ABSTRACT
This chapter begins the broader discussion with what may be referred to as the mature Nyāya-Vaiśe?ika position, and turns to the logician Udayana's defence of theism as propounded in his famous work, the Nyayakusumanjali. It illustrates example: the worship of the image construct in Hindu Tantra. Hindu Tantra has an important place for the notions of purusa and prakrti in its conceptualization of the structure of the universe. Here is how Gavin Flood, who has worked authoritatively on Hindu Tantra, describes it: Since the Tantric material is generally rooted in Sāmkhya categories, it tends to operate with the purusa/prakrti distinction for understanding the human and divine self. Tantra is very important for people's purposes because it expands people's understanding of what Hindu image-worship might entail by its blending of non-Vedic material with Vedic elements. An underlying assumption among the visualization practices is that in the course of meditation a live interaction of the subject with the imagery occurs.
