Hinduism: A Short History (42 page)

Another attempt to systematize the goddesses seeks to connect one goddess with each of the main deities: each of these goddesses having again many subforms. Analogously to Viṣṇu (and Śiva)
avatāras
, Śāktism has also developed a theory of
Devī-avatāras:
manifestations of Devī at different ages for various deeds.
⁶⁴

Another division is given by the association of Devī with the main functions of creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe, and with the division into three
guṇas
.

The Mātṛkās are usually a class apart, though there are also instances where they are considered as various forms or emanations of Devī.
⁶⁵
The different forms of Devī appear on various occasions and they are described in several Purāṇas; though their number is very great they tend to repeat a basic pattern, apart from certain peculiarities expressed in their name.

The
Kālikā Purāṇa
has a peculiar system of differentiating the Goddess according to the different parts of her body.
⁶⁶

The
Devī-Bhāgavata Purāṇa
has the most numerous descriptions of forms of Devī: it knows a
virāṭ-rūpa
of Devī;
⁶⁷
it describes at great length stories connected with Durgā, Satāksī, Sākāmbharī, Mahāgaurī, Mahālakṣmi, Siddhapīṭha-Śakti, Kālīka, and Jagadambarī; it has chapters on the Bhāgavatīs, i.e., Bhuvaneśvarī, Mahālakṣmī, Laksmī, Svahā and Svadhā, Dakṣinā, puṣṭī, Maṅgalācandī, Manasadevī, Śurabhūdevī, Rādhā and Durgā.
⁶⁸

Devī-avatāras
are also found in the Purāṇas. They have the same function which Vaiṣṇavas ascribe to
Viṣṇu-avatāras
, namely to protect the world in successive ages from demons and other evil. This theory also helps to explain the numerous goddesses as manifestations of One Supreme Goddess: “Bhāvanī is worshiped by the gods in all her repeated incarnations. She always kills demons by incarnating herself on earth and she protects all creation in heaven, earth and the nether world. This Mahādevī was again born from the womb of Yaśodā and killed the demon Kamsa by placing her foot on his head. From that time on people on earth have installed this ‘giver-of-joy-to-Yaśodā’ on the Vindhya mountain and re-introduced her worship.”
⁶⁹

In connection with
tīrthas
and feasts sacred to Devī, many more goddesses are named in the Purāṇas. In these Devī also functions as teacher of the way of salvation: Devī teaches
jñāna
to various gods, including Indra. She explains her own nature according to Advaita: “I and Brahman are one.”
⁷⁰

Various forms of Devī are explained as a hypostatical union between several goddesses or of a god and a goddess.

In large sections of the Śākta Purāṇas the influence of Tantricism is very noticeable, so much so that without an understanding of the Tantric idea of the goddess the
Purāṇa
account remains incomplete.

It is in the Tantras that the Goddess comes to occupy the supreme place: according to the Tantras, Brahman, being neuter and incapable of creation, produced Śiva and Śakti. Śakti is the cause of liberation, Śiva the cause of bondage. There is a large number of texts which bear the title
Tantras.
⁷²
Besides those, Tantric doctrines are professed also in many other books, including the Purāṇas. Tāntricism is not restricted to Hinduism only: there is also a Buddhist Tantric tradition. Possibly the development of Hindu Tāntricism during the tenth to the twelfth centuries is due to Buddhist Mahāyāna cults, especially those connected with the goddess Tārā.
⁷³
This association shows already an intense affiliation with the idea of salvation: Tārā, the personification of Buddha’s kindness, is the means to salvation. And that exactly is the purpose of Tantric religion, as explained in several Tantras: since all the other means to salvation practiced by people in former times have become inaccessible due to circumstances, only the Tantra way, the worship of the Goddess, can help people to attain salvation in the
Kali-yuga.
⁷⁴

Tāntrikas distinguish three
bhāvas
or
mārgas
(paths):
paśu-, vīra-
, and
divya-mārga
. The first consists of four
ācāras
(ways of behaviour):
Veda-ācāra, Vaiṣṇava-ācāra, Śaiva-ācāra
, and
Dakṣinā-ācāra
. The second path consists of two
acaras: Vāma-ācāra
and
Siddhānta-ācāra
. The third consists of only one
ācāra: Kaulacara
, which constitutes the highest perfection of a Tāntrika.
⁷⁵

The first three of these
ācāras are
practically identical with practices that are found among the non-Tāntrikas:
Veda-ācāra
consists of external worship of the common type;
Vaiṣṇava-ācāra
consists of devotion to Viṣṇu;
Śaiva-ācāra
consists of meditation on Śiva. From
Dakṣina-ācāra
onward the
ācāras
represent the typical Śākta-Tantra forms of worship.

Dakṣina-ācāra
consists of worshiping the Devī as the Supreme Goddess with Vaidic rites and rituals. At daytime a Dakṣinācāri will perform his duties as enjoined by the Vedas: at night he will practice
japa
with a name of the Goddess on the
Mahāsakha-mālā.
⁷⁶

Vāma-ācāra
(“left-hand mode”) consists of the “worship with
cakras”
or “secret rites”: in these the
pañca tattvas
or
pañca makāras – maṃsa, matsya, mudrā, mada, maithuna –
play a great role.
⁷⁷
It “requires proper training at the hands of a
guru
and the acquisition of the necessary courage to disregard social conventions about sexual purity, to defy taboos about food and drink, and to look upon all women as manifestations of Śakti and all males as representatives of Śiva.”
⁷⁸

The next stage is
Siddhānta-ācāra
in which the Vāma-ācāra practices are no longer kept secret: “the
sādhaka
... is not afraid of following socially disapproved practices openly. He is relentless in the pursuit of what he thinks to be true ... there is nothing that cannot be purified by the appropriate means.”
⁷⁹
The
pañca makāras
are the means to eliminate all conventional judgments and all distinctions of pure and impure, and to attain complete freedom. The highest stage is reached with
kulācāra
, the
divya-bhāva:
“The aspirant transcends the likes and dislikes of earthly life like God himself to whom all things are equal. Pity and cruelty are equally unmeaning in an ultimate reference, and so are also approbated and unapprobated conduct. Just as one of the Upaniṣads has said that to one who has attained Brahmā knowledge no sin attaches for any kind of antinomian act, so also the Tantras place the
kaula
above all moral judgment and put no prohibitions and restraints in his way, as they are unnecessary for one who has pierced the veil of space and time, process and differentiation. A
kaula
roams in all
ācāras
at will – being at heart a Śākta, outwardly a Śaiva, and in social gatherings a Vaiṣṇava. He sees himself in all things and all things in himself.”
⁸⁰

The
Mahānirvāṇa Tantra
describes the Bhairavī Cakra as a mode of worship of the Kaula.
⁸¹
Ānanda Bhairavī is in the center of its meditation – the worshipers are considered as
aṃśas
of the Goddess during the performance itself. As a side effect all the different classes of demons flee away. Its main effect is that the “corrupt sinners of Kālī are liberated from the trammels of their sins.”
⁸²

Dīksā
becomes of utmost importance in Tāntricism: a special initiation is necessary for anyone who wishes to enter the
Tantra-ācāra
. It is open to all without distinction of caste or sex, and even a Brahmin has to apply for it, otherwise he is not entitled to take part in the
cakra
. Terrible punishment is in store for those who take part in the rites without initiation and also for those who invite uninitiated persons.

A very important part is also played by the different rites of purification – especially purification of the
pañca makāras
. The Tāntrikas are aware that the enjoyment of these five
ma
involves the violation of all moral laws which are binding for ordinary men. They are the great temptations of ordinary people. Tāntricism is interpreted as a spiritual homoeopathy: by the very poison of the snake the snakebite is cured. But the administration of this antidote has to take place in a controlled way under an expert physician: the
pañca makāras
have to be purified and are to be taken only under the guidance of a
guru
. The purification takes place with a number of
mantras
, whose meaning is clear only to the initiated.
⁸³
Before taking any of the
līlā
the
sādhaka
has to recite the
mantra –
then only is the
makāra
a sacrament and not a sin.

One of the most important items in Tāntricism is the
yantra
. It is indispensable for Tantra worship.
⁸⁴
Yantra
and
mantra
are closely combined. The
yantra
is a symbol of the Goddess and upon it the letters of the alphabet, or short monosyllabic
mantras
, are inscribed which constitute the
mantra-
or
śabda-body
of the Goddess. By the letters of the alphabet the body of the Goddess is constituted. The worshiper will identify certain parts of his own body with certain letters and thus will identify himself with the Goddess.
⁸⁵
The process of placing the letters in different parts of the body is called
nyāsa
. The
sādhaka
should think of his own body as consisting of
mantras. Nyāsa
presupposes a purification by which the body is made fit to receive the
mātrika-mantras
. The
yantra
inscribed with the specific
mantras
represents the body of the Goddess whom the
sādhaka
wants to worship.
⁸⁶
“Every deity has his or her own
yantra
but the most famous of these
yantras
is the
śrī-yantra
on which lavish praise has been bestowed. In its various parts it is supposed to represent the origin, maintenance and dissolution of the world of things, the dot in the middle representing the unitary world-ground. The
bīja-mantra
of the Śakti goddess is mentally placed in the various projections of its constituent titles and lotuses and in its circles and squares.”
⁸⁷

In most forms of Tantric worship the awakening of the Kuṇḍalinī Śakti in the body plays a great role: Śakti lies dormant, coiled up at the base of the human body. Through Tantric practices, especially the employment of
mantras
, she is awakened and sent through the main nerves of the body through the other
cakras
, absorbing the
mantras
and elements in them, thereby identifying the
sādhaka
with Kuṇḍalinī Śakti until Kuṇḍalinī and Śiva unite blissfully in the highest of the
cakras.
⁸⁸
The aim of the Tāntrika is always the union of Śakti and Śiva, the merging into Śakti. The details of Tantraśāstra are very complex and obscure. It does not have any specific mythology of its own and only develops the idea of the Goddess as the ground of everything.

The Goddess is the great

. She is

, for of her the

which produces the

is. As Lord of

she is

. Devī is

because she binds, and

because she liberates and destroys the

. She is

and as existing before creation is the

. Devī is the

, the manifestation of

in

, and the

or

itself. The

should be contemplated as Devī. Śakti or Devī is thus the Brahman revealed in its mother aspect

as creatrix and nourisher of the worlds. Kālī says of herself in Yoginī Tantra: “I am the bodily form of

and I am the