Review by Choice Review
Nemec (Univ. of Virginia) provides an edited Sanskrit text with an excellent translation of and exhaustive commentary on the first three chapters of the first major philosophical-theological treatise of the so-called Recognition School in the influential Kashmiri Shaivism tradition. Nemec's making available, for the first time, part of this work by Som~nanda (fl. c. 900-950) that inaugurates the philosophical exegesis of Shaivite tantra is most welcome. Som~nanda's tenth-century successors Utpaladeva (his direct disciple) and Abhinavagupta are better known. Together, these three brilliant Kashmiri thinkers articulated a metaphysical nondualism that differed considerably from Advaita Vedanta's impersonal form of nondualism in its concentrated focus on the supreme divinity Shiva, who personally as universal power (Shakti) dwells in and directs all aspects of reality. Nemec demonstrates that whereas Som~nanda's nondualist vision is a strict pantheistic monism (he accepts no difference between Shiva and the universe), his disciple and commentator Utpaladeva espoused a more sophisticated panentheism, in which Shiva is both identical with the universe and distinct from it as creator. The rich introduction places this pioneering work in its historical context. Summing Up: Highly recommended. University and college libraries supporting upper-division undergraduates through faculty/researchers. J. Bussanich University of New Mexico
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
