SAKTISM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worship of Energy or Power of creation as a female power is common in all the cultures.  As early as 4^th millennium BC Neolithic period, it has been in existence.  Here are a few examples

 

Cucuteni Culture statuette, a 4th millennium BC Late Neolithic	Upper Paleolithic, Venus von Willendorf,  24,000–22,000 BCE	This statue menhir, la Dame de Saint-Sernin, now in musée Fenaille de Rodez was discovered in southern France
Egyptian mother goddesses Hathor  and Mut (Mother)		The ancient culture of  Aztecs had a Mother Goddess,   known as Coatlique, or Lady of the Serpent Skirt, the creator of the world   lived in the Aztlan, mountains.  She had 400 children who populated the universe

 

 Lucius Apuleius writes in The Golden Ass (AD160) about Goddess, "I am nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead....Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names, propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me."

Translation by Robert Graves.

These were the goddesses of the Canaanites when the Hebrews conquered Canaan and are referred to as the “Abomination”.  Yet being an agricultural goddess of fertility , magic and witchcraft it thrived in the times of the period of Kings.

 Evidently Saktism is a universal culture celebrating female power who swayed every formation of culture indirectly in a subtle way.  So it is logical to assume that similar cults existed in the Indus civilization long before the Aryans.  Indus valley civilization was also an agricultural civilization.  According to Bhattacharya it might have been in existence in the pre-Indus cultures of Zhob Valeey and Kulli which existed in the third millennium BC. 

The Indus seals were found in Sumerian Ur attesting to the fact that people of Sumeria and Mohenjodaro and Harappa in India were trading partners between 2300 to 2000 B.C.

  

 

These objects found in Indus Valley suggests some form of fertility pre-saivite cult.  However we cannot say whether they are indeed religious artifacts or not. 

 

This is what John Marshal the Indus Valley archeologist has to say:

  “Now of Saktism there is no direct evidence at Mohen-Jodaro or Harappa.  Let me be clear on that point.  What evidence there is, is merely suggestive.  Sakthi worship was of great antiquity in India; it originated out of the cult of the Mother Goddess, and it is closely connected with the cult of Siva.  Moreover, it exhibits features that bear so striking resemblance to those of certain prehistoric cults in West Asia, that we cannot pass it by in silence or ignore the likelihood of its existence among the Indus Valley people.  The underlying principle of Saktism is a sexual dualism which has been aptly described as “duality in unity”.  In this development of the primitive mother worship, the goddess was transformed into a personification of female energy (Sakti) and, as the eternal productive principle (Prakriti), united with the eternal male principle (Purusha) and became the creator and Mother of the Universe (Jaganmata or Jagad-amba)”

Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization - John Marshal

Whatever the echoes of the past may be, Saktism in its present form is an off shoot of medieval India most probably from among the agricultural people rather than of the Aryan immigrants. They eventually absorbed it around the 5^th c AD because of the confusion in the war between the gods which we had discussed earlier as a compromise escape.  Sakthi came as a strong solution to the problem which was essentially supported by the Advaitist monism of Sankara in the 8^th century.  It saved the day for the Brahmins.

We can try to locate the Shakthi worship to vedic texts like Rig , Yajur ans Sama Vedas in the protions written after the Christian Era.

Rig Veda tenth chapter includes – Sri suktham,  describing the glory of goddesses, appears to be a late supplement to the Rig Veda differing both in language and in subject. Khilaratri sukta also mentions the Goddesses Mahalaxmi ,Mahasaraswati and Mahakali

uttānapad, 650 CE  - Badami Museum, India.

In the Rig Veda X we have description of Vedic description  Aditi which later became popular during the Gupta period as uttānapad ("she who crouches with legs spread"),  and as Lajja Gauri  idols  with a faceless, lotus-headed goddess in birthing posture. The explanation is given as:

"In the first age of the gods, existence was born from non-existence. The quarters of the sky were born from she who crouched with legs spread. The earth was born from she who crouched with legs spread, and from the earth the quarters of the sky were born."  Rigveda, X.72.3-4, cited in Doniger, p. 38.

Yajur Veda - Shatpat Brahman (a part of the white Yajur Veda) says when Prajapati, tired of creating beings, relaxed, Sri came forth from him. The Gods were jealous and wanted to kill her but Prajapati intervened and saved her life. In fact Taittirya aranakyas (a part of the black Yajur Veda) is the first to mention the name Durga.

Sama Veda – is the earliest known text where Sakti is acknowledged by the Aryans. Kena Upanishad   tells of how the Aryan Gods had no knowledge of the Brahman and failed to recognise or acknowledge that their powers were granted by the ‘Brahman’. When Brahman appeared before them as an Yaksha they could not recognize him.  Indra sent Agni (Fire) to find out who this Adorable Spirit is.  Brhaman placed a straw before Agni and  asked him to burn it.  He was unable to burn the straw offered by the ‘Brahman’. Then Indra send Vayu  (Wind) and Vayu failed to blow it away. Finally Indra himself went to test this unknown power and Brahman appeared to  him as Uma. 

There are other Upanishads which mentions this cult of  Devi

 

 Puranas

 By the time of Puranas Devi was probably a major force that .

• In Ramayana, there is reference to Sri Rama performing Durga puja befor slaying Ravana   Before starting for his battle with Ravana, Rama wanted the blessings of Devi Durga . He came to know that the Goddess would be pleased only if she is worshipped with one hundred 'NeelKamal' or blue lotuses. Rama, after travelling the whole world, could gather only ninety nine of them. He finally decided to offer one of his eyes, which resembled blue lotuses. Durga, being pleased with the devotion of Rama, appeared before him and blessed him.
• In Mahabharatha Yudhishtira offered puja to Durga before commencing the last year of exile. Yudishtra invokes her as the Mahisasura Mardini with 4 arms & 4 faces holding a noose, bow and arrow and a disc.  Arjuna offerd puja to Durga before the commencement of the Mahabharata war.  Durga is mentioned in Arjun’s Hymn.
• In Srimad Bhagavatha it is narrated how Rugmini offers puja to Durga before marrying Krishna. 
• Markandeya Purana deals with  Devi Mahaathmya and
• Brahmanda Purana contains Lalta Sahasranama with detailed instruction regarding the Devi worship.

Puranas were  written mostly during the Gupta Period *(320-700 AD),  beginning 320 AD and Sakti appears in various Devi forms in these writings.

Major figures introduced through the Puranas are, Mahisasura Mardini, the fierce goddess of protection and  Uma/ Sati/ Parvati/ Himavati the fertile nurturing form of the goddess.  These appeared in the various Puranas of the period such as Markandya Purana (kills the Asuras, Madhu and Kaiatabha.), Vamana Purana, Devi Bhagwat Purana. Siva purana, Skanda Purana  Chandi Mahatyama *celebrates the victories of the goddess under the following names – Durga, Dasabhuja, Mahisasura Mardini, Simhavahini, Jagadhatri, Kali, Muktakesi, Tara, Chinnamosta, Jagad gauri.) and Varaha Purana (Siva created Kumari, with dark skin and curly black hair, to kill Andhaka. Varaha Puran talks of the 8^th goddess Yogeshwari  who leapt from the flames emanating from Shiva’s mouth).  As in most cases the Purana period presents Sakti essentially as part of Saivism.

 [“Sakti - the Mother Goddess”  Dr. Manoshi Bhattacharya
http://www.the-south-asian.com/Dec2001/ Sakti%20-%20Mother%20Goddess.htm]

Even though Dattatheya (Datta Samhita ) and Bhaskararaya  contributed heavily to the development of Sakti cult in South India, it was Sankaracharya who really established it in India as a whole. In his Prapancha Saara and Soundarya Lahari he established Srichakra worship  and detailed the major essences of  Mantra, Yantra and Tantra.

Devi connection was soon taken over by the Vaishnavites from the Saivites and reinterpreted in their terms. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana retells the tales of the Devi Mahatmya in much greater length and detail, embellishing them with Shakta philosophical reflections, while recasting many classic tales from other schools of Hinduism (particularly Vaishnavism) in a distinctly Shakta light:

"The Devi-Bhagavata was intended not only to show the superiority of the Goddess over various male deities, but also to clarify and elaborate on her nature on her own terms. [...] The Goddess in the Devi-Bhagavata becomes less of a warrior goddess, and more a nurturer and comforter of her devotees, and a teacher of wisdom. This development in the character of the Goddess culminates in the Devi Gita, which "repeatedly stresses the necessity of love for the goddess, with no mention of one's gender, as the primary qualification," a view "inspired by the devotional ideals of Shaktism." [Brown, C. Mackenzie. The Devi Gita: The Song of the Goddess: A Translation, Annotation and Commentary. State University of New York Press (Albany, 1998).]

Devi Mahatmya also marks the birth of "independent Shaktism"; i.e. the cult of the Female Principle as a distinct philosophical and denominational entity.

"The influence of the cult of the Female Principle [had already] placed goddesses by the sides of the gods of all systems as their consorts, and symbols of their energy or shakti. But the entire popular emotion centering round the Female Principle was not exhausted. So need was felt for a new system, entirely female-dominated, as system in which even the great gods like Vishnu or Shiva would remain subordinate to the goddess. This new system – containing vestiges of hoary antiquity, varieties of rural and tribal cults and rituals, and strengthened by newfangled ideas of different ages – came to be known as Shaktism."   [Bhattacharyya, N. N., History of the Sakta Religion, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi, 1974, 2d ed. 1996).]

The oldest surviving manuscript of the Devi MÄhÄtmya, on palm-leaf, in an early Bhujimol script, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century.

 

 

 

 

 Devi Mahatmya is the first religious text to define the Supreme Reality (God) as a female principle.   Devi Mahatmya is found in the Markandeya Purana. Composed some 1,600 years ago, c. 400-500 CE, 

 

Once the Trinity concept degenerated to a constant struggle between Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha it resulted in the murder of Brahma leaving behind the two major sects of Vaisnava and Saiva.  The Female face the Holy Spirit of the original Trinity took to form in the absence of Brahma and the Sakti cult formed.  It essentially started with the Saivite sect forming a Trinity of Siva, Sakti and Ganesha as the Father, Holy Spirit and Son.  The basic Siva was then shown to be both Male and Female before the creation in the dance of Ardha Nareeswara (Half Woman God)

 

 
Shiva and Devi are regarded as the twofold personalization of Brahman, the primeval substance. Which then appears as Siva and Sakthi separated and in action.  Sankara (9^th C AD) interpreted this as “Supreme, Devi holds ‘the universe in Her womb’

The Union produced the created world.  Siva without Sakti is Sava (dead body).

(Joh 6:63)  It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail.   It represents the union of Prakriti and Energy.  Together it creates forms from nothing.  This is also shown in the Linga Yoni symbolism.

Only when Shiva is united with Shakti does he have the power to create - Saundaryalahari

The height of worship for Devi was the period of the Tantras, the seventh century onwards, when release was found possible through mithuna, ‘the state of being a couple’.

http://www.bhagavadgitausa.com/KALI.htm
V.Krishnaraj gives this detailed meaning of the symbolism

 “That 1 and 0 are represented in Lingam on its base. Siva is the first ONE who said, I  (Aham).  That is divine Ego, from which all individual egos came later via Sakti. Upon telling Sakti that He is One, she accepted Her position, Zero (0) initially. Here zero does not mean She is a non-entity. That is when the unitary Siva-Sakti (two cotyledons in a seed) became polarized, gendered and created the Universe and beings. Sakti looked at Him (Pum Rupa = male form, the One) with longing eyes (Sivon Mukhi = turning towards Siva). This is called Mithah Samavaya, mutual agreement or obligation to begin creation.  Siva is Consciousness and Sakti is matter (Prakrti). Being ONE (1) is being lonely. One is no more than ONE without the zero (0). From this union of One and Zero comes all numbers, alphabets, combinations, permutations, fractions, beings, matter, souls, and endless possibilities.“

 By the 10^th – 11^th century AD she is established as an independent deity in India.

As stressed in most Tantrik teachings all things were created by Mahamaya and from her Yoni as also all the Gods and all beings.

The Devi is Venerated by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva

Devi becomes Adi Para Sakthi – the Primal Eternal Energy
worshipped by the Trimurthi and the gods

As in all earlier cultures this concept of sex degenerated into various secret cultic foms involving  magic, witchcraft, immorality, and occult powers.  An example of the perverted expression of the truth, a travesty of the original practices, is the theory of the five Makaras (Pancha Makaras);-Madya or wine, Mamsa or flesh, Matsya or fish, Mudra or symbolical acts, and Maithuna or coition.  In order achieve this, Tantra is declared as a secret doctrine. It is a Gupta Vidya.   It then takes many divergent forms of worship and rituals.   

 

  In Sankara’s theology here is the scheme:

 

As in all earlier cultures this concept of sex degenerated into various secret cultic foms involving  magic, witchcraft, immorality, and occult powers.  An example of the perverted expression of the truth, a travesty of the original practices, is the theory of the five Makaras (Pancha Makaras);-Madya or wine, Mamsa or flesh, Matsya or fish, Mudra or symbolical acts, and Maithuna or coition.  In order achieve this, Tantra is declared as a secret doctrine. It is a Gupta Vidya.   It then takes many divergent forms of worship and rituals.   

According to The Brahma Yamala there are three currents of tradition ,dakshina (right handed of Sattva guna) , vama (left handed of Tamo guna) , and madhyama (Middle of Rajo Guna )

Vamachara  follows with  pancha-makara, the "Five Ms: Madya (Intoxicant Drink), Mamsa (Meat), Matsya (Fish), Mudra (Cereal), and Maithuna (Sexual Intercourse).    Dakshinachara consists of traditional asceticism and meditation. 

 

It is easy to see how the ideal concepts of Holy Spirit as the creative process in the Trinity and the idea that love is the fulfilment of law has been high jacked into perverted forms in the Vamachara.  

Remember Dwaraka.
Remember Sodom and Gomorah.
Remember Roman and Greek Cultures. 
Lest we also perish likewise.

Dwaraka Sila – witness to the lost world