Reading section 30

These ideas are not modern nor peculiar to any Indian sect. They are present in the Vedic ceremonial, in the practices of the Yoga and even in the teaching of the quasi-mussulman sect of Kabir, which attaches great importance to the letters of the divine name. They harmonize with the common Indian view that some form of discipline or physical training is essential to the religious life. They are found in a highly developed form among the Nambuthiris and other Brahmans of southern India who try to observe the Vedic rules and in the Far East among Buddhists of the Shingon or Chen-yen sect.[681] As a rule they receive the name of Tantrism only when they are elaborated into a system which claims to be a special dispensation for this age and to supersede more arduous methods which are politely set aside as practicable only for the hero-saints of happier times. Tantrism, like salvation by faith, is a simplification of religion but on mechanical rather than emotional lines, though its deficiency in emotion often finds strange compensations.

But Tantrism is analogous not so much to justification by faith as to sacramental ritual. The parallel may seem shocking, but most tantric ceremonies are similar in idea to Christian sacraments and may be called sacramental as correctly as magical. Even in the Anglican Church baptism includes sprinkling with water (abhisheka), the sign of the cross (nyasa) and a formula (mantra), and if any one supposes that a child so treated is sure of heaven whereas the future of the unbaptized is dubious, he holds like the Tantrists that spiritual ends can be attained by physical means. And in the Roman Church where the rite includes exorcism and the use of salt, oil and lights, the parallel is still closer. Christian mysticism has had much to do with symbolism and even with alchemy,[682] and Zoroastrianism, which is generally regarded as a reasonable religion, attaches extraordinary importance to holy spells.[683] So Indian religions are not singular in this respect, though the uncompromising thoroughness with which they work out this like other ideas leads to startling results.

The worship of female deities becomes prominent somewhat late in Indian literature and it does not represent--not to the same extent as the Chinese cult of Kwan-yin for example--the better ideals of the period when it appears. The goddesses of the Rig Veda are insignificant: they are little more than names, and grammatically often the feminine forms of their consorts. But this Veda is evidently a special manual of prayer from which many departments of popular religion were excluded. In the Atharva Veda many spirits with feminine names are invoked and there is an inclination to personify bad qualities and disasters as goddesses. But we do not find any goddess who has attained a position comparable with that held by Durga, Cybele or Astarte, though there are some remarkable hymns[684] addressed to the Earth. But there is no doubt that the worship of goddesses (especially goddesses of fertility) as great powers is both ancient and widespread. We find it among the Egyptians and Semites, in Asia Minor, in Greece, Italy, and among the Kelts. The goddess Anahit, who was worshipped with immoral rites in Bactria, is figured on the coins of the Kushans and must at one time have been known on the north-western borders of India. At the present day Sitala and in south India Mariamman are goddesses of smallpox who require propitiation, and one of the earliest deities known to have been worshipped by the Tamils is the goddess Kottavai.[685] Somewhat obscure but widely worshipped are the powers known as the Mothers, a title which also occurs in Keltic mythology. They are groups of goddesses varying in number and often malevolent. As many as a hundred and forty are said to be worshipped in Gujarat. The census of Bengal (1901) records the worship of the earth, sun and rivers as females, of the snake goddesses Manasa and Jagat Gauri and of numerous female demons who send disease, such as the seven sisters, Ola Bibi, Jogini and the Churels, or spirits of women who have died in childbirth.

The rites celebrated in honour of these deities are often of a questionable character and include dances by naked women and offerings of spirituous liquors and blood. Similar features are found in other countries. Prostitution formed part of the worship of Astarte and Anahit: the Tauric Artemis was adored with human sacrifices and Cybele with self-inflicted mutilations. Similarly offerings of blood drawn from the sacrificer's own body are enjoined in the Kalika Purana. Two stages can be distinguished in the relations between these cults and Hinduism. In the later stage which can be witnessed even at the present day an aboriginal goddess or demon is identified with one of the aspects (generally a "black" or fierce aspect) of Siva's spouse.[686] But such identification is facilitated by the fact that goddesses like Kali, Bhairavi, Chinnamastaka are not products of purely Hindu imagination but represent earlier stages of amalgamation in which Hindu and aboriginal ideas are already compounded. When the smallpox goddess is identified with Kali, the procedure is correct, for some popular forms of Kali are little more than an aboriginal deity of pestilence draped with Hindu imagery and philosophy.

Some Hindu scholars demur to this derivation of Saktism from lower cults. They point to its refined and philosophic aspects; they see in it the worship of a goddess, who can be as merciful as the Madonna, but yet, since she is the goddess of nature, combines in one shape life and death. May not the grosser forms of Saktism be perversions and corruptions of an ancient and higher faith? In support of this it may be urged that the Buddhist goddess Tara is as a rule a beautiful and benevolent figure, though she can be terrible as the enemy of evil and has clear affinities to Durga. Yet the history of Indian thought does not support this view, but rather the view that Hinduism incorporated certain ancient ideas, true and striking as ancient ideas often are, but without purging them sufficiently to make them acceptable to the majority of educated Indians.

The Yajur Veda[687] associates Rudra with a female deity called Ambika or mother, who is however his sister, not his spouse. The earliest forms of the latter seem to connect her with mountains. She is Uma Haimavati, the daughter of the Himalayas, and Parvati, she of the mountains, and was perhaps originally a sacred peak. In an interesting but brief passage of the Kena Upanishad (III. 12 and IV. 1) Uma Haimavati explains to the gods that a being whom they do not know is Brahman. In later times we hear of a similar goddess in the Vindhyas, Maharani Vindhyesvari, who was connected with human sacrifices and Thugs.[688] Siva's consort, like her Lord, has many forms classified as white or benignant and black or terrible. Uma belongs to the former class but the latter (such as Kali, Durga, Camunda, Canda and Karala) are more important.[689] Female deities bearing names like these are worshipped in most parts of India, literally from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, for the latter name is derived from Kumari, the Virgin goddess.[690] But the names Sakta and Saktism are usually restricted to those sects in Bengal and Assam who worship the Consort of Siva with the rites prescribed in the Tantras.

Saktism regards the goddess as the active manifestation of the godhead. As such she is styled Sakti, or energy (whence the name Sakta), and is also identified with Maya, the power which is associated with Brahman and brings the phenomenal world into being. Similar ideas appear in a philosophic form in the Sankhya teaching. Here the soul is masculine and passive: its task is to extricate and isolate itself. But Prakriti or Nature is feminine and active: to her is due the evolution of the universe: she involves the soul in actions which cause pain but she also helps the work of liberation.[691] In its fully developed form the doctrine of the Tantras teaches that Sakti is not an emanation or aspect of the deity. There is no distinction between Brahman and Sakti. She is Parabrahman and _paratpara_, Supreme of the Supreme.

The birthplace of Saktism as a definite sect seems to have been north-eastern India[692] and though it is said to be extending in the United Provinces, its present sphere of influence is still chiefly Bengal and Assam.[693] The population of these countries is not Aryan (though the Bengali language bears witness to the strong Aryan influence which has prevailed there) and is largely composed of immigrants from the north belonging to the Tibeto-Burman, Mon-Khmer and Shan families. These tribes remain distinct in Assam but the Bengali represents the fusion of such invaders with a Munda or Dravidian race, leavened by a little Aryan blood in the higher castes. In all this region we hear of no ancient Brahmanic settlements, no ancient centres of Vedic or even Puranic learning[694] and when Buddhism decayed no body of Brahmanic tradition such as existed in other parts of India imposed its authority on the writers of the Tantras. Even at the present day the worship of female spirits, only half acknowledged by the Brahmans, prevails among these people, and in the past the national deities of many tribes were goddesses who were propitiated with human sacrifices. Thus the Chutiyas of Sadiya used to adore a goddess, called Kesai Khati--the eater of raw flesh. The rites of these deities were originally performed by tribal priests, but as Hindu influence spread, the Brahmans gradually took charge of them without modifying their character in essentials. Popular Bengali poetry represents these goddesses as desiring worship and feeling that they are slighted: they persecute those who ignore them, but shower blessings on their worshippers, even on the obdurate who are at last compelled to do them homage. The language of mythology could not describe more clearly the endeavours of a plebeian cult to obtain recognition.[695]

The Mahabharata contains hymns to Durga in which she is said to love offerings of flesh and wine,[696] but it is not likely that Saktism or Tantrism--that is a system with special scriptures and doctrines--was prevalent before the seventh century A.D. for the Tantras are not mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims and the lexicon _Amara Kosha_ (perhaps _c_. 500 A.D.) does not recognize the word as a designation of religious books. Bana (_c_. 630) gives more than once in his romances lists of sectaries but though he mentions Bhagavatas and Pasupatas, he does not speak of Saktas.[697] On the other hand Tantrism infected Buddhism soon after this period. The earlier Tibetan translations of the Tantras are attributed to the ninth century. MSS. of the Kubjikamata and other Tantras are said to date from the ninth and even from the seventh century and tradition represents Sankaracarya as having contests with Saktas.[698] But many Tantras were written in the fifteenth century and even later, for the Yogini Tantra alludes to the Koch king Bishwa Singh (1515-1540) and the Meru Tantra mentions London and the English.

From the twelfth to the sixteenth century, when Buddhism, itself deeply infected with Tantrism, was disappearing, Saktism was probably the most powerful religion in Bengal, but Vishnuism was gaining strength and after the time of Caitanya proved a formidable rival to it. At the beginning of the fifteenth century we hear that the king of the Ahoms summoned Brahmans to his Court and adopted many Hindu rites and beliefs, and from this time onward Saktism was patronized by most of the Assamese Rajas although after 1550 Vishnuism became the religion of the mass of the people. Saktism never inspired any popular or missionary movement, but it was powerful among the aristocracy and instigated persecutions against the Vishnuites.

The more respectable Tantras[699] show considerable resemblance to the later Upanishads such as the Nrisinhatapaniya and Ramata-paniya, which mention Sakti in the sense of creative energy.[700] Both classes of works treat of magical formulae (mantras) and the construction of mystic diagrams or yantras. This resemblance does not give us much assistance in chronology, for the dates of the later Upanishads are very uncertain, but it shows how the Tantras are connected with other branches of Hindu thought.

The distinction between Tantras and Puranas is not always well-marked. The Bhagavata Purana countenances tantric rites[701] and the Agni Purana (from chapter XXI onwards) bears a strong resemblance to a Tantra. As a rule the Tantras contain less historical and legendary matter than the Puranas and more directions as to ritual. But whereas the Puranas approve of both Vedic rites and others, the Tantras insist that ceremonies other than those which they prescribe are now useless. They maintain that each age of the world has its own special revelation and that in this age the Tantra-sastra is the only scripture. Thus in the Mahanirvana Tantra Siva says:[702] "The fool who would follow other doctrines heedless of mine is as great a sinner as a parricide or the murderer of a Brahman or of a woman.... The Vedic rites and mantras which were efficacious in the first age have ceased to have power in this. They are now as powerless as snakes whose fangs have been drawn and are like dead things." The Kularnava Tantra (I. 79 ff.) inveighs against those who think they will obtain salvation by Vedic sacrifices or asceticism or reading sacred books, whereas it can be won only by tantric rites.

Various lists of Tantras are given and it is generally admitted that many have been lost. The most complete, but somewhat theoretical enumeration[703] divides India and the adjoining lands into three regions to each of which sixty-four Tantras are assigned. The best known names are perhaps Mahanirvana,[704] Saradatilaka,[705] Yogini, Kularnava[706] and Rudra-Yamala. A Tantra is generally cast in the form of a dialogue in which Siva instructs his consort but sometimes _vice versa_. It is said that the former class are correctly described as Agamas and the works where the Sakti addresses Siva as Nigamas.[707] Some are also called Yamalas and Damaras but I have found no definition of the meaning of these words. The Prapancasara Tantra[708] professes to be a revelation from Narayana.

Saktism and the Tantras which teach it are generally condemned by Hindus of other sects.[709] It is arguable that this condemnation is unjust, for like other forms of Hinduism the Tantras make the liberation of the soul their object and prescribe a life of religious observances including asceticism and meditation, after which the adept becomes released even in this life. But however much new tantric literature may be made accessible in future, I doubt if impartial criticism will come to any opinion except that Saktism and Tantrism collect and emphasize what is superficial, trivial and even bad in Indian religion, omitting or neglecting its higher sides. If for instance the Mahanirvana Tantra which is a good specimen of these works be compared with Sankara's commentary on the Vedanta Sutras, or the poems of Tulsi Das, it will be seen that it is woefully deficient in the excellences of either. But many tantric treatises are chiefly concerned with charms, spells, amulets and other magical methods of obtaining wealth, causing or averting disease and destroying enemies, processes which even if efficacious have nothing to do with the better side of religion.[710]

The religious life prescribed in the Tantras[711] commences with initiation and requires the supervision of the Guru. The object of it is _Siddhi_ or success, the highest form of which is spiritual perfection. _Siddhi_ is produced by _Sadhana_, or that method of training the physical and psychic faculties which realizes their potentialities. Tantric training assumes a certain constitution of the universe and the repetition in miniature of this constitution in the human body which contains various nervous centres and subtle channels for the passage of energy unknown to vulgar anatomy. Thus the Sakti who pervades the universe is also present in the body as Kundalini, a serpentine coil of energy, and it is part of Sadhana to arouse this energy and make it mount from the lower to the higher centres. Kundalini is also present in sounds and in letters. Hence if different parts of the body are touched to the accompaniment of appropriate mantras (which rite is called nyasa) the various Saktis are made to dwell in the human frame in suitable positions.

The Tantras recognize that human beings are not equal and that codes and rituals must vary according to temperament and capacity. Three conditions of men, called the animal, heroic and divine,[712] are often mentioned and are said to characterize three periods of life--youth, manhood and age, or three classes of mankind, non-tantrists, ordinary tantrists, and adepts. These three conditions clearly correspond to the three Gunas. Also men, or rather Hindus, belong to one of seven groups, or stages, according to the religious practices which it is best for them to follow. Saktists apparently demur[713] to the statement commonly made by Indians as well as by Europeans that they are divided into two sects the Dakshinacarins, or right-hand worshippers, whose ritual is public and decent, and the Vamacarins who meet to engage in secret but admittedly immoral orgies. But for practical purposes the division is just, although it must not be supposed that Dakshinacarins necessarily condemn the secret worship. They may consider it as good for others but not for themselves. Saktists apparently would prefer to state the matter thus. There are seven stages of religion. First come Vedic, Vishnuite and Sivaite worship, all three inferior, and then Dakshinacara, interpreted as meaning favourable worship, that is favourable to the accomplishment of higher purposes, because the worshipper now begins to understand the nature of Devi, the great goddess. These four kinds of worship are all said to belong to _pravritti_ or active life. The other three, considered to be higher, require a special initiation and belong to _nivritti_, the path of return in which passion and activity are suppressed.[714] And here is propounded the doctrine that passion can be destroyed and exhausted by passion,[715] that is to say that the impulses of eating, drinking and sexual intercourse are best subjugated by indulging them. The fifth stage, in which this method is first adopted, is called Vamacara.[716] In the sixth, or Siddhantacara,[717] the adept becomes more and more free from passion and prejudice and is finally able to enter Kaulacara, the highest stage of all. A Kaula is one who has passed beyond all sects and belongs to none, since he has the knowledge of Brahman. "Possessing merely the form of man, he moves about this earth for the salvation of the world and the instruction of men."[718]

These are aspirations common to all Indian religion. The peculiarity of the Tantras is to suppose that a ritual which is shocking to most Hindus is an indispensable preliminary to their attainment.[719] Its essential feature is known as _pancatattva_, the five elements, or _pancamakara_ the five m's, because they all begin with that letter, namely, _madya_, _mamsa_, _matsya_, _mudra_, and _maithuna_, wine, meat, fish, parched grain and copulation. The celebration of this ritual takes place at midnight, and is called _cakra_ or circle. The proceedings begin by the devotees seating themselves in a circle and are said to terminate in an indiscriminate orgy. It is only fair to say that some Tantras inveigh against drunkenness and authorize only moderate drinking.[720] In all cases it is essential that the wine, flesh, etc., should be formally dedicated to the goddess: without this preliminary indulgence in these pleasures is sinful. Indeed it may be said that apart from the ceremonial which they inculcate, the general principles of the Tantras breathe a liberal and intelligent spirit. Caste restrictions are minimized: travelling is permitted. Women are honoured: they can act as teachers: the burning of widows is forbidden:[721] girl widows may remarry[722] and the murder of a woman is peculiarly heinous. Prostitution is denounced. Whereas Christianity is sometimes accused of restricting its higher code to Church and Sundays, the opposite may be said of Tantrism. Outside the temple its morality is excellent.

A work like the Mahanirvana Tantra presents a refined form of Saktism modified, so far as may be, in conformity with ordinary Hindu usage.[723] But other features indubitably connect it with aboriginal cults. For instance there is a legend which relates how the body of the Sakti was cut into pieces and scattered over Assam and Bengal. This story has an uncouth and barbarous air and seems out of place even in Puranic mythology. It recalls the tales told of Osiris, Orpheus and Halfdan the Black[724] and may be ultimately traceable to the idea that the dismemberment of a deity or a human representative ensures fertility. Until recently the Khonds of Bengal used to hack human victims in pieces as a sacrifice to the Earth Goddess and throw the shreds of flesh on the fields to secure a good harvest.[725] In Sanskrit literature I have not found any authority for the dismemberment of Sati earlier than the Tantras or Upapuranas (_e.g._ Kalika), but this late appearance does not mean that the legend is late in itself but merely that it was not countenanced by Sanskrit writers until medieval times. Various reasons for the dismemberment are given and the incident is rather awkwardly tacked on to other stories. One common version relates that when Sati (one of the many forms of Sakti) died of vexation because her husband Siva was insulted by her father Daksha, Siva took up her corpse and wandered distractedly carrying it on his shoulder.[726] In order to stop this penance Vishnu followed him and cut off pieces from the corpse with his quoit until the whole had fallen to earth in fifty-one pieces. The spots where these pieces touched the ground are held sacred and called piths. At most of them are shown a rock supposed to represent some portion of the goddess's body and some object called a bhairabi, left by Siva as a guardian to protect her and often taking the form of a lingam. The most important of these piths are Kamakhya near Gauhati, Faljur in the Jaintia Parganas, and Kalighat in Calcutta.[727]

Though the Sakti of Siva is theoretically one, yet since she assumes many forms she becomes in practice many deities or rather she is many deities combined in one or sometimes a sovereign attended by a retinue of similar female spirits. Among such forms we find the ten Mahavidyas, or personifications of her supernatural knowledge; the Mahamatris, Matrikas or the Great Mothers, allied to the aboriginal goddesses already mentioned; the Nayakas or mistresses; the Yoginis or sorceresses, and fiends called Dakinis. But the most popular of her manifestations are Durga and Kali. The sects which revere these goddesses are the most important religious bodies in Bengal, where they number thirty-five million adherents. The Durgapuja is the greatest festival of the year in north-eastern India[728] and in the temple of Kalighat at Calcutta may be seen the singular spectacle of educated Hindus decapitating goats before the image of Kali. It is a black female figure with gaping mouth and protruded tongue dancing on a prostrate body,[729] and adorned with skulls and horrid emblems of destruction. Of her four hands two carry a sword and a severed head but the other two are extended to give blessing and protection to her worshippers. So great is the crowd of enthusiastic suppliants that it is often hard to approach the shrine and the nationalist party in Bengal who clamour for parliamentary institutions are among the goddess's devotees.