ABSTRACT
Durkheim's theory of consciousness explores tensions between the individual and society, and suggests ways in which they are played out within the individual psyche. He also proposes an additional tension, within the social, between moral life, as a series of prohibitions and obligations and the sentiments which attract human beings into mutual interaction. This chapter focuses on material from tantric biographies, which explore these tensions by describing ways in which the practitioner's identity is characterized by conflict. Similarly, social conflict is discernible in struggles between established religion, and religious movements. The chapter explores this violence in tantric identity, suggesting that it has certain points in common with Eliade's conception of the shamanic crisis. The story of Princess Mandarava brings together the themes of inner and outer conflict in a number of ways which suggest a relationship between external events and her visionary experience.
