To Enter, to be entered, to merge: The role of religious experience in the traditions of Tantric Shaivism

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Catalogue identifier: kali-0085
Alternate titles and import identifiers: KALI-0085
Author or attribution: Christopher Daren Wallis
Record type: Dissertation
Language: English
Date / edition: 2014
Source / repository: University of California, Berkeley
Access: Open access
Subjects: Kali Library Research Catalogue; Theses and Dissertations; Tantras and Esoteric Literature

Description and curator notes

Investigates technical vocabularies and historical understandings of religious experience in tantric Śaivism, especially entering, immersion, and divine empowerment. The dissertation works across Sanskrit materials and traditions, including the Kali-related Krama, to distinguish terms and practices that are often flattened into a single modern notion of mystical experience. Its large bibliography and discussion of textual transmission make it useful for advanced research into the philosophical environments of Kali worship. It belongs in a contextual Tantra and Krama section: the entire dissertation is available, but it is broader than a Kali monograph and should be described accordingly.

KALI-0085 — Kali Library Research Catalogue.
Access and reliability assessments below are supplied by the curator's 4–5 November 2026 research release, not a new independent verification.

Author / attribution: Christopher Daren Wallis
Publication: University of California, Berkeley · 2014
PhD, South and Southeast Asian Studies, Fall 2014; 418 PDF pages
Format / language: Doctoral dissertation · English
Kali relevance: Substantial Krama/Kali material within a wider study of tantric Śaivism.
Context: Premodern tantric Śaivism; Krama; religious experience.
Subjects: Theses and Dissertations; Tantras and Esoteric Literature
Evidence / reliability: Institutional repository; degree level or research format stated explicitly
Access / rights: Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Freely readable from the stated institutional or original publication host. Copyright retained; no general republication licence established. Link to the work rather than copying it.

Source and alternate access links:
Read complete text: https://escholarship.org/content/qt4p0666qj/qt4p0666qj.pdf
Source record: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4p0666qj

Source access

Read or locate the original source at University of California, Berkeley

Rights and reading conditions

Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Freely readable from the stated institutional or original publication host. Copyright retained; no general republication licence established. Link to the work rather than copying it. This library links to the source and does not reproduce its full text.

Citation

Christopher Daren Wallis. To Enter, to be entered, to merge: The role of religious experience in the traditions of Tantric Shaivism. University of California, Berkeley · 2014.

This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.