GREAT GREAT BRAHMA TO LOSE ONES HEAD SUNTHAR VISUVALINGAM

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{Modeled on the initiatic death, the Hindu funerary rites assimilate
the (victim-) corpse (zava) to the dîkshita (ziva) such that midway through
the cremation the skull is cracked (kapâla-kriyâ) with a bamboo staff to
'liberate' the life-force, transforming the chief mourner (typically the
eldest son) into a homicide (patricide). The spinal column is suddenly
collapsed such that its two poles are symbolically merged: the (inverted)
skull is assimilated to a (womb-) pot (which is likewise shattered). The
regression could be achieved not only through a combination of yogic
restraint of the extroverted senses and the affirmation of 'autonomy'
(svâtantrya) through tantric violation (aggressive and/or sexual
impetuosity) , but also through sudden insight into the ultimate meaning of
the symbolic (upper-worldly) order (sát) as being rooted in the womb of
chaos (ásat). The unexpected (self-) realization (aham brahmâsmi) of the
riddle of existence during the enigma-contest (brahmodya) always comes at
the cost of 'losing' one's head: the dire threat of the overconfident
(ati-pracch) questioner's (sclerosed) gray matter exploding into a hundred
pieces is at the same time a tacit promise to the sincere open-minded
seeker of (self-) knowledge. The spinal trunk is moreover assimilated to an
inverted banyan (azvattha) tree, with roots deeply entrenched above and
branches growing downwards here below, that must be hewed down at its very
roots with the axe of non-attachment by the true knower (as opposed to mere
cantor) of the Veda (BG XV.1-4). This is the (deliberate) uprooting that the
great brahmin (secretly) wishes in his 'lament' (end of Act IX) for his dear
friend, condemned to death for 'matricidal' murder: the sacrificial stake
(yûpa), measured to the height of the sacrificer, was hewn from and
assimilated to a ('maternal' shamî) tree. The judicial deus ex machina of
the wicked falling tree, discreetly assimilated to a charitable
merchant-lover, that killed (an anonymous woman mistaken for) Vasantasenâ,
assimilated to a clinging creeper-mistress, not only confirms Cârudatta's
(symbolic and ontological) implication in the crime but sheds further light
on the ritual significance of Shakâra's matricide. Maitreya thus raises his
(phallic) staff to shatter Shakâra's head only when Cârudatta has been
stripped off his (presumed) 'innocence' through the discovery of the dead
body and only after the villain has usurped his protégé's privileged seat.
The 'crookedness' (kuTilaka) of this gesture intended to reveal the
'perversity' of the heart lies in the identification of hero and villain
within the single figure of the consecrated (dîkSita) sacrificer. Through
this transgressive gesture, the great brahmin, whose crow-foot pated
(kâka-pada) skull is deformed like that of a newborn baby, delivers before
the public gaze the hidden gold treasured within the maternal womb, which is
why he his finally dismissed as a 'brat' (baTu) by the contemptuous judge.
Located at the perineum where it is said to govern (excretion and) sexual
reproduction, the 'root bulb' (mûla-kanda) is also represented by the
phallic radish (kanda-mûla). As soon as the villain apprehends the Buddhist
mendicant, he threatens to crush his head like a "red radish (rakta-mûlaka)
at a drinking party (âpânaka)" (Act VIII), The embryonic regression towards
the moment of birth, and eventually the moment of conception, is also
experienced as a 'sexualization' of consciousness and is often (though not
necessarily) induced by the orgiastic practices of the left-handed Kaula
rites. The cremation-ground image of Shiva copulating with the terrible
Goddess standing over his supine corpse (zava) is a mythical projection of
the actual practice and experience of Kâpâlika and Aghori adepts. Maitreya's
decisive intervention, befitting a brahmin-dog guarding its own kennel, to
'thwart' the concerted rape (Act I) is actually its consummation as
suggested by his ambiguous exchange with Radanikâ as to who is being
humiliated and by whom. When the 'great brahmin' (mahâ-brâhmaNa) , who cannot
distinguish right from left (wrong), raises his crooked staff to batter the
offender's head like a dry bamboo, the Vita, his counterpart in the opposing
trio, drops his sword and falls at his feet for mercy.}