whom are given Tamil names, though these may be Tamil
289 See p.130.
290 For an excellent study of Shaiva Siddhānta see G. Flood, op.cit., p.120ff.
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forms of Sanskrit ones. We note here also the inclusion of
Patanjali, the Yogic scholar. Tirumular, who propounded
a monistic Shaivite doctrine that is redacted in his yogic
compendium, Tirumantiram, is considered by some to
have lived in the third millennium B.C., even though the
actual redaction of this work may have been made only as
late as the 8th century A.D.
For the followers of Shaiva Siddhānta, as for the
Vaishnavas, worship of Shiva is graded through charya,
external worship such as cleaning the temple, offering
flowers, etc., kriya, which is internal worship related to
the actual rituals, yoga, seeking identity with Shiva and
jnāna, or wisdom in which the devotee and Shiva are one.
The Shaivāgama texts on pūja, such as the 17th century
Pūjaprakāsha of Mitramishra, make clear that the devotee
must purify himself internal y so that he becomes similar
to the deity he is about to worship since “only Śiva may
worship Śiva”.291
Shiva is understood in Shaiva Siddhānta as the totality
of al , consisting of three perfections: Parameshvara (the
Personal Creator Lord), Parashakti (the substratum of
form) and Parashiva (Absolute Reality which transcends
all). Souls and world are identical in essence with Shiva,
yet also differ in that they are evolving. A pluralistic
stream arose in the middle ages from the teachings of
Aghorasiva and Meykandar. For Aghorasiva's school
(ca 1150), Shiva is not the material cause of the universe,
and the soul attains perfect “sameness” with Shiva upon
liberation. Meykandar's (ca 1250) pluralistic school denies
that souls ever attain perfect sameness or unity with Shiva.
Thus some followers of the Shaiva Siddhānta system
maintain a distinction between the self, the Lord and the
universe. The Lord is considered as the Pati, or Lord of
291 See A. Michaels, Hinduism Past and Present, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004, p.243.
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animals, the soul as Pashu, or an animal, and the bonds
of the universe are called pāsha. The bond is constituted
of five components – egoism (anava), action (karma),
il usion (māyā), the il usory universe, and the power of
concealing reality.
The unfolding universe is made up of 36 tattvas (the
constituents of matter and of the incarnate soul) which
allow the soul to experience the results of their actions.
Through ritual reabsorption of the tattvas, the soul may be
liberated. The first ideal manifestation of the Shiva-tattva
is called Bindu, the next Māyā, which produces the mixed
creation and the last is Prakrti tattva which produces the
lower categories of Nature described in the Sāmkhya.
Siddhānta recognises three types of souls, sakalas are
those that have become free from all the three pashas,
vijnanakalas are those that have freed themselves from
māyā and karma, and pralayakalas are those that would
become free from māyā only when Shiva withdraws his
entire māyā-shakti final y into himself as a part of the
dissolution of the worlds. Indeed, the soul’s bond within
the universe can be broken only by the grace (prasāda) of
Shiva whereby the soul is able to become like the Lord,
though ever remaining distinct from Him, for Shiva alone
is always free (anādimukta).
The initiation rites of the Shaiva Siddhānta system
interestingly include a ritual called vishesa-dīkshā
whereby the guru transports the soul of the disciple into
the womb of the goddess Vāk, consort of Shiva, who has
been installed in the fire. The disciple is then reborn from
her, exactly as the Vedic sacrificer is reborn during the
fire-rituals studied above. Vāk here is Aditi, consort of
Varuna/Vishnu in the underworld and gives birth to Agni,
the underworld form of the sun which later emerges in
indo-european mythology and religion
our universe as Āditya.292 So the process of rebirth in the
Shaiva Siddhānta is essential y identical to that of the sun.
In the next ritual, nirvāna-dīksha, the master instal s in
the body of the disciple the totality of the subtle elements
of the cosmos. He then envisages himself as entering the
central channel of the disciple’s body through the aperture
at the crown of the head and going down to the chakra at
the heart. Next, the master leaves the disciple’s body by the
same route taking his disciple’s soul as well as the subtle
constituents of the universe with him. He brings the soul
and the universal elements into his own heart through the
aperture at the crown of his own head, and final y emits
them from there establishing the disciple’s soul and the
subtle cosmos on a cord that symbolizes the spinal cord of
the disciple. These are purified by the master on the cord
and then replaced in the disciple’s body as in a new birth.
These major rituals are then followed by daily (nitya
karman) rites which burn up the remaining karma in the
disciple so that, at death, he may achieve final liberation.
Shākta Āgamas
Shākta Āgamas, which are popular in Bengal, and
are general y called Tantras, consider Shiva’s consort,
Shakti, as the supreme deity. Shakti is the divine energy
of Becoming while Shiva is the divine Being. Shakti
is therefore regarded as the real power of all creation,
maintenance, and destruction. It is maintained that from
the divine Shakti emerges first a Bindu, or mystic drop
which cal s to life the diverse components of the universe.
Shakti creates through her power of Māyā the multiplicity
of the phenomenal world. The mystic seed-syl ables used
292 See p.259.
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in Tantrism are considered as forms of Shakti and are
called “mātrkā’s” in yantras.
Shākta Tantra divides spiritual development into seven
stages. The first four stages are constituted of the lowest
stage, that of Vedic sacrifices, followed by the Bhakti stage
practiced by the Vaishnavites, and the highest stage of the
Jnānamārga (the path of knowledge) followed by Shaivites.
The fourth stage is called Dakshināchāra (the right-sided,
or male) which leads the sādhaka into the nature of the
Devi and makes him a shākta. These first four stages are
together called “pravrtti”, an emergence from the eternal
maternal womb. As in the Vedic sacrifices, the adept has to
undergo a “dīksha” and obey his guru to the last moment
of salvation. Indeed the dīksha consists of the transference
of the vital force of the guru into the adept.
The following three stages are termed ‘nivrtt
i’. During
these, the sādhaka seeks to neutralise his newly acquired
powers in such a way that he realises a universal life. The
fifth stage is called Vāmachāra (the left-handed, or female)
and aims at the self-destruction of the powers of pravrtti.
Vāmachāra tantras are considered to be non-Vedic since
they include ritual practices involving meat-eating and
sexual union. The sixth stage is called Siddhāntachāra
which aims at freeing one from darkness and all the bands
in order to establish the universe in macrocosm and
microcosm. The seventh stage is called Kaulāchāra, where
the adept prepares his own funeral rites. At this stage the
adept has gone beyond time and space, having acquired
gnosis, Brahmagnāna, and the great mother, Shakti, dwel s
in his heart.
Since stress is laid on the shakti (energy) of the divinity
and this shakti is characterised as female, personified as
the consort of Shiva, women are in this tradition given a
much more important role as images of the great goddess,
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and they serve as teachers as wel . Also, unlike in the Vedic
society, widows are allowed to remarry and the practice of
sati is forbidden.293 General y, unlike in the Vedic system,
there is much less focus on asceticism in Shākta Tantra,
which rather emphasises the female principle.
The Smārta294 literature, particularly the
Dharmashāstras, had given more emphasis to
brahmachārya, while sexual union was permitted only to
the grihastha and that only for reproduction. The Shākta
Tantric tradition, on the other hand, stresses kāma in
such a way that bhoga (pleasure) becomes identified with
yoga and bhukti (pleasure) with mukti (salvation).295 In
the secret nocturnal rite called Shrichakra indiscriminate
coitus takes place to recreate the marriage of Shiva and
Shakti. The Panchatattva rites involve the use of mada
(alcohol), matsya (fish), mamsa (meat), mudrā (grains)
and maithuna (coitus). But these rites are not entirely
unbridled orgies but rather aim to control the instincts so
that carnal activities are given a cosmic, divine dimension.
This has precedents in Vedic religious doctrine as wel , as,
for instance, in BAU VI,4.
Ch.29 of Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka details the ‘kula
prakriya’ rite which involves the unorthodox consumption
of meat, alcohol, fish and the performance of ritual
sex.296 However, as Flood points out, the BAU (IV,3,21)
too describes the realisation of the self as the Absolute
in sexual terms, while the Chāndogya Upanishad (II,13,1-
2) identifies Vedic recitation itself with the sexual act. As
Brajalal Mukherji also explained,297
293 See
Mahānirvāna Tantra 1,79-80.
294 i.e. derived from Smriti (see p.94n)
295 See G. Flood, op.cit., p.82.
296 Ibid. , p.154ff.
297 In ‘Arthur Avalon’ (Sir John Woodroffe), Shakti and Shākta: Essays and Addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra, London: Luzac and Co.
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All Vedic yajnas are based on the idea that
Maithunikarana (coitus) leads to spiritual happiness.
Sexual intercourse is Agnihotra ( SB XI, 6,2,10).
Maithunakarana is consecration ( SB III, 2,1,2, etc.) ...
[Yajnas] direct the observance and performance of
Maithuna as a religious rite or part of a religious rite ...
and they direct that Mantras are to be uttered during
the observance of this rite ... One of the articles of faith
of the Vaidik people, therefore, was that sexual union
led the way to bliss hereafter and must be performed
in a true religious spirit to ensure spiritual welfare,
wanton indulgence being severely deprecated ...
Those who have studied Vedic sacrificial rituals will
also remember the dramatic performance of copulation
between the king’s wife and the dead horse in the
Ashvamedha sacrifice and may reasonably suppose this
to have been a part of the original Purushamedha as wel .
However, it is important to observe here that, in the Vedic
sacrifice, the stress is always on the phal us and its power
to create the sun as well as our ordered universe, whereas
in the Shākta Āgama the female aspect of coition is given
special stress.
According to Mukherji, many of the other aspects of
Tantra are also derived from the Vedas themselves:
The Vaidik people performed their Somayajnas and
Haviryajnas which included the Sautramani, with
libations and drinks of intoxicating liquor ... The
Vaidik people used to offer to their Devatas at their
sacrifices animal and vegetable food ... They offer
animal sacrifices ... which include the horse, goats,
sheep, oxen ... and human beings ( TB III,4,1). They
believe that by performing animal sacrifices the
1918, ‘Note to Ch.IV‘.
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sacrificer ransoms himself ... or wins all these worlds
... The animal is the sacrificer himself ( AB II, 2,1).
Mukherji pointed out further similarities between the
divinisation rituals of the Āgamic tradition and some of
the Vedic rituals:298
The worship in both Vaidik and Tantrik rites begins
with Acamana, which is a form of ablution in which
certain parts of the body are touched with water ....
They purify themselves by uttering some Mantras
as Bijas while contemplating the Deities of certain
parts of their bodies and touching such parts with
their fingers ... They make use of certain sounds for
removing unclean spirits, e.g., Khat, Phat, Hum ...
They attribute a Deity to each letter in a Mantra ...
They make gestures with their fingers as part of their
religious rites ... and locate the Devatas of particular
sounds in particular parts of their bodies ...
Indeed, Āgamic practice also includes sacrifices which are
called yāga, rather than yajna, and are mostly impersonal,
in the spirit of the bhakti cult of the Gita. Further, Biardeau has pointed out, “le ‘sacrifiant’ du culte agamique—qui est
toujours, par la force des choses, un notable, au moins
local—se rapproche ainsi beaucoup plus au roi que du
maître de maison ordinaire”.299 This suggests that the
Tantric sacrifices retain the public significance of the early
sacred rituals of the Indo-Europeans rather more than the
rituals of the later Vedic Āryans, which tended to be more
domestic, and exclusive, affairs.
298 Ibid.
299 See M. Biardeau, Le sacrifice dans l’inde ancienne, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1976, p.139.
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Shākta Tantra places a special emphasis on Kundalini
Yoga since Kundalini represents Shakti while the Purusha
is located in the Sahasrāra lotus in the crown of the head.
In Shākta Tantra, as in the Vaishnava Pāncharātra, the
deities are identified within the adept’s body. However, in
the Shākta system, within the calyx of the heart (lotus) are
visualised Shiva and his consort locked in sexual union,
which indicates the non-differentiation of consciousness
and the phenomenal world.300 The ritualised sexual acts
performed in Shākta Tantric rituals reflect this union of
Shakti and Shākta. As Flood points out, in the ecstasy of
this union, the body of the adept becomes filled with an
awareness of its equivalence to the cosmos and its identity
to Shiva, the supreme subject of consciousness, which is
“inseparable from his energy and containing within it
the totality of manifestation”. Here again we note that the
enlightenment offered by Shākta Āgama is described in
terms of the union of male and female principles, or in the
terminology of the Sāmkhya philosophy, of Purusha and
Prakrti, whereas, in the other Āgamas, the Vedic image of
the Purusha is located by itself in the heart and the highest
Bliss is the Light of Brahman to be attained at the crown
of the head.
The highest stage of the entire Āgamic system is Jnāna,
or perfect knowledge of divinity. This is the philosophical
stage of the more practical disciplines of Yoga and the
jnāna sections of the Āgamic texts contain various
discussions of cosmogony and the individual self. Similar
to the precepts of the Vedānta (i.e., of the Upanishads),
the jnāna doctrine of the Āgamic schools is one which
aims at achieving identity with Shiva. According to the
Tirumantiram, of Tirumalar, in charya, the soul forges a kindred tie in “God's world” (salokya), in kriya it attains
300 Shiva is envisioned within the heart as united with his consort Uma also in the Kaivalya Upanishad.
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“nearness” (samipya) to Him, in yoga it attains “likeness”
(sarupya) with Him and final y, in jnāna, the soul enjoys
the ultimate bliss of identity (sayujya) with Shiva.301 The
Siddhi who has become one with the deity sheds blessings
on mankind even while remaining in his body.
***
We see therefore that the Brāhmanical fire-rituals and
the Tantric psychosomatic ones are related to each other
through the same cosmological insights that gave rise to
the earliest Indo-European spirituality. The adoration of
the Purusha form of the supreme Godhead in the fire-