chapter XXI

onwards) bears a strong resemblance to a Tantra. As a rule the Tantras contain less historical and legendary matter than the Purânas and more directions as to ritual. But whereas the Purânas 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-sâstra is the only scripture. Thus in the Mahânirvâna 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 Kulârnava 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 Mahânirvâna,[704] Sâradâtilaka,[705] Yoginî, Kulârnava[706] and Rudra-Yâmala. A Tantra is generally cast in the form of a dialogue in which Siva instructs his consort but sometimes _vice versâ_. It is said that the former class are correctly described as Âgamas and the works where the Sakti addresses Siva as Nigamas.[707] Some are also called Yâmalas and Dâmaras but I have found no definition of the meaning of these words. The Prapañcasâra Tantra[708] professes to be a revelation from Nârâyana.

Sâktism 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 Sâktism 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 Mahânirvâna Tantra which is a good specimen of these works be compared with Sankara's commentary on the Vedânta Sûtras, 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 _Sâdhana_, 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 Kundalinî, a serpentine coil of energy, and it is part of Sâdhana to arouse this energy and make it mount from the lower to the higher centres. Kundalinî 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 nyâsa) 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. Sâktists apparently demur[713] to the statement commonly made by Indians as well as by Europeans that they are divided into two sects the Dakshinâcârins, or right-hand worshippers, whose ritual is public and decent, and the Vâmâcârins 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 Dakshinâcârins necessarily condemn the secret worship. They may consider it as good for others but not for themselves. Sâktists 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 Dakshinâcâra, interpreted as meaning favourable worship, that is favourable to the accomplishment of higher purposes, because the worshipper now begins to understand the nature of Devî, 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 Vâmâcâra.[716] In the sixth, or Siddhântâcâra,[717] the adept becomes more and more free from passion and prejudice and is finally able to enter Kaulâcâra, 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 _pancamakâra_ the five m's, because they all begin with that letter, namely, _madya_, _mâmsa_, _matsya_, _mudrâ_, 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 Mahânirvâna Tantra presents a refined form of Sâktism 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 Satî earlier than the Tantras or Upapurânas (_e.g._ Kâlikâ), 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 Satî (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 pîths. 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 pîths are Kâmâkhyâ 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 Mahâvidyâs, or personifications of her supernatural knowledge; the Mahâmâtris, Mâtrikâs or the Great Mothers, allied to the aboriginal goddesses already mentioned; the Nâyakas or mistresses; the Yoginîs or sorceresses, and fiends called Dâkinîs. But the most popular of her manifestations are Durgâ and Kâlî. The sects which revere these goddesses are the most important religious bodies in Bengal, where they number thirty-five million adherents. The Durgâpûja 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 Kâlî. 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.

It is easy to criticize and condemn this worship. Its outward signs are repulsive to Europeans and its inner meaning strange, for even those who pray to the Madonna are startled by the idea that the divine nature is essentially feminine.[730] Yet this idea has deep roots in the heart of Bengal and with it another idea: the terrors of death, plague and storm are half but only half revelations of the goddess-mother who can be smiling and tender as well. Whatever may be the origin of Kâlî and of the strange images which represent her, she is now no she-devil who needs to be propitiated, but a reminder that birth and death are twins, that the horrors of the world come from the same source as its grace and beauty and that cheerful acceptance of the deity's terrible manifestations is an essential part of the higher spiritual life.[731] These ideas are best expressed in the songs of Râma Prasâda Sen (1718-1775) which "still reign supreme in the villages" of Bengal and show that this strange worship has really a hold on millions of Indian rustics.[732] The directness and childlike simplicity of his poems have caused an Indian critic to compare him to Blake. "Though the mother beat the child," he sings, "the child cries mother, mother, and clings still tighter to her garment. True, I cannot see thee, yet I am not a lost child. I still cry mother, mother."

"All the miseries that I have suffered and am suffering, I know, O mother, to be your mercy alone."

I must confess that I cannot fully sympathize with this worship, even when it is sung in the hymns of Râma Prasâda, but it is clear that he makes it tolerable just because he throws aside all the magic and ritual of the Tantras and deals straight with what are for him elemental and emotional facts. He makes even sceptics feel that he has really seen God in this strange guise.

The chief sanctuary of Sâktism is at Kâmâkhyâ (or Kâmâkshâ) on a hill which stands on the banks of the Brahmaputra, about two miles below Gauhati. It is mentioned in the Padma Purâna. The temples have been rebuilt several times, and in the eighteenth century were munificently endowed by an Ahom king, and placed under the management of a Brahman from Nadia in Bengal, with reversion to his descendants who bear the title of Parbatiya Gosains. Considerable estates are still assigned to their upkeep. There are ten[733] shrines on the hill dedicated to various forms of the Sakti. The situation is magnificent, commanding an extensive prospect over the Brahmaputra and the plains on either bank, but none of the buildings are of much architectural merit. The largest and best is the temple dedicated to Kâmâkhyâ herself, the goddess of sexual desire. It is of the style usual in northern India, an unlighted shrine surmounted by a dome, and approached by a rather ample vestibule, which is also imperfectly lighted. An inscription has been preserved recording the restoration of the temple about 1550 but only the present basement dates from that time, most of the super-structure being recent. Europeans may not enter but an image of the goddess can be seen from a side door. In the depths of the shrine is said to be a cleft in the rock, adored as the Yoni of Sakti. In front of the temple are two posts to which a goat is tied, and decapitated daily at noon. Below the principal shrine is the temple of Bhairavî. Human sacrifices were offered here in comparatively recent times, and it is not denied that they would be offered now if the law allowed. Also it is not denied that the rites of the "five m's" already mentioned are frequently performed in these temples, and that Aghoris may be found in them. The spot attracts a considerable number of pilgrims from Bengal, and a wealthy devotee has built a villa on the hill and pays visits to it for the purpose of taking part in the rites. I was informed that the most esteemed scriptures of the sect are the Yoginî Tantra, the Mahânirvâna Tantra, and the Kâlikâ Purâna. This last work contains a section or chapter on blood,[734] which gives rules for the performance of human sacrifices. It states however that they should not be performed by the first three castes, which is perhaps a way of saying that though they may be performed by non-Aryans under Brahmanic auspices they form no part of the Aryan religion. But they are recommended to princes and ministers and should not be performed without the consent of princes. The ritual bears little resemblance to the Vedic sacrifices and the essence of the ceremony is the presentation to the goddess of the victim's severed head in a vessel of gold, silver, copper, brass or wood but not of iron. The axe with which the decapitation is to be performed is solemnly consecrated to Kâlî and the victim is worshipped before immolation. The sacrificer first thinks of Brahmâ and the other gods as being present in the victim's body, and then prays to him directly as being all the gods in one. "When this has been done" says Siva, who is represented as himself revealing these rules, "the victim is even as myself." This identification of the human victim with the god has many analogies elsewhere, particularly among the Khonds.[735]

It is remarkable that this barbarous and immoral worship, though looked at askance except in its own holy places, is by no means confined to the lower castes. A series of apologies composed in excellent English (but sometimes anonymous) attest the sympathy of the educated. So far as theology and metaphysics are concerned, these defences are plausible. The Sakti is identified with Prakriti or with the Mâyâ of the Advaita philosophy and defined as the energy, coexistent with Brahman, which creates the world. But attempts to palliate the ceremonial, such as the argument that it is a consecration and limitation of the appetites because they may be gratified only in the service of the goddess, are not convincing. Nor do the Sâktas, when able to profess their faith openly, deny the nature of their rites or the importance attached to them. An oft-quoted tantric verse represents Siva as saying _Maithunena mahâyogî mama tulyo na samsayah_. And for practical purposes that is the gist of Sâktist teaching.

The temples of Kâmâkhyâ leave a disagreeable impression--an impression of dark evil haunts of lust and bloodshed, akin to madness and unrelieved by any grace or vigour of art. For there is no attempt in them to represent the terrible or voluptuous aspects of Hinduism, such as find expression in sculpture elsewhere. All the buildings, and especially the modern temple of Kâlî, which was in process of construction when I saw the place, testify to the atrophy and paralysis produced by erotic forms of religion in the artistic and intellectual spheres, a phenomenon which finds another sad illustration in quite different theological surroundings among the Vallabhâcârya sect at Gokul near Muttra.

It would be a poor service to India to palliate the evils and extravagances of Sâktism, but still it must be made clear that it is not a mere survival of barbaric practices. The writers of the Tantras are good Hindus and declare that their object is to teach liberation and union with the Supreme Spirit. The ecstasies induced by tantric rites produce this here in a preliminary form to be made perfect in the liberated soul. This is not the craze of a few hysterical devotees, but the faith of millions among whom many are well educated. In some aspects Sâktism is similar to the erotic Vishnuite sects, but there is little real analogy in their ways of thinking. For the essence of Vishnuism is passionate devotion and self-surrender to a deity and this idea is not prominent in the Tantras. The strange inconsistencies of Sâktism are of the kind which are characteristic of Hinduism as a whole, but the contrasts are more violent and the monstrosities more conspicuous than elsewhere; wild legends and metaphysics are mixed together, and the peace that passes all understanding is to be obtained by orgies and offerings of blood.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 680: See also chap. XXIV. as to Sâktism and Tantrism in Buddhism. Copious materials for the study of Sâktism 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.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 682: See Underhill, _Mysticism_, chaps. VI. and VII.]

[Footnote 683: See Dhalla, _Zoroastrian Theology_, p. 116.]

[Footnote 684: Specially Ath. Veda, XII. 1.]

[Footnote 685: Village deities in south India at the present day are usually female. See Whitehead, _Village Gods_, p. 21.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 687: Vaj. Sanh. 3. 57 and Taittir. Br. I. 6. 10. 4.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 690: Though there are great temples erected to goddesses in S. India, there are also some signs of hostility to Sâktism. See the curious legends about an attendant of Siva called Bhringi who would not worship Pârvatî. Hultzsch, _South Indian Inscriptions_, II. ii. p. 190.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 692: The Mahânirvâna 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 Sâktism 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 Sâkta sect arose elsewhere than in Bengal and Assam or that the Sâktist corruption of Buddhism prevailed elsewhere than in Magadha and Bengal.]

[Footnote 693: But the Brahmans of isolated localities, like Satara in the Bombay Presidency, are said to be Sâktas and the Kânculiyas of S. India are described as a Sâktist sect.]

[Footnote 694: The law-giver Baudhâyana seems to have regarded Anga and Vanga with suspicion, I. 1.13, 14.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 696: Virâtap. chap. VI. (not in all MSS.). Bhishmap. chap. XXIII. Also in the Harivamsa, _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.]

[Footnote 697: But he does mention the worship of the Divine Mothers. Harshacar. VII. 250 and Kâdamb. 134.]

[Footnote 698: Hymns to the Devî are also attributed to him but I do not know what evidence there is for his authorship.]

[Footnote 699: As pointed out elsewhere, though this word is most commonly used of the Sâkta scriptures it is not restricted to them and we hear of both Buddhist and Vaishnava Tantras.]

[Footnote 700: The Adhyâtma Râmâyana is an instance of Sâktist ideas in another theological setting. It is a Vishnuite work but Sità is made to say that she is _Prakriti_ who does all the deeds related in the poem, whereas Râma is _Purusha_, inactive and a witness of her deeds.]

[Footnote 701: XI. iii. 47-8; XI. V. 28 and 31. Probably Vishnuite not Sâktist 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 Bhatta the commentator on Manu who was a Bengali and probably lived in the fifteenth century says (on Manu II. i.) that Sruti is twofold, Vedic and tantric. _Srutisca dvividhâ vaidikî tântrikîca._]

[Footnote 702: II. 15.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 704: Translated by Avalon, 1913, also by Manmatha Nath Dutt, 1900.]

[Footnote 705: Analysed in _J.A.O.S._ XXIII. i. 1902.]

[Footnote 706: Edited by Târanâtha Vidyâratna, with introduction by A. Avalon, 1917.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 708: Edited by Avalon, 1914.]

[Footnote 709: Satirical descriptions of Sâktism are fairly ancient, _e.g._ Karpura Mañjarî, Harvard edition, pp. 25 and 233.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 711: For what follows as for much else in this chapter, I am indebted to Avalon's translation of the Mahânirvâna Tantra and introduction.]

[Footnote 712: Pasu-, vîra-, divya-bhâva.]

[Footnote 713: Avalon, Mahân. Tan. pp. lxxix, lxxx.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 715: Yair eva patanam dravyaih siddhis tair eva coditâ--Kulârnava 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.]

[Footnote 716: Vâmâcâra is said not to mean left-hand worship but woman (vâmâ) worship. This interpretation of Dakshina and Vâmâcâra is probably fanciful.]

[Footnote 717: Sometimes two extra stages Aghora and Yogâcâra are inserted here.]

[Footnote 718: Mahân. Tan. X. 108. A Kaula may pretend to be a Vaishnava or a Saiva.]

[Footnote 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 Mahânirvâna 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."]

[Footnote 720: But on the other hand some Tantras or tantric treatises recommend crazy abominations.]

[Footnote 721: Mahânir. Tant. X. 79. Bhartrâ saha kulesâni na dahet kulakâminim.]

[Footnote 722: _Ib._ XI. 67.]

[Footnote 723: _E.g._ It does not prescribe human sacrifices and counsels moderation in the use of wine and _maithuna._]

[Footnote 724: See Frazer's _Adonis, Attis and Osiris_, pp. 269-273 for these and other stories of dismemberment.]

[Footnote 725: See Frazer, _Golden Bough: Spirits of the Corn_, vol. I. 245 and authorities quoted.]

[Footnote 726: Images representing this are common in Assam.]

[Footnote 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?]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 729: One explanation given is that she was so elated with her victories over giants that she began to dance which shook the Universe. Siva 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 Sakti is illustrated by the figure called Chinnamastakâ. 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.]

[Footnote 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 Sakti.]

[Footnote 731: These ideas find frequent expression in the works of Bunkim Chandra Chatterjee, Dinesh Chandra Sen and Sister Nivedita.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 733: So I was told, but I saw only six, when I visited the place in 1910.]

[Footnote 734: Rudhirâdhyâya. Translated in _As. Researches_, V. 1798, pp. 371-391.]

[Footnote 735: See Frazer, _op. cit._ p. 246.]

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