Navjivan Rastogi, a direct descendant in the lineage of K.C. Pandey, is supposed to represent the contemporary ingenious Indian scholarship dedicated to unravelling the profound speculative tradition of Abhinavan thought. Now retired from active service, Rastogi is formerly Head of the Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit languages and Hony. Director of the Abhinavagupta Institute of Aesthetics and Shaiva Philosophy, University of Lucknow. His known works include: The Krama Tantricism of Kashmir, Vol 1; Introduction to the Tantraloka: A Study in Structure; Kashmira Shivadvayavada ki Mula Avadharanayen; and Tantraloka (with the Viveka of Jayaratha, in eight vols., jointly edited with R.C. Dwivedi). His two books are in the press: Abhinava: Perspectives on Abhinavagupta [Essays in Memory of K.C. Pandey] (ed.) and Abhinavagupta ka Tantragamiya Darshanika Cintana: Tattva-jnana, Itihasa, Sanskriti aura Saundarya-vimarsha in the “Darshanika Cintana Srijana Series” of Akhila Bharatiya Darshan Parishad.
His current engagements comprise the editing of the volume on Kashmir Shaivism of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies with Karl H. Potter and English translation of Somananda’s Shiva-drishti for the Indian Council of Philosophical Research.