Abstract
This essay examines conceptual metaphors from Śaiva-Śākta traditions of Hindu tantra. It explores how conceptual metaphors associated with heterodox ritual exchanges between humans and fierce divinities were employed and used to transform other ideas (bodily fluids, sacrificial products, sexualized symbols, celibacy, states of consciousness, ideas about kinship) to express a new kind of kinship or family (kula) that replaced or supplemented orthodox concepts (such as class and caste). It then considers the combination or blending of these conceptual systems with other ideas about concentration and miniaturization (intensifying something to its essence). The resulting conceptual metaphors are then directly related to the way that tantric traditions moved over time to semanticized, abstract, orthodox, and mystical expressions and concepts. There is a diverse body of scholarship that examines and interprets the historical traditions of Hindu tantra. This body of scholarship is seldom considered outside of conversations among area specialists. Some of this is due to the heterodox nature of some tantric practices, especially concepts or rituals that use sex or sexual symbolism. Tantric focus on these heterodox conceptual frameworks conflicts directly with purity-oriented conceptual systems of orthodox Hindu traditions. Through a kind of meta-analysis of some of these conceptual metaphors, this essay seeks to consider a kind of conceptual logic that makes their heterodox content more understandable and accessible to other areas of religious studies and philosophy. The study relies on certain insights drawn from metaphor theory to formulate the concepts (such as exchange metaphors) it examines.
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Notes
For metaphor theory, see Lakoff (1987) and Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999). For conceptual blending, see Fauconnier and Turner (2002). For philosophy of language, see Wittgenstein (1965, 2001) and his subsequent interlocutors: especially Winch (1990) and Cavell (1979). For scholars exploring tantric traditions along these lines, see Alper (1989); Hayes (2003, 2005, 2006, 2012); and Timalsina (2007, 2012, 2015, 2016b).
Exploring the metaphors and blends that express “exchange” concepts leaves many aspects of these traditions unexamined and untouched. “Exchange” does not unlock all the conceptual mysteries of these longstanding, diverse, and complex traditions. Although it is important, “exchange” does not represent a “most fundamental” or “singularly” essential feature of tantra, and it seems likely that there is no single or essential feature that would provide a sufficiently rich “fundamental” metaphor or idea. Instead, there are networks of multiple metaphorical concepts that expressed and shaped the form of life of these traditions. The metaphors examined here provide examples of one set of these networked ideas. The footnotes and bibliography indicate some of the detailed works that would provide more general and complete explorations of some of these tantric traditions.
The breadth and depth of serious scholarship on tantric traditions in recent decades have produced numerous in-depth studies (see bibliography for a full set of references). For selected studies with both textual depth and historical breadth, see Padoux (1990, 2017); Sanderson (1985, 1986, 1988, 1995, 2009); White (1996, 1998, 2000, 2003); Davidson (2002); and Dyczkowski (1988, 2000, 2004a, b). For an overview of contemporary conversations, see Hayes (2011). For selected examples of studies of specific traditions, see Lidke (2017); Brooks (1990, 1992); and Borkataky-Varma (2017). For specific in-depth studies and reflections on broader philosophical and methodological issues, see Timalsina (2007, 2015, 2016a, b); Biernacki (2014, 2015); Hayes and Timalsina (2017); and Urban (2003, 2009). This is just a small and selective sample of the field of growing scholarship and the many conversations.
For a more detailed exploration of these themes and a working definition of “tantra,” see David G. White’s introduction (2000, pp. 3–38) where he gives some nuance and detail to these many responses.
Consider that scholars of South Asia do not take such constructs as the “Aryan invasions” as meaningful, yet the ideas and reactions to them persist. For a single comparative example, the mysteries of Demeter in classical Greece are almost exclusively discussed among area specialists despite their socio-historical value for understanding later Roman era salvation religions, or subsequent traditions that relied on special initiations, have universalizing theologies, and promised beatified after-lives. These phenomena are exaggerated further for tantric traditions, in part due to their esoteric style but also because of the heterodox content (present in some of the texts and traditions).
The concepts that I will be exploring in this essay are mostly limited to the Śaiva-Śākta expressions of Tantrism. The argument could be extended to the Vaiṣṇavas (Pāñcarātra or others), and especially the Buddhist Vajrayāṇa/Mantrayāṇa traditions. At minimum, these other expressions of the Tantric milieu include significant overlap with these concepts and often have direct relevance. The limits and borders of the argument are simply to delineate a collection of concepts and the logical rules that connect them together.
This left/right distinction is generalized and repeated across a diverse field of specialist and generalist sources. The technical distinction is particularly manifest in Jayaratha’s commentary on Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka (TĀ) (see Sanderson 1995, 18).
For Kāpālikas and their rituals, see Sanderson (1986, 1988), and throughout his works listed in the references; Lorenzen (1972, 2000); White (1996, 2003); and Dyczkowski (1988). An exploration of sources on the theories of “sacrifice” or “exchanges” between humans and divine beings, in traditional Indic religious life, is beyond the scope of this essay. A highly selective survey would include an examination of the works of Frits Staal, J. C. Heesterman, and Kathryn McClymond; for broader ranging approaches, see Jonathan Z. Smith, Walter Burkert, René Girard, and Marcel Mauss (also Mauss and Henri Hubert). Neither of these lists is exhaustive.
See White (1996, 312ff; 2003, pp. 106–114) and throughout these works for an extensive discussion of the transactional nature of kula/kaula practices. Sanderson (see references) likewise explores related themes extensively.
See White (2013, pp. 7–15) for exploration of goddesses, demons, and witches who feed on humans in the tantras, fantastic literature, and ethnographic sources.
For a more detailed exploration of these three interpretations of the dangerous transactions, see White (2003, throughout; and 2013, p. 12) and his sources, especially Hatley (2007, 2013) and Serbaeva (2013). See also Wallis (2008). For the broader South Asian context, see Smith (2006). Beyond South Asia, visionary experiences of being torn apart by spirits (and being reassembled or rejuvenated) are pervasive in shamanic and other visionary traditions.
Although Śrīvidyā and possibly some modern Guru movements inherit the conceptual frameworks of Kashmiri Śaiva traditions of tantra, the lineages of ritualists and interpreters have disappeared from Kashmir. Alternatively, it may be more properly stated that what was once distinctly tantric and distinctly Vedic have mixed and transformed so thoroughly over the last several centuries that it is difficult to locate a “tantric” institution in isolation from the folk, popular, or elite traditions of contemporary Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist South Asia. Kāpālika practices of some sorts may persist among Aghoris or Nath Jogis; Ayurvedic doctor-scholars may still repeat stories of alchemists; other legends abound. However, many of the texts that include the stereotypical elements of “tantra” no longer represent living liturgical traditions. On the illusive nature of or disappearance of tantric institutions, see Sanderson (1985), Padoux (1990, 2017), and White (1996).
We do not have explicit examples of the earliest forms of tantric rituals and practices especially in their heterodox cremation ground forms. Whether or not this “barter” model is precise or completely accurate is obscured by the fragmentary nature of our understanding of the earliest traditions and their tendencies toward secrecy; the lack of a good textual record of ascetic practices compared to the later textual descriptions. However, we can infer from the patterns of later Hindu and Buddhist traditions widely separated in time and location that what comes to be called the “Left” in Tantra is importantly present from the earliest forms of the tradition. Exchange does not explain all forms of tantric ritual. It may not be applicable in many cases, but in the form of metaphors and concepts, these notions of trafficking with fierce deities and making exchanges with them remain part of the symbolic vocabulary of the traditions throughout their history.
Sanderson (1995) explores the details of offerings and of the additional obligations of the tantric ritualists.
See Brooks (1992, p. 119) for his discussion of the Śrīcakra; and see chapter 6 in general.
Explored extensively in Padoux, Sanderson, and White: see references.
It is beyond the scope of this argument, but one could further develop these ideas to connect the practices and concepts of meditation, visualization, and concentration exercises (focus on a single point) because they draw on these same models and concepts when they construct both their methods and their explanations of the meaningfulness of those methods.
For a concise scholarly overview of tantric sex, see White (2000, pp. 15–18)
It may be self-evident why humans engage in sex from a biological standpoint, but this reduction gives little insight into the pervasive and complex cultural values and meanings associated with sex. The form of life these concepts express goes far beyond biological urges and beyond even the common meanings of social interactions and mating customs.
For Vedic sexuality, consider the prostitute and bard couple who perform sexual intercourse in the Mahāvrata rite, cf. Parpola (1983, p. 48); or consider the role of kāma as one of the three aims in life, cf. Kāma Sūtra I.2.1; for just two examples.
For the earliest traditions, see Parpola (1983, p. 48, p. 53). For the general worldly goals of early Vedic practices (such as procuring sons), see Heesterman (1985, 1993). Generally speaking, there is scant evidence for the ancient Indic views of sex (other than ritual and hymns devoted to conception or desiring sons). Manu and the Dharma literatures tend to view sex positively as part of family life. For analysis of these constructs of Vedic life in general and a more comprehensive view of the sources, see B. K. Smith (1998).
Although the Vedic model of reproduction tends to emphasize this “farmer planting a field” metaphor, the concepts shift in later medical and alchemical lore to a co-mingling of sexual flood model (semen and menstrual blood or vaginal fluid comingle in the womb to create the embryo in the later models). See O’Flaherty (1980, Chapter 2) and White (1996, especially Chapter 7).
This is not the conventional explanation for celibacy. Broadly speaking, purity and chastity (for students or in certain ritual contexts) are closely associated with pursuing religious goals and insights. The conceptual links suggested here are based on following the logical steps of what kind of meanings “retaining semen” has as a metaphor or concept. And, they are closely related to the ways the later yogic and alchemical traditions understood semen. See White (1996) for retention of semen in these later traditions.
These negative formations of sex represent ascetic concepts. Sex is appropriate (even divine) for householders.
Clifford Geertz (1993 [1965]) develops the concepts of religious meanings serving as models. He states: “… cultural patterns have an intrinsic double aspect: they give meaning, that is, objective conceptual form, to social and psychological reality both by shaping themselves to it and by shaping it to themselves” (p. 93). For more recent consideration and critique of Geertz’s concepts and some ways that relate to metaphors, see Rennie (2009).
Davidson (2002) further develops these topics throughout; see especially chapter 5 (170ff) for wrathful and fierce narratives and symbols.
This also helps to explain some of the rise in importance of goddesses because of their explicit ties to places (Śakti Pīṭhas). Their vidyā are especially anchored in the manifest world. Davidson (2002, 141ff) explores the connections between kula and places. In connection to kings and war, such territory is especially polluted (so especially associated with aspects of the fierce goddesses). Kings taking over such polluted territory are squarely in the territory of the kula more than it is for Brahmins. Davidson rightly expresses the Brahmanical side of this story: they were especially empowered to purify or clean up such situations, but the same logic holds (but with a different emphasis) for why specialists in Śakti vidyā might have had their own marketing angle on such circumstances.
This is justified by Abhinavagupta theoretically despite its redundancy, Tantrāloka 15.148–151, pp. 153–155; See Sanderson’s detailed explanation of how and why the centrality of knowledge evolved and when deviations were allowed or even justified (1995, pp. 48–49 for Abhinavagupta’s justification, and throughout). Some ingredients to this way of thinking include (1) the South Asian conception of “means” that implies that people should do what best matches with their limits, social situation, etc., be it ritual, thinking, or visualization, etc.; (2) this concept of concert or orchestration is part of the shared ethos that ritual is like music in which knowing musical scales and patterns, mental counting, breathing, and articulating the fingers all work simultaneously to make the music. Thus, strong rituals or powerful performances have somatic, verbal, and mental components. (3) This may also be a model of and model for strategy that is equally represented in Indian rhetorical strategies. Multiple redundancy is an Indian rhetorical style where multiple arguments (not necessarily connected with each other) literally spray one’s rhetorical opponent. This model works in contrast to a step by step, content-dependent, Greek-style rhetoric. For rhetorical styles, cf. Gregory Alles (1994).
The following argument could be formed in a similar way for any of these power substances as binding agents, such as menstrual blood, and flesh. I chose to consider semen in this example because it demonstrates a variety of the exchange and currency concepts. If I were to focus on menstrual blood, it would be for examining the yoginīs side of the exchange. Since human ritual behavior is the focus of this discussion, the limited example of the “use-value” of semen is explored here.
Even goddess-only, Śākta groups organize their theology this way, even if they have replaced the male god with a goddess. Ostensibly, this is because in their earliest developments, they relied on broadly Śaiva Siddhānta concepts and theology. Various historical forces are work here: Kula/Kaula groups do not need developed conceptual theologies since they are essentially oriented to ritual and power. The traditions of the goddesses—at least in their textual expressions—claim to rely on oral and sexual transmission of their knowledge, not through texts. Tantra becomes highly theological, after the fact, because power becomes reinterpreted as a kind of knowledge in the later traditions. Although there might be some fruitful parallels, this analysis does not account for Vaiṣṇava sects or Buddhist traditions. The Śaiva Siddhānta with its strictly dualistic theology and its orthodox/right (dakṣiṇa-) orientation to ritual explicitly avoids the valences I am exploring here by taking an orthodox orientation to worship and its rewards (mokṣa): although not without some exceptions (see Sanderson 1985).
The Kulārṇavatantra (ca. eleventh century) borrows this older imagery about consumption from earlier tradition; see Kulārṇava tantra (1975). Brooks (2000) describes the clan nectar as the five Ms; White (2003) describes it as the consumption of the comingled sexual fluids. This imagery is explored in more detail in the Kaulajñānanirṇaya of Matsyendranāth (see White 2003).
Contemporary Aghoris who eat bones or flesh—or engage in other Kula/Kaula cremation grounds (śmaśāna) practices—generally interpret their own behavior as a kind of knowledge. They report only minor concern with magical powers (siddhis) or consider them of secondary importance. Knowledge is primary. Personal communications: Varanasi October 2000, February 2001; Maha Khumbh Mela (Allahabad) January 2001; between Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula (north-east of Rishikesh) September 2000, July 2008.
Glen Hayes and Sthaneshwar Timalsina (2017) and their sources have both given articulate explorations of the use of cognitive blends and blending as practiced by Tāntrikas of various sectarian streams. For a sustained exploration of cognitive science applied to Śākta Tantra sources, see Timalsina (2015).
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Ruff, J.C. Exchange and Transaction as a Form of Life and Meaning in the Logic of Tantric Concepts. DHARM 3, 131–154 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-019-00042-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-019-00042-1