Abhinavagupta

c. 950–1016 CE

First attested

975 CEAttested in his extensive surviving corpus including Tantraloka and Abhinavabharati.

Kashmiri polymath, mystic, and aesthetician who synthesised non-dual Tantric philosophy.

Abhinavagupta was a monumental Kashmiri philosopher, mystic, and aesthetician who brought non-dual Trika Shaivism to its highest intellectual and experiential zenith. In works such as the Tantraloka (Light on the Tantras) and Tantrasara, he unified the diverse ritual, philosophical, and yogic lineages of Kashmir into a coherent non-dual metaphysics: reality is the luminous self-awareness (prakasha) and creative pulsation (vimarsha) of Paramashiva. In aesthetics (Abhinavabharati), he showed that the supreme aesthetic savoring of art (rasa) mirrors the spiritual liberation of the awakened soul.