Antiquity of Tantricism

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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.

______________________

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.

April 15, 2008

http://anthropology.net/2007/05/30/human-sacrifice-in-stone-age-europe/Human Sacrifice in Stone Age Europe

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Vincenzo Formicola,

of the University of Pisa in Italy, has studied three different

European burial sites dating to between 26,000 and 8,000 B.C. These

dates fall smack dab in the Stone Age and offer a unique insight into

the behaviors of early Europeans, because the graves,

"include the remains of physically disabled people hint at ritual human sacrifice there…

Skeletons such as those of a teenage dwarf and a girl with malformed

bones were found buried alongside able-bodied dead. This indicates that

human sacrifices may have been an important ritual activity among

ancient hunter-gatherer tribe…"

Formicola analyzed the bones from the Sunghir children in Russia,

the interment of youngins in unsual positions of Dolní Vestonice in

Moravia, and the adolescent dwarf from Romito Cave in Italy. These

three sites were discovered in 1957-1964, 1986, and 1909 respectively.

They are well studied sites, and from the beginning were remarkable

because they had children in them. People have hypothesized that

natural this kids all died from diseases or accidents, because their

burials lack a 'funeral' feel. Formicola thinks these kids were

sacrified because they all have similarities in age and sex, which

suggests there's some sort of selective practice.

I've picked up some illustrations of two site burials if you are curious to see how they look. I got these images all from Don's Maps, an excellent resource on archaeological sites.

The first is an artistic depiction of the Sunghir burials.

Two children, aged 8 and 13, are buried head to head with elaborately

decorated clothes and other jewellery. Notice that the perforated disc

is shown here as being atop a wooden lance.

As you can see the bodies of these preteens were discovered with

grave goods, "including about 5,000 perforated ivory beads thought to

have been sown into caps and clothing." The bones had been covered in

red ochre, a pigment made from clay. Other items include:

Perforated arctic teethIvory pinsCarvingsDisk-shaped pendantsGiant spears made of mammoth tusks

A great bit of detail must have gone into this burial, Formicola has commented on this saying,

"Each bead would have taken more than an hour to make,

the children's burial may have been planned before they died some

24,000 years ago. The enormous amount of time required to prepare all

those ivory objects leads one to wonder whether this ceremony was

foreseen long in advance."

The next image is another illustration but this time of the triple burials of Dolni Vestonice.

In this burial, the bodies of three teenagers were discovered in a

common grave. Two of the skeletons were heavily built males. By its

slender proportions, the third was judged to be female, aged seventeen

to twenty. A marked left curvature of the spine, along with several

other skeletal abnormalities, suggested that she had been painfully

crippled. The two males had died healthy, in the prime of their lives.

The remains of a thick wooden pole thrust through the hip of one of

them hinted that his death might not have been entirely natural. A

sidenote, Erik Trinkaus worked on the Dolni Vestonice burials.

The Dolni Vestonice triplet burials were arranged in an unusual

position, with the hands of one male placed on the middle skeleton's

pelvic region, which had been also been covered in red ochre.

Unfortunately, the Romito caves example isn't all too well

illustrated — maybe because it was excavated almost 100 years ago. This

grave is unique in that it holds the remains of an adolescent dwarf

held in the arms of an adult female. Both of these skeletons bodies lie

under an elaborate engraving of a bull.

Formicola has taken all the similarities of these burials and has

synthesized an argument — all of these commonalities can be explained

by ritual human sacrifice. He has published his findings in Current Anthropology, under the title, "From the Sunghir Children to the Romito Dwarf."

The big controversy with this explanation he has derived is that this

practice has not yet been recorded from the Upper Paleolithic period,

nor do any of the bones show signs of homicide.

Ritual sacrifice is known from other large, hierarchical societies

but not really in Stone Age Europe. What Formicola is suggesting

implies that Stone Age European cultures were more structured than we

believed them to be. Formicola says, the sites stress the complexity of

Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies and the symbolic importance

of the burials they left,

"Disabled people may have been selected because they

were seen as different. These individuals may be feared, hated, or

revered… Using information drawn from burials and art we can better

[understand] the expressions of the beliefs and rituals left by these

populations."

References:

Exceptions that Prove the Rule, #3: Paleolithic Royalty? - Anthropik.Human Sacrifice Clues Found in European Stone Age Burials - National Geographic News.

Evidence From Ancient Graves Raises Questions About Ritual Human Sacrifice Among Hunter Gatherers In Europe - ScienceDaily.