Alexis SANDERSON
MEANING IN TANTRIC RITUAL
‘The question of meaning in Tantric ritual is considered here on the
evidence of the Saiva traditions of Kashmir. This evidence is principally
that of an extensive corpus of learned Sanskrit works produced between
‘AD 900 and 1300 to explain the systems of ritual and theology taught in
the Tantric Saiva scriptures. But there is also the evidence of the more
recent practice of the Kashmirians reflected in the anonymous manuals
which record the text and procedure of their rituals, This second class of
evidence, available partly in editions produced for local distribution and
partly in unedited manuscripts. is of the kind that has generally been
overlooked by Indology. This is particularly so in the case of the
Saivism of Kashmir, where scholarly interest has concentrated on its
metaphysical and mystical elements, and not at all, or with much less
precision, on the ritual and social organization which are their substrate.
‘When the prescription and theory of ritual have been neglected in the
study of the leamed works of the medieval period, it cannot be surprising
that these humble manuals should have escaped attention altogether.
‘However. once one has realized that it is necessary to approach the Saiva
traditions of Kashmir from an understanding of their basis in ritual, then
the importance of these materials becomes obvious. For they are almost
‘our only evidence of Saivism in the region which is not a theoretical or
prescriptive kind. ‘They provide us with a background of reality against
which to evaluate the implications of theory and to consider the degree
and manner of the idealization of actual practice that we must expect in
authoritative prescription. Unfortunately this body of evidence is itself
inadequate in certains respects. One would be in a better position if more
of this kind of text had survived: the record of real practice is far from
complete. Furthermore, this anonymous literature cannot be dated before
the modem and late medieval manuscripts in which it has come down to
us, Therefore one cannot take for granted that the practice they record has
continued unchanged from the times of our theoretical and prescriptive
texts. It appears, however, that change hes generally heen in the form of
‘contraction to essentials: and thi. after all. is what one would expect in16 ‘A. SANDERSON
dwindling community concemed 10 prese identity,
rve its identity, From AD
1320 to 1819 Kashmir was under almost continuous Muslim rule and by
the end of this time the great majority of the population, including many
brahmins, had adopted Islam. -
‘These sources certainly do not cover the whole of Tantric ritual. The
rich Buddhist tradition of the Way of Mantras (Mantrayana, Vajrayana)
is entirely overlooked, as is the Vaisnava Tantric tradition of the Pai
cardtra. Nor do they cover the whole of the complex and many-leveled
Saiva tradition which is the rest and major part of Tantric Hinduism,
They are nonetheless an excellent starting point for an enquiry such as
this; for they encompass all the major strata of Tantric Saivism at the most
vigorous and articulate phase of their development. Nor were these Kash-
mirian perspectives on the Saiva tradition of merely local importance.
‘They became the standard of Tantric orthodoxy in southern India from
the eleventh century and were widely disseminated from this base during
the centuries of Kashmir's decline from its position as a major centre of
brahminical learning.
During the early medieval period Tantric Saivism in Kashmir was
dominated by two competing traditions. On the one hand was the Trika
and on the other the Saiva Siddhanta’. The first adhered to a nondualistic
theology according to which all phenomena are nothing but the spontaneous
self-projection of an all-encompassing divine consciousness, so that the
substance of the universe and its efficient cause are one and the same,
‘This absolute idealism was formulated and defended by Somananda
(fc. AD 900-950), Urpaladeva (fl. c. AD 925-75), and the latter's com-
‘mentator Abhinavagupta (fl c. AD 975-1025). The principal works ofthis
Philosophical tradition came to be known as the Sastra of Recognition
(Pratyabhijnasastra) after their central concept, namely that liberation
comes about as the recognition (pratyabhijid) that the true identity of
oneself and all phenomena is the Lord (Isvaraf) defined as this ll-con-
taining, autonomous consciousness. Their works of Tantric exegesis and
those of their successors claimed that this nondualism isthe doctrinal basis
of all the scriptures which prescribe the Trika’s rituals and observances
and those of certain related traditions.
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[MEANING IN TANTRIC RITUAL a
‘The Saiva Siddhnta (henceforth Siddhanta), which the Trika’s non-
dualism opposed, adhered to a strict dualistic theology (dvaitavadah,
‘phedaviadah). It claimed that the highest Saiva scriptures are those which
prescribe its own system of ritual and that they teach (i) that Siva as the
omnipotent and omniscient efficient cause (nimittakdranam) of the
tuniverse is other than its matter (upddanam), the world (the sum of the
fevolutes of this matter) being entirely distinct from the consciousness of
Siva and of all other souls, and (ii) that these other souls never lose theit
individual identity even in the state of final release (moksah). So separation
(bhedal) — between souls, between souls and Siva, and between these
and the extemal world — is real and absolute in the Siddhanta, while in
the Trika it is merely apparent. By the same principle. liberation
(moksah) in the Siddhanta is the attainment of mere equality with Siva
(Givarulyard), while in the Trika itis recognition that one is Siva himself,
that one’s individuality is an act staged by a transpersonal Absolute
Instead of becoming Siva one becomes independent from him by rising
above the levels under his power. This dualistic theology was propagated
in Kashmir on the basis of certain works by Sadyojyotih, an author of
uncertain date who may or may not have been Kashmirian himself. For
rigorous philosophical defence of this doctrine as well as for our most
detailed dualistic exegesis of its scriprures we have the works of Bhatta
Narayanakantha and his son Bhatla Ramakantha (jf. c. AD 950-1000).
Outstanding are the former's commentary on the Mrgendrarantra and
the latter's commentaries on the Maraiigapdramesvardgama and Sad-
yojyoti's Naresvarapariksa.
For the Trika this distinction between dualism and nondualism was also
reflected in ritual and observance. The religious practice ofthe Siddhnta
twas dualistic (dvaitdcdrah) in the sense that it accepted the orthodox
(Vedic) distinctions between the pure and the impure and remained
strictly within the boundaries of the former. The Trika, by contrast,
advocated the practice of nonduality (advaitdedrah)®, in as much as its
rituals involved contact with impure persons and/or substances. It justified
this apparently impious transcendence of the norms of conduct by arguing
that this practice of nonduality had been revealed by Siva himself in his
highest and most esoteric scriptures as the ultimate means of liberating
consciousness from the contraction (samkocal) or inhibition (Sanka)
which holds it in bondage.
A. 29.736-750 amd eamuentary (on dvaitdcdroh and od
DY 4 folio 1272-0,
vaitdcdrah)18 A. SANDERSON
Since this orthopraxy and heteropraxy are characterized in our sources
as right (daksina-) and left (vdma-) respectively, where right is that
which agrees with orthodox norms and ieft that which goes against
them’, I shall refer to the two schools as the Saivism of the right and the
Saivism of the left. While the first expression will always be exactly
synonymous with the term Siddhanta, the second will refer not only t0
the Trika but also to certain other non-Saiddhantika Saiva systems of ritual,
‘most particularly the closely related Kali cult known as the Krama
(Sequence), Mahinaya (Great Way) or Mahartha (Great Truth). Among
the evidence for the Kashmirian Trika by far the most outstanding work,
since it covers all aspects of the tradition, is Abhinavagupta's monumental
Hlumination of the Tantras (Tantrdloka), wich has come down to us
with the commentary (-viveka) of Jayaratha (fl. c. AD 1225-75). In the
Kashmirian Krama the most complete and penetrating of our sources is
undoubtedly the Elucidation of the Great Way (Mahdnayaprakasa) by
an unknown author concerning whose date we can say only that he knew
the works of Utpaladeva (jl. c. AD 925-975) and was quoted by Ja-
Yaratha in the thirteenth century‘,
‘The Siddhanua, Trika and Krama were not the only major Saiva tra
tions in Kashmir. In addition there was that ofthe cult of an esoteric form
of Siva and his female consort known as Svacchandabhairava and Agho-
reSvari Indeed it was this cult which seems to have been the norm among
the Kashmirian Saivas from the early medieval period down to modem
times. However, unlike the Siddhanta and the Trika, it was not the source
of any distinct theological position. During the tenth and eleventh cen-
tures it had been largely colonized by the dualistic exegesis and practice
Of the right. Later the influence of the Siddhinta waned and the cult fell
under the influence of the nondualistic doctrines of the left. This takeover
of the middie ground was actively sought by the left as soon as it had
achieved an articulate theology, that is to say, round the tum of the
millenia. Ksemardja (fl. c. AD 1000-1050), the successor of Abhina-
‘vagupta, composed a leamed and detailed commentary on the Svacchan-
datanira, the scriptural authority of the cult, and tells us that he did so in
‘order to displace the long established tradition of dualistic interpretation
which, he claimed, had perverted the true character of this tradition’.
8 TAV 9 (18) 137 (namacaraf).
{MNP 36ted. ques IPK 1 42d; TAV 3 (4) 12812, quotes MNP 9.15-18.
5 SvTU 6 (15) 1460",
MEANING IN TANTRIC RITUAL, 19
‘Also in this middle ground between the Siddhanta and the Trika was
the cult of Siva Conqueror of Death (Mryuijaya) — also called
Netranatha (the Eye-Lord) and Amrtesvarabhairava (Bhairava, Lord of
the Nectar [of Immortality]) — and his female consort Ammtalaksm.
Particularly associated with rites to avert danger and disease (