The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.88

Language: English

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**Sivaism and Saktism—how they flourished in Orissa :** Founded upon the same sensuous, mundane idea of the influence of the sexes in the creation of the universe, it is but natural to suppose that Śivaism or the adoration of the male principle, and Śāktaism or the adoration of the female principle, should go hand in hand, and in books they do so ; but practically they seem to have flourished almost independently of each other in India. Śivaism commenced first, and when it did so, Śāktaism seems not to have been much cared for, or at least not to have given rise to a distinct cult, and the oldest monuments of Śiva, have very little of the Śākta about them. In Orissa, the great seat of Sivaism was Bhuvaneśvara, and all the great temples there are consecrated to the *Liṅgam*, the emblem of the great god Mahādeva, an upright stone without the *Yoni* accompaniment. The princes of the Késari dynasty, who devoted themselves particluarly to this form of worship, wishing to produce a second Benares in the metropolis of their dominion,³⁹ confined their attention to Śiva or the upright stone as at Benares, and paid no attention to his consort. Śāktaism found its votaries at a later time in Orissa, and a separate locale was assigned for it at Jājapur; but judging from the remains now visible there, it seems never to have flourished near so well as Śivaism. In Bengal too, the Śākta followed long after Śivaism;

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and some of its more mysterious and grosser forms do not date earlier than twelve to fifteen hundred years; and when it came into vogue it seems to have induced even a large number of the old Śivite to betake to the new faith. This can be easily accounted for. There is a charm in mystery for the mass of mankind, whether it be in quack medicines or a religion of symbols, diagrams and talismans, which tells much more effectually, much more sweepingly, and much more completly than rational appeal to the understanding ever can do. It "takes the reason prisoner" all at once, and leaves little room for reflection to play its part in a healthy and independent way. Sexual religion, whether in the form of Śāktaism, or, that of the doctrines of the Gnostics, Rosicrucians and others, has this advantage to perfection. It requires a greater mass of mystery to envelope its coarse ideas than even what Śivaism needed or encouraged, and accordingly it succeeds in a most astounding manner, where the other falls to obtain a footing.

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Even the most rationalistic of all religionists, the Buddhists, could not resist its allurements, and between the fifth and eighth centuries, compiled and translated a huge mass of Tantras in the Tibetan language, and accepting the sexual doctrine, introduced the worship of several goddesses and degrading ideas of the divinity into Nepal and Tibet, as a part of the esoterics of the Buddhist religion.⁴⁰ Śāktaism in its grosser and repulsive forms of Kaula and Vāmācāra cults needs this even more extensively than Śivaism ever needed or encouraged, and consequently got far ahead of the latter. To prove this I cannot do better than quote Dr. Wilson's estimate of the relative proportions of the followers of the three leading sects of Bengal. "It has been computed", he says, "that of the Hindus of Bengal at least three-fourths are" Śāktas: "of the remaining fourth, three parts are Vaiṣṇavas, and one Śaivas".⁴¹ This estimate may not be quite correct, and Ward, taking into consideration the fact that the bulk of the people in the eastern districts are Vaiṣṇavas, reckons the Vaiṣṇavas of Bengal at one third of the whole Hindu population; but in either case the figures show very clearly the great preponderance of the Śāktas over the other sects.

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Nor is this to be wondered at, considering that the great body of the aboriginal races and the lower orders of the people, though not duly initiated in any Śakti *mantra*, pay their adoration principally to some form or other, mostly to all the different forms, of Durgā, with scarcely any, or but slender, regard for Viṣṇu and his images, and must be included among the Śāktas. In Orissa the case is otherwise. At present, Jagannātha engrosses the attention of the bulk of the people there, and the number of Śaivas and Śāktas is extremely limited. Even at Jājapur, which at one time was a great seat of Śāktaism, whence its name *Virājpīṭha*, [ 149 ] the followers of the feminine divinity constitute but a very small section of the community. Perhaps, formerly the case was not so, and there is no doubt that during the reign of the Keśarī dynasty, the Śaivas greatly preponderated; but the proselytizing zeal of Caitanya and his followers has long since brought the greater part of the people to follow their faith to the exclusion of all sexual forms of religion. As far as I have been able to ascertain Śāktas are now more common in Orissa than Śaivas, and the two together scarcely represent one-eight of the entire Hindu population of that province. Bābu Raṅgalāla Banerji, Deputy Magistrate of Cuttack, who has been in the district for a long time, and has made the subject of the different creeds prevailing there, his study, informs me that "there are scarcely any Śaivas in Orissa.

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The greater number of the Śāsana Brāhmaṇas are Vaiṣṇavas of the older, or Vaidika, form. All the other castes are generally Vaiṣṇavas of the Caitanya or Nityānanda *sampradāya*. There are fifty *maṇḍalas* of these Vaiṣṇavas in the city of Cuttack alone—each having a band of *saṅkīrtana* attached to it. They are under the primacy of the great Gossāin of Caitanya at Puri. The Tantras prevail on the Jājapur tract".