TANTRA
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Erotic Imagery
The evolution of art in India and elsewhere, from the primitive stage to its more advanced forms, depends on a parallel evolution of man's emotional attitude towards the Universe. But the evolution of this attitude differs very naturally from one section of people to another. The outlook of the dominant class and that of the simpler peoples cannot be same in this respect in all cases.
We have seen that two sets of beliefs and ideals simultaneously worked in the field of Indian history, one represented by the simpler peoples and another by the dominant class. Sometimes some of the beliefs and rituals of the former were adopted by the latter, but with a totally different purpose. Among the simpler peoples is not a product of leisure. It is a guide to action, an illusory technique complementary to the deficiencies of the real techniques. By the symbolical representation of an event, primitive man thinks he can secure the actual occurrence of that event.
There are two distinct methods of securing this desired result, the organic and geometrical. These two types persist all through the history of art. Ritual drawings, very of ten with pronounced erotic motifs, are quite common in different parts of India. The purpose of this ritual art is entirely different from that of the so-called civilized art, although the subject matter may be same in both the cases. The number of terracotta nude male and female figurine have been noticed in different parts of the country successive from ancient time, which emphasizing exclusively on the copulative aspect of the male female union exhibit identity in form and content with some Konark relief's. But the source of inspiration in both the cases is quite different. While the former can be explained in terms of magical fertility rites and connected with the existing Tantric cults, the latter admits of a quite different explanation.
What is Tantra (?)
The word Tantra is derived from the root tan (meaning to spread or propagate).
At the earlier stages of history, Tantra arose as the sum total of man's knowledge of the objective world around him. It was a way of life that sought the significance of Knowledge, not in the realization of an illusory absolute, but in the day-to-day activities of men, in the simple facts of life like agriculture, cattle breeding, distillation, iron smelting, etc.
Etymological interpretations of the word Tantra, as found in the ancient text, clearly and conclusively point out that originally Tantra had no special religious or metaphysical significance. In the Vedic texts the word Tantra occurs in the sense of a loom. In the Mahabhasya the word Tantra signifies a branch of knowledge.
The etymological interpretations point to the fact that Tantra was a general term for any system serving as the guiding principle of any work and that the use of word in a strictly religious sense was a later growth. In the religious sense Tantra first came to mean the scripture by which knowledge is spread.
"Tanyate Vistaryate Jnanam anena iti tantram".
From the earliest period to the end of the medieval age, Indian literature shows a set of ideas, and corresponding practices, different from the officially acknowledged norms, which have found expression in the beliefs and rituals of the Auls, Bauls, Sahajiyas, Kapalikas, Nathas, Lokayatas and various other sects. All these come within the purview of Tantra. In all these systems, besides the aforesaid ethical and social values, supreme importance is attributed to the body (deha, kaya) because the clue to the mysteries of the universe is to be sought in those of the body. The Tantric maxim is: that which is not in the body is not in the universe. There are reasons to believe that the earlier Tantric view of life did not encourage such beliefs as the existence of the soul apart from the body, etc. The liberation of the soul was not conceived as purusartha or the aim of life. Rather, we have the concept of Jivanmukti or liberation within the span of life in the form of the attainment of immortality.
At first the doctrine of the atheists is being stated: Many among the Brahmanas and the low born Yogins and Kapalikas, who smear their bodies with ashes, are atheists. They do not believe in soul, virtues and vices, etc. According to them the world is composed of four elements. Some charvakas consider space as the fifth element. According to them consciousness is produced, like the intoxicating power produced by the mixture of the components of wine, from matter (bhuta). Soul is like the bubbles of water. Body endowed with consciousness is the human being. They (the atheists) eat meat and drink wine, and what is more indulging in illicit sexual union even with mother. On a certain day in every year they assemble together and have sexual union with women.
The last line is evidently suggestive of a collective sexual ritual reminding us of the Tantric chakra or mandala.
The influence of the Lokayatikas and of the Kapalikas is still strong in India. There is a sect and numerous one too, the followers of which believe that deha or the material human body is all that should be cared for, and their religious practices are concerned with the union of men and women and their success (siddhi) varies according to the duration of union. They call themselves vaishnavas, but they do not believe in Vishnu or Krishna or his incranations. They believe in deha. They have another name sahaja, which is the name of a sect of Buddhists, which arose from Mahayana in the last four centuries of their existence in India.
In fact every religious system in India maintains a parallel tradition different from and opposed to the one supported and patronized by the dominant class. All known forms of Indian religion have Tantras and Tantric rites which proves that in spite of all that was said against it this parallel tradition had a special potency which was able to influence the contents of the major religious systems of India and even to create new religious systems like Saktism under Hinduism and Vajrayana under Buddhism certain sects of the Pancharatras, Ganapatyas, Pasupatas were direct creations of this parallel tradition.
Because of its original association with the simpler peoples, popular cults and rituals became an integral part of the Tantric way of life. This brought the cult of the Mother Goddess and the fertility rites associated with its original conception into close relationship with Tantra. The magical rites performed to obtain greater fertility of land, which really underlay elaborate Tantric rituals, were not the creations of fancy or the fruit of leisure, Rather they served as a guide to action, as an illusory technique complementary to the deficiencies of real techniques. By this illusory technique, which consisted of the miming of an incident, or symbolical representation of a coveted object, primitive man thought he could secure the actual occurrence of what he desired. This was the basis not only of magico-religious art, but also of ancient drama, thematic songs and dances, rituals indicative of the efficacy of sound and symbolism of words, and so on all that had characterized the earlier ingredients of Tantra.
Role of Women in Tantric cult
In the Tantric religious system a woman has the right of initiating persons into the secrets of the cult and acting as guru. The ancient, and evidently matriarchal, tradition of the priestesses is maintained in the Tantras in which women are conversant with religious exercises as Uttarasadhikas. Mudra, one of the five makaras, basically means a woman. Although the term later came to mean cereals and bodily poses in the Hindu Tantras, The Buddhist Tantras consistently refer to this term in the sense of a woman. Maithuna or sexual union with women is the most important feature of Tantric rituals. According to the Mahanirvana tantra, God Shankara declared five tattavas wine, flesh, fish, mudra (cereals, hand or finger poses or the woman - helper of the aspirant) and sexual intercourse - as the means for the attainment of the position of vira. A person therefore should be devoted to the Kaula practices though all these. The woman with whom sexual intercourse is to be had is called Sakti or Prakrti or Lata and this special ritual is called Latasadhana.
According to the Kaulavalinirnaya, sexual intercourse is the only means by which the aspirant can become a siddha. Every woman is fit for intercourse, except the wife of the Guru or of one who has attained the status of vira. Adultery and incestuous intercourse are valid, as it is also stated in Kalivilasa-tantra.
The Paranandasutra presents various repulsive description of the sexual union of the Tantric partners. The most significant Tantric sex site is Chakrapuja, i.e. worship in a circle. According to a description of it found in the Kaulavalinirnaya, an equal number of men and women, without distinction of caste and even of blood relation secretly meet at night and sit in a circle. A Yantra or diagram represents the goddess. The women cast their bodices in a receptacle and each of the assembled men finds a female companion for that night by taking a bodice out of those contained in the receptacle.
Such sex rites baffled many of the ancient and medieval writers. Excesses in these rites alarmed even some followers of the Tantric way. That is why in the Mahanirvana attempts have been made to convey the idea that these are all symbolic and that the passages of sexuality are designed to denote the union of the male-female elements within one's own entity.
In Rajasekhara's karpuramanjari, Tantric rituals involving women are ridiculed. The Yasastilaka-campu and the Mattavilasa quote a verse ascribed to Bhasa in which the Tantric practices of drinking wine and union with women are treated with contempt. The same attitude is found in Ksemendra's Dasarataracarita where the concept of liberation achieved through the drinking of wine from the same pot with washer men, weavers, workers in hide, the Kapalikas and through the procedure of chakrapuja and dalliance with women is described contemptuously.
These sex rites obviously require some explanation, whatever their original purpose may have been, there is no doubt that they were used as a means for satisfying the perverted sexual instincts of wealthy persons in the name of religion. In Kalhana's Rajatarangini we come across the fact that king Kalasa (1063-1089 AD) indulged in such repulsive rites under the inspiration of his guru, Pramadakantha, who himself committed incestuous intercourse with his own daughter. This tradition was maintained all though Dewan Jarmani Das in one of his books on the private lives of the Indian princes of the native states has given a vivid description of such a Tantric rite held in the court of a prince of the Punjab. After the independence of India, though the native states are no more, such practices have received greater encouragement and patronage among the wealthier sections of the people, and the number of Tantric gurus wearing silken ochre robes and flanked by aristocratic female companions is everyday increasing.
However, we are not concerned here with such perversions. Since the Tantric texts are so serious about the sex rites and the role of women in the field of religion, we must accept the premise that the original purpose of all these rites was different, in spite of why, so much emphasis was laid upon the cult of sex.
Tantric Art: The Problem
There are some questions that cannot be avoided:
1. What is the rationale of erotic depictions on religious objects?
2. What are their thematic contents?
3. To what extent are they connected with Tantrism?
Dr. Devangana Desai has offered a consistent explanation relating to all these questions in her book erotic sculpture of India. Her enquiry is concerned as much with the question of religious sanction as with the sociological factors generating the permissive atmosphere and mood for the depiction of sexual motifs. The presence of erotic themes in temples has so long been explained according to the personal whims of the viewer. The guides or pandas so as to convey the idea to the inquisitive tourist that these erotic depictions are really meant for mental purification have devised imaginary interpretations. The merit of seeing the idol enshrined in the temple can only be acquired if the individual is able to control his mind after experiencing visually the objects of excitement. This explanation was popular among laymen and devotees but it could not satisfy the serious scholar and students. Some art historians tried to explain these erotic elements in terms of Tantric ideas and practices. Thus, they were interpreted to be symbolic representations of eternal bliss, or of the creative process, or of the principle of Yuganaddha suggestive of non-duality and etc.
Such living forms are suggested to the Indian artist by a dynamic philosophy that is intrinsic to his religious and philosophical tradition, for the worship of the life force pouring into the universe and maintaining it, manifesting itself no less in the gross matter of daily experience than in the divine beings of religious vision constitutes the very foundation of Indian religious life. According to this doctrine which was particularly influential in the great periods of Indian art, release from the bondage of our normal human imperfection can be gained not only through the world-negating methods of asceticism (yoga) but equally through a perfect realization of love and sexual enjoyment (bhoga). According to this view, which has been eloquently expressed in the so-called Tantric, symbols and rituals of both the Hindu and the Buddhist traditions, there is intrinsically no antagonism between yoga and bhoga. The role played by the Guru, the spiritual guide and teacher in the stern masculine discipline of yoga is taken over in the initiations of bhoga by the devout and sensual female helpmate.
The initiating woman plays the part of Shakti while the male initiate assumes that of Shiva, and both attain together a realization of the immanence within themselves of the consubstantiality of the Goddess and the God.
This is also a one-sided interpretation, because the sexual depictions on temples accord more with the Kamasastra descriptions of sexual acrobatics than with Tantric principles. The interpretation of every sexual motif in terms of Tantric ideas evidently leads to the fallacy of over simplification. Again we cannot absolutely deny Tantric influence. Hence the question needs to be answered with much care.
The evolution of art in India and elsewhere, from the primitive stage to its more advanced forms, depends on a parallel evolution of man's emotional attitude towards the world. But the evolution of this attitude differs very naturally from one section of people to another. The outlook of the dominant class and that of the simpler peoples cannot be the same in this respect in all cases. There are two sets of beliefs and ideals simultaneously worked in the field of Indian history. One represent by the simpler peoples and the other by the dominant class. Sometimes some of the beliefs and rituals of the former were adopted by the latter, but with a totally different purpose. Among the simpler peoples art is not a product of leisure, it is a guide to action, an illusory technique complementary to the deficiencies of the real techniques. By the symbolical representation of an event, primitive man thought that he could secure the actual occurrence of that event.
There are two distinct methods of securing this desired result the organic and the geometrical. These two types persist all through the history of art. Ritual drawings, very often with pronounced erotic motifs, are quite common in different parts of India. The purpose of this ritual art is entirely different from that of the so-called civilized art although the subject matter may be same in both cases. For example, a few terracotta specimens from lower Bengal, emphasising exclusively the copulative aspect of the male-female union, exhibit identity in form and content with some Khajuraho and Konark reliefs. But the source of inspiration in both cases is quite different. While the former can be explained in terms of magical fertility rites and also connected with existing Tantric cults, the latter admits of a quite different explanation.
It is tempting to connect the sexual depictions on the temples of Khajuraho, Konark, Ellora, Halebid, etc. with primitive sex rites and Tantrism, but before we do so we must be sure about the real extent of the influence, which is supposed to have been exerted on the former by the latter. There was obviously a link between the two, since some of the popular sexual themes first presented in terracotta were executed later in stone under certain historical conditions. But, it is repeated; when these came to reflect the art of the dominant class they served a totally different purpose. From this point of view, the sculptural extravagance of Khajuraho, Konark and other temples was mainly the reflection of the abnormal sexual desires of the dominant class whose munificence was responsible for their construction. The themes were selected from the Kamasastras. The impossible copulative poses and techniques of these sexual acts were meant to excite perverse imaginations. There are so many examples from Khajuraho, Konark, Ellora etc. will make the point clear.
A man standing on his head, with legs folded, has a woman sitting in the fold of his legs on his visible organ. The woman's hands rest on the necks of two females standing on either sides of her while the man titillates with his hands the sex organs of the two standing nudes.
Amorous Assembly - Khajuraho (M.P.)
Another group depicts a standing woman who is copulated by one man in the front, face to face, and at the same time she has anal intercourse with another man from behind.
Another woman is uplifted with bent knees and in that position locked in copulation. Yet another shows a woman astride the shoulder of a standing man who with bent head licks her cunnus while she, bending downwards, holds his erect penis in one hand and licks it.
There are so man examples of perversion art in different temples of India such as Khajuraho group of temples, sun temple Modera, Sun temple Konark so forth.
These are clear reflections of the perversion of the aristocratic class and have no bearing on the purpose of primitive sex rites of fertility or Tantrism.
Amorous Assembly Sun Temple, Mudera (Gujarat)
Amorous Assembly, Sun Temple, Mudera (Gujarat)
Sun Temple, Konark (Orissa)
Sun Temple, Konark (Orissa)
But why were temples selected for this (?)

It appears that the ancient idea of the holiness of temples differed significantly from the modern. It is impossible to say what exactly the temples meant for the worshippers at different ages. Actual sexual acts were not rare in the temples. The custom of prostitution was prevalent in many Indian temples, the Government of India abolished it only a few years ago. The women attached to the temples were called Devadasis were employed. The girls were formally married to the idol and regarded as the wives of the God. The God, impersonated by the priests, would have sexual intercourse with them. Their children by the priests often constituted a special caste.
Thus things sexual were not really inconsistent with the supposed holiness of temples, and this alone explains why the sexual depictions on the temple walls revealing the lusts of the aristocratic class were tolerated and given some sort of social sanction by the simpler peoples. This they did partly because they found in those depictions the illusion of a lost reality - the reality of their traditional beliefs and rituals, and partly because they were compelled to do so by the pressure of the dominant class. Artists and craftsmen had no freedom of their own, in India, a Phoedius or a Praxitiles had no social status. They always came from the lower castes, and for their livelihood they had to meet the demands of their employers and customers, their art, thus, had nothing to do with artistic inspiration. This holds good also in the case of terracotta productions. Although a few of them, evidently the earlier ones, were meant to serve ritualistic purposes, most of them, however, specially those with very pronounced sexual characteristics, were evidently intended for wealthy customers. Such things are produced and sold even today.
In the preceding section we have remarked that there are reasons to believe that the vivid portrayal of sexual themes could be made only on temple walls, and that this was some-how related to the very structure of the temple itself. In other words, structurally the temple bore a special tradition with which the portrayal of erotic elements was not inconsistent, and that is why temples were specially selected for this purpose. This tradition was very ancient and may be connected with the primitive fertility concept with which it started, however, in course of time it lost its original significance.
A conceptualisation of the temples in sexual terms is met with in the canons of Orissa temple architecture. Orissa was always a strong seat of Tantric cults and rituals. Puri, which is the celebrated seat of Lord Jagannatha, is also mentioned in the Tantras as a place where Jagannatha is also mentioned in the Tantras as a place where Jagannatha is the subordinate male consort (Bhairava) of the goddess Vimala. This consort of the goddess was regarded as the king of the land (the actual rulers considered themselves as vassals of Jagannatha), just as virbius, the consort of the goddess Diana, impersonated by the priest, was the king of Nemi. The influence of Tantric rites is clearly visible in the mode of daily worship of Jagannatha.
There are two major types of temple buildings in Orissa, the Rekha and the Bhadra, which are joined to each other in a very intimate manner. Their junction is expressed by a term, which literally means a ceremonial knot tied between the garments of the bride and the bridegroom. The Rekha is male and Bhadra female, they are attached to one another in a state of sexual intercourse or union. The architecture of temples varies from region to region but temples them selves do not differ basically. As a rule, they are similar in construction and the various parts are given the same name all over. The most important part of the temple is called the garbha (womb). The name describes it perfectly. The god, in the form of the chief idol, is placed in the womb. Leading up to the garbha from the porch is a kind of corridor through which one enters. This sexual design pertains to west Asian temples also - they were divided into three parts - porch representing the lower end of the vagina up to the hymen, the hall or the vagina itself, and the inner sanctum or the uterus.
Now the third question is how far are all these related to Tantrism?
There are some writers who hold that the ciotal postures in which the lovers are shown on the medieval temples are sexo-yogic. Of course there are some postures which appear to involve Hathayoga techniques as are seen in the head down poses of Khajuraho, Padhavli, Belur and other places. But there are imaginative, techniques, having nothing to do with Hathyoga proper. The gymnastic poses representing mutual mouth-congress on the temple of Khajuraho, Galtesvara, Puri and Konark involve women in considerable athletic feats. Again most of the postures in which sexual intercourse is depicted represent frontal standing poses, and also copulation from the rear (Vyanata-pose) and other varieties, which are not associated with yogic techniques or aims. Even ascetics who are depicted in the sexual scenes are not shown in yogic poses. The inspiration behind all these depictions is the Kama-sastra literature meant for the titillation and pleasure of the aristocratic class and the nagarakas or wealthy city dwellers.
Some traces of Tantric influence are however found in some erotic sculptures. For instance in the depiction of the sexual act near the deity (as the Padhavli in Central India), or representation of sexual couples flanking the deities on the kumbha (as in some temples of Gujarat and Rajasthan), or nude goddess flanked on one side by an orgiastic scene and on the other by musicians and dancers during haircutting ritual in association with copulation (at Bhubvaneswar, Puri, Konark and Ratnagiri in Orissa and in Bengal, in Karnataka) and so on.
But these Tantric glimpses do not prove an obvious link between the erotic depictions on temples and Tantrism. If there be any true Tantric art it should be functionally related to upsana and Sadhna to attain the bliss of non-duality. Unfortunately the temples depictions do not give us such an idea. The original Sakta-Pithas are not associated with any sexual display. It is significant that in the chausath yogini temple of Bheraghat there are representations on the pedestals, on which the images of goddesses are craved, of a yantra but not of erotic figures. Moreover, since it is a basic tenet of tantra that the followers of tantrism cannot expose their practices to the uninitiated, they conduct everything in secrecy. Only this much can be said that the apparently Tantric elements as may be gleaned from the erotic depictions on temples are in reality specimens of are influenced by some Tantric ideas but not functionally related to them.

Erotic Imagery on Orissan Temples

There are many example of erotic imagery on Orissan temples, which seemingly illustrate specific Tantric rituals, particularly those in the baranda recess. In contract to the earliest erotic images, such as on the Parasuramesvara, which are generalized in treatment and appear to be unrelated to any specific religious sect even though the temples are saivite, beginning on the markandeysesvara, dating to the mid 8th century, the imagery becomes explicitly associated with Shiva. Commencing on the southeast corner in a scene of Brahma and Vishnu paying homage to Shiva while the following scenes represent erotic imagery, drinking scenes and ling puja. In Sisresvara temple also having the erotic imagery in the baranda. On the adjacent Vaital Deul, a Sakta/Tantric Shrine having the erotic imagery. For the most part, the erotic scenes are tame in nature, as with the larger mithunas housed in the niches on either side of raha on the jangha, one of he popular motifs being that of the male gently lifting the chin of his female partner, a scene consistent with the compassionate tenor of erotic images on early temples.
Beginning in the late 9th century, erotic scenes become more explicit and possibly illustrate specific stages in Tantric rituals. This new tenor beomes more pronounced on early 10th century temples with erotic rituals appearing on Shaiva, Vaishnava and Sakta temples alike, as at Baudh, Khiching, Ganeswarpur, Mukhalingam and Chaurasi, and testify to the widespread popularity of Tantric rites. There are three scenes which deviate from conventional love making and suggest the ritual nature of the images: (1) Yoniabhiseka (consecration of the yoni), (2) purascarana (preliminary stage of the act in which a third figure is added, possible chanting mantras), (3) and rajapana (drinking of female discharge).  In the mid 10th century, with the somavamsi rulers firmly entrenched in eastern Orissa, the Pasupata and Kapalika sects were apparently replaced in popularity by new religious sects such as the kaulacaras which were popular in Central India. A Sakta/Tantric named Bhavadeva, who was the religious preceptor of the Somavamsi king Uddyyota-Kesari, reportedly wrote a Tantric text entitled Tantrarnava and installed many deities at Bhubaneswar. In the changing iconographic programme of the temples, the sequential arrangement of prescribed stages in sex rituals is eliminated in favour of independent sexual activities, which become incorporated as major on all temples. These motifs thus can no longer be singled out as esoteric practices restricted to initiated adherents and must be viewed in the same manner as other imagery, as auspicious motifs. It is thus the magical power of sex, which dominates, in these later images. Although the belief in the magical power of sexual depiction was basic to the tenets of all of religious sects, the excess of magico-sexual motifs dominating the decorative programme of most later temples is probably due to Tantric influence and the spread of their doctrine among the aristocracy responsible for the construction of temples. The erotic rituals are thus becoming secularised. For example, Yoniabhiseka, is transformed into a simple toilet scene. More than anything, apart from their auspicious function, the images stress the pursuit of love and hedonistic practices. it is also during the somavamsi period that the Devadasi system was inaugurated as evident in the Brahmesvara inscription. With the increasing secularisation of the decorative programme and temple rituals it is evident that the temple complex was becoming a centre of socio-cultural activities and was not limited to religious worship. The capital city, and indeed the entire country, was being eulogized as the place of repose of the love God and the king played a leading role in this pursuit of love.
The development of the two-storey jangha in the 11th century AD., mithuna images become standard motifs in the anuraha recesses of the upper jangha. In the 12th and 13th century AD, beginning at Khilor and Kisenpur, erotic imagery frequently dominates the decorative programme. The images in the anuraha recesses are now the largest on the exterior walls, except for the parsva - devatas, and generally dwarf the images housed in the mundi niches. Very seldom, even in the more conventional representation of mithuna, is there any attempt to depict female coyness or courting etiquette, all preliminaries are dispensed with in favour of directness. Explicit representation of maithuna are no longer confined to the anuraha recesses but appear everywhere on the temple, in some cases even being carved on the gavaksa balusters. On still later temples, extending into modern times, they even dominate the decoration of the gandi.
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