'The Vedic people would have said, we did not seek power, but rapture': Roberto Calasso (1941-2021)
tapas, “ardor.” But what is tapas? Many Indologists have avoided the question, having been led astray by the Christianising translations (“asceticism,” “penance,” “mortification”) that began with the first nineteenth-century editions (and can still be found today). After all, it is well-known that ascetics, penitents, and disciples practicing practicing self-mortification are to be found in India more than anywhere else. They, it is said, are the latest practitioners of tapas....
Source: scroll.in