Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus c5.42

c5.42

There can be little doubt, that the course of time and the presence of foreign rulers, have very much ameliorated the character of much of the Hindu worship : if the licentious practices of the SA'KTAS are still as prevalent as ever, which may well be questioned, they are, at least, carefully concealed from observation, and if they are not exploded, there are other observances of a more ferocious description, which seem to have disappeared. The worship of BHAIRAVA, still prevails amongst the Sáktas and the Jogis; but in Upper India, at least, the naked mendicant, smeared with funeral ashes, armed with a trident or a sword, carrying a hollow skull in his hand, and half intoxicated with the spirits which he has quaffed from that disgusting wine-cup, prepared, in short, to perpetrate any act of violence and crime, the Kápálika of former days, is now rarely, if ever, encountered. In the work of ANANDA GIRI, we have two of these sectaries introduced, one a Brahman by birth, is the genuine Kápálika : he drinks wine, eats flesh, and abandons all rites and observances in the spirit of his faith, his eminence in which has armed him with supernatural powers, and rendered BHAIRAVA himself, the reluctant, but helpless minister of his will. The other Kápálika is an impostor, the son of a harlot, by a gatherer of Tari, or Palm juice, and who has adopted the character as an excuse for throwing off all social and moral restraint. The Kápálikas are often alluded to in controversial works, that appear to be the compositions of a period at least preceding the tenth century.*