Mircea Eliade, one of the founders of the history of religions, was influenced by the Traditionalist school initiated by René Guénon. Yet among the Traditionalists, the art historian and thinker Ananda K. Coomaraswamy exerted a stronger influence on Eliade, especially in conceptual and methodological terms. This presentation examines Coomaraswamy’s writings from the 1920s, a period marked by ideas remarkably close to the later history of religions. By comparing these with the works of Eliade and Guénon, it clarifies their affinities, influences, and differences. Whereas Guénon posited the Primordial Tradition as an ahistorical and superhuman principle opposed to modernity, Coomaraswamy focused on interpreting expressive forms rooted in concrete myths and works of art. In this period, he frequently engaged with chthonic motifs such as dragon-maiden legends, identifying in them a mythic structure of creation that he saw as a metaphysical “formula” underlying human action. Eliade acknowledged significant common ground with Coomaraswamy’s hermeneutics, which integrated art history, classical literature, folklore, and religious studies. However, Coomaraswamy’s application of Guénon’s concepts often entailed the Devolutionary view of history, explaining “primitive” religions through a Classical intellect. Eliade reversed this framework: while adopting Coomaraswamy’s plural methodology, he interpreted Classical thought through archaic religiosity. Thus, Eliade’s archaism may be understood as an effort to transcend the Devolutionary paradigm by decontextualizing the Traditionalist notion of the “Primordial” and freeing it from its intellectualist premises.

Authors:
Tamaki Kitagawa, University of Tsukuba, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Tamaki Kitagawa, Assistant Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Tsukuba, examines representations of edible and medicinal plants in North African indigenous cultures and investigates the religious meanings of food today.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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