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Review
Ch. 3 mentions, besides the discussion of the Mahamaya fragment, some instances of meditation on Visnu and the Maya. A special section has been included on the role of the Aghoramantra.
The Balinese Mahamaya fragment discussed in Ch. 3 seems to lay stress on the colours as magical operators. So T. Goudriaan elaborates in Ch. 4 on the role of colours in meditations and stresses the importance of colour symbolism in traditional lore. Different colours are related to the deities, grades of society, directions, elements and so on. Different colours of the soul in different states are found mentioned in the Mahā. bharata and in the lesya theory of the Jainas. Ch. 5 Under Indra's Net' contains some remarks on the nature of the magic described in Vedic and Sanskrit texts with some emphasis on the magician as impersonating divine faculties' and on the aims he strives after. The auther felt that such a chapter was badly needed in the absence of a good general history. of Sanskritized magic.
The Balinese Mabamaya fragment contains some terms which denote standard acts of magic-Vastkarana (sui jugation), stambhana (immobilization), uccalana (eradication), p:ayaścitta (pacification), etc.
Six Acts (sat karmani) as a group are fequently refund to in Jantric texts and different types of combinatier: cf six from an org the acts (Vasikarana etc) are mentioned in different texts.
Ch. 6 deals at length with 'The six Acts'. As the author says in the preface (p. xi) the chapter "his grown to dispropertionate size on account of the abundance of the material which has, however, rot at all been. exhausted". It has been shown that the aims for which the magical powers were considered applicable were most often similar to those sought at present by humanity by means of highly improved technical resources. Moreover, the aims of the Tantric performers were generally based on, and motivated by, the prevailing economic and social conditions. The author has at places briefly discussed comparable phenomena in other cultures In particular, he has, wherever possible, referred to and dealt with passages from Balinese hymns in 'stuti and stava' with the aim of promoting research inte the background of Balinese Sanskrit literature.
The notes to the different chapters are given after ch. 6. In Appendix I we find the original Sanskrit passages that have been translated or paraphrased in the body of the book Appendix 2 gives a selection of
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