What do you think?
Rate this book
Tantra: enlightenment to revolution
The Tantras, a set of sacred manuscripts that emerged in India from around the sixth century CE, detail rituals for attracting spiritual, worldly, and supernatural power. These rituals, which focus on the power of fierce gods and goddesses and center around yoga, self-deification, sexual rites, and the consumption of intoxicants, became an integral part of the meditations and philosophical practices of Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism.
This book examines the philosophies, core beliefs, and artistic expressions of Tantra, and its impact on religious, cultural, and political landscapes across the globe. In tracing the history of the movement, author Imma Ramos reveals Tantra’s origins and continued relevance in India, as well as its redefinition as it was adopted by Western popular culture during the 1960s.
Tantra: enlightenment to revolution accompanies a major exhibition at the British Museum, and is illustrated extensively with masterpieces of sculpture, painting, print, and ritual objects from India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, dating as far back as the eighth century CE.
This book examines the philosophies, core beliefs, and artistic expressions of Tantra, and its impact on religious, cultural, and political landscapes across the globe. In tracing the history of the movement, author Imma Ramos reveals Tantra’s origins and continued relevance in India, as well as its redefinition as it was adopted by Western popular culture during the 1960s.
Tantra: enlightenment to revolution accompanies a major exhibition at the British Museum, and is illustrated extensively with masterpieces of sculpture, painting, print, and ritual objects from India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, dating as far back as the eighth century CE.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published June 2, 2020
5 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 16, 2025
Beautiful book showcasing gorgeous material culture and information about Tantra.
Tantra often gets misconstrued by the West--- often by publishing books about "Tantric sex" which is a bastardisation and distortion of what Tantra really is.
"Tantric Sex" is a western made up concept from when the British travelled to India and misunderstood what they saw (what they think they saw).
Tantra as a philosophy is a complex system that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things and the inherent divinity within the material world. It is also a feminist practice that encouraged women to become gurus and it is even stated that the feminine principle is more powerful-- from Durga and Kali to Dakini worship.
It's characterized by its countercultural approach, which challenges conventional notions of purity and impurity, self and other, and the separation between the divine and the mundane. Tantra sees reality as animated by Shakti, a divine feminine power, and encourages the use of various practices, including yoga, meditation, and rituals, to awaken this power within and achieve spiritual liberation
Tantra often gets misconstrued by the West--- often by publishing books about "Tantric sex" which is a bastardisation and distortion of what Tantra really is.
"Tantric Sex" is a western made up concept from when the British travelled to India and misunderstood what they saw (what they think they saw).
Tantra as a philosophy is a complex system that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things and the inherent divinity within the material world. It is also a feminist practice that encouraged women to become gurus and it is even stated that the feminine principle is more powerful-- from Durga and Kali to Dakini worship.
It's characterized by its countercultural approach, which challenges conventional notions of purity and impurity, self and other, and the separation between the divine and the mundane. Tantra sees reality as animated by Shakti, a divine feminine power, and encourages the use of various practices, including yoga, meditation, and rituals, to awaken this power within and achieve spiritual liberation
July 5, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. I read it very slowly over some months and that helped me to digest the information and chew on it. It's not difficult to read or anything, but it just suited me to read it very slowly. It is laid out systematically and you follow the development of tantric philosophy through time. There are plenty of pictures which I loved. I didnt realise how much of our current ideas and values in our culture stem from tantric ideas and I'm really intrigued to read more.
April 10, 2021
This is the best, most straightforward book on tantra I've come across (as someone who studied religion and philosophy in university). Beautiful page design as well.
December 13, 2021
Review published through ARLIS/NA:
Imma Ramos’ Tantra: Enlightenment to Revolution (2020) provides a captivating look into the ritual and practices of Tantra, a subversive spiritual movement within South Asian culture that came to prominence after the sixth century CE. Analyzing rich visual, textual, and ceremonial artifacts, Ramos’s well-researched account of Tantric rituals and ideologies successfully weaves together an enriching look into a woefully underexplored, underrepresented, and misrepresented cultural phenomenon. Tantra traces the growth of Tantra in medieval India and its spread across the South Asian continent, punctuating its social, geocultural, and chronological manifestations and transformations with material culture derived from The British Museum’s extensive collection.
Ramos contemporizes her treatment with a critical focus that centers cultural transgressions as paths to enlightenment, the proto-feminist worship and veneration of women and femininity within the Tantric system, and an unflinching willingness to identify the histories of white colonialism tied to both the denigration of Tantra in the West as well as the visual and collecting practices of museums that collected Tantra materials in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By its conclusion, no dimension is left untreated as Ramos folds literature, political, and religious manifestations of Tantra into her well-illustrated account of the practice.
Tantra is a brilliant resource for both the general historian as well as specialists focused on South Asian history, comparative religious, cultural and religious studies, and artists, art historians, and museum professionals. Its analyses are clearly articulated and demonstrate an awareness to prose that is both educational and engaging. Throughout, Ramos relies on historical quotes, religious passages, and historical accounts to inform and bolster her claims on the roles Tantra played throughout history. Tantra includes an impressive catalogue of high-quality color illustrations that maintain an engrossing balance between historically grounded text and demonstrative visual. Ramos employs an arresting, well-designed and legible style palette, utilizing rich blacks, reds, and golds – colors that parallel the Kali figure depicted on the book’s cover and cleverly replicate the significance of visual material in Tantric ritual.
Its indices, bibliography, glossary, and scholarly resources are not only substantive but varied, including a helpful guide to Tantric vocabulary and a reading list of primary and secondary resources expected of a publication from Thames & Hudson and The British Museum. Tantra would make an excellent addition to the university and museum library, the introductory and advanced college syllabus, honors and AP high school art, history, and art history courses, and the personal collection of independent researchers and historians.
Imma Ramos’ Tantra: Enlightenment to Revolution (2020) provides a captivating look into the ritual and practices of Tantra, a subversive spiritual movement within South Asian culture that came to prominence after the sixth century CE. Analyzing rich visual, textual, and ceremonial artifacts, Ramos’s well-researched account of Tantric rituals and ideologies successfully weaves together an enriching look into a woefully underexplored, underrepresented, and misrepresented cultural phenomenon. Tantra traces the growth of Tantra in medieval India and its spread across the South Asian continent, punctuating its social, geocultural, and chronological manifestations and transformations with material culture derived from The British Museum’s extensive collection.
Ramos contemporizes her treatment with a critical focus that centers cultural transgressions as paths to enlightenment, the proto-feminist worship and veneration of women and femininity within the Tantric system, and an unflinching willingness to identify the histories of white colonialism tied to both the denigration of Tantra in the West as well as the visual and collecting practices of museums that collected Tantra materials in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By its conclusion, no dimension is left untreated as Ramos folds literature, political, and religious manifestations of Tantra into her well-illustrated account of the practice.
Tantra is a brilliant resource for both the general historian as well as specialists focused on South Asian history, comparative religious, cultural and religious studies, and artists, art historians, and museum professionals. Its analyses are clearly articulated and demonstrate an awareness to prose that is both educational and engaging. Throughout, Ramos relies on historical quotes, religious passages, and historical accounts to inform and bolster her claims on the roles Tantra played throughout history. Tantra includes an impressive catalogue of high-quality color illustrations that maintain an engrossing balance between historically grounded text and demonstrative visual. Ramos employs an arresting, well-designed and legible style palette, utilizing rich blacks, reds, and golds – colors that parallel the Kali figure depicted on the book’s cover and cleverly replicate the significance of visual material in Tantric ritual.
Its indices, bibliography, glossary, and scholarly resources are not only substantive but varied, including a helpful guide to Tantric vocabulary and a reading list of primary and secondary resources expected of a publication from Thames & Hudson and The British Museum. Tantra would make an excellent addition to the university and museum library, the introductory and advanced college syllabus, honors and AP high school art, history, and art history courses, and the personal collection of independent researchers and historians.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews