History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.124

v7.c92.124

in Kashmir there were Tāntrik gurus that literally carried out what the Guhyasamājatantra quoted in note 1724 apparently recommended to Buddhist Yogis In the drama called Mohaparājaya by Yaśaḥpāla under king Ajayadeva, successor of Kumārapāla, among the *dramatis personae* is a *kaula* who declares his doctrine to be eating flesh every day, drinking wine without any qualms and allowing the mind free scope.¹⁷⁴³ Aparārka quotes a verse which shows that, in the midst of numerous cults, it was difficult to be consistent: "A person may be at heart a Kaula (follower of the Kula doctrine), in outward appearance he may look a Śaiva, and he may follow Vaidika rites in his usual practices. One should live grasping what is essential like the cocoanut¹⁷⁴⁴ fruit". It appears that great scholars and poets had a sneaking admiration for Tāntrika worship. The great writer Vidyāpati of Mithilā appears to be a Vaisnava from his devotional songs, but wrote the Śaivasarvasvasāra (so he may be called a Śaiva), and wrote also Durgābhaktitaraṅgiṇī (and thus appears to have been a Śākta) and composed also a Tāntrik¹⁷⁴⁵ work. The very first verse of Vidyāpati's 'Puruṣaparīkṣā' contains an invocation of Ādi-Śakti.' Bengal and Assam were the strongholds of Śākta doctrines and even now Kālī worship is still in vogue there, but it was the great Bengal king Ballālasena who discarded Devīpurāṇa as an authority in his encyclopaedic work on gifts called Dānasāgara.¹⁷⁴⁶