FOOTNOTES:
[680] See also chap. XXIV. as to Śâktism and Tantrism in Buddhism. Copious materials for the study of Śâktism and Tantrism are being made available in the series of tantric texts edited in Sanskrit and Tibetan, and in some cases translated by the author who uses the pseudonym A. Avalon.
[681] See Annales du Musée Guimet, Tome VIII. Si-Do-In-Dzon. Gestes de l'officiant dans les cérémonies mystiques des sectes Tendai et Singon, 1899.
[682] See Underhill, Mysticism, chaps. VI. and VII.
[683] See Dhalla, Zoroastrian Theology, p. 116.
[684] Specially Ath. Veda, XII. 1.
[685] Village deities in south India at the present day are usually female. See Whitehead, Village Gods, p. 21.
[686] Thus Cândî is considered as identical with the wood goddess Bâsulî, worshipped in the jungles of Bengal and Orissa. See J.A. 1873, p. 187.
[687] Vaj. Sanh. 3. 57 and Taittir. Br. I. 6. 10. 4.
[688] Crooke, Popular Religion of Northern India, I. 63. Monier Williams, Brahm. and Hinduism, p. 57 gives an interesting account of the shrine of Kâlî at Vindhyâcal said to have been formerly frequented by Thugs.
[689] This idea that deities have different aspects in which they practically become different persons is very prevalent in Tibetan mythology which is borrowed from medieval Bengal.
[690] Though there are great temples erected to goddesses in S. India, there are also some signs of hostility to Śâktism. See the curious legends about an attendant of Śiva called Bhriṅgi who would not worship Pârvatî. Hultzsch, South Indian Inscriptions, II. ii. p. 190.
[691] There is a curious tendency in India to regard the male principle as quiescent, the female as active and stimulating. The Chinese, who are equally fond of using these two principles in their cosmological speculations, adopt the opposite view. The Yang (male) is positive and active. The Yin (female) is negative and passive.
[692] The Mahânirvâṇa Tantra seems to have been composed in Bengal since it recommends for sacrificial purposes (VI. 7) three kinds of fish said to be characteristic of that region. On the other hand Buddhist works called Tantras are said to have been composed in north-western India. Udyâna had an old reputation for magic and even in modern times Śâktism exists in western Tibet and Leh. It is highly probable that in all these districts the practice of magic and the worship of mountain goddesses were prevalent, but I find little evidence that a definite Śâkta sect arose elsewhere than in Bengal and Assam or that the Śâktist corruption of Buddhism prevailed elsewhere than in Magadha and Bengal.
[693] But the Brahmans of isolated localities, like Satara in the Bombay Presidency, are said to be Śâktas and the Kâñculiyas of S. India are described as a Śâktist sect.
[694] The law-giver Baudhâyana seems to have regarded Aṅga and Vaṅga with suspicion, I. 1.13, 14.
[695] See especially the story of Manasâ Devi in Dinesh Chandra Sen (Beng. Lang. and Lit. 257), who says the earliest literary version dates from the twelfth century. But doubtless the story is much older.
[696] Virâtap. chap. VI. (not in all MSS.). Bhishmap. chap. XXIII. Also in the Harivaṃsa, vv. 3236 ff. Pargiter considers that the Devî-Mâhâtmya was probably composed in the fifth or sixth century. Chap. XXI. of the Lotus Sûtra contains a spell invoking a goddess under many names. Though this chapter is an addition to the original work, it was translated into Chinese between 265 and 316.
[697] But he does mention the worship of the Divine Mothers. Harshacar. VII. 250 and Kâdamb. 134.
[698] Hymns to the Devî are also attributed to him but I do not know what evidence there is for his authorship.
[699] As pointed out elsewhere, though this word is most commonly used of the Śâkta scriptures it is not restricted to them and we hear of both Buddhist and Vaishṇava Tantras.
[700] The Adhyâtma Râmâyaṇa is an instance of Śâktist ideas in another theological setting. It is a Vishnuite work but Sità is made to say that she is Prakṛiti who does all the deeds related in the poem, whereas Râma is Purusha, inactive and a witness of her deeds.
[701] XI. iii. 47-8; XI. V. 28 and 31. Probably Vishnuite not Śâktist Tantras are meant but the Purana distinguishes between Vedic revelation meant for previous ages and tantric revelation meant for the present day. So too Kullûka Bhaṭṭa the commentator on Manu who was a Bengali and probably lived in the fifteenth century says (on Manu II. i.) that Śruti is twofold, Vedic and tantric. Śrutisca dvividhâ vaidikî tântrikîca.
[702] II. 15.
[703] See for full list Avalon, Principles of Tantra, pp. lxv-lxvii. A collection of thirty-seven Tantras has been published at Calcutta by Babu Rasik Mohun Chatterjee and a few have been published separately.
[704] Translated by Avalon, 1913, also by Manmatha Nath Dutt, 1900.
[705] Analysed in J.A.O.S. XXIII. i. 1902.
[706] Edited by Târanâtha Vidyâratna, with introduction by A. Avalon, 1917.
[707] See Avalon, Principles of Tantra, p. lxi. But these are probably special meanings attached to the words by tantric schools. Nigama is found pretty frequently, e.g. Manu, IV. 19 and Lalita-vistara, XII. But it is not likely that it is used there in this special sense.
[708] Edited by Avalon, 1914.
[709] Satirical descriptions of Śâktism are fairly ancient, e.g. Karpura Mañjarî, Harvard edition, pp. 25 and 233.
[710] Tantrism has some analogy to the Fêng-shui or geomancy of the Chinese. Both take ancient superstitions which seem incompatible with science and systematize them into pseudo-sciences, remaining blind to the fact that the subject-matter is wholly imaginary.
[711] For what follows as for much else in this chapter, I am indebted to Avalon's translation of the Mahânirvâṇa Tantra and introduction.
[712] Paśu-, vîra-, divya-bhâva.
[713] Avalon, Mahân. Tan. pp. lxxix, lxxx.
[714] "The eternal rhythm of Divine Breath is outwards from spirit to matter and inwards from matter to spirit. Devî as Mâyâ evolves the world. As Mahâmâyâ she recalls it to herself.... Each of these movements is divine. Enjoyment and liberation are each her gifts." Avalon, Mahân. Tan. p. cxl.
[715] Yair eva patanam dravyaih siddhis tair eva coditâ—Kulârṇava Tantra, V. 48. There is probably something similar in Taoism. See Wieger, Histoire des Croyances religieuses en Chine, p. 409. The Indian Tantrists were aware of the dangers of their system and said it was as difficult as walking on the edge of a sword or holding a tiger.
[716] Vâmâcâra is said not to mean left-hand worship but woman (vâmâ) worship. This interpretation of Dakshiṇa and Vâmâcâra is probably fanciful.
[717] Sometimes two extra stages Aghora and Yogâcâra are inserted here.
[718] Mahân. Tan. X. 108. A Kaula may pretend to be a Vaishṇava or a Śaiva.
[719] Although the Tantras occasionally say that mere ritual is not sufficient for the highest religions, yet indispensable preliminary is often understood as meaning sure means. Thus the Mahânirvâṇa Tantra (x. 202, Avalon's transl.) says "Those who worship the Kaulas with panca tattva and with heart uplifted, cause the salvation of their ancestors and themselves attain the highest end."
[720] But on the other hand some Tantras or tantric treatises recommend crazy abominations.
[721] Mahânir. Tant. X. 79. Bhartrâ saha kuleśâni na dahet kulakâminim.
[722] Ib. XI. 67.
[723] E.g. It does not prescribe human sacrifices and counsels moderation in the use of wine and maithuna.
[724] See Frazer's Adonis, Attis and Osiris, pp. 269-273 for these and other stories of dismemberment.
[725] See Frazer, Golden Bough: Spirits of the Corn, vol. I. 245 and authorities quoted.
[726] Images representing this are common in Assam.
[727] Hsüan Chuang (Walters, vol. I. chap, VII) mentions several sacred places in N.W. India where the Buddha in a previous birth was dismembered or gave his flesh to feed mankind. Can these places have been similar to the pîths of Assam and were the original heroes of the legend deities who were dismembered like Satî and subsequently accommodated to Buddhist theology as Bodhisattvas?
[728] It is an autumnal festival. A special image of the goddess is made which is worshipped for nine days and then thrown into the river. For an account of the festival which makes its tantric character very clear see Durgâ Puja by Pratapachandra Ghosha, Calcutta, 1871.
[729] One explanation given is that she was so elated with her victories over giants that she began to dance which shook the Universe. Śiva in order to save the world placed himself beneath her feet and when she saw she was trampling on her husband, she stopped. But there are other explanations.
Another of the strangely barbaric legends which cluster round the Śakti is illustrated by the figure called Chinnamasṭakâ. It represents the goddess as carrying her own head which she has just cut off, while from the neck spout fountains of blood which are drunk by her attendants and by the severed head itself.
[730] Yet the English mystic Julian, the anchoress of Norwich (c. 1400), insists on the motherhood as well as the fatherhood of God. "God is our mother, brother and Saviour." "As verily God is our father, so verily God is our mother."
So too in an inscription found at Capua (C.I.N. 3580) Isis is addressed as una quae es omnia.
The Power addressed in Swinburne's poems Mater Triumphalis, Hertha, The Pilgrims and Dolores is really a conception very similar to Śakti.
[731] These ideas find frequent expression in the works of Bunkim Chandra Chatterjee, Dinesh Chandra Sen and Sister Nivedita.
[732] See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Hist. Beng. Lang, and Lit. pp. 712-721. Even the iconoclast Devendranath Tagore speaks of the Universal Mother. See Autobiog. p. 240.
[733] So I was told, but I saw only six, when I visited the place in 1910.
[734] Rudhirâdhyâya. Translated in As. Researches, V. 1798, pp. 371-391.
[735] See Frazer, op. cit. p. 246.