In those days of matrilineal order, people introduced the system of mother worship, and from that emerged the custom of cańd́ii pújá, the worship of cańd́iká shakti, the power of the group-mother. In those days the leader of a clan would invariably be a woman, a clan-mother.

Yá devii sarvabhúteśu Matrrúpeńa saḿsthitá
Namastasyae namastasyae namastasyae namo namah.
Yá devii sarvabhúteśu Shaktirúpeńa saḿsthitá
Namastasyae namastasyae namastasyae namo namah.

[I offer my deepest salutations to that goddess who is in all created beings in the form of the Universal Mother. I offer my deepest salutations to the goddess who is immanent in all created beings in the form of the Supreme Force.]

Thus the people, being inspired by this idea, developed the system of mother worship in early stages of the Puranic Shákta Cult, in the last phase of Post-Shiva Tantra. Alongside this developed the custom of kumárii pújá [virgin worship], just to please the future clan-mothers. So the custom of cańd́ii pújá gave rise to the custom of virgin worship. One who is a maiden today will be a clan-mother in due course; so it was wise to please these clan-mothers-to-be by offering them something.

Thus we see that cańd́ii pújá or kumárii pújá was essentially a social affair, but in Post-Shiva Tantra and in the first phase of the Puranic Shákta Cult, a religious tinge was added to it. This is how the worship of virgins originated. Now this system has almost disappeared.

The situation changed a great deal in subsequent periods. The matrilineal order was stopped, and the supremacy of gotramátá came to an end. Then came the age of the patriarchal system, and along with it the leadership of the clan vested in the gotrapitá.

The same tradition perpetuated itself even in the patriarchal system; that is, the head of the clan had to be kept in good humour with gifts and offerings. He enjoyed unlimited power, as the clan-mother did in the heyday of the matrilineal order.

Cańd́iká shakti is the cańd́a shakti, the great power exercised by the clan-mother. This cańd́ii shakti or cańd́a shakti reached its climax during the days of Post-Shiva Tantra and the Puranic Shákta Cult. We shall say more about Puranic Shákta later. So you understand how the concept of cańd́ii originated.⁽¹⁾

Gańeśa was the group-leader of prehistoric days. Some time after Post-Shiva Tantra, in the Puranic Age, a special cult, the Gańapati Cult, arose centring around Gańapati. You should remember that some five cults arose following the Puranic doctrine that had its origin some 1300 or 1400 years back: Shaevácára, Sháktácára, Vaeśńavácára, Gáńapatyácara and Saorácára.

Let us throw some light on Shaevácára [the Shiva Cult]. The main goal of human beings is Shivasamádhi [final enlightenment]. Human beings should direct all their outer expressions of life towards the inner world, and finally merge in Paramátmá. This is the sum and substance of the Shiva Cult.

Yacched váunmanasi prájiṋastad
Yacched jiṋánamátmani;
Jiṋánamátmani mahati niyacched
Tad yacchecchántátmani.

This shántátmá [referred to in tad yacchecchántátmani of the shloka] means Shivátmá [Supreme Entity]; one who merges in the Supreme Entity attains Shivasamádhi, which is the goal of every spiritual aspirant.

Next is Sháktácára [the Shakti Cult]. According to Sháktácára, the static principle contained in támasikii shakti has to be merged in Bhavánii Shakti, or Káliká Shakti (the acoustic root for Káliká Shakti is saḿ). And then the mutative principle has to be withdrawn from Káliká Shakti and merged in Bhaeravii Shakti (the acoustic root of Bhaeravii Shakti is shaḿ).

Bhaeravii Shakti means energy in action. All people want to come into contact with the mutative force. The acoustic root of energy is raḿ and that for the mutative principle is shaḿ. People want energy supported by the mutative force so that they might enjoy name and fame. So they crave for sha + ra = shra (in the feminine gender, shrii, beauty.) Thus there was a custom in olden days for people to prefix their names with the word shrii. The old custom has fallen into some disuse: shrii is used less nowadays. But I hope that these days people will not become vishrii [ugly]!

Then the sentient forces [or principles] have to be withdrawn from Bhaeravii Shakti, and merged in Kaośikii Shakti, or Mahásarasvatii, the spiritual effulgence.

These are the successive phases of the Puranic Shákta Cult. This cult begins with Káliká Shakti, but Káliká is not Kálii, the wife of Shiva, nor the Káliká Shakti of Buddhist Tantra or Post-Shiva Tantra, nor Káliká the Puranic goddess. Rather, this Káliká is a philosophical term, the inner spirit of a system of sádhaná.

Next is Vaeśńavácára [the Viśńu Cult].

Vistárah sarvabhútasya Viśńorvishvamidaḿ jagat;
Draśt́avyamátmavattasmádabhedena vicakśańaeh.⁽²⁾

Viśńu pervades each and every thing of this universe, and because He is all-pervading, He is called “Viśńu”. And the inner spirit of Vaeśńavácára is to realize this all-pervading Viśńu.

Viśńuparistitah Viśńuh Viśńuh khádati Viśńave;
Kathaḿ hasasi re Viśńuh sarvaḿ Viśńumayaḿ jagat.

A devout Vaishnavite is seeing Viśńu in everything. Then he sits down to eat rice from a plate. He has a dog on his lap who partakes of food from the same plate. Another scholar who happens to discover that the Vaishnavite gentleman and his dog are eating from the same plate bursts into laughter. He asks how a devout Vaishnavite can eat food from the same plate as a dog. The Vaishnavite replies, “Viśńu in the form of a dog is sitting on the lap of a man, another manifestation of the same Viśńu. Viśńu the man and Viśńu the dog are eating rice, another manifestation of Viśńu. And why are you, another manifestation of Viśńu, laughing? Everything in this universe is Viśńu.” This is the Puranic Viśńu Cult.

The fourth is Gánápatyácára [the Gańeśa or Gańapati Cult]. When the ancient custom of group leadership – gańa-pativáda, vináyakaváda or gańeśaváda – became converted into a cult during the Puranic Age, the idea was adopted that the group-leader was the leader of the universe. “The Supreme Entity is the leader of our group. We will try to satisfy Parama Puruśa.” With this sort of outlook, the Gánápatya Cult evolved during the Puranic Age. They are worshippers of gańapati, the group-leader. This is the Gáńapatya Cult.

Last is the Saora [Sun] Cult. This cult was propagated by the Brahmans who came from Shákadviipa. Shákadviipa was the southern part of Russia, with its capital at Tashkent. The original Greek name of this area was Sacdonia. These Brahmans who migrated to India from Sacdonia did not recognize the Vedas or anything else; they were astrologers and teachers of áyurveda. Since they cultivated the science of astrology and astronomy, they used to worship the sun-god, Súrya. The word saora is derived from súrya plus the suffix śńa, giving the sense of “offspring”; saora means “one who is the worshipper of the sun-god”. When it developed into a full-fledged cult, the idea behind it was that the sun-god, who was the creator of this world, was also the creator of the solar system; that is, all the planets – earth, Mars, Mercury, etc. – have come from the sun. The sun is their father. Similarly, the father of this universe is the sun-like Parama Puruśa; so the sun is worshipped as the Supreme Progenitor of this universe. This is the inner essence of the Súrya Cult, which was spread by the Sacdonian Brahmans. But it was not well accepted anywhere in India; it was only accepted to a moderate extent in some places.

These were the five main cults of the Puranic Age. None of them became widely established. Some enjoyed a limited popularity, while some barely existed at all. Some have a philosophical basis, while others do not.

Footnotes

(1) Editors’ note: Some pages on other topics omitted here.

(2) Viśńupuráńa –Trans.