- Paperback: 1 pages
- Publisher: INNER TRADITIONS INTL; New edition edition (Dec 31 1990)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0892813741
- ISBN-13: 978-0892813742
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 354 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#602,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #45 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Mythology > Asian
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Gods of Love and Ecstasy makes compelling reading....Highly recommended! -- Jane Lee, New Dawn, May-June 2002
Book Description
Shiva and Dionysus are the Hindu and Greek gods of magical power, intoxication,ecstatic sexuality, and transcendence who initiate us into communion withthe creative forces of life. Revealing the earliest sources of the traditionsof Shiva and Dionysus, Alain Danielou reconstructs the fabric of our ancient relationship with creation, vividly relating practices that were observedfrom the Indus Valley to the coasts of Portugal at least six thousand years ago
Inside This Book
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dionysiac Violence,
By A Customer
This review is from: Gods Of Love Ectasy (Paperback)
Alain Daniélou's assessment of the dionysiac cults is somewhat naive. The Dionysaic cults are by no means just about free, ecstatic love and religious tolerance. As René Girard has shown, these cults are most of all about the sacrifice of an - innocent - scapecoat in order to regularly release the tensions which again and again build up in a society. Pagan societies, which do not know forgiveness, need this form of tension release in order to preserve or reinstate their unity. The origin of the dionysiac cult is the cruel and indeed ecstatic murder and paradox divinisation of the founder of a culture/society. In Indian mythology, for instance, Parusha was torn to pieces and out of the pieces came the four castes. This founding murder is again and again repeated in the dionysiac cult. Archaic forms of this cult used to sacrifice humans, later forms animals. The Holocaust is a modern form of dionysiac ecstasy. Daniélou of course does see very clearly that dionysiac ecstasy is tension release. What he does not see or know is that mere tension release is not all that is possible in lovemaking.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gay Sex,
By A Customer
This review is from: Gods Of Love Ectasy (Paperback)
Daniélou's book is rare in its international cultural outlook. Ancient mediterranean paganism becomes much clearer through approaching it from an Indian perspective. However, his readings of Old and New Testament sources should be read with care, as he does not really seem to be familiar with them. There are several misquotations, e.g. Moses coming down from the mountain did NOT wear horns on his head, Saul was NOT the son of Samuel. Also, the bible texts make a very clear distinction between pagan and jewish-christian sources of ecstacy.For Daniélou exstacy and sex are means to release tensions resulting from a bourgeois lifestyle, a typical promiscuous gay view. However, anyone familiar with really deep sex knows that this is kind of tension-release thing is sex for beginners who never went through hell for someone beloved. Also, Daniélou does not seem to be familiar with modern neurological Feldenkrais techniques, which are very western and lead to sex on a level as deep as tantra practices.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Challenging, partial, scholarly...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Gods Of Love Ectasy (Paperback)
Danielou meant that book to be an introduction to a religion that lies at the roots of all of us, and possibly lead us back to such primordial religion. The claim is bold. First, it is the author's controversial opinion that such a shaivite/dionysian religion was really so widespread. Second, the book itself doesn't give a "feeling" for what that religion is/was like. It gives extensive, scholarly details on the gods and myths, but little insight into what that would all mean to us nowadays. However, the discussion of civilisations so remote from ours in time and spirit (Dravidian, Indus, Cretan, etc...) is mind-boggling and challenging. It makes our own culture seem very narrow-minded in some ways and ignorant of so much of human nature. The author was a native Frenchman yet deeply immersed in Hindu/Shaivite culture and religion from a young age. His insights are rare and precious. Thank you Monsieur Danielou.
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