History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.152

v7.c92.152

One or two very peculiar notions and practices of the Tāntrikas may be briefly mentioned here. The offering of flesh, wine and mudrā to the *devatā* with the recital of three *bījas* 'āṁ, hrīṁ, kroṁ' and the mantras 'oṁ Ānandabhairavāya namaḥ' and 'oṁ Ānandabhairavyai namaḥ' was technically called *śuddhi*¹⁷⁶². The Mahānirvāṇa and Tantrarāja-tantra state that to drink wine without *śuddhi*¹⁷⁶³ was like swallowing poison, that the person doing so would suffer from diseases for a long time, would soon die prematurely and that wine was to be drunk even by one who has attained some perfection only up till the mind has reached an ecstatic state of absorption (in thoughts of Devī) and that if he drinks beyond that stage he at once becomes a sinner (vide also Kulārṇava VII. 97-98 for the last proposition).