantra, Worship Without Devotion: History of Popular Indian Polytheism)
• Readings in Sanskrit: Netra Tantra, Brhannaradiya Purana, Mahabharata, Rasarnavam, Harivamsa, etc.

Curriculum Vitae:

http://www.religion.ucsb.edu/faculty/David_White_CV.pdf

Department of Religious Studies | University of California | Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3130
telephone: (805) 893-7136 | fax: (805) 893-2059 | http://www.religion.ucsb.edu