Introducrion: A Plethora of Premises
Habits of the Heart, Deductive Premises, and Buddhist
Inhibitions
Petrarch s Method: Artes Historicae in the Renaissance
Tropes, Heuristics, and Other Dangerous Things
Prayers in the Palace, Swords in the Temple:
Sarly Medieval India
The Occlusion of the Medieval
Early Medieval Political and Military Events
The Culture of Military Opportunism
Aesthetics and the Apotheosis of Kingship
Feudalization of Divinity
Conclusion: Early Medieval Vitality
The Medieval Buddhist Experience
Guilds, Commerce, and Political Legitimacy
Politics, Patronage, and Ethics—The Loss of Kuntala
and Andhrapatha
Medieval Women's Buddhism—Hidden from View or
Missing in Action?
A Loss of Footing: The Agenda of Skepticism
Looking Elsewhere for Direction: The Turn to Epistemology
Big Important Monasteries—Administrators in Maroon Robes
Conclusion: A Tradition Under Duress
The Victory of Esoterism and the Imperial Metaphor
Chronology: The Seventh-Century Beginning
Becoming the Rajadhiraja—The Central Mantrayana Metaphor
Mandalas and Fields of Plenty
Becoming the Institution
Monks and Their Rituals
Sacralization of the Domain
Conclusion: Esoteric Buddhism as Sacralized Samanta
Feudalism
Siddhas and the Religious Landscape
Some Siddha Social Models
First Moments in Siddha Identity
Saiva and S^ta Ascetic Orders
Marginal Siddha Topography
Religious Relations: The Agonistic Landscape
Buddhist Siddhas and the Vidyadharas
Chronological Concerns and Saiva Exchanges
Indian Sacred Geograph
Siddha Divinities—Bhairava and Henika
Kapalika-Buddhist Conversions
The Other Saivas: The Pasupatas
Siddhas in the Tribal Landscape
Conclusion: A Complex Terrain
Siddhas, Literature, and Language
Regional Towns and the Lay Siddha
The Hidden Scriptures
From Transmission to Reception
The Buddha's Talking Skull Excites Women, Kills Snakes,
and Belches a Book
Everything You Know Is Wrong
The Magic Decoder: The Construct of Coded Language
Coded Language as Secret Ritual Words
Secret Sacred Sociolinguistics
Extreme Language and Comedy in the Tantras
Conclusion: The Literature of Perfection
7 SiddJhas, Monks, and Communities
Siddha Mandalas, Circles of Goddesses
Siddhas in a Circle, Siddhas in a Line, Siddhas in a Mob
Hagiographical Communities: Buddhajhanapada's Travels
Gatherings and Ganacakras—^The Ritual Cornmunity
Rules of Order
Self-Criticism and Correction
The Imperial Metaphor Reconsidered:
Becoming the Vidyadhara-Cakravartin
Conclusion: Its a Siddhas Life