{"product_id":"the-path-of-desire-9780226831121","title":"The Path of Desire","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA provocative study of contemporary Tantra as a dynamic living tradition.     Tantra, one of the most important religious currents in South Asia, is often misrepresented as little more than ritualized sex. Through a mixture of ethnography and history, Hugh B. Urban reveals a dynamic living tradition behind the sensationalist stories. Urban shows that Tantric desire goes beyond the erotic, encompassing such quotidian experiences as childbearing and healing. He traces these holistic desires through a series of unique practices: institutional Tantra centered on gurus and esoteric rituals; public Tantra marked by performance and festival; folk Tantra focused on magic and personal well-being; and popular Tantra imagined in fiction, film, and digital media. The result is a provocative new description of Hindu Tantra that challenges us to approach religion as something always entwined with politics and culture, thoroughly entangled with ordinary needs and desires.","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48883868762455,"sku":"9780226831121","price":22.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780226831121.jpg?v=1722529377","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-path-of-desire-9780226831121","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}