Pronoy Chakraborty

This dissertation focuses on the metaphor of rivers in the Tantric Buddhist carya (ritual conduct) songs for the visualization of channels within the practitioner’s inner body that carry vital winds and sexual fluids. Attributed to the late Buddhist Mahasiddhas ("great perfected" masters), these songs in Old-Bengali/Eastern Apabhramsa from ca. tenth to twelfth century CE remain understudied despite their historical importance. The research combines philology, art history, and ethnography to address questions of authorship, performance, oral dissemination, textual transmission, and exegesis of the carya songs. Thereby, it explores the riverine ecologies and networks of communities related to the carya songs and the Mahasiddha lineages centered around Eastern India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.