Making a Mantra: Tantric Ritual and Renunciation on the Jain Path of Liberation. By Ellen Gough. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2021. 315 pages with bibliography, index, and 20 halftone illustrations. $95 (hardcover), ISBN 9780226766904; $30 (paperback), ISBN 9780226767062.
This book transforms at least four fields of study: the study of mantras, the study of the Jain tradition, the study of tantra, and the study of Indian religious traditions. This breadth of impact makes it a landmark publication that should be read by scholars in each of these fields. Rather than attempting a synoptic review, the comments here focus primarily on the first issue.