Phallic Miscellanies Part 6

These Shastrus direct that the person or persons who wish to perform this puja must first, in the night, take a woman as the object of wors.h.i.+p. If the person who performs this wors.h.i.+p be a duks.h.i.+nacharu, he must take his own wife, and if a vamacharu, he must take the daughter of a dancer, a kupalee, a washerman, a barber, a chundalu, or of a mussulman, or a prost.i.tute, and place her on a seat or mat; and then bring boiled fish, flesh, fried peas, rice, spirituous liquors, sweetmeats, flowers, and all the other offerings and things necessary for the puja. These offerings, as well as the female, must next be purified by the repeating of incantations. To this, succeeds the wors.h.i.+p of the person's guardian deity; and after this the wors.h.i.+p of the female, with all the ceremonies included in the term puja. The female must be naked during the wors.h.i.+p.... Here indecencies not fit to be recorded in the present age and country, are contained in the directions of the shastru for this wors.h.i.+p, relating to every part of the body in turn. Ward said that the learned Brahmin who opened to him these abominations, made several efforts-paused and began again, and then paused again, before he could p.r.o.nounce the shocking indecencies prescribed by his own shastrus.

As the object of the wors.h.i.+p was a living person, at the close of the puja she partook of the offerings in the presence of the wors.h.i.+pper or wors.h.i.+ppers. Hence she drank of the spirituous liquors, ate of the flesh, though it was that of the cow, and also of the other offerings.

The orts were to be eaten by the person or persons present, while sitting together, however different their castes may be, nor might any one despise any of the offerings, or refuse to eat of them; the spirituous liquors were to be drunk by measure. The company while eating had to put food also in each other's mouths.

Ward wrote:-"The person who performs the ceremonies, in the presence of all, behaves towards this female in a manner which decency forbids to be mentioned. The persons present must then perform puja in a manner unutterably abominable, and here this most diabolical business closes. At present persons performing these abominations are becoming more and more numerous. They are called vamacharees. In proportion as these things are becoming common, so much the more are the ways of performing them more and more beastly. They are done in secret: but that these practices are becoming very frequent among the Brahmins and others is a fact known to all. The persons who perform these actions agreeably to the rules of the Shastrus are very few. The generality do those parts that belong to gluttony, drunkenness and wh.o.r.edom only, without being acquainted with all the minute rules and incantations of the shastrus."

Pratapuchandra Ghosha, in reading a paper before the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in September, 1870, said:-"In the earliest portraits of the Aryan race, as delineated in the Vedas, we find their ideas and their thoughts centred in their homes, their cattle, their fields, and in the discomfiture of their enemies. Their wants were few, and their prayers, therefore, were less varied; and their ceremonies were, probably, equally simple. But this simplicity wore within itself the seed of a very complex system of thought. Everything that was useful in some way or other, everything that was beautiful or awful in nature, or that excited unusual feelings, or suggested new ideas, was estranged from the ordinary and a.s.sociated with the supernatural. A new current of thought soon after set in. In the freshness of imagination during the primitive state of society, comparisons, metaphors, and allegories, were soon changed into real ent.i.ties, and mythology rapidly gained ground in men's minds. Thus, the Puranas, by a natural poetical idea, made the sun and the moon, which witness all that is done on the earth, the spies of the divine ruler-a myth describing the all-pervading nature of their rays. In the Vedas, they are regarded as the universal witnesses of all ceremonies. The Rahu, the ascending node, is derived from the verb literally meaning to abandon, void, hence also black, darkness, shadow, etc., and is represented in mythology as having no body, the _umbra_ of the astronomers. The _umbra_ may be said to devour as it were the luminaries. Later mythology makes Rahu a trunkless head, an ingenious mythological adaptation of the umbra which devours, but inasmuch as it has no body, the moon comes out from the throat. Again, poetic imagination or extreme fear, personifies qualities, and that to such an extraordinary extent, that while describing the bloodthirsty vengeance of Sakti, she is said to have, in the _Chhinnamasta_ incarnation, cut off her own head from the trunk, and with the gaping trunkless skull gluttonously drank her own blood which springs with the warmth of life. However hideous the conception is, it is the result of the license allowed to poets to use partial similitudes. To such flights of unshackled imagination, the variously formed sphinxes of the Chaldeans are but mere flutters of the wings. As allegories ill.u.s.trative of the concentration of force to overcome difficulties, and the adaptation of means to a purpose, the achievements of Durga offer many interesting instances. On the occasion of vanquis.h.i.+ng the mighty _Asuras_, Sumbha and Nisumbha, and their general, named Mahishasura (the buffaloe-demon), the several G.o.ds are made to direct their energy to their weapons for the purpose. The G.o.ddess Durga, representative of this union, sprung forth with ten arms, fit to crush several _Asuras_ at one fell swoop. Kali, another incarnation of Sakti, in the war with Raktavija, a demon multiplying his race, as his name implies, from the drops of blood flowing from his body, and touching the earth, is represented as having licked up the blood as it streamed forth from his person with a view to arrest that dreadful propagation.

"Many of these myths, again, may be traced partly to oriental hyperbole, and partly to the many-sided meanings of the words used in describing them: figurative expressions were seized and new myths were invented in ill.u.s.tration of them. Others again are ill.u.s.trative of national customs; thus the protruded tongue of Kali has been the theme of several fanciful tales. With some, in the heat of the battle, Kali was so maddened, that the G.o.ds despaired of the world, and sent Siva, her husband to appease her. Siva crept among the dead soldiers lying in the field, and contrived to pa.s.s under the feet of Kali, who no sooner perceived her husband trampled under her feet, than she became abashed, and in the fas.h.i.+on of the women of the country, bit her tongue as expressive of her regret and indelicacy.

"It is amusing to follow the line of argument put forth in the Puranas in support of these myths. In some instances, they approach so near the ludicrous, that were it not for their thorough adaptability to the state of native society of the time, their fallacies would have been long ago exposed, and the whole Puranic system spurned and despised.

"Sakti is Force. Originally a sect of Hindoos wors.h.i.+pped force and matter as eternal. The word being in the feminine gender, its personification is a female divinity of supernatural powers, and every occupation which called for great exercise of energy and power at once selected her as tutelary G.o.ddess, and she is now the most popular of all the three and thirty millions of the Hindu pantheon. _Saktaism_ has since imbibed so many brutal practices of cannibalism, human sacrifices, and baccha.n.a.lian rites, that the very name of a Sakta, inspires horror and disgust, nevertheless the unholy Tantras, which propound and explain the principles of this doctrine, and give rules for wors.h.i.+pping the different forms of Sakti, are increasing in number and popularity. They were, until lately, comparatively unknown beyond the frontier of Bengal, but copies of MSS. are now demanded from every quarter of Hindustan. The Tantric system is of Bengali origin, and its rites and customs are ultimately interwoven with those of the hill tribes, especially those of Nepal and a.s.sam. Demonology is a princ.i.p.al feature in the Sakta faith, and the various nocturnal ceremonies are fixed which were much in vogue in Bengal, even as late as about fifty years ago."

The great feature of the religion taught by the Tantras is the wors.h.i.+p of Sakti-Divine power personified as a female, and individualised, not only in the G.o.ddesses of mythology, but in every woman: to whom, therefore, in her own person religious wors.h.i.+p may be and is occasionally addressed. The chief objects of adoration, however, are the manifold forms of the bride of Siva; Parvati, Uma, Durga, Kali, Syama, Vindhya-vasini, Jaganmata, and others. Besides the usual practices of offerings, oblations, hymns, invocations, the ritual comprises many mystical ceremonies and accompaniments, gesticulations and diagrams, and the use in the commencement and close of the prayers of various monosyllabic e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns of imagined mysterious import.

Even in its last exceptionable division it comprehends the performance of magical ceremonies and rites, intended to obtain super-human powers, and a command over the spirits of heaven, earth, and h.e.l.l. The popular division is, however, called by the Hindus themselves, the _left-hand_ Sakta faith. It is to this that the b.l.o.o.d.y sacrifices offered to Kali must be imputed; and all the barbarities and indecencies perpetrated at the Durga Puja, the annual wors.h.i.+p of Durga, and the Churuk Puja, the swinging festival, are to be ascribed.

There are other atrocities which do not meet the public eye. This is not a random foundationless charge, we have the books describing the rites and ceremonies, some of them are in print, veiled necessarily in the obscurity of the original language, but incontrovertible witnesses of the veracity of the charge. Of course no respectable Hindu will admit that he is a Vamachari, a follower of the left-hand ritual, or that he is a member of a society in which meat is eaten, wine is drunk, and abominations not to be named are practised. The imputation will be indignantly denied, although, if the Tantras be believed, "many a man who calls himself a Saiva, or a Vaishnava, is secretly a Sakta, and a brother of the left-hand fraternity."[12]

[12] Wilson's Lectures.

The wors.h.i.+ppers of Sakti have always been divided into two cla.s.ses, a right and a left-hand order, and three sub-divisions of the latter were enumerated, who until lately were still well known-the Purnabhis.h.i.+ktas, Akritarthas, Kritakrityasamas.

Time, and the presence of foreign rulers, it is evident to all observers, have very much modified the character of much of the Hindu wors.h.i.+p; if the licentious practices of the Saktas are still as prevalent as ever, which may well be questioned, they are, at least, carefully concealed from observation, and if they are not exploded, there are other observances of a more ferocious description, which seem to have disappeared. The wors.h.i.+p of Bhairava, still prevails amongst the Saktas and the Jogis; but in upper India, at least, the naked mendicant, smeared with funeral ashes, armed with a trident or a sword, carrying a hollow skull in his hand, and half intoxicated with the spirits which he has quaffed from that disgusting wine-cup, prepared, in short, to perpetrate any act of violence and crime, the Kapalika of former days, is now rarely, if ever, encountered.

A hundred years ago, the wors.h.i.+ppers of the Sakti were exceedingly numerous amongst all cla.s.ses of Hindus, it was computed that of those of Bengal, at least three-fourths were of this sect. The bride of Siva in one or other of her many and varied forms, was by far the most popular emblem in Bengal, and along the Ganges.

The wors.h.i.+p of the female princ.i.p.al, as distinct from the divinity, appears to have originated in the literal interpretation of the metaphorical language of the Vedas, in which the will or purpose to create the universe, is represented as originating from the creator, and co-existent with him as his bride, and part of himself. Thus in the Rig Veda, it is said, "That divine spirit breathed without afflation single, with her who is sustained within him; other than him nothing existed." First desire was formed in his mind, and that became the original productive seed, and the Sama Veda, speaking of the divine cause of creation, says, "He felt not delight, being alone. He wished another, and instantly became such. He caused his ownself to fall in 'twain, and thus became husband and wife. He approached her, and thus were human beings produced." In those pa.s.sages it is not unlikely that reference is made to the primitive tradition of the origin of mankind, but there is also a figurative representation of the first indication of wish or will in the Supreme Being. Being devoid of all qualities whatever, he was alone, until he permitted the wish to be multiplied to be generated with himself. This wish being put into action, it is said, became united with its parent, and then created beings were produced. Thus this first manifestation of divine power is termed _Ichchhaupaa_, personified desire, and the creator is designated as _Swechchamaya_, united with his own will; whilst in the Vedanta philosophy, and the popular sects, such as that of Kabir, and others, in which all created things are held to be illusory, the Sakti, or active will of the deity, is always designated and spoken of as Maya, or Mahamaya, original deceit or illusion.

CHAPTER VI.

Further account of Right-hand and Left-hand wors.h.i.+p-The practices of the Vamis or Vamacharis-The rite of Mantra Sadhana-Ceremony of Sri Chakra-Claim of the priests to supernatural power-Legends.

With regard to what have been called right-hand and left-hand wors.h.i.+p we proceed to develop a few further particulars on the authority of certain statements made in the Calcutta Review for 1848. When the wors.h.i.+p of the Shakti is publicly performed, and in a manner quite harmonious to the Vaidik or Puranik ritual, and free from all obscene practices and impurities, it is termed the Dhaks.h.i.+na or right-hand form of wors.h.i.+p; and those who adopt this pure ritual are termed Dhaks.h.i.+nacharis. The peculiarities of this sect were described at length, many years ago, in a work compiled by Kasinath, and ent.i.tled _Dhaks.h.i.+nachara_, _Tantra Raja_. According to this authority-the ritual declared in the Tantras of the Dhaks.h.i.+nacharis is pure, and conformable to the Vedas. Its leading parts are:-

1st.-_Auchmana._ The object of this, as well as some other ceremonies that follow, is the purification of the wors.h.i.+ppers. It consists in taking up water from a copper vessel, with a small spoon of the same metal, by the left hand, and pouring a small quant.i.ty of it on the half-closed palm of the right hand: in sipping up this water thrice with the lips, and in touching with the fingers in rapid succession, the lips, the eyes, and other parts of the head, along with the repet.i.tion of proper formulae. With respect to the quant.i.ty of water to be sipped, it is directed and strictly enjoined that it must be such as to run down the throat to the mouth of the sophagus, and no further.

2nd.-_Shasti Buchana._ This part of the ceremony is performed with the view of rendering the result of adoration beneficial to the wors.h.i.+pper. Mention is now made of the month, the age of the moon, and the day in which the ceremony takes place, and then appropriate mantras are repeated, such as, like good omens, are believed to prognosticate happy results.

3rd.-_Sankalpa._ This is like the prayer part of a pet.i.tion. In this the adorer discloses the immediate object of his wors.h.i.+p, mentioning again by name the month, the fortnight, whether dark or bright, and the age of the moon. He mentions also his own proper name and his gotra, which is always the name of some ris.h.i.+ or saint. A fruit, generally a betel-nut or a _haretaki_, is necessary, which is held in the water contained in the copper vessel called Kosha.

4th.-_Ghatasthapana._ or the placing of a pot. This consists in placing a pot or jar, generally made of earth, but sometimes of bra.s.s or any pure metal, on a small elevation formed of mud,-the mud of the thrice sanctifying Ganges is of course preferable to any other. The jar is filled with water, a bunch of mango leaves, with a green cocoanut, or a ripe plantain, is placed on its top, and the sectarial mark called the yantra is painted with red lead on its front. This is to serve for a temporary abode of the G.o.ddess, whose presence in it is wors.h.i.+pfully solicited.

5th.-_Samanya Argha Sthapana._ This part of the devotion is opened by offering prayers to the ten cardinal points, which, according to the Hindus, are the East, South-east, South, South-west, West, North-west, North, North-east, the Zenith, and the Nadir, presided over by Indra, Agni, Yama, Nairit, Baruna, Bayu, Kubera, Isha or Mohadeva, Brahma and Ananta. After this, what is called an Argha, composed of a small quant.i.ty of soaked rice and a few blades of durva-gra.s.s, is to be placed on a dumb-conch sh.e.l.l, on the left side of the wors.h.i.+pper; and if, besides the wors.h.i.+pper, any Brahman, or Brahmans be present, a few grains of rice must be given to each of them, after which, they all throw the rice on the pot.

6th.-_Ashan Suddhi_, or literally the purification of the seat, but technically, of the posture in which the wors.h.i.+pper is to sit or stand while engaged in his devotion. This varies according to the immediate object of wors.h.i.+p. The Tantras prescribe eighty thousand different sorts of postures. Some of these are impossible, others are very painful, all are more or less ludicrous.

7th.-_Bhuta Shuddhi_, or the purification of the body. It is called Bhuta Suddhi, for the body is believed to be composed of the five elementary substances called bhuta, viz., earth, water, fire, air, and ether. In this observance, the wors.h.i.+pper is to conceive, that his old body is consumed, and that a new and purified one is put on. It is declared that fire and nectar are deposited in every man's forehead; and it is by this brain-fire that the old body is to be conceived to be reduced to ashes, on which nectar being mentally sprinkled over, a regenerated body must be conceived to come to existence by virtue of the mantras.

8th and 9th.-_Pranayain_ and _Rishyadinyas_. These are introductory prayers, inviting the presence of the G.o.ddess.

10th and 11th.-_Matrikanyas_ and _Barnanyas_. These are singular rites, in which the wors.h.i.+pper repeats in order the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, each with the Anaswara combined, as ang, ang, kang, khang, gang, ghang, and so on with the rest. And as he repeats these letters, which are fifty in number, he touches fifty different parts of his own body, according to directions minutely laid down in the Tantras; and when an earthen image of the G.o.ddess is to be wors.h.i.+pped for the first time, the officiating priest touches also the corresponding parts of the idol.

12th.-_Dyana._ In this, the wors.h.i.+pper is required, by closing both his eyes, to form the image of his guardian divinity in his mind, and to fix his mental vision upon it for some time.

13th.--_Abahan_, _Chakshudan_, and _Pranpratistha_. When the wors.h.i.+p is performed without an image of the G.o.ddess, she is invoked to vouchsafe her presence in the jar.

14th.-_Pujah_, or the presenting of offerings of rice, fruit, incense, etc.

15th.-_Lelehi Mudra_, or the performance of the gesticulation called Lelehi, which consists in putting the palm of the right hand upon the back of the left, and shaking the fingers. There are no less than sixty-four thousand different sorts of Mudra prescribed in the Tantras.

16th.-_Abarana Pujah_, or the wors.h.i.+p of the attendants of the G.o.ddess.

17th.-_Mahakala Pujah_, or the adoration of Mahakala, a form of s.h.i.+va.

18th.-_Balidan_, or the offering of sacrifice, commonly a blood offering.

19th.-_Kabajan Patheth._ In praise of the exploits of the G.o.ddess.

20th.-_Homa._ Pouring clarified b.u.t.ter upon the consecrated fire, made for the purpose on a bed of sand about one foot square. The ashes are worn on the forehead, and the residue carefully deposited or buried in a corner of the house.

The Vamis, or the left-hand wors.h.i.+ppers, adopt a form of wors.h.i.+p contrary to that which is usual, and they not only wors.h.i.+p the Shakti of Siva in all her terrific forms, but pay adoration to her numerous fiend-like attendants, the Yoginis, Dakinis, and the Sankinis.

The rites practised by the Vamis or Vamacharis are so grossly obscene, as to cast into shade the worst inventions which the most impure imagination can conceive. "In this last mentioned sect (the Shaktas),"

says a learned Sanskrit scholar, "as in most others, there is a right-handed and decent path, and a left-handed and indecent mode of wors.h.i.+p, but the indecent wors.h.i.+p of this sect is most grossly so, and consists of unbridled debauchery, with wine and women. This profligate sect is supposed to be numerous, though unavowed. In most parts of India, if not in all, they are held in deserved detestation; and even the decent Shaktas do not make public profession of their tenets, nor wear on their foreheads the mark of the sect, lest they should be suspected of belonging to the other branch of it." Solitude and secrecy being strictly enjoined to the Vamis, they invariably celebrate their rites at midnight, and in most unfrequented and private places. They neither acknowledge their partic.i.p.ation in these most scandalous orgies, nor, as we have already remarked, confess that they belong to any branch of the Shakta sect, although their reserve in this respect is becoming every day more and more relaxed, if not of all, at least, of many. Those, whose immediate object is the attainment of super-human powers, or whose end is specific, aiming at some particular boon or gift, are more strict on the point, lest they reap no fruits of their devotion. They never admit a companion, nor even one of their own fraternity, into the place of their wors.h.i.+p.

Even when they are believed by the credulous Hindus to have become s.h.i.+ddas, that is, possessed of supernatural powers; or in other words, when they have acquired sufficient art to impose upon their ignorant and superst.i.tious countrymen, and have established their reputation as men capable of working miracles, they take every care not to disclose the means through which they have attained the object of their wishes, unless revealed by some accidental occurrence or unlooked-for circ.u.mstance. Those whose object is of a general character, hold a sort of convivial party, eating and drinking together in large numbers, without any great fear of detection. But yet they always take care to choose such secluded spots for the scenes of their devotion, as lie quite concealed from the public view. They generally pa.s.s unnoticed, and are traced out only when we make it our aim to detect them by watching over their movements like a spy. At present, as their chief desire appears to be only the gratification of sensual appet.i.tes, they are at all times found to be more attentive to points which have a direct reference to the indulgence of their favourite pa.s.sions, than to those minor injunctions which require of them secrecy and solitude. These, however, they are obliged to observe, at least in part, for their own account; for the abominations which, under the name of religious rites, they practice, cannot but expose them to disgrace and reproach, even among the degenerate Hindus.[13]

[13] Religious Sects of India by H. H. Wilson.

Guided by the same authority we present a brief summary of the princ.i.p.al rites observed by the above sect. The drinking of spirituous liquors, more or less, is with them, we are told, no less a habit than a religious practice. They will perform no religious ceremony without wine. In their various forms of daily wors.h.i.+p, in the performance of all their ceremonial rites, in the celebration of all their public festivals, wine is indispensable. Every article of food which they offer to their G.o.ddess, is sprinkled over with the intoxicating liquor. Here it should be observed that the orthodox Vamis will never touch any foreign liquor or wine, but use only the country doasta, which they drink out of a cup formed either of the cocoa, or of a human skull. The liquor is first offered to their especial divinity in quart bottles or pints, but more frequently in _chaupalas_ and earthen jars, and then distributed round the company, each member having a cup exclusively his own. If there be no company, the wors.h.i.+pper pours the liquor into his own cup and after certain motions and prayers, empties it at a single draught. They call themselves and all other men that drink wine, _birs_ or heroes, and those that abstain from drinking, _pasus_, _i.e._, beasts. No sooner is a child born, than they pour into its mouth a drop or two of wine; at the time of its Sankara, called the _Anna prasana_, which takes place at the sixth moon from its birth, if it be a male, or at the seventh moon, if it be a female, they give it pieces of cork or _shola_ dipped in wine to be sucked, so they habituate the child from its cradle, in the drinking of spirituous liquors. At the time of the princ.i.p.al initiation, or _mantra grahana_, that is, when the specific or Bij mantra is received from the Guru, he and his new disciple drink together, the former at intervals giving instructions to the latter as to the proper mode of drinking. Whenever the spiritual guide visits a Kaula family, all its members, men, women, and children, gather round him, and with great cheers and feasting, drink his health as he drinks theirs. The fact is, drinking is carried on to an infamous and degrading extent, their principle is said to be, drink, and drink, and drink again, till you fall flat on the ground; the moment you rise, drink again, and you shall obtain final liberation.

In justice to some who are exceptions to this rule, we must observe that all Vamacharis are not drunkards, though they all drink. Some of the Tantras prescribe the exact quant.i.ty to be drunk. According to their prescription, the least dose to be taken is an ounce, and the largest not exceeding three ounces.

There is another variety of the Vamis who subst.i.tute certain mixtures in the place of wine. These mixtures are declared in the Tantras to be equivalent to wine, and to possess all its intrinsic virtues without the power of intoxication; such as the juice of the cocoanut received in a vessel made _kansa_: the juice of the water-lemon mixed with sugar, and exposed to the sun; mola.s.ses dissolved in water, and contained in a copper vessel, etc.

In all the ceremonies, which not only comprehend the wors.h.i.+p of the Shakti, but are performed for the attainment of some proposed object, the presence of a female, as the living representative, and the type of the G.o.ddess, is indispensably necessary. Such ceremonies are specific in their nature, and are called _Shadhanas_. Some who are more decent than the rest of the sect, join their wives in the celebration of the gloomy rites of Kali. Others make their beloved mistresses partners in their joint devotion. Here the rite a.s.sumes a blacker aspect. The favourite concubine is disrobed, and placed by the side or on the thigh of her paramour who is in the same condition. In this situation, the usual calmness of the mind must be preserved, and no evil lodged in it. Such is the requisition of the Shastras, say the Vamis, when reproached for their brutal practices.

In this way is performed the rite called the _Mantra Sadhana_. It is, as must be expected, carried on in great secrecy, and is said to lead to the possession of supernatural powers. The religious part of it is very simple, consisting merely of the repet.i.tion of the Mula mantra, which may or may not be preceded by the usual mode of Shakta wors.h.i.+p.

Hence it is called the _Mantra Sadhana_, to distinguish it from other sorts of Sadhanas. After ten P.M., the devotee, under pretence of going to bed, retires into a private chamber, where, calling his wife or mistress, and procuring all the necessary articles of wors.h.i.+p, such as wine, grains, water, a string of beads, etc., he shuts the doors and the windows of the room, and, sitting before a lighted lamp, joins with his partner in drinking. The use of this preliminary is obvious.

When, by the power of the spirits, the veil of shame is withdrawn, he, making his wife or mistress sit in the manner already described, begins to repeat his mantra, and continues to do so till one, two, or three o'clock in the morning. At intervals the gla.s.s is repeated, and the ceremony is closed in a manner which decency does not allow us to state.

We now come to the blackest part of the Vama wors.h.i.+p. Nothing can be more disgusting, nothing more abominable, nothing more scandalously obscene, than the rite we are about to describe. The ceremony is called s.h.i.+-Chakra, Purnabhisheka, the ring or full initiation. This wors.h.i.+p is mostly celebrated in mixed societies, composed of motley groups of various castes, though not of creed. This is quite extraordinary, since, according to the established laws of the caste system, no Hindu is permitted to eat with an inferior. But here the rule is at once done away with, and persons of high caste, low caste, and no caste, sit, eat, and drink together. This is authorised by the Shastras in the following text:-"While the Bhairavi Tantra (the ceremony of the Chakra) is proceeding, all castes are Brahmans-when it is concluded they are again distinct." Thus while the votaries of the Shakti observe all the distinctions of caste in public, they neglect them altogether in the performance of her orgies.