Alchemical Metaphors for Spiritual Transformation in Abhinavagupta’s Īśvarapratyabhijñāvimarśinī and Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivṛtivimarśinī

It is a great privilege to be able to present a paper in honour of Alexis G.J.S. Sanderson. I was fortunate enough to be his pupil for two years at Oxford, and to study with him subsequently in Leipzig and Kyoto. In my view, if one were to accord Professor Sanderson the praise that he in fact merits, it would sound (to those who do not know him) like embarrassingly unrestrained hyperbole. Suffice it to say here that his example formed my ideal of intellectual integrity, an ideal which entails relentless pursuit of the truth as part of a community