CHAPTER
III Occult Theocracy
BRAHMINISM
For a
brief study of Brahminism, the religion prac-
tised in
India, we can hardly do better than quote
from the
work of such recognized authorities as Messrs.
Stillson
and Hughan. ' In attempting to trace the origin
of
Brahminism, they make the following observations :
"
After being conquered by the Cuthites under Rama,
the son
of Cush, referred to in Genesis x, 2, 7, the
Mysteries
of the Deluge were introduced. The worship
soon
became divided into two sects. We are not fully
apprised
when was first introduced the Brahminic
system,
composed of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, cons-
tituting
the Trimurti... one branch of which was mild
and
benevolent, and addressed to Vishnu, the Preserver,
while
the other proclaimed the superiority of Siva, who
was
called the Destroyer and the representative of
terror
and penance, barbarity and blood ; in Egypt,
represented
by Typhon.
"
These Mysteries, whatever may have been their
origin,
or for what purposes they were then instituted,
were
certainly a corruption of the original worship of
1.
Stillson and Hughan, The History of Freemasonry and
Concordant
Orders, see the chapter entitled " Hindoostan ",
p. 74 et
seq.
the one Deity. They bore a direct reference to the happi-
ness of Man in Paradise, where he was first placed ; his
subsequent deviations and transgressions, and the
destruction of the race by the general deluge... The
great cavern of Elephanta, perhaps the most ancient
temple in the world made by man, in which these
rites were performed and remaining to the present day,
is an evidence of the magnitude of that system...
" The caverns of Salsette, of which there are three
hundred, all have within them carved and emblematic
characters. The different ranges of apartments are
connected by open galleries, and only by private
entrances could the most secret caverns, which con-
tained the ineffable symbols, be approached, and so
curiously contrived as to give the highest effect upon
the neophytes when in the ceremonial of initiation.
A cubical cisia, used for the periodical sepulture of
the aspirant, was located in the most secret recesses
of the cavern. The consecrated water of absolution
was held in a carved basin in every cavern, and on the
surface floated the flowers of the lotus. The Linga or
Phallus appeared everywhere most conspicuous, and
oftentimes in situations too disgusting to be mentioned...
" Sacrifices to the sun, to the planets, and to house-
hold gods, were made accompanied with ablutions of
water, purifications with dung and urine of the cow.
This last was because the dung was the medium by
which the soil was made fertile and reminded them of
the doctrine of ' Corruption and reproduction ' taught
in the worship of Siva. "
An initiation is thus described :
" Amidst all the confusion, a sudden explosion was
heard, which was followed by a dead silence. Flashes
of brilliant light were succeeded by darkness. Phantoms
and shadows of various forms, surrounded by rays of
light, flitted across the gloom. Some with many hands,
arms, and legs; others without them; sometimes a
shapeless trunk, then a human body with the head of
a bird, or beast, or a fish ; all manner of incongruous
forms and bodies were seen, and all calculated to excite
terror in the mind of the postulant.
" A gorgeous appearance, with unnumbered heads,
each having a crown set with resplendent jewels, one
of which excelled the others; his eyes gleamed like
flaming torches, but his neck, his tongues and his body
were black ; the skirts of his garments were yellow, and
sparkling jewels hung in all of his ears ; his arms were
extended, and adorned with bracelets, and his hands
bore the holy shell; the radiated weapon, the war
mace, and the sacred lotus. This image represented
Mahadeva 2 himself, in his character of the Destroyer. "
Among other learned authorities, writing on these
subjects, is Jacolliot who gives the following descrip-
tion of perverted Brahminism :
" The study of philosophic truth does not relieve
the Nirvanys and Yogys from the necessity of the tapas-
sas, or bodily mortifications. On the contrary, it would
seem that they carry them to the greatest extremes
Everything that affects or consumes the body, every-
thing that tends to its annihilation, without actually
destroying it, is thought to be meritorious.
" Several centuries previous to the present era,
however, these bodily mortifications had assumed a
character of unusual severity.
" To the contemplative dreamers of the earliest ages
in India, who devoted the whole of their time to meditation, and never engaged in practices involving phy sical suffering oftener than once a week, had succeeded a class of bigoted fanatics, who placed no limit
to their religious enthusiasm, and inflicted upon them-
selves the most terrible tortures. 4
2. Mafia (Sanscrit) = grand.
3. Louis Jacolliot, Occult Science in India, pp. 92-93.
" A spiritual reaction, however, occurred, and those
who had been initiated into the higher degrees took
that opportunity to abandon the practice of the tapas-
sas, or corporal mortification. They sought rather to
impress the imagination of the people by excessive
asceticism in opposition to the laws of nature. A pro-
found humility, an ardent desire to live unknown by
the world, and to have the divinity as the only witness
to the purity of their morals, took possession of them,
and though they continued the practice of excessive
abstemiousness, they did so perhaps more that they
might not seem to be in conflict with the formal teach-
ings of the sacred scriptures.
" That kind of austerity is the only one now enjoined
upon all classes of initiates.
" The Fakirs appear to have gradually monopolized
all the old modes of inflicting pain, and have carried
them to the greatest extremes. They display the most
unbounded fanaticism in their self-inflicted tortures
upon all great public festivals
" The Nirvanys live in a constant state of ecstatic
contemplation, depriving themselves of sleep as far
as possible, and taking food only once a week, after
sunset.
" They are never visible either in the grounds or
inside the temples, except on the occasion of the grand
festival of fire, which occurs every five years. On that
day, they appear at midnight upon a stand erected
in the centre of the sacred tank. They appear like
4. Bataille, op. cit., for a fanciful description of such rites.
48 OCCULT THEOCRASY
spectres, and the surrounding atmosphere is illumined
by them by means of their incantations. They seem to
be in the midst of a column of light rising from earth to
heaven. 5
" The seven degrees of initiation in the sacerdotal
cast of the Brahmins are : 6
Grihasta — or House-Master.
Pourohita — or Priest of Popular Evocations.
Fakir — Performing .
Sanyassis — or Naked Cenobites, Superior Exorcists.
Nirvanys — Naked Evocators.
Yogy s — Contemplative .
Brahmatma — Supreme Chief.
" Upon reaching the third degree of initiation, the
Brahmins were divided into tens, and a superior Guru,
or professor of the occult sciences, was placed over each
decade. He was revered by his disciples as a god.
" Seventy Brahmins more than seventy years old
are chosen from among the Nirvanys to see that the
law of the Lotus, or the occult science, is never revealed
to the vulgar, and that those who have been initiated
into the sacred order are not contaminated by the
admission of any unworthy person. " (Quoted from the
Agrouchada-Parikchai).
" In addition to its attributes as an initiatory tribunal,
the council of the elders also had charge of adminis-
tering the pagoda property, from which it made provi-
sion for the wants of its members (of the three classes)
who shared everything in common. It also directed
the wanderings of the Fakirs, whose duty it is to give
manifestations of occult power outside.
It also elected the Brahmatma from its own members.
5. Louis Jacolliot, op. cit., p. 72. and Bataille, op. cit.
6. Louis Jacolliot, op. cit., pp. 73 to 101.
With regard to the rise to power of the Brahmin
caste in India, Mr. Jacolliot writes in Les Fils de Dieu :
" Doubtless, in the midst of this new society discon-
tent and discord were unavoidable. Happy in the power
they had secured, the chiefs of the Brahmins, however,
had to consider means for preserving and insuring it
against a reversal of popular favour. At this distance,
it is impossible for us to judge the mental influences at
work during a period covering about two thousand
years, that is to say, from the day when the priests
united into a kind of corporation to the time when,
enjoying unchallenged authority, they published the
Vedhas. This was a collection of prayers and ancient
ceremonies interspersed with the texts necessary to
maintaining their supremacy under the name of Manou
(Sanscrit meaning : wise law giver), a new code of law
which, rejecting all the ancient customs of equality
and dividing the people into castes, invested the Brah-
mins with world power and established the dogma of the
Trimourti or Trinity of God, from which eventually
was to spring polytheism and a host of the most mons-
trous superstitions.
" This religious revolution occurred about twelve
thousand years before our era, under the Brahmatma
Vasichta-Richi.
" The Vedhas and Manou, collected and codified by
the Brahmins were given as coming from Brahma him-
self, and anyone doubting the truth of this origin was
liable to the penalty of death. "
As among the Ancient Egyptians the teaching
of monotheism was restricted to the highest initiates
alone. Jacolliot emphasises this when he writes :
" The worship of the one God or Zeus unrevealed,
reserved to the priests, was forbidden to the lower
classes, but three temples dedicated to the three persons-
of the Trimourti, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, opened their
doors to the adoration of the people, all of whom were
allowed to select one of the three personages of the
trinity they would prefer to worship. "
This division in religious worship which eventually
led to the caste system shows the power of theocratic
tyranny, the Brahmins, seeking to justify the method
whereby the control of the masses is vested in the hands
of a few, when preaching in the pagodas, even now
say : " See how logical is this system of division of the
people into castes. It was formed in the likeness of the
divinity, Zeus, sovereign master of all things, but
taking no action himself. This is the Brahmin priest
Brahma, the God who creates, who acts, who directs,
that is the aristocrat or the prince ; Vishnu, the God
who preserves, that is the artisan, the merchant, who
produces taxes, preserving and assuring the prosperity
of the State by his work and industry. As for Siva, the
terrible God, he keeps the Soudra (peasant) in a state
of humility and obedience appropriate to his station
in life.
" Another very important function appears how-
ever to have been early assigned to him, on which much
more stress is laid in his (Siva) modern worship — that
of destroyer — viz., the character of a generative power,
symbolized in the phallic emblem (Linga) and in the
sacred bull (Nandi), the favourite attendant of the god.
This feature being entirely alien from the nature of the
Vedic god, it has been conjectured with some plausi-
bility, that the Linga-worship was originally prevalent
among the non-Aryan population, and was thence
introduced into the worship of Siva. 7
7. Article on Brahminism : Enc. Brit. 9th Edition.
One of the most curious facts in the Theocratic
System ruling India is that the principle of equality
is evidenced only in the teaching and practice of Occul-
tism. Members of all castes are admitted on the same
footing to learn magic or fakirism and compose the
class known under the name of Fakirs. This system of
equality is similar to the brotherhood principle and
teaching of democracy advocated in Freemasonry
which was so effectively exploited in all the lodges that
fomented the French Revolution.
" As all castes are admitted to the congregation
of the Fakirs, the lowest of the soudras on entering it
becomes the equal of the Brahmins. In spreading the
belief that whosoever consented to enrol among the
high initiates of the pagoda, and to die for the faith,
was transported to the abode of Brahma without
accomplishing further migration on earth or having to
pass through hell, the Brahmins provided for an
inexhaustible supply of fakirs. "
" Before entering the category of fakir, those who
are destined to illustrate the ceremonies of the cults
by their tortures and death, the new recruits practise
the occult sciences under the direction of initiated
Brahmins in the innermost recesses of the pagodas. "
While " there are indeed extraordinary phenomena
in what is termed by the Brahmins occult science, there
are none which cannot be explained and which are not
in accordance with the law of nature. "
" To become expert in magic, like the believers in
the philosophic doctrine of the Pitris, the pupil must
learn, from a magician whom the sorcerers call their
Guru, the formulas of evocation, by means of which the
malign spirits are brought into complete subjection.
" Some of these spirits the magician evokes in preference to others, probably on account of their willingness to do anything that may be required of them. "
" An intimate connection exists between the doctrine
of the ancient Jewish Cabalists and those of the Hindu
votaries of the Pitris — or spirits — whose scientific
book is the Agrouchada-parikchai. 8
" It would be impossible to enumerate the different
drugs, ingredients and implements that compose the
stock-in-trade of a magician. " 9
The standard Indian book on magic is the Oupnek'hat.
Therein is to be found a detailed description of methods
available for producing catalepsy, somnambulism,
hallucination and ecstasy by strength of will and fatigue
of the nervous system. I0
This is what is known to the modern common-sense
mortal as " Yogi stuff ", and it is mostly based on
breathing exercises.
We will now quote from Mr. Sellon :
" It is a little remarkable that of the host of
Divinities, especially in Bengal, Siva is the God whom
they are especially delighted to honour. As the Destroyer,
and one who revels in cruelty and bloodshed, this terrible
deity, who has not inaptly been compared to the Moloch
of Scripture, of all their Divinities suggests most our
idea of the Devil. It may therefore be concluded that
the most exalted notion of worship among the Hindus is
a service of Fear. The Brahmins say that the other
Gods are good and benevolent, and will not hurt their
creatures, but that Siva is powerful and cruel, and
that it is necessary to appease him.
8. Jacolliot, op. cit.
9. Ibid.
10. E. Levi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, p. 70. et seq.
" Although this deity is sometimes represented in
the human form in his images, it is not thus that he
is most frequently adored. The most popular repre-
sentation of him is unquestionably the Linga ; a smooth
stone rising out of another stone of finer texture,
simulacrum membri virilis, et pudendum muliebre.
This emblem is identical with Siva in his capacity of
'Lord of all.' »
" It is necessary, however, to observe here that
Professor Wilson, while admitting that ' the Linga
is perhaps the most ancient object of homage adopted
in India', adds, ' subsequently to the ritual of the
Vedhas, which was chiefly, if not wholly, addressed to
the Elements, and particularly to fire. How far the
worship of the Linga is authorized by the Vedhas is
doubtful, but that it is the main purport of several
of the Puranas there can be no doubt.' 12
" The worship of Siva under the type of the Linga
is almost the only form in which that deity is reverenced.
Its prevalence throughout the whole tract of the Ganges
as far as Benares is sufficiently conspicuous. In Bengal,
the Lingam Temples are commonly erected in a range
of six, eight, or twelve on each side of a Ghaut leading
to the river. At Kalma is a circular group of one hun-
dred and eight temples erected by the Rajah of Burdwan.
These temples, and indeed all those found in Bengal,
consist of a simple chamber of a square form surmounted
by a pyramidal centre ; the area of each is very small.
The Linga of black or white marble, and sometimes of
alabaster slightly tinted and gilt, is placed in the
middle. " 13
11. Edward Sellon, Annotations on the Sacred Writings of
the Hindus, p. 8.
12. Ibid, p. 8.
13. Ibid, p. 10.
" Benares is the peculiar seat of this form of worship.
The principal Deity, Siva, there called Viweswarra, is
a Linga ; and most of the chief objects of pilgrimage
are similar blocks of stone. No less than forty-seven
Lingas are visited, all of preeminent sanctity; but
there are hundreds of inferior note still worshipped,
and thousands whose fame and fashion have passed
away. It is a singular fact, that upon this adoration
of the procreative and sexual Sacti (or power) seen
"throughout nature, hinges the whole gist of the Hindu
faith. 14
" Bacchus or Osiris was represented by an equi-
lateral triangle, and the sectarian mark of the worship-
pers of Siva is this hieroglyphic. The worship of
Bacchus was the same as that which is paid to Siva,
it had the same obscenities, the same cruel bloodthirsty
rites, and the same emblem of the generative power.
" Durga, Kali, or Maha Kali as the Sacti, spouse or
energetic will of Siva, the destructive power, bears
a remarkable analogy with the Moloch of Scripture,
as well as with Typhon, Saturn, Dis, Pluto, and other
divinities of the West. 6
" When the attributes of the Supreme Being began
to be viewed in the light of distinct individuals, mankind
attached themselves to the worship of the one or the
other exclusively, and arranged themselves into sects :
the worshippers of Siva introduced the doctrine of the
eternity of matter. In order to reconcile the apparent
contradiction of assigning the attribute of creation to
the principle of Destruction, they asserted that the
14. Ibid., p. 12.
15. Ibid., p. 20.
16. Ibid, p. 21.
dissolution and destruction of bodies was not real
with respect to matter, which was in itself indestruc-
tible, although its modifications were in a constant
succession of mutation ; that the power must neces-
sarily unite in itself the attributes of creation and
apparent destruction ; that this power and matter
are two distinct and co-existent principles in nature ;
the one active, the other passive ; the one male, the other
female; and that creation was the effect of the myster-
ious union of the two.
" This Union is worshipped under a variety of names :
Bhava, Bhavani, Mahadeva, Mahamaya, etc. Thus the
attribute of creation was usurped from Brahma, by
the followers of Siva, to adorn and characterise their
favourite divinity. "
" This seems to have been a popular worship for a
great length of time, out of which sprang two sects :
the one personified the whole Universe and dispensa-
tions of providence (in the regulation of it) under the
name of Prakriti, and which we from the Latin call
nature. This sect retains the Sacti only, and were the
originators of the Sactas sects, or worshippers of Power.
The other sect took for their symbol the Male emblem
(Linga) unconnected with the female Sacti (or Yoni).
There was also a third sect, who adored both male and
female.
" According to Theodoret, Arnobius, and Clemens
of Alexandria, the Yoni of the Hindus was the sole
object of veneration in the mysteries of Eleusis.
" It is not only the votaries of Siva who adore
their God under the symbolic form of the Linga; the Vaishnavas, or followers of v
ishnu, use the same medium. They also are Lingayetts, one of the essential
characteristics of which is wearing the Type on some
part of their dress or person. 18
17. ibid., p. 23.
" The Vaishnavas are divided into many sects. They
comprise the Ghoculasthas, the Yonijas, the Ramani,
and Radha-balluthis.
" The Ghoculasthas adore Krishna, while the Ramani
worship Rama ; both have again branched into three
sects — one consists of the exclusive worshippers of
Krishna, and these only are deemed true and orthodox
Vaishnavas... As Parameswarra, Krishna is represented
of a black or dark blue colour. Now the Tulasi is the
black Ocymum, and all animals or vegetables of a black
or blue colour are sacred to him. His linga also is always
either black or dark blue, and may thus be distinguished
from that of Siva, which is generally white.
" This divinity, as Parameswarra, is Janan'nauth
(Juggernaut), or ' Lord of the Universe ', and it is
under the wheels of his sacred car that so many mis-
guided beings annually immolated themselves.
" To return, however, to the Vaishnavas. Another
of their sects adore Krishna and his mistress Radha
united. These are the Lingionijas, whose worship is
perhaps the most free of all the Pujas. A third, the
Radha-ballubhis, dedicate their offerings to Radha
only. The followers of these last mentioned sects have
adopted the singular practice of presenting to a naked
girl the oblation intended for the Goddess, constituting
her the living impersonation of Radha. Rut when a
female is not to be obtained for this purpose, the votive
offerings are made to an image of the Yoni, or emblem
of the feminine power. These worshippers are called Yonijas, in contradistinction
to the Lingayats, or adorers of the Krishna (Vishnu) Linga.
18. Ibid., p. 40.
" As the Saivas are all worshippers of Siva and
Bowannee (Pavati) conjointly, so the Vaishnavas also
offer up their prayers to Laksmi-Nayarana. The exclu-
sive adorers of this Goddess are the Sactas.
" The caste mark of the Saivas and Sactas consists
of three horizontal lines on the forehead with ashes
obtained, if possible, from the hearth on which a conse-
crated fire is perpetually maintained. The adoration of
the Sacti is quite in accordance with the spirit of the
mythological system of the Hindus. It has been com-
puted that, of the Hindus in Bengal, at least three-
fourths are Sactas, of the remaining fourth, three parts
are Vaishnavas, and one, Saivas.
" Independently of the homage paid to the principal
Deities, there are a great variety of inferior beings,
Dewtas, and demi-gods of a malevolent character and
formidable aspect, who receive the worship of the multi-
tude. The bride of Siva, however, in one or other of her
many and varied forms, is by far the most popular
goddess in Bengal and along the Ganges.
" The worship of the female generative principle, as
distinct from the Divinity, appears to have originated
in the literal interpretation of the metaphorical lan-
guage of the Vedhas, in which Will, or purpose to Create
the Universe, is represented as originating from the
Creator and co-existent with him as his bride, and part
of himself. "
" Although the adoration of the Sacti (the personified
energy of the Omnipotent) is authorized by some of
the Puranas, the rites and formulae are more clearly
set forth in a voluminous collection of books called
Tantras. These writings convey their meaning in the similitude of dialogue between Uma (or Siva) andPavati.
" The followers of the Tantras profess to consider
them as a fifth Vedh, and attribute to them equal
antiquity and superior authority. "
" The Tantras are too numerous to specify them
further, but the curious reader will find them under
the heads of Syama Rahasya, Anandra, Rudra, Yamala,
Mandra, Mahodahi, Sareda, Tilika, and Kalika-Tantras.
" Although any of the goddesses may be objects
of the Sacta worship, and the term Sacti comprehends
them all, yet the homage of the Sactas is almost restric-
ted, in Bengal, to the consort of Siva. The Varnis, or
Vamacharis, worship Devi as well as all goddesses.
Their worship is derived from a portion of the Tantras.
" According to the immediate object of the worship-
per is the particular form of worship ; but all the forms
require the use of some or all of the five Makaras —
Mansa, Matsya, Madya, Maithuna, and Mudra — that
is : flesh, fish, wine, women, and certain mystical gesti-
culations with the fingers. Suitable Muntrus, or incan-
tations, are also indispensable, according to the end
proposed, consisting of various unmeaning monosyllabic
combinations of letters, of great imaginary efficacy.
" When the object of worship is to acquire an inter-
view with, and control over, impure spirits, a dead
body is necessary. The adept is also to be alone, at
midnight, in a cemetery or place where bodies are
burnt. Seated on the corpse he is to perform the usual
offerings, and if he do so without fear or disgust, the
Dhutas, the Yoginis, and other male and female demons
become his slaves.
19. Bataille, LeDiable au XIX e siecle, for fanciful description
of such rites.
" In this and many of the observances practised,
solitude is enjoined, but all the principal ceremonies
comprehend the worship of Sacti, or Power, and require,
for that purpose, the presence of a young and beautiful
girl, as the living representative of the goddess. This
worship is mostly celebrated in a mixed society ; the
men of which represent Bhairavas, or Viras, and the
women, Bhanravis and Nayikas. The Sacti is personi-
fied by a naked girl, to whom meat and wine are
offered, and then distributed among the assistants.
Here follows the chanting of the Muntrus and sacred
texts, and the performance of the Mudra, or gesticu-
lations with the fingers. The whole terminates with
orgies amongst the votaries of a very licentious descrip-
tion. This ceremony is entitled the Sri Chakra or Purna-
bisheka, The Ring or full Initiation. 20
" This method of adoring the Sacti is unquestionably
acknowledged by the texts regarded by the Vanis as
authorities for the impurities practised.
" The members of the sect are sworn to secrecy,
and will not therefore acknowledge any participation
in Sacta-Puja. Some years ago, however, they began
to throw off this reserve, and at the present day they
trouble themselves very little to disguise their initia-
tion into its mysteries, but they do not divulge in what
those mysteries consist.
of divine worship, the women and girls deposit their " julies ",
or bodices, in a box in charge of the Guru, or priest.
At the close of the rites, the male worshippers take
each a " Julie " from the box, and the female to whom
it belongs, even were she his sister, becomes his partner
for the evening in these lascivious orgies.
20. Sellon, op. cit., p. 53 et seq.
" In every temple of any importance in India we
find a troupe of Nautch or dancing girls attached.
" These women are generally procured when quite
young, and are early initiated into all the mysteries of
their profession. They are instructed in dancing and
vocal and instrumental music, their chief employment
being to chant the sacred hymns, and perform nautches
before the God, on the recurrence of high festivals.
But this is not the only service required of them, for
besides being the acknowledged mistresses of the offi-
ciating priests, it is their duty to prostitute themselves
in the courts of the temple to all comers, and thus raise
funds for the enrichment of the place of worship to
which they belong... A Nautch woman esteems it a
peculiar privilege to become the Radha Dea on such
occasions. It is an office indeed which these adepts
are, on every account, better calculated to fulfil with
satisfaction to the sect of Sacteyas, who require their
aid, than a more innocent and unsophisticated girl.
" The worship of Sacti is the adoration of Power, 21
which the Hindus typify by the Yoni, or womb, the
Argha or vulva, and by the leaves and flowers of cer-
to be the goddess who presides over the pudendum
muliebre, i.e. the deified vulva ; and the Sacti is thus
personified.
" In Ananda Tantram, cap. VII, 148, and other pas-
sages, reference is made to Bhagamala. She appears
21. Author's note : Sex power = Kundalini, electro-magnetic
force, astral light, fire.
22. See Lotus-Padma, explanation in chapter on Symbolism.
" Such are some of the peculiar features of the
worship of Power (or Gnosticism), and which, combined
with the Linga Puga (or adoration of the Phallus),
constitutes at the present day one of the most popular
dogmas of the Hindus. "
Heckethorn tells us that the Maharajas constitute
another sect of priests and adds : " It appears abun-
dantly from the works of recognized authority written
by Maharajas, and from existing popular belief in the
Vallabhacharya sect, that Vallabhacharya is believed
to have been an incarnation of the god Krishna, and
that the Maharajas, as descendants of Vallabhacharya,
have claimed and received from their followers the
like character of incarnations of that god by hereditary
succession. The ceremonies of the worship paid to Krishna
through these priests are all of the most licentious
character. The love and subserviency due to a Supreme
Being are here materialized and transferred to those
who claim to be the living incarnations of the god.
Hence the priests exercise an unlimited influence over
their female votaries, who consider it a great honour to
acquire the temporary regard of the voluptuous Maha-
rajas, the belief in whose pretensions is allowed to
interfere, almost vitally, with the domestic relations of
husband and wife. " 23
Miss Mayo, in her book Mother India, published in
1927, gives an interesting description of a temple of
Kali. " Kali Ghat " — place of Kali — is the root-
word of the name Calcutta. " Kali is a Hindu goddess,
wife of the great god Siva, whose attribute is destruc-
tion and whose thirst is for blood and death-sacrifice. "
23. Heckethorn, Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries,
vol. II, p. 307.
Kali has thousands of temples in India, great
and small.
Heckethorn further explains that " the association
of Thugs, after having existed in India for centuries,
was only discovered in 1810. The names by which the
members were known to each other, and also to others,
was Funsiegeer, that is, ' men of the noose '. The
name Thug is said to be derived from thaga, to deceive,
because the Thugs get hold of their victims by luring
them into false security. One common mode of decoying
young men having valuables upon them is to place a
young and handsome woman by the wayside, and appa-
rently in great grief, who, by some pretended tale of
misfortune, draws him into the jungle, where the gang
are lying in ambush, and on his appearance strangle
him. The gang consists of from ten to fifty members ;
and they will follow or accompany the marked-out
victim for days, nor attempt his murder until an oppor-
tunity, offering every chance of success, presents itself.
After every murder they perform a religious ceremony,
called Jagmi; and the division of the spoil is regulated
by old-established laws — the man that threw the
handkerchief gets the largest share, the man that held
the hands the next largest proportion, and so on. In
some gangs their property is held in common. Their
crimes are committed in honour of Kali who hates our
race, and to whom the death of man is a pleasing
sacrifice.
" Kali, or Bhowany, for she is equally well known
by both names, was, according to the Indian legend,
born of the burning eye which Shiva has on his forehead,
24. Heckethorn, op. cit., p. 318, vol. II.
•whence she issued, like the Greek Minerva, out of the
skull of Jupiter, a perfect and full-grown being. She
represents the Evil Spirit, delights in human blood,
presides over plague and pestilence, and directs the
storm and hurricane, and ever aims at destruction.
She is represented under the most frightful effigy the
Indian mind could conceive ; her face is azure, streaked
with yellow ; her glance is ferocious ; she wears her
dishevelled and bristly hair displayed like the pea-
cock's tail and braided with green serpents. Her purple
lips seem streaming with blood ; her tusk-like teeth
descend over her lower lip ; she has eight or ten arms,
each hand holding some murderous weapon, and some-
times a human head dripping with gore. With one foot
she stands on a human corpse. She has her temples,
in which the people sacrifice cocks and bullocks to
her, but her priests are the Thugs, the ' Sons of Death ',
who quench the never-ending thirst of this divine
vampyre. " 25
As regards the sect of Kali's worshippers, Hecke-
thorn gives the following details :
" A newly admitted member takes the appellation
of Sahib-Zada. He commences his infamous career as
lughah, or gravedigger, or as belhal, or explorer of
the spots most convenient for executing a projected
assassination, or bhil. In this condition he remains
for several years, until he has given abundant proof
of his ability and good will. He is then raised to the
degree of Bhuttotah, or strangler, which advancement,
however, is preceded by new formalities and ceremonies.
On the day appointed for the ceremony, the candidate
is conducted by his guru into a circle, formed in the
25. Heckethorn, op. cit, vol. II, p. 318 and, for recent
corroboration, see Katherine Mayo, Mother India.
sands and surrounded by mysterious hieroglyphics,
where prayers are offered up to their deity. The cere-
mony lasts four days, during which the candidate is
allowed no other food but milk. He occupies himself in
practising the immolation of victims fastened to a cross
erected in the ground. On the fifth day the priest
gives him the fatal noose, washed in holy water and
anointed with oil, and after more religious ceremonies,
he is pronounced a perfect bhuttotah. He binds himself
by fearful oaths to maintain the most perfect silence
on all that concerns the society, and to labour without
ceasing towards the destruction of the human race.
He is the rex sacrificulus, and the person he encoun-
ters, and Bhowany places in his way, the victim. Cer-
tain persons, however, are excepted from the attacks
of the Thugs. " 26
The political significance of such a sect in any Theoc-
rasy can be easily understood when one realizes what
it means to the rulers of a land to have at their disposal
a staff of fanatics trained to kill anyone on the order
of a priest! The utility of such organizations is obvious
in a hierarchy where the rulers are also priests reigning
by "Divine Right".
26. Heckethorn, op. cit., vol. II, p. 323.
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