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Title: Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus by Alain Danielou ISBN: 0-89281-374-1 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: April, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Dionysiac Violence
Comment: Alain Daniélou's assessment of the dionysiac cults is somewhat naive. The Dionysaic cults are by no means just about free, ecstatic love and religious tolerance. As René Girard has shown, these cults are most of all about the sacrifice of an - innocent - scapecoat in order to regularly release the tensions which again and again build up in a society. Pagan societies, which do not know forgiveness, need this form of tension release in order to preserve or reinstate their unity. The origin of the dionysiac cult is the cruel and indeed ecstatic murder and paradox divinisation of the founder of a culture/society. In Indian mythology, for instance, Parusha was torn to pieces and out of the pieces came the four castes. This founding murder is again and again repeated in the dionysiac cult. Archaic forms of this cult used to sacrifice humans, later forms animals. The Holocaust is a modern form of dionysiac ecstasy. Daniélou of course does see very clearly that dionysiac ecstasy is tension release. What he does not see or know is that mere tension release is not all that is possible in lovemaking.
Rating: 4
Summary: Gay Sex
Comment: Daniélou's book is rare in its international cultural outlook. Ancient mediterranean paganism becomes much clearer through approaching it from an Indian perspective. However, his readings of Old and New Testament sources should be read with care, as he does not really seem to be familiar with them. There are several misquotations, e.g. Moses coming down from the mountain did NOT wear horns on his head, Saul was NOT the son of Samuel. Also, the bible texts make a very clear distinction between pagan and jewish-christian sources of ecstacy.
For Daniélou exstacy and sex are means to release tensions resulting from a bourgeois lifestyle, a typical promiscuous gay view. However, anyone familiar with really deep sex knows that this is kind of tension-release thing is sex for beginners who never went through hell for someone beloved. Also, Daniélou does not seem to be familiar with modern neurological Feldenkrais techniques, which are very western and lead to sex on a level as deep as tantra practices.
Rating: 3
Summary: Challenging, partial, scholarly...
Comment: Danielou meant that book to be an introduction to a religion that lies at the roots of all of us, and possibly lead us back to such primordial religion. The claim is bold. First, it is the author's controversial opinion that such a shaivite/dionysian religion was really so widespread. Second, the book itself doesn't give a "feeling" for what that religion is/was like. It gives extensive, scholarly details on the gods and myths, but little insight into what that would all mean to us nowadays.
However, the discussion of civilisations so remote from ours in time and spirit (Dravidian, Indus, Cretan, etc...) is mind-boggling and challenging. It makes our own culture seem very narrow-minded in some ways and ignorant of so much of human nature. The author was a native Frenchman yet deeply immersed in Hindu/Shaivite culture and religion from a young age. His insights are rare and precious. Thank you Monsieur Danielou.
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Title: The Phallus: Sacred Symbol of Male Creative Power by Alain Danielou ISBN: 0892815566 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: December, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Hindu Temple: Deification of Eroticism by Alain Danielou, Ken Hurry ISBN: 0892818549 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Dionysos by Carl Kerenyi, Ralph Manheim ISBN: 0691029156 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 16 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Presence of Siva by S. Kramrisch ISBN: 0691019304 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 11 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $42.50 |
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Title: Siva, the Erotic Ascetic by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty ISBN: 0195202503 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1981 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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