Antiquity of Tantricism
By Chintaharan Chakravarti
The Indian Historical Quarterly
Vol. VI, No.1 March, 1930 pp. 114-126
p. 114
Whatever be the age of the Tantras and however
varying may be the views regarding their authority(l)
it will be seen that rites closely similar to those
that are found in these works have in many cases a
hoary antiquity. In fact some of them in one form or
other seem to have come down from primitive times and
are known to be prevalent even in the present days
among people with a primitive culture not in the
least affected by modern civilisation and culture.
And many of them almost seem to have a universal
character being popular among peoples distantly
situated and having no cultural or ethnic affinity.
It is true that we miss in these the philosophy and
spiritual significance, associated at least in a
later stage with Tantricism in India, but still the
close outward similarity would naturally induce one
to put them under the same class or type and that not
quite erroneously. In the present paper an attempt
has been made to put together some references to
Tantricism among ancient peoples--specially in
admittedly old literary works. It will be shown that
Tantricism--if not the Tantras --had a long history
of un-interrupted popularity in India.
Tantricism-its universal character--its
prevalence among primitive peoples
Thus the parallels of Tantric Satkarmas (the six
magical rites), the use of charms and amulets, the
revolting rites(2) of the Kaulas, use of intoxicating
drugs for producing ecstasy, the belief in the
efficacy of mantras consisting sometimes of
apparently unmeaning syllables are found among
various primitive peoples. As a matter of fact some
of these constituted essential parts of primitive
religion all the world over.
______________________________
1. An account of these will be found in a separate
paper by the present author entitled Controversy
regarding the Authority of the Tantras to be
published in the K.B. Pathak Commemoration Volume.
2. The antiquity of this aspect of Tantric worship is
found to have been dealt with ill full detail by
Mr.M. Bose in his recently published work the
Post-Caitanya Sahajiya Cult of Bengal (Calcutta
University 1930), pp.98ff.
p. 115
The practice of what is called sympathetic magic
is known to have been very widely prevalent in old
days. It was by this means that various attempts were
made to acquire control over other persons.(1)
Enemies were destroyed or injured with the help
of imitative magic. "Perhaps the most familiar
application of the principle that like produces like
is" says Dr. Frazer, "the attempt which has been made
by many peoples in many ages to injure or destory an
enemy by injuring or destroying an image of him."(2)
"The use of small figures of wax or other plastic
materials fashioned with incantations in the likeness
of some enemy and then pierced with nails and pins,
or melted before the fire, that their human
counterpart may by these means be made to suffer all
kinds of torment" is known to have been prevalent
among Semetic peoples.(3) It was considered more
effective to obtain some portion of the victim's
nails or hair.....as an additional connection whereby
the wax figures may be brought into still closer
affinity with its prototype." It has been supposed by
Dr. J. J. Modi that injunctions contained in the
Vendidad of the Iranians to bury nails and hair to
avoid future calamities was due to the prevalence of
similar customs among them.(4) As a matter of fact
the Persian Zarthus-t-nameh relates how the enemies
of Zoroaster accused him of sorcery by secretly
placing hair, nails and such other impurities in his
room and got him imprisoned for sorcery. This clearly
points to the use of these things as instruments of
magic.
The use of charms and amulets is known to have
been a very wide-spread custom among primitive
peoples of different ages and lands.(5) Rings were
used with the object of preventing the entrance of
evil spirits into the body.(6)
We have long and nauseating accounts of rank and
unmixed sensualism forming part of religious
observances in many a land. These
__________________________
1 Principles of Sociology-Spencer, I, pp, 262ff.
2 Golden Bough--Dr. J. G. Frazer, London, 1900, vol.
I, pp.10 ff.
3 Semitic Magic: Its origin and development--R,
Campbell Thomson, pp. 142-143.
4 Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay,
vol. viii, pp. 557ff.
5 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iii, pp.
392ff.
6 Golden Bough--Frazer, vol. I, pp. 402ff.
p. 116
undoubtedly give a rude shock to the modern civilised
notions of religion and morality.
Impure and revolting practices having religious
significance clustered round the worship of Pan in
Greece and later Rome as also in the islands of the
southern Pacific Ocean. (1)
Sex-worship was practised frankly and openly by
primitive people all the world over and it is
supposed that with the advance of civilisation the
worship came to be carried on by means of symbolism.
And many of the religious practices even now are
traced to an idea of the deification of the sex.
"This worship has been shown to be so general and
wide-spread that it is to be regarded as part of the
general evolution of the human mind; it seems to be
indigenous with the race rather than an isolated or
exceptional circumstance."(2)
E. H. Hartland in a detailed and informative
article(3) on Phallism deals with the subject in a
sympathetic tone. He shows how sex worship forms a
part of the history of religion and how it is found
to exist in different countries among peoples
belonging to different strata of culture.
Wall has gone so far as to find traces, direct or
indirect, of sexworship in almost all kinds of
religious practices. "All religions are based on
sex," says he, "some like the ancient Egyptian, Greek
and Roman or the modern Brahmanic worship of Siva
more coarsely so, according to modern civilised
thought; others like the Christian religion more
obscurely so."(4)
The use of wine and various other intoxicating
drugs is supposed to have been one of the various
means adopted by primitive peoples with a view to
produce ecstasy and other morbid exaltation for
religious ends.(5) Different kinds of bodily
exercises resembling the muaras, asanas and nyasas of
the Tantras, were also undertaken for this
purpose.(6)
_________________
1 Sex-worship and Symbolism of Primitive
Races--Brown, pp. 27-28.
2 Ibid., pp. 23, 29-30.
3 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. ix, pp.
815-31.
4 Sex and Sex-worship-Wall, p. 2.
5 Primitive Culture--Tylor, third edition, London,
vol. II, pp. 41off., 416ff.
6 Ibid., pp. 419ff.
p. 117
The power of the word is believed to be very
marked in all systems of magic. Sometimes names of
inexplicable and perhaps esoteric character are used.
This is said to be in accordance with the well-known
rule that in magic a mysterious name is the most
potent of all.(1)
There was this belief in the efficacy of words
among ancient Iranians too. "Peculiar words" says
Geiger, "were thought peculiarly eficacious in
certain cases and regarded as a counter charm able to
repel the attacks of evil spirits."(2)
It is thus abundantly clear that rites similar to
many of those prescribed in the Tantras were quite
well-known among primitive peoples of all countries.
What we have got to determine at present is when and
how it was that these rites were first introduced
into India and were accepted by the Indian Aryans as
part of their elaborate religious observances.
According to some scholars, some at least of
these or similar rites were known to the Dravidian
and other Non-Aryan peoples of India from whom they
were borrowed by the Aryans and systematised in the
Tantras.
Tantricism in pre-historic India
Traces of some aspects of Tantricism are
suspected to be found in India as early as the
Pre-historic period. Thus, Bruce Foote is said to
have met with objects supposed by him to be Phalli
among the Neolithic remains brought to light by him
in the Deccan.(3)
According to Prof. Shama Sastri, the Tantra form
of worship may be traced back in India as early as
the first millennium B.C. Thus, he seeks to show that
the symbols which admittedly old coins (supposed to
be earlier than even the 6th or 7th century B.C.)
bear and of which no satisfactory explanation could
be suggested by Western scholars(4) are nothing but
Tantric hieroglyphics. These, lie shows,
_________________________
1. Keith--Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and
Upanishads, anishads, P. 393.
2. Geiger-Civilisation of Eastern Iranians in Ancient
times, p, 16.
3. Foote--Collection of Indian Pre-historic and
Proto-historic Antiquities, Madras, 1916, pp. 20,
61, 139; K. R. Subranian--Origin of Saivism
and its History in the Tamil Land, Madras, 1929,
p. 23. See also P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar--Stone
Age in India (Madras University).
4. J.A.S.B., vol. iv, p. 628.
p. 118
are the origin Of the Devanagari alphabets. He is
also of opinion that though some of the Tantras are
comparatively modern they undoubtedly embody old
tradition.(1) The Tantric Upanisads like the
Tripuropanisad, he says, containing the description
of Tantra hieroglyphics only reproduce a tradition of
bygone ages.(2)
Tantricism in the Vedas
Elements of the various Tantra rites are
distinctly traceable in the Vedic times, though there
is a great controversy among scholars of old as
regards the question whether Tantras had a Vedic
origin or not. It is not only in the Atharvaveda--one
of the latest of the Vedic samhitas--that we meet
with these elements. They are to be found even in the
earliest of the Vedic works, e.g., the Rgveda as also
in other parts of the Vedic literature. Tantricism as
a system may not have been developed at that time.
But many of the rites that went to constitute the
system at a later time are found scattered in the
different parts of the Vedic literature in their
crudest forms.
Of course many of the practices which were fully
developed in the Tantras and Yoga philosophy are
absent in the Vedic period. The elaborate rules
concerning the regulation of breath and the high
importance attached to it Yoga have scarcely any
trace ill the Vedas. Nor is there any clear reference
in the Vedic literature to the various sitting
postures mentioned in the Tantras.(3)
The upholders of the Tantras have however gone to
the extent of attempting to demonstrate the Vedic
origin of everything found in the Tantras. They had
therefore to resort occasionally to considerable
twisting and far-fetchedness to find traces of
various rites connected with Tantricism in the Vedas.
The general view is that the Tantras originated
from the Saubhagya-kanda of the Atharva-Veda. Some of
the Tantra works are found to record this in definite
terms. The Kalikularnava Tantra has got two lines in
the beginning stating "Now Devi says in the Atharvana
Samhita."(4) This in fact identifies this work as an
Atharvana-samhita, thus clearly hinting at the close
connection of the Atharvaveda with this Tantra.
________________________
1. Ind. Ant., 1906, pp. 277ff.
2. Ind. Ant., 1906, pp, 274-276.
3. Keith, op. cit., p. 401.
4. H.P.S., Nep., I, p. 160.
p. 119
The Rudrayamala (chap. xvii) calls Mahadevi
Atharvaveda-sak hini, and Buddhesvari though
curiously the worship of the goddess is, in the same
breath, definitely put down as Veda-bahiskrta or
un-vedic.
In the opinion of the great scholar Bhaskara
Raya, the Tantras came as a sequel to the Upanisad
section of the Vedas as the Srauta sutras and Dharma
Samhitas were to the first portion of the Vedic
literature.(1) The tantric Upanisads(2) (e.g. Kaula,
Rudra, etc.) are supposed to maintain the direct
connection of the Vedas with the tantras.
The Yantra-Cintamani(3) of Damodara is eulogised
in the beginning of the work as being the
quintessence of the Atharvaveda. The followers of the
Pancaratra system of Vaisnavism trace the origin of
the system to an unknown Vedic school called the
ekayana sakha (Kalpataruparimala under Brahma Sutra,
II. 2. 42).
According to the Kularnava tantra (II. 10) even
Kaula cites--which have been the object of abject
criticism at the hands of various scholars ancient or
modern--are represented as being the essence of the
Vedas. In fact Kulasastra has been described as
Vedatmaka (II. 85) or Vedic in spirit. Vedic
authorities are also cited (II. 140-141) in
justification of Kaula rites.
Attempts have been made to trace tantric mantras
consisting of seemingly unmeaning monosyllabic sounds
in the Vedas.(4) The practice of worshipping
symbolical diagrams (yantras, cakras) of the tantras
has also been traced to the Vedas (e.g. Atharvaveda,
Taittiriya Aranyaka).(5) Laksmidhara in his
commentary on verse 32 of the Saundaryalahari of
Sankara has quoted extracts from the Taittiriya
Brahmana and Aranyaka and explained them as having
reference to Srividya.(6)
Even if one feels disinclined to set much value
on the above views of the advocates of tantricism as
being biassed it must be admitted
____________________
1. Setubandha, A.S.S, p.5.
2. For these see the Minor Upanisads published by the
Adyar Library, Madras.
3. A Ms. of this work is in the Bangiya Sahitya
Parisat--see beginning of Pithika II.
4. Commentary of Natananda Natha on the Kamakala
vilasa--p. 13 of Arthur Avalon's edition.
5. R. Shamasastri, Ind. Ant., 1906, pp. 262-267.
6. Govt, Oriental Library Series, Mysore, pp. 100-109.
p. 120
that any disinterested scholar is sure to find at
least the elements of tantricism in the Vedas. In
fact the ground for the growth of tantricism was
almost ready at the time of the Vedas.
Thus traces of monosyllabic and seemingly
unmeaning mantras on the importance of which the
Tantras lay definite emphasis are really met with in
the Vedic literature. 'The use of harsh words like
phat says Prof. Keith 'is mentioned possibly as early
as the Rgveda'.(1) The Taittiriya Aranyaka (iv. 27)
mentions a distinct tantric charm which according to
Sayana pertains to Abhicara rites. This charm
consists of words like Khat, Phat, Kat, etc. Phat is
also found mentioned in the Vajasaneyi Samhita
(vii. 3).
Symbolising in terms of the letters of the
alphabet may also be clearly traced in the
Hinkaropasana and Orikaropasana found in the
Upanisads (Cf. Chandogya Upanisad).
Sensualism in connection with religious rites is
also met with in the Vedas. It is found to be
frequently referred to in the Satapatha Brahmana
symbolically. According to the Aitareya Aranyaka
(II. 3. 7. 3) neither the seed of man nor the blood
of woman should be despised as they are forms of
Aditya and Agni respectively. Vamadevya Upasana may
be cited as an instance in point.(2)
There are other Vedic rites as well, which though
on the face of them, have nothing to do with sex
worship, have been interpreted in that light.(3)
The use of liquor for sacrificial purposes in
Vedic times was not unknown, Spirituous liquor was
offered in tile Sautramani sacrifice to Indra, Asvin
and Sarasvati.(4) It was also used in the Vajapeya
sacrifice.(5) Besides, the intoxicating effect of
Soma juice is also quite well-known. The effect of
the drinking of soma juice is ''mada" or intoxication
(Rg. II. 19. I).
The use of the juice expressly for getting
intoxicated led Eggeling to make the statement with
reference to the Atiratra sacrifice that `it partook
largely of the character of a regular nocturnal
carousal'. (6)
______________________________
1. Keith, op. cit. P. 356.
2. Chandogya Upanisad, II, 13, I-2.
3. Satapatha Brahmana, I. 1, 18, 20, 21 etc.
4. Ibid., v. 4, 5, 19ff.
5. Ibid., V. 1, 2, 10-19.
6. Ibid., S.B.E. vol. xli, Introduction, p. xvii.
p. 121
Various were the animals sacrificed in Vedic
sacrifices. Man, horse, bull, ram and he-goat are
mentioned in this connection.(1) Horses were killed
in the Asvamedha. It is curious that bulls that were
held sacred in later times were not exempted. And
these are known to have been sacrificed in the
Gomedha and Sulagava. And the meat was taken at least
in some cases at the end of the sacrifice. Even
provision was made for taking beef.(2) Human beings
are said to have been killed along with other animals
in the Sarvamedha or All-Animals-Sacrifice.
Self-immolation was practised in the Sarva-yajna.
Phallism is supposed by some to be as old as the
Rgveda (vii. 21, 3, 5) where the Asuras are referred
to as sisnadevas or those that regard phallus as
deities. But the meaning of the term is not free from
doubt.(3)
The beginnings of the worship of female
deities--the Sakti cult-- an important characteristic
of the tantra form of worship is also traced in the
Vedas.
Traces of some of the Sat-karmas of the Tantras
are also distinctly met with in different parts of
the Vedic literature. Two hymns of the Rgveda (x.145,
159) explicitly refer to the practice of removing
co-wives and thereby attaining supreme sway over the
husband. The Apastamba Grhya Sutra (ix. 5-8, 9) in
explaining the application of these hymns has also
made this quite clear. Another hymn (Rg. x. 162) is
nothing but a curative spell intended to drive away
disease. Hymns like i. 191 and vii. 750 are charms
which are intended to serve as antedotes against
poison and those like vi. 52 and vii. 104 are charms
which aim at putting away demons and have therefore
some similarity with marana or destructive practice
of the Tantras. Such practices were also known at the
times of the Vajasaneyi Samhita (vii. 3), Katyayana
Srauta Sutra (ix.4,39) and Taittiriya Aranyaka (iv.
27).
The 'Taittiriya Samhita (ii.3,9,I) prescribes a
sacrifice called Samgrahani by which persons can be
won over to one's side. Sayana in explaining the
significance of the term has stated how by this
sacrifice one could bring under one's control the
prominent persons of the
____________________________
1. Satapatha Brahmana, S. B.E., vol. xli, pp. I65f.
2. Asvalayana Grhya Sutra, iv. 8, 34.
3. Muir, Sanskrit texts, vol. iv, pp. 354ff.
p. 122
family or the village as also wives, sisters and
mothers, who thus brought under control, wait upon
him.
The Taittiriya Brahmana (ii. 3, 10) relates how
Sita, daughter of Prajapati, resorted to a sorcery
practice to win the heart of Soma. These practices
are undoubtedly similar to Vasikarana of the Tantras.
The rites of the Atharvaveda again more than
those of any other Veda have in many cases a close
and striking similarity to those of the Tantras. The
contents of the Atharvaveda are primarily magic,
charm and sorcery, which also form not an
insignificant part of the Tantras. And Bloomfield's
arrangement of the hymns of the Atharvaveda into
fourteen classes in accordance with their subject
matter(1) as also the applications of them as noted
in the Kausika Sutra reveal how a large portion of
its contents has its analogue in the Tantras. Thus
the abhicara, strikarma, sammanasya, paustika and
other sorcery rites of which we get indications in
the Atharvaveda are quite common in the Tantras.
Some of the Atharvanic practices of witchcraft
are almost identical with similar practices of the
Tantras. Some of the hymns of the Atharvaveda are
recited with a view to excite love in the heart of a
woman. The most important symbolical practice which
is to accompany the recital of such a hymn (AV. iii.
25) is thus described in the Kausika Sutra (35. 28):
''By means of darbhyusa bow, with a bowstring made of
hemp, an arrow whose barb is a thorn, whose plume is
derived from an owl and whose shaft is made of black
ala wood, the lover pierces the heart of the
pictorial representation of a woman."(2) The Tantras
are also found to prescribe the same practice with an
identical object in view.
The use of protective amulets also seems to have
been quite popular at the time of the Atharvaveda.
(AV. ii. II, viii. 5, x, 6; Kausika Sutra 19, 22, 27;
42, 22-43. I).
Tantricism in Buddhist Literature
Various revolting and mystic practices that seem
to have been observed by different religious sects
for spiritual uplift in and previous to the time of
the Buddha, are referred to in Buddhist canonicaI
works in Pali. Some of these practices are apparently
tantric in character.
________________________
1. Atharvaveda-Grundriss Series--pp. 57ff.
2. Ind. Ant. 1906, pp. 270ff.
p. 123
Thus the Buddhist canonical texts in Pali in
several places refer to systems of thought and
rituals which are apparently of the Tantra type but
for the name. Buddha mentions the panca-kama-guna-
dittha-dhamma-nibbana-vada(1) which is explained as
an opinion according to which the soul attains
Nirvana through the full indulgence of the five
pleasures of the sense.(2) Some at least of the
Buddhist and Brahmanic tantric scholars were exactly
of the view referred to by the Buddha as an
establishsd doctrine upheld by a section of the
people in his time.
The Majjhima Nikaya (Culladhammasamaduna Sutta
--vol. I, p.305) sets forth the views of a class of
Sramanas and Brahmanas according to whom no fault
would attach to acts of lust. It is described how
these people took pleasure in the company of youthful
female ascetics. Of course it is not clear from the
text as to whether these ascetics like the later day
tantrics took part in sensual enjoyment with a desire
for religious merit. The Kathavatthu(3) however
throws some welcome light on this point in that it
refers to Maithuna (sensual enjoyment) as dharma
which probably means a religious act.
The use of skulls etc. by a class of people like
later day followers of tantricism was known at this
time as is testified to by a passage in the
Cullavagga(4) which refers to a Bhikkhu "who had
taken upon himself to wear or use nothing except what
he could procure from dust-heaps or cemeteries'' and
who "went on his rounds for alms carrying a bowl made
out of a skull."
That this was the usual practice with a certain
class of persons is testified to by the statement of
the people that saw him--'How
__________________________
1. Dialogues of the Buddha--II, 49, 50.
2. Barua--A History of Pre-Bddhisticc Indian
Philosophy--p. 337
3. Kathavatthu, xxiii. I-2: Ekadhippayena methuno
dhammo sevitabbo. Arhantanam vannena amanussa
methunam dhammam patisevanti, I am indebted for these
references to Prof. Barua's paper on Maskari Gosala's
early life (Calcutta Review, June 1927, PP. 362-63).
4. V. 10, 2--S.B.E. vol. XX--p.89. For this as also
for some other references from Buddhist literature I
am indebted to Dr. Benoytost Bhattacharya who has
incidentally dealt with the history of Tantricism
among the Buddhists in his Introduction to
Sadhana-mala (Vol. II) and in his paper A Peep into
Vajrayana (Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute--Vol. X).
p. 124
can the Sakyaputtiya Samanas carry about bowls made
out of skulls as the devil-worshippers (Pisacillika)
do.'
That cemeteries were resorted to by some seekers
after religious merit is also clear from the Majjhima
Nikaya. Buddha himself in his early days is here
stated to have stayed in a cemetery with charred
bones as his pillow.(l)
Magical rites like the sat-karmas of the tantras
are also known to have some amount of popularity at
that time. We learn from the Tevijjia Sutta that
there were some Sramanas and Brahmanas who lived by
teaching spells for preserving the body and for
warding off wounds. We are further told that some
Sramanas and Brahmanas lived by teaching spells to
procure prosperity or to cause adversity, to remove
sterility, to produce dumbness, locked-jaw, deformity
or deafness.(2) Further still we are told how some
lived by teaching rituals for imparting virility and
rendering impotent by prescribing medicines.(3)
The Brahmajala Sutta refers to the practice of
drawing blood from one's knee as a sacrifice to the
gods(4) and of using charms to make people lucky or
unlucky.(5) It is from the same sutta that we learn
that there were certain gods debauched by pleasure(6)
and that there were recluses or Brahmanas who thought
that full enjoyment and possession of the pleasures
of sense lead to Nirvana.(7)
Tantricism in Jaina Literature
In the Jaina canonical works in Prakrt too we
meet with traces of Tantricism. In the Sthananga
Sutra (iv. 4) Mahavira refers to the Saya-vadins who
are supposed to have been sensulists.(8) The
Uttaradhyayana. Sutra has reference to curative
spells.(9) The Sutrakrtanga
_________________________
1. Majjhima, I, 79 --Further Dialogues of the
Buddha--Lord Chalmers, vol. I, p.35.
2. Buddhist Suttas--Translated by Rhys Davids--S.B.E.
xi. p. 196, 199.
3. Ibid., pp. 199-200.
4. Brahmajala Sutta, 21--Dialogues of the Buddha
--Rhys Davids p.17.
5. Ibid., P. 23.
6. Ibid., p. 32.
7 Ibid, p. 50.
8. Barua--A History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian
Philosophy, pp. 196, 197, 337
9. S.B.E.--XLV P.103.
p. 125
(II. 2) mentions men who practise incantations
(atharvani) and conjuring, the art to make one
happy or miserable.(1)
Tantricism in Dharmasastra, Puranas, etc.
Detractors of Tantra rites are inclined to read
the denunciation of Tantricism in early Dharmasutras
and Samhitas like those of Apastamba, Manu,
Yajnavalkaya etc. (See introductory portions of
Apararka's commentary on yajnavalkya). Commentators
interpret paritcular sutras of the Brahma Sutra (II.
2. 34) as having reference to Tantricism e.g. Saivas,
Pancaratras, etc.
The efficacy of mantra and drugs for the
attainment of perfection has been mentioned by
Patanjali in his Yogasutra (iv. I).
Many a Purana work of which the dates have not
been definitely ascertained refer to the tantras
generally or to particular tantra rites. Puranas like
Devi, Kalika and Linga explicitly deal with tantra
worship. In the Padma Purana (Svarga Khanda, chapter
xxvii) and Kalikapurana (chapter liv) are found
elaborate descriptions of sat cakras of the tantras.
Kurma and some other Puranas, however, are found to
decry the tantras. There are many passages in the
Mahabharata too showing that Siva was already
venerated under the emblem of the phallus when the
epic was composed. The use of wine and meat in the
worship of the river-goddess Ganga is mentioned in
the Ramayana (Ayodhya Kanda--LII. 89).
Tantricism in early secular works
Secular works--some of which are evidently quite
early--are also found incidentally to refer to tantra
rites confirming their high popularity and wide
prevalence. We shall refer to only a few of these.
Various charms and incantations for the
stupefication of beings are described in the
Arthasastra of Kautilya (xiv. 3). Here we get
reference to the offering of sacrifices in cremation
grounds on the 14th day of the dark half of the
month. Of deities to whom oblations were made mention
may be made of such queer names Amila, Kimila,
Vayujara etc.
The Lalitavistara(2) (chapter xii) refers to the
Buddha's surpassing
_____________________
1. Jainasutras--S.B.E. --XLV p. 366.
2. Bibliotheca Indica edition, p.179.
p. 126
knowledge in nigama along with other branches of
learning. In chapter xvii it incidentally throws
light on some of the religious practices of the time
of the Buddha.(1) Though the sense is not quite clear
it seems to refer to the use of well-scrutinised
mantras and the use of wine and meat for religious
purposes, The carrying of skulls and Khatvangas is
also referred to. Nikumbha-sadhana as one of the
practices for the attainment of salvation is
mentioned. And we learn from it that the worship of
gods and goddesses (Matr, Devi, Katyayani) was
offered at pasture lands and cemeteries.
The tantric goddess Kali is represented by
Asvaghosa as having been known in the time of the
Buddha. Thus we read in the Chinese translation of
Asvahosa's Buddhacarita:(2)
"Now, Mara had an aunt-attendant whose name was
Ma-kia-ka-li (Maha Kali), 1084, who held a skull dish
in her hands, and stood in front of Bodhisattva, and
with every kind of winsome gesture, tempted him to
lust, 1085."
The attendants of Mara who attacked Buddha are
stated to have carried weapons similar to those
possessed by Sivaite gods (e.g. Trisula,
Khatvanga).(3) It is thus quite clear that at least a
little before the time of Asvaghosa (circa 1st
century A.D.) Tantric deities were quite well-known.
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1. Lalitavistara, p.312-13.
2. S.B.E. vol.xix, p.153. In the published Sanskrit
text the goddess is called Meghakali (xiii, 49).
3. Buddhacarita--xiii. 21. 26.