This volume has many large prints of yantras but is lacking in any real depth of description of the historical, cultural, and functional background of the role of the yantra in contemplative practice. While the bibliography is better than in many western books dealing with yantra, it is a bit weak (does not even include Giuseppi Tucci's classic "Yantra".
I myself am an iconographer and have a Master's degree in Asian Studies: Indian Philosophy, but my primary interest is in the practical application or usage of yantra in contemplative visualization. Accordingly I have been seeking books (such as Tucci's) that discuss cosmological and metaphysical issues in a deeper way than just to describe the yantra. On the plus side, this book has many nice colorful prints of yantras and they seem to be named correctly, so it would be a good purchase for those buying it as a "coffee table gift" I suppose. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of how yantras are applied as metaphysical tools to deepen your practice, I would not look here.
I myself am an iconographer and have a Master's degree in Asian Studies: Indian Philosophy, but my primary interest is in the practical application or usage of yantra in contemplative visualization. Accordingly I have been seeking books (such as Tucci's) that discuss cosmological and metaphysical issues in a deeper way than just to describe the yantra. On the plus side, this book has many nice colorful prints of yantras and they seem to be named correctly, so it would be a good purchase for those buying it as a "coffee table gift" I suppose. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of how yantras are applied as metaphysical tools to deepen your practice, I would not look here.
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