Andrea Acri is tenured Assistant Professor in Tantric Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, PSL University) in Paris, France. His publications include the monograph Dharma P¿tañjala (2011), as well as various edited volumes, including Esoteric Buddhism in Mediaeval Maritime Asia (2016). His main research and teaching interests are ¿aiva and Buddhist Tantric traditions, Indian philosophy, Yoga studies, Sanskrit and Old Javanese philology, and the comparative religious history of South and Southeast Asia from the premodern to the contemporary period, with special emphasis on connected histories and intra-Asian maritime transfers.

Paolo E. Rosati received his PhD in Asian and African Studies from 'Sapienza' University of Rome, Italy. He has published a double special issue on Tantra for Religions of South Asia (14/1-2) in 2020, and several contributions on the yoni cult at K¿m¿khy¿. His current research focuses on magic, memory, and cultural identity in postcolonial Tantric contexts.

Acknowledgement; Introduction;1. More Pre-Tantric Sources of Tantrism: Skulls and Skull-Cups; 2. Charnel Ground Items, ¿m¿¿¿nikas, and the Question of the Magical Substratum of the Early Tantras; 3. Shamans and Bh¿ta T¿ntrikas: A Shared Genealogy?; 4. Female Gäe¿a or Independent Deity? Tracing the Background of the Elephant-faced Goddess in Mediaeval ¿aiva Tantric Traditions; 5. Crossing the Boundaries of Sex, Blood, and Magic in the Tantric Cult of K¿m¿khy¿; 6. 'Let us Now Invoke the Three Celestial Lights of Fire, Sun and Moon into Ourselves': Magic or Everyday Practice? Revising Existentiality for an Emic Understanding of ¿r¿vidy¿; 7. Narrative Folklore of Khy¿¿ from Tantra to Popular Beliefs: Supernatural Experiences at the Margins among Newar Communities in the Kathmandu Valley; 8. Magical Tantra in Bengal, Bali, and Java: From Pi¿¿ca T¿ntrikas to Balians and Dukuns; 9. Tantrism and the Weretiger Lore of Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia