Prof. McDaniel: Śāktism and Ethnography: Some Major Styles of Worship and Belief among Practitioners

Hello everybody, welcome to the Oxford Centre of Hindu Studies. I'm very pleased to welcome back Professor June McDaniel. Professor McDaniel is Professor Emeritus in History of Religions in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of Charleston. She did her PhD from the University of Chicago and her NTS was from Emory University. Her research areas include mysticism, religions of India, psychology of religion, women in religion, and ritual studies. She did several years of field research in West Bengal and was funded by the Fulbright Scholarship and the American Institute for Indian Studies, which focused on religious experience and modern Shaktism. She's published several books on these topics, including Lost Ecstasy: Its Decline and Transformation in Religion, Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal, Making Virtuous Daughters into Wives: An Introduction to Brata Rituals of Bengal, The Madness of the Saints: Ecstatic Religion in Bengal, and she's edited some books as well, including Religious Experience in the Hindu Tradition. Her current work draws on comparisons between Bengali and Balinese Hinduism and examines religious emotion in different traditions. So, I'm a great fan of Professor McDaniel's work, and I'm so pleased that she's able to talk to us today on this topic. So, June, over to you.

chicago and her nts was from emory university and her research areas include mysticism religions of india psychology of religion women in religion and ritual studies she did several years of field research in west bengal and are funded by the fulbright

Hello. Okay, the study of Shaktism is a relatively new field, and its primary methodologies have been historical and textual study. In this lecture, we'll examine a different approach to Shaktism from the perspectives of practitioners and devotees. The regional focus will be West Bengal, India. Geographically, Shaktism or goddess worship in India has primarily two types: the South Indian worship of the goddess Shri or Lakshmi, and the North Indian worship of the goddess Kali. These types have different values and rituals, and they emphasize different goddesses or different forms of the same goddess depending on the theology. The first type, located primarily in southern India, sees the goddess as the embodiment of good fortune, fertility, and wealth, and respects the Brahmanical tradition, the mainstream Hindu tradition, which emphasizes caste and purity. It tends to follow the classical approach with knowledge of respect for scriptures. Shri is a goddess of blessing and auspiciousness in Mishrikul. The second type is found mostly in northern and eastern India, especially in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, and Orissa. The focus of this Kali lineage is on the goddess as the source of wisdom and liberation. It has a complex relationship with the Brahmanical tradition, which many of its practitioners understand to be overly conservative and rejecting the experiential aspects of religion in favor of scholarship and social status. Practitioners whom I've interviewed often claim to be Ash Austria, finding scripture to be only a beginning of deeper knowledge of the divine. Kali, Tara, and sometimes Durga are the main forms of the goddess in this tradition. There are ten different forms that are worshiped. The ten Mahadeos are great wisdom figures. There's also worship of both local and pan-Indian goddesses who are described in stories written in colloquial Bengali and in Sanskrit sacred texts. All of them may be understood as aspects of Shakti, the feminine power of creation and transformation. There are many origin stories of the goddesses and karanas, and they tend to include opposite aspects of the goddess: light and dark, creative and destructive. The black or fierce nature includes such goddesses as Kali, while the wider peaceful nature includes Um Rory Party Maheshwari. In her peaceful form, the goddess is wife, mother, and daughter, loving supporter, loving and supportive of her husband, while the fierce forms tend to have the goddess independent, often creating and destroying worlds. The mild forms portray a nurturing and sympathetic goddess. Theologically, understandings of the identity and origin of the goddess differ. Some chapter traditions say all goddesses are manifestations of the same goddess, Adi Shakti or Paramashakti, while others say that the many goddesses are separate and unique, or sometimes they're manifestations of one or more gods. There are several philosophical schools within Shaktism: their Shaktimonism, in which all phenomena are parts of the goddess whose deepest nature is Brahman or universal consciousness, and their Shaktotheism, in which there's a single great goddess who created the universe and continues to have power over it. They are Shaktopolytheism, in which many goddesses have different sorts of powers or specializations and sometimes compete for status and devotees with other goddesses or with male gods, and their Shakta henotheism, where many goddesses are recognized as legitimate but one goddess is the most powerful. Endowment monism, monotheism, polytheism, henotheism—all of these are legitimate positions in Shaktism, and each is widely held, and sometimes more than one position is held at a time. They hold different theologies, and due to the existence of several approaches to the religion, Shaktism is a vast maze of belief systems and practices. How shall we begin to understand it? From my perspective, looking at their major types is the easiest and clearest way to study them. So, we will look at these a bit more closely. Folk or tribal Shaktism, the first and oldest type or strand of Shaktism, is found in the rural areas of India, which we can call baptism. It is widespread among the adivasi, a term which many tribal groups prefer to call themselves today. It involves the worship of both tribal goddesses, often in the form of the Buddhi, the old woman, or ancestors, and local Hindu goddesses who have revealed themselves to villagers, often present as rocks or other natural objects. There's no sharp line between tribal and Hindu goddesses, and villagers often worship both types at the same altar. These goddesses are amoral and often dangerous, but once they're shown respect, they become benevolent and they're willing to help the worshipers. Sometimes such goddesses begin as unhappy women who died by violence, and later worship balances out their previous bad treatment that renders them harmless. But if they're not fed, their supernatural bodies starve, and they will curse those that are considered to be responsible. They require obedience more than love. These goddesses are usually associated with the group or tribe rather than the individual. They're also usually regional goddesses rather than pan-Indian ones. The pan-Indian names would be used for village deities. Sometimes the goddesses are competitive. The Kali of one village is not necessarily the Kali of another village. They may even be rivals. Folk Shaktism is practical, where the goddess was worshiped for her gifts of healing and fertility, for children and crops, and invoked for cases of barrenness, disease, and danger. The village religious specialist may be a headman or a non-Brahmana priest, a priestess as well as a trance medium. They learn how to contact the goddess and become a channel for her personality. In tribal areas, the specialist is usually a person trained in invoking deities and in magical healing, the Odja, Ogunan. More informally, traditions of worship and contact with the goddess may be taught by the older women of the community, especially through bratas, when Sanskrit fronts the vows and minor ascetic practices primarily performed by women and girls to gain blessings. In more urban areas, the priestess is a professional medium who gets possessed, usually by calling. The folk or tribal strand could also be called the shamanic strand, as its ritual specialists and the Odja function in many similar ways to those described in the literature on shamanism. However, shaman is a disputed term these days. Mircea Eliade's shamanic complex included initiation with illness, solitude or deals, apparitions, and death and rebirth experience, magical flight, and descent into the underworld, communicat—

making virtuous daughters into wives an introduction to brata rituals of bengal the madness of the saints ecstatic religion in bengal and she's edited some books as well including religious experience in the hindu tradition so and her current work draws on um

comparisons between bengali and balinese hinduism and examines religious emotion in different traditions so i'm a great fan of professor mcdaniel's work and i'm so pleased that she's able to talk to us today on this topic so june over to you

hello okay the study of shaktism is a relatively new field and its primary methodologies have been historical and textual study in this lecture we'll examine a different approach to shaktism from the perspectives of practitioners and devotees the regional focus will be west bengal

india geographically shaktism or goddess worship in india has primarily benefit types the south indian worship of the goddess shri or lakshmi and the north indian worship of the goddess kali these types have different values and rituals and they emphasize different

goddesses or different forms of the same goddess depending on the theology the first type located primarily in southern india sees the goddess as the embodiment of good fortune fertility and wealth and respects the grammonical tradition the mainstream hindu tradition

which emphasizes caste and purity it tends to follow the classical approach with the knowledge of respect for scriptures shari is a goddess of blessing and auspiciousness in mishrikul the second type is found mostly in northern and eastern india especially in

west bengal assam bihar and orissa the focus of this colleague lineage is on the goddess as the source of wisdom and liberation it has a complex relationship with the brahmanical tradition which many of its practitioners understand to be overly

conservative and rejecting the experiential aspects of religion in favor of scholarship and social status practitioners whom i've interviewed often claim to be ash austria finding scripture to be only a beginning of deeper knowledge of the divine kali tara and sometimes durga are the

main forms of the goddess in this tradition there are ten different forms that are worshiped the ten mahadeos are great wisdom figures there's also worship both local and pan-indian goddesses who are described in stories written in colloquial bengali

and in sanskrit sacred texts all of them may be understood as aspects of shakti the feminine power of creation and transformation there are many origin stories of the goddesses and karanas and they tend to include opposite aspects of the goddess

light and dark creative and destructive the black or fierce nature included such goddesses as colleagues while the wider peaceful nature included um rory party maheshwari in her peaceful form the goddess's wife mother and daughter loving supporter loving and supportive of her husband

while the fierce forms tend to have the goddesses independent often creating and destroying worlds the mild forms portray a nurturing and sympathetic goddess theologically understandings of the identity and origin of the goddess differ some chapter traditions say all

goddesses are manifestations of the same goddess adi shakti or paramashakti while others say that the many goddesses are separate and unique or sometimes they're manifestations of one or more gods there are several philosophical schools within shaktism their shaktimonism in

which all phenomena are parts of the goddess whose deepest nature is brahman or universal consciousness and they're shocked the man of theism in which there's a single great goddess who's created the universe and continues to have power over it they are shocked

at polytheism in which many goddesses have different sorts of powers or specializations and sometimes compete for status and devotees with other goddesses or with male gods and they're a chapter henotheism where many goddesses are recognized as legitimate but one goddess is the most

powerful endowment monism monotheism polytheism he know theism all of these are legitimate positions in shaktism and each is widely helped and sometimes more than one position is held at a time they hold different theologies and due to the existence of several

approaches to the religion shaptism is a vast maze of belief systems and practices how shall we begin to understand it from my perspective looking at their major types is the easiest and clearest way to study them so we will look at

these a bit more closely folk or tribal shaktism the first and oldest type or strand of shaptism is found in the rural areas of india which we can call baptism it is widespread among the adibasi a term which many tribal groups prefer to

call themselves today it involves the worship of both tribal goddesses often in the form of the buddhi the old woman or ancestors and local hindu goddesses who have revealed themselves to villagers often present as rocks or other natural objects

there's no sharp line between tribal and hindu goddesses and villages often villagers often worship both types at the same altar these goddesses are amoral and often dangerous but once they're shown respect they become benevolent and they're willing to help

the worshipers sometimes such goddesses begin as unhappy women who died by violence and later worship balances out their previous bad treatment that renders them harmless but if they're not fed their supernatural bodies starve and they will curse those that consider to be

responsible they require obedience more than love these goddesses are usually associated with the group of tribe rather than the individual they're also usually regional goddesses rather than pan-indian ones the pan-indian names would be used for village deities sometimes the goddesses are competitive

the kali of one village is not necessarily the colony of another village they may even be rivals folk shapism is practical where the goddess was worshiped for her gifts of healing and fertility for children and crops and invoked for cases of

barrenness disease and danger the village religious specialist may be a head man or a non-brahmana priest a priestess as well as a trans medium they learn how to contact the goddess and become a channel for her personality in tribal areas the specialist is

usually a person trained in invoking deities and in magical healing the odja ogunan more informally traditions of worship and contact with the goddess may be taught by the older women of the community especially through brats when sanskrit fronts the vows and minor aesthetic

practices primarily performed by women and girls to gain blessings in more urban areas the poor lady is a professional medium who gets possessed usually by calling the folk or tribal strand could also be called the shamanic strand as its ritual specialists

and the goodman function in many similar ways to those described in the literature on shamanism however shaman is in the disputed term these days mercha eliade's shamanic complex included initiation with illness solitude or deals apparitions and death and rebirth experience

magical flight and descent into the underworld communication with spirits and guardian deities and abilities and spiritual healing and the guiding of souls the ritual specialists of folk shaptism are believed to have several of these abilities and experiences they're initiated by practitioners in

solitude in the burning ground or the forest at midnight and they have visions of both ghosts and the goddess they gain power over spirits sometimes using a bone from a corpse or some other magical object they have control over trance

states in which they communicate with ancestors and deities and they have magical powers including healing control of the weather and fertility in these ways they follow the shamanic complex however they generally do not undergo illness death and rebirth though this

does sometimes happen and it's associated with periods of both madness and bad luck from curses or from the planets they do not always fly into heavens or hells or guide the souls of the dead or there may be a confrontation with the

deity associated with death in these ways they would not fit elijah's qualifications for xiaomi in folk shop isn't the goddess may be worshipped in several forms for example she may be the tribal colleague dark and powerful the hunter's goddess chandi or

mongol chandi manasha the snake goddess or shitala the smallpox goddess who also became the aids goddess and more recently the kophit goddess as koro namai or koronadevi she may also be worshipped as a variety of village goddesses grandma davies

powerful mothers matrikas or yoganese these last forms have an ambiguous nature sometimes dangerous and threatening sometimes protected she may appear as an old woman whose knowledge is reflected in her years as well as the forms of mother and warrior

as mother she grants fertility and happiness as warriors she grants protection from death and threat as old woman she teaches tribal traditions and its revelations the goddess and the folk strand may descend in possession trance or in disease the disease itself may be

understood as the goddess's presence and she may become ritually present in sacrifices and offerings she shows herself in dreams and visions often issuing commands to her future devotees the dream command is a major way that goddess statues are found and shrines

begun she may also manifest in natural settings as sacred rocks springs or openings for jets of steam the goddess is not a transcendent being living in a distant heaven but rather one who lives within nature and can be

contacted there in folklore there are often strong female devotees who come to be regarded as minor goddesses while the goddess acts to individuals her major focus in this strand is usually the village tribal or climate group folk tantra is primarily an oral

tradition handed down from village elders or priests or from guru to disciple this is partly because many of the village people who become priests or healers are illiterate and partly because the direct transmission of power and direct experience of the goddess are

decisive parts of the instruction encounter with the goddess may occur in dream or vision or in rare occasions recall results for reading books however for many villagers books have a negative association they vermonticle and they support cast depression

traditions of goddess worship are handed down in family and village groups they may incorporate some elements of more mainstream hinduism such as sanskrit mantras depending on the degree of hindu influence within the group we may note that while social economic

and political styles differ between these tribal and village hindu groups they are similar worship of similar deities ancestors local deities pan indian deities for similar reasons worldly happiness wealth health and fertility avoidance of bad luck etc both are concerned with divine power and

both hope to bless their lives with it some deities are shared by tribal religion and village hinduism such as durga kali and manasha there are tribal shelters for deities which are basically small temples and places of worship as well as hindu

deities worshiped the nature such as the durga worshiped by north bengal and hindus in the form of a great tree surrounded by flags for example the goddess chandis worshiped by both groups chandibanga is a subtle deity but mangle

chandi is a hindu one and both bless the fields when they are offered food and valuables there are also similarities with folk tantra we may note that both tribal oceans and shakta contracts have initiation at the burning ground hoping

for a gift of power contra yoga shaptism the second form or strand is that of the tantric ryoga shaktism its origins are debated but there are tantric elements from writings of the sixth century ce and major texts calling themselves

tantrus written by the 8th century ce in the tantric strand the goddess is reached by meditation and visualization and by tantric ritual worship making east of tantric mantras mudras and imagery yogic practice is often involved especially condominium yoga

there are two subtypes which we might call folk or popular tantra and classical or scholastic tantra in folk tantra the emphasis is on ritual practice direct experience and pragmatic results the goddess gives supernatural abilities cities and power or shakti and she

appears to the practitioner in the forest for burning ground she may also be ritually located in the human body by the practice of myassa or nash in the bengali in which deities are visualized in parts of the body

she may appear as a beautiful woman or frightening warriors and grant boons to the practitioner in exchange for worship the folk tantric male or female invokes the goddess and may temporarily merge with her or concert shiva or be

possessed by both of them traditionally the folk tantric sits at the burning ground or other deserted locales performing country worship he or she may empower amulets offer animal sacrifices and call on the souls of the dead the path often involves

violation of traditional norms and the conquest of instinctual fears and desires when the folk transfer shows that he or she has conquered fear especially the fear of death the goddess may then descend and give gifts including knowledge and liberation

he or she is usually isolated occasionally keeping in touch with his own guru or guru pais others initiated by the guru or meeting at set times with others in a chakra a tantric circle of ritual participants practitioners are usually renunciants

fault tantra is largely based on oral tradition or apprenticeships and the term tantra refers primarily to a practice of suddenly there's little emphasis on texts and many folk tactics are illiterate when texts are used the ritual instructions tend to be taken literally

the rituals are physically acted out however due to the lack of consistent tradition much of popular tantra seems to be based on a sort of trial and error approach folk shock the tantra also has the well-known rituals of sex and death

as desire for sex and fear of death are understood to be two of the most powerful human instincts meditative practice must subdue these so they do not become distractions both lotta sadhna ritual sex and shavasadna the corpse ritual

involve conquest over the instincts one by meditating during sex and one by meditating while sitting on a corpse at the burning ground both are part of the beardshore stage of practice thus only performed to prove that the passions are conquered

there are also forms of these rituals that involve possession in classical or scholastic tantrum the goddess is symbolic of liberation or moksha and infinite consciousness she's believed to grant the classical tantric the gift of omniscience brahmagan or liberation in response to

his or her dedication or knowledge the goddess's forms whether beautiful or terrifying are understood to be illusory a part of her maya they are used to test the tantric's worthiness and knowledge the classical tantra they are generally male

is usually a scholar a pundit a brahmana with some priestly training and knowledge of sanskrit religious texts he might be an academic a teacher of sake philosophy in a study circle or a guru teaching yoga classical tantra has a

strong literary focus and the term time for refers primarily to a set of texts rituals are generally understood to be symbolic with tantric practice called the active aspect of the amount of the classical bengali shakta tantric tradition shows the influence of the

tangible yoga sanki philosophy shaivism and tantric buddhism it is not merely sanitized folk shop to tantra it is its own tradition we might list the top 10 set of differences between folk and classical tantra one the invocation of minor or regional

deities especially goddesses as guides in the sources of power such deities may be understood as family or as enemies under ritual control this opposes the classical focus on more sanskritic goddesses the presence of ancestors and the dead as gods do hierarchies of spirit worlds

they may be contacted by ritual or through possession classical tantra does not emphasize ancestors three the transformation of energy especially the energies associated with the instincts into supernatural abilities or cities classical tantra tends to avoid such powers four the literal performance of rituals

involved in death and sexuality in classical contrast such rituals are symbolic of philosophical concepts not performed literally five is shamanic dimension but tantrics of most folk varieties are consulted by community members especially for healing and predicting the future classical

tantrics tend to be scholars rather than healers six impurity and its ritual violation is less important than communication with the deity such communication allows the duty to empower mantras or physical objects and to help in cases of exorcism and disease

classical tundra avoids mediumship and possession seven conquest of deities is often important thing if the supernatural being is hostile by nature due to its personality or its means of death then the tantric needs to act he or she needs to use a mantra of

stronger deity to conquer the weaker one and to place it in the role of servant classical tantra does not support struggle with deities unless they are symbolic of the person's lower nature eight dream initiation rather than initiation by the guru is frequent the

tantric guru is important that he can be found but they are rare and many tantrics are proceeding on their own without a guru classical contra requires initiation by a guru who is a member of a lineage and who can bestow an

empowered mantra nine dream instruction rather than the use of text or instruction by a guru is also frequent classical tantra emphasizes knowledge of the contract and often the vedic and devotional literary traditions 10 aesthetic practices to motivate chosen deities to possess the person and

thus create a bond include offering blood or flesh fasting vigils chanting mantras at the burning ground all are techniques to motivate the goddess to descend in classical tantra such sacrifices are symbolic of surrendering the lower self to the higher self

this division into types is important in the study of shakti tantra where the secondary literature of tantra includes frequent arguments scholars of tantra debate whether tantra is really a collection of obscene rituals which are acted out by practitioners or a rational abstract

philosophical system which makes use of metaphor and symbol and whose practitioners would never dream of acting out the rituals or interpreting the text literally understanding folk and classical contra as separate types or categories of tantra allows for their study without

engaging in arguments about legitimacy authenticity and superiority such arguments occur within practitioner groups as well with competition as to the proper interpretation of virtual texts between the followers of different groups the third and most probably most widespread strand of

shaktism is out of shape the devotion on bhakti in medieval times shaktism was largely an esoteric religion practiced by small groups of tantric yogis until the quranic texts popularized the powers and adventures of the goddess and later poetry portrayed her as beautiful and

loving the 18th century poet ram prasad wrote poems and songs that showed the goddess as a loving mother and a beautiful young girl and devotional worship grew up around those images devotees worshipped the goddess with great intensity as kalima who may be

frightening on the outside but inwardly loving and compassionate parama who gives knowledge and liberation and many others bengali shakti also emphasizes that the intense love of a deity is more valuable with simple obedience thus showing the influence of

gaudiya vaishnava ideas or the passionate relationship between krishna and radha represents the ideal relationship between the god and the devotee in chapter bhakti the goddess is reached by ritual worship puja and selfless devotional love or pregnant the most popular mood or above is the

parental mood with the goddess as mother and the devotee as child in this monotheistic tradition the great goddess usually kali is creator preserver and destroyer the most beautiful and powerful being in the universe shiva is usually either her consort or

creation and in many stories she's more powerful than he is devotees are saved through her grace to spend eternity in the heaven or lack of the goddess we see most devotion towards the goddess caller who is not frightening but a

loving mother who defends her children though her outer form is terrifying her inner formless carry she's transcendent but she may descend to earth for the sake of her devotees the goal is a close relationship with the goddess attained by spiritual love

by worshipped and chanting by practices such as pilgrimage and charity and through the goddess's grace and mercy she may grant the devotee a good rebirth liberation or a place in her paradise we may note four subtypes of shakhtar

bhakti the first subtype is folk shot the this type of bhakti is strongly influenced by folk shaktism and has goddesses who demand worship from their followers simple obedience to commands is no longer enough when she's given love especially in the form of ritual worship

and offerings the goddess will grant happiness wealth victory in law cases and good fortune to her chosen devotees while in folk shaptos and the goddess's primary focus is the welfare of the group especially the tribal group in folk shocked

are emphasis upon the individual and there is often a long and complex relationship between the goddess and your joseph worshiper two the second subtype is emotional in this type the goddess has several roles primarily mother and also child

friend or sister she expects great love and dependence from her devotees who are most often described as her children the most intense love in this subtype is not romantic love but rather parent child love some devotees begin with the emotion of

fear towards her terrible form but they end up loving her when they see her sweetness the devotee loves extravagantly he or she swings between elation and depression loving the world because the goddess is present there or hating it

because she has not appeared the ideal attitude is total dependence which evokes vishnu darshan in which the goddess and the devotee recognize each other there are many miracle stories showing the goddess's love towards her chosen favorites she blesses those who love her

and she appreciates their poetry and songs worship may be in a small scale with household alters or maybe on a larger community scale with crowded shrines jeweled statues and sacred food filed high on silver trays at festivals such

as durga puja and kali pucca devotees read from the piranhas when they meet to sing khali kirtans the songs to kali the third subtype of shakta bhakti is political shakta bhakti or shot to nationalism in this type the goddess represents the

land she's mother india bharat maka she's like the folk shot the goddess who represents the village but on a larger scale she calls upon her children to rescue her when the land is in trouble and they do so by protest war revolution or other

political actions from the mid-19th century the goddess has become a symbol of indian nationalism and the divine mother who is herself the land of india the goddess evokes patriotism and mother india is understood to be both a poetic

image and a real entity we see elements of folk shaptism and the regional identification of the goddess and a shaktabhakti in which the goddess expects devotion its philosophy is primarily pantheism where the goddess is imminent within the earth and especially within the land of

india she is not a distant supernatural entity she suffers when the land suffers the goal is to rescue the mother and create a good world its ideals are ethical rather than supernatural this path is the affirmation of truth and liberty and

willingness to fight for ideals the fourth subtype of shakta bhakti is shakti universalism or shaktivatanka this view became widespread among indian chapters with the popularity of ramakrishna paramahamsa and his disciple vivekananda in the late 19th century it's also an important perspective among

shaktas outside of india especially in the united states of europe in this approach emotional bhakti is linked with classical tantra and we have ramakrishna's description of the goddess as a loving mother who is also infinite consciousness it combines aspects of devotional

shaptism with a focus on knowledge and vedanta philosophy and also the brahma-samaj protests against the limitations of caste mistakes though the mother is the ideal symbol for brahman other deities and symbols may also represent it this follows some of ramakrishna's

statements about the mother being his chosen form of universal awareness though other paths may also lead to god this goddess is not a jealous goddess the altar of asha universalists may have the symbols of many deities and religions

the goddess is equivalent to brahman but with an emphasis on creativity education and action in the world service to others this type of bhakti seeks to incorporate newer and non-traditional ideas and modern writing sometimes describes meditation as experimental and scientific

as ultimately all roads lead to the same goal the practice of other religions is acceptable for ramakrishna claimed to have attained realization through other paths such as vaishnavism islam and christianity modern popular shock to the dante echoes this sentiment saying that the ultimate

aim of all religions is the same we thus see many understandings of shaktism part of the problem in studying shaktism from the perspective of ethnography is the issue of definition what is it and who belongs to it you need to define a population in order

to observe it when i first did field work in west bengal i began by acting asking local informants from many traditions how one could tell who was a shocked during several initial months of interviews with people who were

identified shot those by others and who defined themselves as practicing chapters i heard these top ten answers as the major responses so for who is a shakta one one who calls himself herself a shakta two one who has kali or durga as his

personal deity or ishta devi three one who has any other goddess as his or her personal deity four one who describes his or her family five one whose family priest or kula guru is shakta six one who has taken shatta initiation

or diksa with a shakta mantra seven one who has private personal faith in the goddess or goes to visit shakta shrines or shakta peace eight one who celebrates durga and kali puja especially in the family home nine one who has had a special call from

a goddess often to perform some act and ten one was having vision darshan of the goddess while awake or in a dream definitions of shock to membership are fluid and there are many areas of disagreement can one be a shock to

without initiation can one be a shock that with a division of a family background can one be a shock that if he performs rituals without faith in the goddess can the muslims who construct the great pandels for durga puja and kali puja worship her

for safety well working uh can they be called chakas some urban gurus and high cast practitioners with whom i've spoken have tried to narrow the definitions of false chapters are people who are uneducated who have not read the major

texts to shock the tantric tradition true shaktis are educated literate and understand the goddess to be merely a manifestation of brahman through the sankya category of active matter or property people who claim to be shaktis who only worship their village goddesses are

merely ignorant and not really shot this they think their goddess image is alive and their goddess is an individual who cares for them rather than a philosophical principle we see boundary lines an emphasis upon differences a distinguishing between

educated insider shakta and superstitious outsider non-shakta for this brahmanic perspective often found among western educated chapters the boundaries of true shaktism extend to the educated elite and their followers for other practitioners shaktism is defined differently pundits studying dead ideas are not real

shaktis only people who have faith in the goddess who sense her presence have her vision they are true shaktis baptism is devotion to the goddess and true shockers are those who love her and are chosen by her lack of love is the boundary especially

as seen in people who are untrue to that other important goddess or in india thus there are many local definitions caretakers are shocked at temples and shrines divine shaktism in terms of temple ritual who comes to the temples

who plays for goddess version who gives offerings at the shrines shakta gurus define shaktism in terms of lineage to what some per diet do people belong are their mantras empowered are they doing their creates their rituals shafty healers define shaktism in terms

of abilities and results does the goddess listen to the person's requests and prayers does she come in dreams and call the person to follow her instructions householder shaktis define shaktism in terms of devotional behavior how much time does the person find to perform

rituals how much food is given how many sulsaris and ornaments are offered to the statue how many relatives are invited there are professional institutional regional and even eccentric individual definitions the issue of definition has been a problem for a long time

as w j wilkins states back in his 1901 book modern hinduism it has been estimated that if the hindus and bengal about three-fourths are devoted to the worship of shakthi i.e the power or energy of god is represented in many female forms

of the remaining quarter three parts are vaisnavas and the remainder mostly shiva's each deity has his consort of the worship of the people is often more freely given to her husband as without the female the male is unproductive and she is regarded as the

real force in nature hence the almost exclusive adoration that is paid to the female deities by so many writing in 1907 john campbell oman also estimates the three-quarters of bengali's affectives however modern estimates vary wildly according to one researcher interviewed

on bengali folk art and culture in one sense all bengalis are shot this but if we were to estimate how many people were ardent worshippers of the goddess kali and worship no other deity i would estimate about 10 percent of the west

bengal population on the other hand a modern professor of history and bengali shakta expert also interviewed claimed that almost 90 percent of west bengal this gives us a shot of population approximately ranging from 8 million to almost 80 million

clearly the estimates can range wildly then we have the issue of syncretism both with other forms of hinduism and with islam especially in healing rituals i spoke with a local hindu leader in calcutta i asked him how he understood

the difference between hindu and muslim he said that they were the same dharma they just had different sampradhayas both traditions were those legitimate religions but they had different spiritual teachers who get rituals and initiations thus we see that not only shaktism but

hinduism itself can easily merge into other traditions one way to better understand these types of shaptism is to look at informants to reflect them so i will give three examples for the folk tribal strand i gave a sun-tiled woman who got divine calls

from the hindu cox parvati soren is a sun tall tribal woman who lives in a village outside of chanting cayden and veer boom she's about 40 years old though she appears younger with dark skin and a bright smile

she primarily worships manisha a hindu goddess and she keeps a large statue of monisha surrounded by sacred stones she proudly states that her stones and statues are more alive than gods made only and she respects that life by giving

fruit and flower offerings while most santalis prefer to worship the traditional suntal bangas or deities parvati received a call which resulted in her adoption of folk shaktism as a child she saw snakes and visions and dreams and when she traveled to

other villages the snakes would lead her places she often spoke with them the snake visions began when she was seven or eight years old and they were especially vivid whenever she had fevers as a note hindu visions may be

considered as a form of upward religious mobility for santos acting in the fashion of the hindus the high-profile majority in india can be seen as higher status than acting like a suntan tribals generally do not consider themselves to be hindus and they're not

considered to be so by cast hindus though this is changing with the bjp is concerned with having a hindu majority in india thus a call from a hindu deity may put a tribal person into a liminal and in some

ways privileged position the issue of status also arises in the area of possession by deities other residents of parvati's village said she was often possessed and called her a female ujja tribal healer but parvati denied this saying that she

was a devotee of the goddess possession or poor is considered to be a low status act while devotion is high status she said of her life i grew up in this village and i married when i was 18 years old after i got

married i got a fever and i was very ill i could not leave my bed for four months i was so sick that i couldn't eat even rice or water because my body was in great pain when i was delirious i would speak to

the goddess manisha she would come to visit me and i could see her i would worship her even while i was unconscious i saw manisha frequently and eventually i began to worship her my health improved but my hair became matted and

looked like honeycombs hanging down i was suffering from recurring fevers and manisha said if you don't worship me you'll never get well when i did my favor began to subside why do i worship manisha not the saint paul gods

manuscript came to me god only the gods know why manisha helps me to cure people and i give them roots which make them better i ask manisha what to do i say to her you've made me worship you

now tell me what to do then manisha will appear to me and tell me which roots to use and then i go and find them and i give them to people i give them in her name but i don't chant

any mantras over them sometimes i see durga and kali also i don't accept them i tell them in the vision or darshan virtue survision but i cannot worship them i tell them that maintaining monash is expensive enough for me how can i afford your puja

with the little money that i have they get angry but i say how can i meet the expense what money i had was used up when i was first very ill then durga and kali were angry at me for

not worshiping them they argue with me at night but i always tell them i don't have the money recently i started asking them for money i tell them give me some money and then i'll worship you but so far they don't

listen though she's been a devotee of manisha for about 20 years and formally she's only been a professional healer for about four years she enjoys doing ritual worship and healing though they involve her fasting for several minutes she's

developing a reputation as a healer in the hindu community outside of shanti the cable and several informants both tribal and hindu in the area called her the most devoted woman that they know for chapter country practitioners we have the example of jayashrima

who asked me to use her religious title rather than her name in writing she's a teacher and she must hide her tantric identity to keep her child for jayashrima country guruma of a group of devotees tantra sadhna is a way of getting a

fused identity with the goddess which lasts over a lifetime jayashree was initiated by her tantric guru while they sat on matched sets of human skulls and with the mantra came the direct entrance of the goddess adeya shakti into her heart

the mantras mudras yantras and rituals were ways of preparing her body for shakti's entrance union with idea shakti is the highest possible state for she is identical with brahman and the mother of the universe jayashri came from a tantric family and

her guru was a tantric who practiced secretly diashree 2 practices in an underground fashion for religious practitioners especially tantrics are persecuted by the communist authorities in her area she had many health problems but the ascent of the goddess out of her heart

and into full consciousness blots these away and she becomes aware of nothing but the goddess's love and power she's a celibate tantric guru who no longer needs to perform rituals because the goddess already lives in her heart at the age of 13 when jaya shree began

going to temples for worship she would fall into trances and her word for this is samadhi during worship she would see tarama and agyama before her she had frequent visions and trance states when adiama would come the world turned

to light and she would fall unconscious or she very said her senses would be lost drowned in beyond when she was 17 years old her guru was transferred to allahabad with the ias and he took her with him for a year he

instructed her in meditation and they did mantra and visualization before adima on matching punch awesomeness the seats made of five skulls she sat next to him and he transmitted his power to her the power passed directly from heart to

heart and after this ritual with her guru aj shakti was there and within jayashree permanently about a year later her father was transferred to shuri in west bengal when she came there to live with her family she wanted to take vows of renunciation

or sentience but her guru said that she'd already become a renouncing inwardly so no such vow was necessary she was to be a householder holy woman a greedy shantika and she got a college degree and studied classical music but her illnesses

restricted her movement and eventually made her stop her education she stayed in shooti after her father's death but never married and now lives with her brother she's weak from heart trouble and eats little food the doctor she saw when she

first became ill told her she'd be dead in 10 years but she has survived 25 years thus far this is understood as a miracle by her devotees her guru prayed to anjima to let her survive and help others and she's done

so after her practice with the guru she also developed some abilities at mediumship she mentioned being possessed by nearby ana takor trilanga swami and ramakrishna paramahamsa anya shaktikali is always there and shiva often visits these beings speak through her and they

give information to her disciples she keeps a journal of their works she also has a close relationship with her guru even though he's dead she says whenever i feel love he comes to me when i'm sleeping he comes and strokes

my head the guru always knew when she was in pain from her illness and this would cause him pain she says now i do not feel that i'm in a human body instead i am shakti i feel that i am ajima i am the mother and all

creation is my child if you do meditation you too can realize that you are really agile ma divided herself throughout creation and everybody has a piece of the goddess inside in the end all will come back together and everybody will become the goddess

this was to occur at the end of the kali yuga the time of universal destruction because this time is coming ajikali has been withdrawing sadhus from the world for their prayers and meditation avert the time of destruction the end times may come only when there

are no more sadhus to pray and meditate during interviews jayashrima would sit quietly while her mostly just male disciples would praise her and she speaks of the goddesses present in everyone as their highest awareness she pulled me aside stared deeply into my

eyes and said that anja shaktikali was deep within me and if i would seek her i would see her in my heart she was my true self and the true self of us all she had no territoriality in relation to

the goddess and she wanted everybody to recognize the alice's presence for the bhakti example i give a male singer of khalid kiertang from kolkata area i used the first initial because he asked to remain anonymous with the first

initial is a talented professional singer who follows shakta bhakti he describes his life i worship kali and also shiva and krishna all three of my family deities and i do puja to them every day though all gods and goddesses are ultimately

the same still colleagues more alive to me and more appealing than the others she is like a mother or friend who guards her devotee and guides him protecting him from danger i also see her in her sarashi form as a

beautiful 16 year old girl a part of the goddess can descend into people who then can act on the goddess's behalf often without realizing it for me the goddess's presence is recognized by the mood of love but above

which his experiences tend to deal with sound and emotion i've never had a vision of the goddess but i've had the inner sense of her presence which he calls unabove as such times my voice chokes and it becomes impossible to sing

i get drowned in feelings sometimes while singing alone in my room but it gets more awkward in public performances it's very embarrassing i know several cases of seniors overcome by emotion towards the goddess while sinking before audiences some were at

festivals in front of thousands of people another was on all india radio where the sender was too choked up to sing his second song religious experience in public is embarrassing he calls the song that he sings bhakti-giti or songs of devotion

or songs of religious emotion or mood some kali songs deal with virtual practice or sadness but he prefers those with greater emotional content he says devotion is more important than ritual worship of the goddess priests today tend to be commercial and want

money and offerings pooja has become a trade in the account books for puja today the least expense is for offering to the deity while more money goes for flashy surroundings lighting and advertising often the tradition remains but the

feelings are gone and the focus is on appearances such rituals are only superficial as nasrul islam said i've done puja to you ma and you didn't appear for you only come when i cry ram prasad said if you do puja with

grandeur and pride well you'll have his pride it's just a show krishna told narada i'm not in heaven not at rituals but in the heart in terms of his childhood my interest in music started from my school days in the 1950s i came from a

religious family my father and mother were devotees and my younger sister was a singer there were many rituals in the house of which the largest was worship of the goddess jennifer i learned from professional colleagues who are famous in my hall and later

began sinking for the large goddess festivals in calcutta nearby areas i also signed for vaisnava holidays but i do not feel that this offends kali all of the same deity kali and krishna are simply different forms as earrings and

bracelets are gold in different shapes all forms are equal all casts are equal the goddess makes no distinction between brahmanas and others as to the importance of the audience rapport with listeners and the goddess is the foundation of a cure to use bliss

kali is known through singing and through feelings and dreams and in the sense of presence as if someone is behind the scenes behind a set of curtains watching with loving eyes conclusion aside from wicked worship of the earth

mother and christian offshoots worshiping mary magdalene in the west we hear most about the worship of the goddess or shakti in terms of tantric sexual practice tantric sex takes the literal aspect of folk shock to tantra but reverses its

goals rather than transcending the body one seeks to enter more deeply into it creating valley orgasms that last for hours emphasizing the importance of bodily pleasure rather than transcend deities some of this had to do with rajneesh who

called tantra the yoga of love for his neocenasans groups like hawaiian goddess tantra oceanic tantra with its dalston breath orgasm and red indian tantra adopted rajneesh's western tantra and then elaborated adding possession by the goddess as a technique for bringing pleasure

modern entrepreneurs have added chapter rituals to the ever-growing area of wellness which has already devoured humanistic and transpersonal psychology as well as various ancient meditational practices but now their goal is to make people more attractive and live longer rather

than again brahmagan or love of the goddess india has adopted a bit of this bengali informants told me about a pashu chakra in north calcutta where the goal was to become an animal rather than a god they suggested that i avoid attending

this ritual and refuse to tell me where it was thus we see india is creating its own ritual reversals there are also new spas opening in himalayas seeking an international clientele will shock the tantric rituals to attract wealthy customers and those

who want to live a life like the rock singer sting shaptism can be studied from many perspectives i found the ethnographic approach most interesting for the diversity revealed in the lives of its practitioners thank you you