SAKTA, a sect of Hindus who worship the female principle according to the ritual of theTantra. Of these there aro two divisions,—the Dakshina Chari or right-hand ritualists, and the Vaunt Cheri or left-hand ritualists. The worship of the right hand division is public, and is addressed to the goddesses, in the forms of Durga, Bhavani, Parvati, Laksluni, Maha Lakshmi, and others. The left hand ritualists worship, in preference, the Tan trice impersonations of Durga, as Devi, Kali, Syama, etc., or a woman representing the Sakti. Their worship is private and unavowed, and is much talked about as the oriental form of the Eleusinian mysteries. Wilson thas describes the left-hand sect (i. p. 257) : All the principal ceremonies comprehend the worship of Sakti, and require for that purpose the presence of a female as the living representative and the type of the goddess. This worship is mostly celebrated in a mixed society, the men of which represent 131tair avas or Viras, and the women Bhairavis and Nayikas. The Sakti is personated by a naked female, to whom meat and wine are offered and then distributed amongst the assistants, the re citation of various Mantras and texts, and the performance of the Mudra, or gesticulations with the fingers, accompanying the different stages of the ceremony, and it is terminated with the most scandalous orgies amongst its votaries.' The Rev. J. Burgess, writing in 1874, mentions that at Jamnagar, in Kattyawar, there was a Nanak-panthi ascetic who dressed in silks and satins, physically a magnificent man, and that Saktaism was secretly practised there. Mr. C. P. Brown, whose means for information were very great, and who lived through a great part of the 19th centtul, said that Sakta puja had never extended into the 3Iadras Presidency. The Editor also never heard there of any of the alleged im purities. In the district of Tinnevelly the Saktas will not admit that they do more than eat flesh and drink toddy together. The theory of the Saktas is said to be the following : The extinc tion of desire is tho great aim of Hinduism. The other sects seek it by the mortification of the pas sions ; the Saktas by their gratification.
The Hindu worshippers of the Sakti, the power or energy of the divine nature in action, are numerous amongst all classes of the Hindus. In their mythology, this active energy is imper sonated in the forms of the three female deities, —Laksluni, Parvati, and Samswati, the consorts respectively of Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma. Tha worship of the female principle, as distinct from the divinity, appears to have originated in the literal interpretation of the metaphorical language of the Vedas, in which the will or purpose tc create the universe is represented as originating from the Creator, and co-existent with him as hi; bride and part of himself. Thus, in the Rig Veda,
it is said that divine spirit breathed without affiation single, with (Swadha) her who is sus stained within him, other than him nothing existed First, desire was formed in his mind, and that became the original productive seed.' Also, the Sama Veda, speaking of the divine cause of creation, says, He felt not delight, being alone, be wished another, and instantly became such. He caused his own self to fall in twain, and thus became husband and wife. He approached her, and thus were human beings produced.' It is probable that these legends may relate to the primitive tradition as to the origin of mankind, but there i; in them also a figurative representation of the first indication of wish or will in the Supreme Being. Another set of notions of some antiquity, which contributed to form the character of the Sakti, whether general or particular, were derived from the Sankhya philosophy. In this system, nature, Prakriti, or Mule Prakriti, is defined to be of eternal existence and independent origin, distinct from the Supreme Spirit, productive though no production, and the plastic origin of all things, including even the gods. In the Puranas, especially in the Brahma Vaivartta Purana, Prakriti or Maya bears a prominent part, for from the Sankhya philosophy, Prakriti haa come to be regarded as the mother of gods and inen ; whilst as one with matter, the source of error, it is again identified with Maya or delusion, and as co-existent with the Supreme as his Sakti, his personified energy or his bride. According to the Prakriti Khanda section of the Brahina Vaiv artta Purana, Brahma, or the Supreme Being, having determined to create the universe, became two-fold, the right half becoming a male, the left half a female, which was Prakriti. She was of one nature with Brahma. She was illusion, eternal and without end ; as is the soul, so its active energy,—as the faculty of burning is in fire. It is from the Tantras that the rites and formuhe of the worship of Prakriti or Sakta are obtained. They are numerous, of great extent, and in the form of a dialogue between Siva and his bride. The earliest record of Sakti is in the Periplus.