Important Tantra and Yogini Temples

The Kamakhya Temple is one of the famous Sakta Temples of India and regarded as one of the main centers of Tantricism with some scholars being of the opinion that Tantricism originated here. Depending upon the original name of the state 'Pragjyotisapura' some pointed out that it was associated with Solar worship or it was a seat of astronomical studies. Whatever it may be, the history is lost in oblivion. Kamakhya is at the center of the widely practiced, powerful tantric cult in India, situated in the north eastern state of Assam, atop the Nilachal Hill. It is one of the 108 Shakti Peethas of Goddess Durga. Legend has it that Kamakhya came into existence when Lord Shiva was carrying the corpse of his wife Sati, and her "yoni" (female genitalia) fell to the ground at the spot where the temple now stands. The temple is a natural cave with a spring. Down a flight of steps to the bowel of earth, is located a dark, mysterious chamber. Here, draped with a silk sari and covered with flowers, is kept the "matra yoni". At Kamakhya, tantric Hinduism has been nurtured by generations of tantric priests down the centuries.

Kalighat, in Calcutta (Kolkata), is an important pilgrimage for tantrics. It is said that when Sati's corpse was cut into pieces, one of her fingers fell at this spot. Many goats are sacrificed here before the Goddess Kali, and innumerable tantrics take their vows of self-discipline in this Kali temple.

Bishnupur in Bankura district of West Bengal is another place where they draw their tantric powers. Intent on worshipping the Goddess Manasa, they make their way to Bishnupur for an annual snake worship festival held in August every year. Bishnupur is also an ancient and well-known cultural and crafts center.

In Bhubaneswar, the 8th-century Vaital temple has a reputation of being a powerful tantric center. Inside the temple stands the mighty Chamunda (Kali), wearing a necklace of skulls with a corpse at her feet. Tantrics find the dimly lit interior of the temple an ideal place for absorbing age-old currents of power that emanate from this spot.

An unusual four-faced image of Shiva carved from black marble can be seen at the Shiva temple of Eklingi near Udaipur in Rajasthan. Dating back to AD 734 or thereabouts, the temple complex draws a steady stream of tantric worshippers almost throughout the year.

One of the most interesting and popular centers of tantric rites is at Balaji, near Bharatpur off the Jaipur-Agra highway. Exorcism is a way of life at Balaji, and people from far and near, who have been "possessed by spirits" flock to Balaji in large numbers. It requires nerves of steel to watch some of the exorcism rituals that are practiced here. Often the wails and screams can be heard for miles around. Sometimes, 'patients' have to stay on for days on end to be exorcised. Visiting the temple at Balaji leaves one with an eerie feeling.

Yogini Temples
The Yogini cult has its origin in the simple tribal and folk tradition of India that, by the 7th-8th centuries A.D., in conjunction with the "Sakta-Tantric" form, meaning the worship of the Mother Goddess combined with certain magical rituals, which had acquired a more definite shape. A large body of Tantric texts and a similar number of shrines found in various parts of the country clearly reveal that several inexhaustible attempts made by its exponents and followers went a long way to popularize this esoteric cult between the 9th and 12th century.

Some later inscriptions found in certain Yogini temples further indicate that the cult was practiced even in the 16th century. It is still not clear as to when exactly the Yogini cult bowed out of limelight, and equally intriguing as to why its temples were abandoned. The entire phenomenon of Yogini worship and the construction of temples has its roots outside the hold of orthodox Brahmanical tradition. The Yogini in the shape of a Sakta-Tantric cult came into existence in the 7th-8th century AD. It continued to flourish as an important manifestation of Sakta Tantricism. This cult with primitive ideas on the efficacy of magical rituals and spells, sounds and gestures, is a movement that has a deep connection with rural and tribal traditions. If we were to look for the origin of the Yoginis, we must turn to the simple village cults and to the gram devis, the local village goddesses.

In the villages of India, especially in Orissa, these are the favored deities. Each gram devi, be she Ramchandi, Shyamkali, Harachandi, Tarini, Viraja, Bhagavati, Durgamata, Sarala, Bhadrakali, Kamakhya, Bhabani, Mangala etc., presides over the welfare of the village. These village goddesses seem to have been gradually transformed and consolidated into potent numerical groupings of sixty-four (sometimes eighty-one, sometimes forty-two) acquiring thereby a totally different character. It was Tantricism that elevated these local deities and gave them new form and vigor as a group of goddesses who could bestow magical powers with a view to the destruction of enemies.

The remains of Yogini temples in various parts of the country clearly reveal that the exponents and followers of this esoteric cult made vigorous attempts to popularize it and this cult was of impelling and vital significance from the 9th to the 12th century. Later inscriptions added to certain Yogini temples indicate that the shrines were in worship even in the early 16th century. We do not know exactly when the Yogini cult lost its following or why its temples were abandoned. Nine Yogini temples discovered so far are distributed in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, with the ravage of time, only few of the Yogini temples survive today and Orissa has the distinction of preserving two of these outstanding temples – one at Hirapur, a picturesque village near Bhubaneswar and another at Ranipur-Jharial in Bolangir district.

The Legends
In the ancient scriptures, often Yoginis are depicted as consorts of 'Yogis', and like their male companions practiced 'Yoga' (mediation) to gain mastery over science and acquire magical powers. "Kaula Marga", a tantric form of worship further includes Yoginis of different categories in its "Cakra" (circle) associated with lord Shiva.

The Cakra is alternatively known as "Yogini Cakra", "Kaula Cakra" (the circle of time) or the "Bhairavi Cakra" (the circle of Bhairavi, the female companion of the terrifying form of Shiva known as "Bhairava"). The 'Marga', or path, that defines five ways to perform penance to attain liberation and happiness are 'Matsya' (fish), 'Mamsa' (meat), 'Mudra' (parched grain), 'Madya' (liquor) and 'Maithuna' (sexual intercourse). A large collection of historical texts mention that to attain 'Siddhi' (spiritual powers), the 'Sadhakas' (the Tantric worshippers) unanimously offered flesh, blood and wine to the Yoginis, a tradition still in practice in several parts of Orissa. Devotees offer all these things to most of the village goddesses on important festive occasions, in times of crises, and each time these goddesses manifest themselves in dreams or otherwise to the devotees, demanding such sacrifices.

Oftentimes, the Sadhakas took recourse to Maithuna to attain the power of the Yoginis. According to the Kaula path, women of lower caste such as the 'Rajaki' (washerwomen), 'Carmakari' (leather worker), 'Vesya' (prostitute), 'Matangi' (an outcaste) and 'Madhumati' (vintner's caste) are the most suitable partners in the ritual of Maithuna. It further suggests that Maithuna practiced along with yoga leads to the most consummate and soul-lifting physical experience.

HIRAPUR, near Bhubaneswar, Orissa
The Yogini Temple, also known as the "Mahamaya Temple", has an ambience that is quite charged. The temple conveys an impression of the overwhelming power of its sixty-four Yoginis. Mahamaya, the presiding deity of the temple is found adorned with red cloth and vermilion. The deity is still worshipped by the local villagers.

The Hirapur Temple is the smallest of the Yogini temples in India. It measures only thirty feet in diameter, and is hardly eight feet high. The temple is built of coarse sandstone blocks with laterite as its foundation. The Yoginis are carved out of fine-grained gray chlorite. The inner walls of the temples have sixty-four niches with sixty Yoginis still in place.

The recently reconstructed small central pavilion has eight niches. Four of these have the images of the remaining four of the sixty-four Yoginis, while the other four have images of the Bhairavas depicted with erect phalluses as is customary of the images of Shiva in Orissa. The images are about 2 feet tall, and the niches, in which they are placed, were probably treated as miniature shrines.

The credit for building the Yogini temple of Hirapur goes to the Bhauma and Somavamsi rulers of Orissa who were known for their tolerance, liberality and eclecticism. Their rule, which lasted from mid-8th to mid-10th century A.D., has been depicted as the 'Golden Age' mainly due to their contribution in the field of, philosophy, and literature. During this period, there was a gradual amalgamation of Shaivism (worship of Shiva), Shaktism (worship of the Mother Goddess) and the Vajrayana, or Tantric form of Mahayana Buddhism in the region. It is believed that the Yogini Temple at Hirapur was built towards the end of the Bhauma rule, in the 9th century A.D.

The sculptures of Hirapur temple are extraordinarily beautiful. Faces are delicately carved often with a gentle smile and with coiffures of various styles and heavily ornamented. The architecture of this temple combines a highly original sculptural tradition with extraordinary craftsmanship.

A visit to the Yogini temple at Hirapur marks only the beginning of the journey into Orissa's mysterious past. It also throws light on the role the worship of feminine cults played in promoting harmony through the synthesis of major religious traditions of medieval Orissa.

The Cradle of the Yogini Cult
Simple circular enclosures without a roof are an unusual phenomenon among the religious shrines in India. In addition, the circular walls of these enclosures have niches that enshrine sixty-four female images known as "Yoginis". These shrines are referred to as the "Chausati" (sixty-four) Yogini temples, and the cult associated with them is known as the Yogini cult.
In some other religious texts, Yoginis are also referred to as the attendant deities of the Great Goddess. In contrast, another tradition categorized the 64 Yoginis into potent numeral groupings of 8 forms - those that signify the eight Great Goddesses or the "Asta Matrakas" The images of these Asta Matrakas are widely found in India, and especially in Orissa in their larger-than-life forms.

While some of the Yoginis of Hirapur are portrayed as huntresses with bows and arrows, others are shown balancing on a pair of wheels, or playing a drum. Most of them have two hands, but a few are also shown with four. Some of them are poised over a mount that could commonly be a fish, parrot, turtle, frog, snake, scorpion, rat, or a decapitated male head, an archer, to name a few. Some of the Yoginis also have non-human faces of animals such as the horse, ass, rabbit, elephant and lion.

Witchcraft
A number of ancient texts recount terrifying stories highlighting the sorcery or witchcrafts aspect of the Yoginis. According to these stories, Yoginis could acquire certain magical powers with which they could transform human beings into animals and birds. A few other stories talk of a category of witches referred to as 'Dakinins', known for their ability to fly, besides their appetite for human flesh.

In Orissa, the ancient practice of witchcraft is still practiced. Among the Santals of Mayurbhanj district, the Santali witches often leave behind their husbands in bed in the midst of the night to assemble in a forest. Completely naked, they spend the rest of the night dancing and singing with 'bongas' (spirits or deities) and lions as their partners. At the break of dawn, they return to their beds, back to being what they originally were. The Santals believe that the 'talent' for witchcraft is not innate, but is attained through strict discipline.

Legend of Chandi Purana
The ”Chandi Purana", a 15th century A.D. text, written by Sarala Das of Orissa, refers to Yoginis as forms of the 'Devi' or the Supreme Goddess of the 'Saktas', based on the story of the Goddess 'Chandi' or 'Durga' killing 'Mahisasura' or the buffalo-demon, is a clear reflection of the extreme form of Tantrism practiced in coastal Orissa of those times. According to the text, the Goddess Chandi is said to have liberated an innumerous number of female soldiers known as Yoginis, who were excessively fond of flesh, blood, bone and marrow. And to fulfill these desires, the soldiers fought incessantly with the demons till they were killed and could be consumed. The text says that numerous goats, rams and buffaloes were killed every day to propitiate the Goddess Sarala and the Yoginis.

Vajrayana Buddhism
The Vajrayana or the Tantric form of Buddhism, which evolved against the principles of earlier Buddhism preached by the Buddha himself, had laid great emphasis on the theory of emancipation. The preachers of Vajrayana Buddhism redefined 'Nirvana' (liberation) as 'Sunya' (void), 'Vijnana' and 'Mahasukha' (extreme pleasure) that could be achieved by embracing a woman. In this newly restructured nirvana, women were designated as 'Shakti', and their union with the 'Sadhaka' came to be known as yoga.

Further, Vajrayana Buddhists were empowered to violate laws, kill human beings, and seduce women. They propounded a common slogan - identical actions by which mortals struggling for hundreds of billions of cycles could liberate the 'Yogin' (the Enlightened Man).