Arthur Avalon Among the Orientalists: Sir John Woodroffe and the Re-imaging of the Tantras

Abstract

Sir John Woodroffe has been recognized as the pseudonymous orientalist Arthur Avalon, famous for his tantric studies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Best known for ‘The Serpent Power’, the book which introduced kundalinï yoga to the western world, Avalon turned the image of Tantra around from that of a despised magical and orgiastic cult into that of a refined philosophy which greatly enhanced the prestige of Hindu thought.