Sanskrit Text
Notes on Śakti and the Śāktas
Extracts from the Calcutta Review. No. XLVII, March 1855.
The Śāktas—Their characteristics and Practical influence in society.
In the Mārkāndeya Purānam, Nature (Prakṛti) is said ‘to have assumed three transcendent forms, according to her three Guṇas or qualities, and in each of them to have produced a pair of divinities, Brahmā and Sarasvatī, Maheśa and Kālī, Viṣṇu and Lakṣmī, after whose intermarriage, Brahmā and Sarasvatī formed the mundane egg, which Maheśa and Kālī divided into halves; and Viṣṇu, together with Lakṣmī, preserved from destruction.
The Tantras, which are full of mysteries and mystical symbols, while they admit the three forms of the female principal to be severally the representatives of the three primary Gūṇas, derive their origin from the conjunction of Bindu, or the sound called Anusvāra, and marked (*) with the Bīja or roots of mantras or incantations. Every specific mantra, or a mantra, peculiar or exclusively belonging to any divinity, consists of Bija or root, and the Anusvāra, which together from what is called a Nāda; and it is from the Nāda, or the combination of the two symbols, that the Three forms of Śakti are said to have had their origin. But this symbolical representation, the Tantras, which exalt Śiva and his bride, above all other divinities, mean, that Bindu and Bīja severally represent Śiva and Śakti. the parents of all other gods and goddesses. Thus: 'The Bindu, which is the soul of Śiva, and the Bīja which is the soul of Śakti, together form the Nāda, from which the three Śaktis are born (Kriyā Sāra Tantra). Here is another attempt of the worshippers of Śiva and his Śakti to identify their guardian divinities with the Supreme Brahma.
In the Gorakṣa Sarihītā, we read as follows, 'Will, action, and intelligence are in order the sources of Gaurī, the wife of Śiva, Brāhmī, the wife of Brahmā and Vaiṣṇavī, the wife of Viṣṇu.
The theory dismisses altogether the notion of the three Guñas, and substitutes will, action, and intelligence in their place.
Again the Šāstras, it appears, have increased the number of the female divinities, according as they have increased the number of the male deities or their incarnations. The Kūrma Purāṇam gives five forms of the original Šakti: 'And she (Mūlā Prakṛti) became in the act of creation fivefold by the will of the supreme.' And the forms which, according to this authority the original Prakṛti is said to have assumed, are: Ist, Durgā, the birde, Šakti, or Māyā of Śiva; 2nd, Lakṣmī, the bride, Šakti, or Māyā of Viṣṇu; 3rd Sarasvatī, the same of Brahmā, or in the Brahma Vaivarta Purānam of Hari, whilst the fourth, Śāvitrī is the bride of Brahmā. The fifth division, Rādhā, is unquestionably, as Dr. Wilson very justly remarks, ‘a modern intruder into the Hindu pantheon.’
In every successive creation of the universe, the Mūlā Prakṛti is said ‘to assume the different gradations of ‘Arñśa-rūpīnī, Kalā-rūpīnī, and Kalāmsa-rūpīnī, or manifests herself in portions, parts and portions of parts and further subdivisions. Thus the writes of the Purāṇas state: ‘In every creation of the world, the Devi, through Divine Yoga assumes divine forms and becomes Amsa-rūpā, Kalā-rūpā, and Kalārūnsa-rūpa, or Arñśārīsa-rūpā. The Arūsas form the class in which all the more important manifestations of the Śakti are comprehended, the Kalās include all the secondary Goddesses, and the Kalārūnsas and Arñśārūsas are subdivisions of the latter, and embrace all womankind, who are distinguished as good, middling or bad, according as they derive their being from the parts of their great original, in which the Sattva, Rajo and Tamo Guṇa predominates. At the same time, being regarded as manifestations of the one Supreme Spirit, they are all entitled not only to respect but to veneration. ‘Whoever,’ says the Brahma Vaivarta
Purānam, offends or insults a female' incurs the wrath of Prakṛti, whilst he who propitiates a female, particularly the youthful daughter of a Brāhmin, with clothes, ornaments and perfumes, offers worship to Prakṛti Herscll.'
We shall next determine the questions,—What is Śākta, and what is the complexion of his faith? By Śāktas are understood the worshippers of Śakti. This is true only when we take the term Śakti in its restricted sense. This term, which had originally but one primary signification, has in the course of time come to be used in two different senses, a general and a limited one. When taken in its widest sense, it means the allegorical representation of the active energy of God and is synonymous with Mūlā Prakṛti, the primitive source of Gods and men. In its limited sense, it is confined to Śiva Śakti, the Tāmasī, the offspring of darkness, and the last of the first three forms of the original Prakṛti. It is Śakti in this latter sense, the.bride of Śiva, whom, in her manifold forms, the Śaktas worship. The followers of the Śiva Śakti then are alone called Śāktas.
Every Hindu may pay his adoration to all the thirty-three Kotis of Gods and Goddesses composing the Hindu pantheon, but one and one only of the five divinities, Viṣṇu. Śiva, Sūrya, Ganapati and Śakti must be his Iṣṭa Devatā or tutelar divinity. Here is the marked distinction between general worshippers and special followers. To render this distinction more clear, we observe, that three are certain general formulas and prayers forming the ritual of worship of every praticalur divinity. These may be learnt by any Hindu from the Śāstras, or from the mouth of a Brāhmaṇa and used in the adoration of any God or Goddess, according to choice or necessity. But besides these general mantras, which may be made use of by any Hindu, without any distinction of sect, there are the Bīja or specific formulas, which are received only from the hallowed lips of the Guru or spiritual guide. These are kept in great secrecy and repeated manntally every day, as a matter of highest religious duty. The God or Goddess, whose Bija or Mūla mantra is received in the prescribed manner, by any devotee, becomes his guardian divinity; and the person, thus initiated, becomes the special follower of that divinity. The Śaktas, then, are the special followers of the Śakti of Śiva. They may in general worship any other God or Goddess, but the bride of Śiva, in one or other of her horrid manifestations, must be their guardian deity. The following passage, quoted from the works of Mr. Colebrooke, will much elucidate the subject.
That the Hindus belong to various sects, is universally known. Five great sects, exclusively worship a single deity. One recognises the five divinities, which are adored by the other sects respectively; but the followers of this most comprehensive scheme mostly select one object of daily devotion and pay adoration to other deities on particular occasions only. The Hindu theologists have entered into vain disputes on the question, which, among the attributes of God, shall be deemed characteristic and pre-eminent Śankarācārya, the celebrated commentator on the Vedas, contended for the attributes of Śiva; and founded or confirmed the sect of Śaivas, who worship Mahādeva as the supreme being, and deny the independent existence of Viṣṇu and other Deities. Mādhava Ācārya and Vallabha Ācārya have, in like manner, established the sect of Vaiṣṇavas who adore Viṣṇu as God. The Sauras (less numerous then the two sects above mentione) worship the Sun, and acknowledge no other divinity. The Gānapatyās adore Gānēśa, as uniting in his person all the attributes of the Deity. Before I notice the fifth sect, I must remind the reader, that the Hindu Mythology has personified the abstract and active powers of the divinity; and
has ascribed sexes to these mythological personages. The Śakti, or energy of an attribute of God, is female and is fabled as the consort of that personified attribute, * * * The exclusive adorers of the Śakti of Śiva, are the Sāktas. (Asiatic Researches, Vol. VII, pp. 279).
The Śāktas, who adopt the female principle in the last of her three principle modifications, as their special divinity,—instead of deriving her origin from the supreme Brahma, use to her the language which is invariably applied to the preferential object of worship in every sect, and contemplate her as the only source of life and existence. She is declared to he equally in all things, and that all things are in her, and that besides her there is nothing. In short, she is identified with the Supreme Being. Thus it is written in the Kāśī Khanda: ‘Thou art predicated in every prayer-Brahmā and the rest are all born from Thee. Thou art one with the four objects of life, and from Thee they come to fruit. From Thee this whole universe proceeds, and in Thee, asylum, of the world, all is, whether visible or invisible, gross or subtle in its nature: what is, Thou art in Śakti form and except Thee nothing has ever been. ‘The Śakti of Śiva being identified with Śaktimān, the Deity, is-declared to be not only superior to Her Lord, but the Cause of Him. Of the two objects (Śiva and Śakti) which are eternal, the greater is the Śakti.’ Again Śakti gives strength to Śiva; without Her he could not stir a straw. She is therefore the Cause of Śiva. (Śaṅkara Vijaya).
Although the Purāṇas do, to a certain extent, authorize the adoration of Śakti, yet the principal rites and incantations are derived from a different source. Of the Purāṇas, those which in particular inculcate the worship of the female principle, are the Brahma Vaivarta, the Skanda, and the Kālikā. But neither in them, nor in any other Purāṇam, do we find the Bija or radical mantras which the Śaktis receive from their spiritual guides. These, as well.
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