Annotations on the Sacred Writings of the Hindus [Paperback]

Sellon. Edward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997 | ISBN-10: 1889298328 | ISBN-13: 978-1889298320

Reprint of rare 1865 volume originally printed for private circulation. A Victorian soldier once stationed in India reflects on the sexual theory of Hindu sakti ritual (not erotica).

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Note on the author: "Edward Sellon (?1818-1866) first went to India at age sixteen to serve in the British Army. During his ten years in India he developed a particular interest in the sexual practices of Hindu sakti ritual. Twenty years after returning to England he published two books: a collection of erotic stories and the present study. The following year, in April 1866, Sellon committed suicide, shooting himself in a hotel at Piccadilly. Little else is known of his life except that he had a sometimes violent and unhappy marriage, and a reputation as a rake. Annotations on the Sacred Writings of the Hindus is a curious work, long out of print, which purports to be a scholarly Victorian account of the ancient history and symbolism behind sakti practice. The text here given is, apart from minor grammatical changes, an exact reprint of the original, including Sellon's occasionally irregular spelling of various Hindi and English words. Sellon attempts to prove that the sexual ritual preserved in sakti practice was an integral element in ancient Egyptian, Assyrian and Israelite religions. Much of his logic is difficult to follow, at best, and his incomplete style of citing his sources makes them hard to find. The work is of interest despite its inadequacies. It reflects the popular religious preoccupations of Sellon's day, particularly the search through ancient history for universal religious principles and practices. The study also includes an attestation to the sale of children for temple prostitution in India, something which concerned later Christian missionaries and Indian legislators and is now officially illegal. Sellon's interpretation of Hindu religion suggests above all his own biography. He never refers to himself in the body of the work, but his tone - vaguely lascivious, sometimes moralizing, yet ever affirming the male passion for the phallocentric - is consistent with that which he was: a Victorian whose first and formative sexual experiences may have occurred in the context of this religious ritual." From Introduction to the 1865 edition: "It has been suggested to the Author of the following pages to compile a small treatise which, without professing to be an abridgment of the Hindu Sacred Writings, should convey in a concise form an "epitome" of the information that has been obtained with respect to the leading dogmas of the Brahminical Superstition. When we reflect upon certain peculiarities of the religious worship practiced by Hindus, on its great antiquity, on the fact that two thousand years before the Christian era it was, as at the present day, in full force; that it witnessed the rise, decline and fall of the idolatry of Egypt, and of the great Western mythology of Greece and Rome, that hitherto it has scarcely yielded in the slightest degree to the adverse influence of the Mohammedan race on the one hand, or to European dictation on the other; and that it exercises, by its system of caste, a powerful control over the manners, customs, costume and social status of the entire Hindu community, it becomes a subject fraught with interest to every cultivated mind, and offers an affecting but curious example of the power of a hoary and terrible superstition in degrading and enslaving so large a portion of the human race. The source from whence much of the material in this compilation are derived are acknowledged in numerous notes. It does not come within the compass of this sketch to enumerate all the theological dogmas contained in the Sacred Writings of the Hindus. Those only have been selected for annotation and remark which seemed to have the most direct bearing on the object in view, in the elucidation of the worship of power - the Gnosticism of India." END

Product Details

• Paperback: 31 pages
• Publisher: Rhwymbooks (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889298328
• ISBN-13: 978-1889298320
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,500,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)