Continued--------
Of course , Bhairvanand develops a liking for chandan and writes some-thing that smells of human weakness but that is,another story . It is for this fall that he gets a chiding from Maya Dee in a way that throws revealing light in different tantric sadhanas Maya Dee scolds in her heavy, loud and hittig voice ' Fie.fie, I would not allow Unworthy conduct in this holy sanctuary. I have stuck the Trident here after having sit in the midst of scores of human skulls and realizing them. You are going to sink in the repulsive triangle of sin. Is It proper for you to leave the Siddhawrata path and take to vamachar-left- handed practice like guru Matsyenderanath. The lines make it clear that the main Tantric Tradition was that of purity,celibacy and detachment. Only vamachar is thought in terms of sex as a ladder towards higher spiritual ascent . The Philosophy here too was not unsound but the method certainly was . In Bankim Chandra 's well-known novelette ' Kapal Kundla ' that saw light in 1866 the portrayal of the Kapalic is certainly a vamachari portrayal. If this portrayal is to be taken as authentic presentation of the Tantric Sadhanaa of Kapalic school it will have to be accepted that many undesirable practices hadcrept in, perhaps because of ignorance of the bublime theories. It is difficult for modern man to understand the mental-working of those times when rationality and reasoning was mostly confined to the discussion of the nature of divinity and all that one needed to be hailed as great was the strangeness and awe-inspiring nature of rituals one adopted to seek the pleasure of that divinity. In the light of advanced scientific thought and resultant technology many of the old concepts seem to be childish and one wonders how these beliefs held sway for centuries over the common mind. The Kapalik in kapal kundla is convinced beyond doubt that without human sacrifice his sadhana would remain incomplete. He takes wine in a bowl made of human skull and perhaps , he would have deflowered the vary girl he had brought up in the final phases of his frenzy because co-habitation like human sacrifice was considered an integral part of tantric finalit. There are hints to that effect in the novel. When kapal Kundla shows reluctence to leave his kapalik guardian the priestess of the kali temple tells her that she was an abandoned child and she had been brought up by the Kapalik only to use her for his Tantric perversions at the right time of sacrifical frenzy. She-the priestess-also tells her that in certain Tantric sects no realization of the Supreme Sakti can be had without deflowering a virgin. Of course, she hs no doubt that these practices are anti-religious and abominable and that Ma Sakti never approves of them but they are there and a virgin in thheir circle is sure to lose her chastity. The description of the vestment appearance and materials used for Puja is also quite awe-inspiring although repulsive in nature. This is how the author presents the Kapalik setting in his japa or Dhyana, ' he was around twenty five. His upper part of the body was bare but he had the tiger -skin around the loins. A string of Rudraksh beads hung around his neck. The intire face was covered with beard, moustaches and matted hair. There was a pile of wood that spread glow all-around because of flames and ambers. A nauseating smell rent the air. The kapalik was sitting on a rotting corpse without head. Nearby lay the skull with dry stains of blood on it. Bones lay all around and there were bone pieces in the Rudrakshstiring as well.' In fact, after going through the novel one feels that despite the rejection of human sacrifices the author shares the traditional belief that Tantra retuals do lead to spectacular results of supernatural dimensions. Even the heroine of the novel Kapal Kundla comes under a sort of hallucination and feels that bhairavi is calling on her to make herself available for sacrifice. And here is the image that Kapal Kundla saw in those moments of intensive living. She heard the whisper' Daughter, I will lead you to sacrificial ground.' Kapal Kundla looks up towards the sky and sees a cloud -dark , awe-inspiring yet benign deity. Blood -drops trickle from the garland of human skulls around her neck. Around her waist there is a girdle of severed human fingers. There is human-skull bowel in the left-hand. Blood streams run on the whole body. There is bright glow on the fore-head and crescents make the balls of eyes.' This is how Bhairavi presented herself to Kapal Kundla . And she knew by her up bringing and by her inner urge that the only reality and the only emancipator was Bhairavi and to get sacrificed at her altar was in no way amean achievement. Tradition has its force and the work of reasoning is slow and takes time to cover the distant areas of ignorance. Aghora Tantra and vamachara have got a hair-raising yet attractive setting in Bankim Chandra's Kapal Kundla.
We have seen how a Kapalik performs his Puja or Japa. But Tantra, atleast the real strain of it ,admits of satvik puja and shooes off all gory practices as rotten tissues. Puja has its external aspects which is projected in worship of the deity with various upcharas like flowers incense, offerings etc. But it is only the first stage. A Sadhaka has to turn inwards. He is to move to the higher stage of Japa which means meditating on the form of the Devta denoted by the mantra. Japa should be made in---------
( Continued in next issue)
Of course , Bhairvanand develops a liking for chandan and writes some-thing that smells of human weakness but that is,another story . It is for this fall that he gets a chiding from Maya Dee in a way that throws revealing light in different tantric sadhanas Maya Dee scolds in her heavy, loud and hittig voice ' Fie.fie, I would not allow Unworthy conduct in this holy sanctuary. I have stuck the Trident here after having sit in the midst of scores of human skulls and realizing them. You are going to sink in the repulsive triangle of sin. Is It proper for you to leave the Siddhawrata path and take to vamachar-left- handed practice like guru Matsyenderanath. The lines make it clear that the main Tantric Tradition was that of purity,celibacy and detachment. Only vamachar is thought in terms of sex as a ladder towards higher spiritual ascent . The Philosophy here too was not unsound but the method certainly was . In Bankim Chandra 's well-known novelette ' Kapal Kundla ' that saw light in 1866 the portrayal of the Kapalic is certainly a vamachari portrayal. If this portrayal is to be taken as authentic presentation of the Tantric Sadhanaa of Kapalic school it will have to be accepted that many undesirable practices hadcrept in, perhaps because of ignorance of the bublime theories. It is difficult for modern man to understand the mental-working of those times when rationality and reasoning was mostly confined to the discussion of the nature of divinity and all that one needed to be hailed as great was the strangeness and awe-inspiring nature of rituals one adopted to seek the pleasure of that divinity. In the light of advanced scientific thought and resultant technology many of the old concepts seem to be childish and one wonders how these beliefs held sway for centuries over the common mind. The Kapalik in kapal kundla is convinced beyond doubt that without human sacrifice his sadhana would remain incomplete. He takes wine in a bowl made of human skull and perhaps , he would have deflowered the vary girl he had brought up in the final phases of his frenzy because co-habitation like human sacrifice was considered an integral part of tantric finalit. There are hints to that effect in the novel. When kapal Kundla shows reluctence to leave his kapalik guardian the priestess of the kali temple tells her that she was an abandoned child and she had been brought up by the Kapalik only to use her for his Tantric perversions at the right time of sacrifical frenzy. She-the priestess-also tells her that in certain Tantric sects no realization of the Supreme Sakti can be had without deflowering a virgin. Of course, she hs no doubt that these practices are anti-religious and abominable and that Ma Sakti never approves of them but they are there and a virgin in thheir circle is sure to lose her chastity. The description of the vestment appearance and materials used for Puja is also quite awe-inspiring although repulsive in nature. This is how the author presents the Kapalik setting in his japa or Dhyana, ' he was around twenty five. His upper part of the body was bare but he had the tiger -skin around the loins. A string of Rudraksh beads hung around his neck. The intire face was covered with beard, moustaches and matted hair. There was a pile of wood that spread glow all-around because of flames and ambers. A nauseating smell rent the air. The kapalik was sitting on a rotting corpse without head. Nearby lay the skull with dry stains of blood on it. Bones lay all around and there were bone pieces in the Rudrakshstiring as well.' In fact, after going through the novel one feels that despite the rejection of human sacrifices the author shares the traditional belief that Tantra retuals do lead to spectacular results of supernatural dimensions. Even the heroine of the novel Kapal Kundla comes under a sort of hallucination and feels that bhairavi is calling on her to make herself available for sacrifice. And here is the image that Kapal Kundla saw in those moments of intensive living. She heard the whisper' Daughter, I will lead you to sacrificial ground.' Kapal Kundla looks up towards the sky and sees a cloud -dark , awe-inspiring yet benign deity. Blood -drops trickle from the garland of human skulls around her neck. Around her waist there is a girdle of severed human fingers. There is human-skull bowel in the left-hand. Blood streams run on the whole body. There is bright glow on the fore-head and crescents make the balls of eyes.' This is how Bhairavi presented herself to Kapal Kundla . And she knew by her up bringing and by her inner urge that the only reality and the only emancipator was Bhairavi and to get sacrificed at her altar was in no way amean achievement. Tradition has its force and the work of reasoning is slow and takes time to cover the distant areas of ignorance. Aghora Tantra and vamachara have got a hair-raising yet attractive setting in Bankim Chandra's Kapal Kundla.
We have seen how a Kapalik performs his Puja or Japa. But Tantra, atleast the real strain of it ,admits of satvik puja and shooes off all gory practices as rotten tissues. Puja has its external aspects which is projected in worship of the deity with various upcharas like flowers incense, offerings etc. But it is only the first stage. A Sadhaka has to turn inwards. He is to move to the higher stage of Japa which means meditating on the form of the Devta denoted by the mantra. Japa should be made in---------
( Continued in next issue)
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