Vol. 4 · pages 126–130

115RIDDLE NO. 14 “Just as the Bengalis of the higher castes are divided into Shaktas, Vaishnavas, and Shaivas, so it is with the peoples of Kamarupa, Mithila, Utkala, and Kalinga, and the Kashmirian pandits. The Shakti Mantra, Shiva Mantra, and Vishnu Mantra, are each Tantrik. Amongst Dakshinatyas, Mahamahopadhyaya Subramanya Shastri, and many others, are Shaktas. The late Mahamahopadhyaya Rama Mishra Shastri, Bhagavatacharya, and many others, were and are Vaishnavas. Mahamahopadhyaya Shivakumara Shastri, and a number of others, are Shaivas. In Vrindavana there are many Shaktas as well as Vaishnava Brahmanas, though amongst the higher castes in Maharashtra and other Southern Indian countries, Shaivas and Vaishnavas are more numerous than Shaktas. Followers of the Pashupata and Jangama cults are Shaivas whereas those of Madhavacharya and Ramanujacharya are Vaishnavas. Many in the North-West are initiated in the Rama-Mantra, which is to be found only in the Tantra. It is still more remarkable that, according to this author, the pandas of Shri Purushottama are all Shaktas, and the priests of Kamakhya Devi are all Vaishnavas.” Although it is not possible to give the exact date when the Tantras and Tantra worship came into existence there is no doubt that their date is after Manu. This fact makes the rise of the Tantra worship a matter of great surprize. The Tantras not only lifted the prohibition enacted by Manu against wine and flesh but they made drinking and flesh eating articles of faith. The surprising thing is the part that the Brahmins have played in furthering the Tantra and Tantra worship. The Tantras had no respect for the Vedas. The Tantrikas said that the Vedas were like a common woman open to all but that the Tantra was like a high-born woman kept secluded. The Tantra was never repudiated by the Brahmins. On the other hand they recognized it as a fifth Veda. So orthodox a Brahmin as Kulluka-Bhatt the celebrated Commentator on Manu Smriti says that Shruti is of two kinds, Vaidik and Tantrik. Not only did the Brahmins not repudiate the Tantras but actually promoted the Tantrik worship. The Matrika Bheda Tantra makes Shiva address his wife Parvati as follows 1: “O sweet speaking goddess, the salvation of Brahmanas depends on drinking wine. I impart to you a great truth, O mountain born, when I say that the Brahman who devotes himself to drinking and its accompaniments, forthwith becomes a Siva. Even as water mixes with water, and metal blends with metal; even as the confined 1Quoted by Rajendralal Mitra in Indo-Aryans Vol. p.

116 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES space in a pitcher merges into the great body of the confining vessel, and air mingles with air, so does a Brahman melt into Brahma, the universal soul”. “There is not the least doubt about this. Likeness to the divinity and other forms of beatitude are designed for Kshatriyas and others; but true knowledge can never be acquired without drinking spirituous liquor; therefore should Brahmans always drink. No one becomes a Brahman by repeating the Gayatri, the mother of the Vedas: he is called a Brahman only when he has knowledge of Brahma. The ambrosia of the gods is their Brahma, and on earth it is arrack (or liquor distilled from rice); and because one attains through it the condition of a god (suratva), therefore is that liquor called sura.” Why did the Brahmins repudiate father Manu and start again drinking liquor and flesh eating which Manu had stopped? This is a riddle. zz

RIDDLE NO. 15 HOW DID THE BRAHMINS WED AN AHIMSAK GOD TO A BLOODTHIRSTY GODDESS ? Having started drinking and flesh eating the Brahmins did not hesitate to write puranas advocating animal sacrifices. One such Purana requires a special mention. It is called the Kali Purana. This Purana is written with the express purpose of propagating the worship of the goddess Kali. In this Purana there is an adhhyaya called Rudhir Adhhyaya which means the bloody chapter. I give below a summary of the Rudhir Adhhyaya. In this chapter 1 the God Shiva addresses his three sons Betal, Bhairawar, and Bhairava in the following terms: “I will relate you, my sons, the ceremonies and rules to be observed in sacrifices which being duly attended to are productive of the divine favour. “The forms laid down in the Vaishnaivi Tantra, are to be followed on all occasions and may be observed by sacrifices to all Deities.” “Birds, tortoise, allegators, fish, nine species of wild animals, buffaloes, bulls, he-goats, inchneumons, wild boars, rhinoceroses, antelopes, guanas, reindeer, lions, tigers, men and blood drawn from the offerer’s own body, are looked upon as proper oblations to the Goddess Chandica, the Bhairavas &c.” “It is through sacrifices that princes obtain bliss, heaven, and victory over their enemies.” “The pleasure which the Goddess receives from an oblation of the fish and tortoises is of one month’s duration, and three from that of a crocodile. By the blood of the nine specifies of wild animals the Goddess is satisfied nine months, and for that space of time This is a 16-page typed MS having modifications by the author himself. All the pages are numbered serially and the treatment of the subject seems complete.—Ed. 1The chapter is translated in English by Mr. W. C. Blaquiere and will be found in the Asiatic Researches vol. pp.

118 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES continues propitious to the offerer’s welfare. The blood of the wild bull and Guana give pleasure for one year, and that of the antelope and wild boar for twelve years. The Sarabhas blood satisfies the Goddess for twenty-five years, and buffalo’s and rhinoceros’s blood for a hundred, and that of the tiger an equal number. That of the lion, reindeer, and the human species produces pleasure, which lasts a thousand years. The flesh of these, severally, gives the pleasure for the same duration of time as their blood. Now attend to the different fruits attending an offering of the flesh of a rhinoceros or antelope, as also of the fish called Rohita.” “The flesh of the antelope and rhinoceros pleases the Goddess five hundred years and the Rohita fish and Bardhrinasa give my beloved (i.e. the Goddess Cali) delight for three hundred years.” “A spotless goat, who drinks only twice in twenty-four hours, whose limbs are slender, and who is the prime among a herd, is called Bardhrinasa, and is reckoned as the best of Havyas (i.e. offerings to the Deities) and Cavyas, (i.e. offerings to the deceased progenitors).” “The bird whose throat is blue and head red and legs black with white feathers, is called also Barshrinasa, and is king of the birds, and the favourite of me and Vishnu.” “By a human sacrifice attended by the forms laid down, Devi is pleased one thousand years and by sacrifice of three men, one hundred thousand years. By human flesh, Camachya, Chandica, and Bhairava who assumes my shape, are pleased one thousand years. An oblation of blood which has been rendered pure by holy texts, is equal to ambrosia; the head also afford much delight to the Goddess Chandica. Let therefore the learned when paying adoration to the Goddess, offer blood and the head, and when performing the sacrifices to fire, make oblations of flesh.” “Let the performer of the sacrifice be cautious never to offer bad flesh, as the head and blood are looked upon by themselves equal to ambrosia.” “The gourd, sugar cane, spirituous liquors, and fermented liquors are looked upon as equivalent to other offerings, and please the Goddess for the same duration of time as the sacrifice of a goat.” “The performance of the sacrifice, with a Chandrahasa, or Gatri, (two weapons of the king) is reckoned the best mode, and with a hetcher or knife, or a sangeul, the second best, and the beheadings

119RIDDLE NO. 15 with a hoe a Bhallac (an instrument of the spade kind) the inferior mode.” “Exclusive of these weapons no others of the spear of arrow kind ought ever to be used in performing a sacrifice, as the offering is not accepted by the Goddess, and the giver of it dies. He who, with his hands, tears off the head of the consecrated animal, or bird, shall be considered equally guilty with him who has slain a Brahman, and shall undergo great sufferings. “Let not the learned use the axe, before they have invoked it by holy texts, which have been mentioned heretofore, and framed by the learned for the occasion; let those I now tell you, be joined to them and the axe invoked, and particularly so, where the sacrifice is to be made to the Goddesses Durga and Camachya.” “Let the sacrificer repeat the word Kali twice, then the words ‘Devi Bajreswari, the Lawha Dandayai, Namah! ’ which words may be rendered ‘Hail! Cali, Cali! Hail! Devi! goddess of thunder, Hail Iron sceptered Goddess!’ Let him then take the axe in his hand, and again invoke the flame by the Calratriya text as follows: “Let the sacrificer say: ‘ Hrang Hring. Cali, Cali.’ O horrid toothed Goddess: eat, cut, destroy all the malignant, cut with this axe, bind; seize; drink blood; spheng secure, Salutations to Cali.” Thus ends the Calratriya Mantra.” “The Charge (the axe) being invoked by this text called the Calratriya Mantra, Calratri (the Goddess of darkness) herself presides over the axe uplifted for the destruction of the sacrificer’s enemies.” “The sacrificers must make use of all the tests directed previous to the sacrifice, and also of the following, addressing himself to the victim.” “Beasts were created by the self existing, himself to be immolated at sacrifices. I therefore immolate thee, without incurring any sin in depriving thee of life.” “Let the sacrificer then name the Deity to whom the sacrifice is made, and the purpose for which it is performed; and by the above text immolate the victim, whose face is to be towards the north, or else let the sacrificer turn his own face to the north, and the victim’s to the east; Having immolated the victim, let him without fail mix salt &c., as before mentioned with the blood.” “The vessel in which the blood is to be presented, is to be according to the circumstances of the offerer, of gold, silver, copper, brass, or leaves sewed together, or of earth, or of tutenague, or of any of the species of wood used in sacrifices.”