The trappings of tantra are everywhere: On TV, on the web, and on the bookshelf squeezed between aromatic oils and edible underwear. But does it matter if the original practice has very little to do with what goes on in the average “Tantra for couples” weekend workshop today? Two scholars who’ve traced Tantra back to its roots in rural India argue that the misuse of Tantra both by New Age gurus and modern day Hindu fundamentalists reveals how politics and prudishness can eclipse history.
Guests:
David Gordon White, author of “Kiss of the Yogini: Tantric Sex in its South Asian Contexts.”
Wendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago.