Shakti cult

This article aims at exploring certain archetypes in a select category of popular cosmogonic myths of Bengal that are inscribed with dialogic intertwinings of the canonical śāstric traditions of Hinduism and elements from Bengal’s own indigenous religious systems. The study highlights the undercurrent of a goddess oriented gynocntric cosmogonic narrative lying submerged beneath the genesis myth woven round the folk deity Dharma Niranjana; and explores the possibility of the latter’s appropriation of the former which also carries significant implications as regards the control and possession of female sexuality and body.

Book review by Sonali Gupta in History Today, Delhi, No. 3, 2002:

Francesco Brighenti, Sakti Cult in Orissa, D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, 2001, pp. xx +510, plates (b/w & col.) 66+33. Price: Rs. 2400.

“The word Sakti is powerful. It is the primordial energy of the universe and so represents cosmic energy. The author has confined his area of study to Orissa on account of its deep-rooted tribal influence and the continuity that the region represents in the evolution of the cult. According to the author the rise and spread of the Sakti cult brought within its folds, both non-Aryan and Aryan trends. These influences enabled the cult to reach out to all castes, creeds and sects, assuring wider acceptability and popularity. The author traces the roots of the Sakti cult in Orissa to the worship of the female principle. He then traces the migration and emigration of Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian and Aryan groups. Coupled with this, the author juxtaposes the developments in Orissa with developments in such cults elsewhere in the world. The inter relationships of the Sakti cult with Naga, Yaksa cults as well as tribal Shamanism are brought forth. In the historical period the growth of the cult from the Gupta period to the late medieval period is highlighted. There are instances of the fusion of the Sakti cult with the Shaiva cult and also Vaishnava. From the 5th to the 6th century A.D. the Sakta goddesses increase manifold. The subordination of the goddesses to the male gods in the past witnesses a reversal and the goddesses are seen in equal footing to the male gods. In his view this aspect is clearly an influence of tribal and matriarchal societies where equality between the sexes was the order, which is a moot point. Chapter 3 takes the readers to the important Sakta centres of eminence in Orissa, which are even today centres of Sakti worship. The manifestations of Sakti in different forms and iconographic representations are dealt with in detail. Further, the festivals and rituals associated with the cult show the undercurrents of the powerful Sakti cult, which are still in vogue. It is a 'must' read for historians and those interested in region specific studies of the cult. It has been a very well produced book.”

Comparative study of religious cults provides evidence of human sacrifice's functioning as a fertility magic rite in ancient and even in recent times in the American continents (cf. the Toltec, Aztec and Incaic civilizations), some regions of Africa, the central-eastern Mediterranean basin (cf. the Etruscan, Phoenician, Minoan and archaic Greek civilizations), and parts of the Indian sub-continent, from a primeval state of self-concentrated wholeness to multiplicity. 8 Prajàpati's prostrate and powerless condition is subsequently revitalized by the Sacrifice, which is said to be the "image" (pratimà) of his mode of being. The secondary creator Prajàpati, the Lord of Sacrifice, is the same as the Universal Puruša. V¡tra is an asurya counterpart to the divya Cosmic Man. Unlike the latter, he refuses self-sacrifice. Indra's "cruelty" is a consequence of the "resistance" offered by the predestined victim of the cosmogonic "sacrifice." 9 Without resistance, there is no cruelty, explaining why the victim of human sacrifice in India, both in Sanskritized and in tribal contexts, should preferably be willing, or his/her consent must be obtained ritually. That is also why the "pain" (çuc) and "evil" (pàpmam) suffered by sacrificial victims must be transferred to substitutes that ritually take on themselves the impurity of sacrifice. This doctrine of ritual substitution has been found in Sanskritized forms of blood (human as well as animal) sacrifice, in both Vedic and Çàkta-Tantric contexts. 2. Human Sacrifice in Vedic India The Vedic form of human sacrifice is known as purušamedha or n¡medha. Regardless of whether it was actually practiced, at minimum it was abolished or fell into desuetude in a very remote epoch. 10 J. Gonda maintains that the purušamedha was aimed at procuring for the royal sacrificer all of the benefits impossible to gain through the açvamedha, 11 for "the purušamedha is everything." 12 Universal supremacy, for instance, was also the goal of the sarvamedha, the sacrifice of all (sarva) animal and vegetable essences performed by a Vedic king "who wishes to become this all." According to Çatapatha Bràhmaòa 13.7.1, the sarvamedha consisted of a ten-days' Soma sacrifice aimed at propitiating all gods; it included the building of a fire brick-altar (agnicayana); 8 Gonda, op. cit., pp. 251ff.