Tantra Vidya The Tantric Mirror

Swami Aghorananda
Saraswati
The Tantric Mirror. Reflections of

a Deconstructive Pedagogy.
Swami Aghorananda
Saraswati
The Tantric Mirror. Reflections of a

Deconstructive Pedagogy.
1ª EDIÇÃO
Belo Horizonte | 2008

© Sérgio Clark, 2008
COORDENAÇÃO EDITORIAL
Christina Castilho
Consultoria editorial
DESIGN GRÁFICO
Christina Castilho
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IMPRESSÃO
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Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP)

(Câmara Brasileira do Livro, SP, Brasil)
Saraswati, Aghorananda
Tantra Vidya : o espelho tântrico indiano, reflexos de uma pe-
dagogia desconstrutiva / Aghorananda Saraswati. — 1. ed. — Belo
Horizonte : Mondana Editorial, 2008. — (Ser ; 1)
ISBN 978-85-61242-03-9
Bibliografia.
1. Filosofia oriental 2. Literatura indiana 3. Tantrismo I. Título.
08-01050 CDD-294.595
Índices para catálogo sistemático:

1. Tantra Vidya : Tantrismo Hindu :
Arcabouço filosófico : Religião 294.595
Impresso no Brasil
[2008]
Esta obra é uma co-edição Mondana Editorial e Satyananda Yoga Center.
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Guru
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
To my Guru, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati,
to my Parama Guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati,
to the great Yogini, Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati,
To Shakti Gangadhara Saraswati,
for the opportunity that they provided me, through their

acts, words and knowledge, to be able to dive into the
universe of Tantra and experience in daily practice a small
fraction of the infinite bliss that this way of living and
interacting with existence has to offer us.
I would also like to thank Professors Carlos Alberto Gohn and

Graciela I. G. Ravetti for their guidance and encouragement in the construction
of the academic knowledge that is part of the body of this study.
Om Ekadantaya Vidmahe
Vakratundaya Dhimahi Tanno
Dantih Prachodayat
“We offer our minds and hearts to the lord of knowledge.
Let us meditate on it, whose function is to guard all paths. May he guide us in the right
direction and bring success to our undertakings.”
Om Kulanidhi Saraswati Bhyo Svaha.

Om Kaulika Yogini Swami Satyasangananda Bhyo Svaha.
Om Kaulika Guru Swami Niranjanananda Bhyo Svaha.
Om Kaulika Parama Guru Swami Satyananda Bhyo
Svaha. Om Akula Parapara Guru Bhairava Bhyo Svaha.
Om Kula Paramesht Guru Bhairavi Bhyo Svaha.
Shantih Shantih Shantih
Om Om Om
Ma Ma Ma
“I bow before the front door of the Saraswati family's supreme abode. I bow
to the one who inspires us with kindness, action and gratitude. I bow before
the feet of the being that breaks the darkness and brings fire to hearts. I
bow before the one who nourishes us with love, wisdom and strength.
I bow to ultimate reality in the form of Bhairava. I bow to primordial energy
in the form of Bhairavi. Peace, peace, peace. Om, Om, Om. Ma, Ma, Ma.”
Om Bhur Bhuva Svaha Tat

Savitur Varenyan Bhargo
Devasya Dhimahi
Dhyo Yo Naha Prachodayat
“Primal energy floods the earth and the heavens and everything in between.
Let us meditate on its sublime radiance; may that light inspire our minds. Let
us meditate on the glory of that energy that created the universe, that is a
giver of light, of knowledge and that destroys all ignorance.
May she, whom it is right to adore, enlighten our minds.”
Om Saha Navavatu
Saha Nau Bhunaktu
Saha Veeryam Karavaavahai
Tejas Vinaa Vadhee Tamastu Ma
Vidvishaavahai
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih
“May the primordial energy protect us. May she nourish us.
May we acquire the ability to study and understand the scriptures.
May our study be brilliant. May we not be intimidated by each other.
May we grow in discernment. Peace, Peace, Peace.”
Asato Ma Sat Gamaya Tamasoma

Jyotir Gamaya Mritiorma Amritam
Gamaya Sarvesham Svasti Bhavatu
Sarvesham Shantir Bhavatu
Sarvesham Purnam Bhavatu
Sarvesham Mangalam Bhavatuloka
Samasta Sukno Bhavantu
Om Trayambakam Yajamahe
Sugandhin Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanat
Mritior Mukshya Mamritat
Om Shantih Shantih Shantih
“May the primordial energy lead us from unreality to reality, from
ignorance to enlightenment, from mortality to immortality. May she
bring good and peace to all. May everyone reach perfection. May all be
auspicious. May everyone be free from unhappiness,
of miseries and diseases. May everyone experience bliss.
May all beings live in happiness. Peace, Peace, Peace.”
Summary
Preface 10
Chapter 1: Introduction to Tantra Vidya 12

1. Origins of the tantric tradition 12
2. Tantric Literature and Tantrism 16
3. The Triune Division of Tantra 22
4. The textual conflicts of Tantra 25
Chapter 2: A look into the Tantric Mirror 31

1. The mirror metaphor and theoretical articulations 33
2. Postcolonialism, Subalternism and Gender Studies 38
3. Interweaving of texts 42
4. Myth and Subalternity 54
5. Deconstructive Pedagogy Experiments 60
6. Considerations 83
Chapter 3: Uttara Kaula Tantra 85

1. The Kula Culture of the Argonauts of the South Pacific 85
2. Kula culture in India 88
3. Uttara Kaula Tantra 93
Chapter 4: Kaula Bhairava Shastras– Kulakula Jnana 98

1. Introducing the Tantric Texts 98
2. Kulakulachudamani Jnana 102
3. Kulakuladamara Jnana 105
4. Kulakulavamahkesvarimatam Jnana 109
5. Kulakulanirnaya Jnana 120
6. Kulakulayoni Jnana 164
7. Kulakularnava Jnana 167
Chapter 5: Uttara Kaula Vidhis 203

1. The Tantric Sadhana 204
2. Bhavana Shakti Phat 206
2.1. Performance Durga Mahisa 208
2.2. Performance Kula Kundalini 211
3. Dharana Sadhanas 214
3.1. Dharanas of Vijnanabhairava Tantra 215
3.2. Inner Devata 228
3.3. Durga Mahisa 230
3.4. Chakra Shaktis 234
3.5. Bhuta Shuddhi 235
3.6. Papa Purusha 237
3.7. Pranayama 238
3.8. Kulakulavamahkesvarimatam Jnana Tantra 239
3.9. Kulakulanirnaya Jnana Tantra 241
3.10. Kulakularnava Jnana Tantra 245
BIBLIOGRAPHY 248
Preface
This study on Tantra Vidya (the knowledge of Tantra) aims

to introduce the reader to some of the practical, theoretical,
symbolic and mythical elements that make up part of the
philosophical framework of Tantrism. We begin by describing some
characteristics of the historical-cultural development of Tantra and
its literature, in our view, important to be known in advance, so that
we can provide a presentation of the theme in a productive and, in
an experimental, “deconstructive” way of the common and
conditioned patterns of reading and evaluating Tantra. In this study,
we strive to discover and fill the gaps in the appreciation of this
subject, seen from an academic context and also through the
experience accumulated over the years as scholars and practitioners
of the tantric tradition.
In our theoretical and practical approach, we use a
methodology of analysis of the discourse that we call a “critical
deconstructive pedagogy”. At first, we are not concerned with
presenting a definitive and compact model of this method or form of
reading and expression, because, according to our assessment, this
way of interacting with the sociocultural processes that we find
expressed in the literature is susceptible to the fastest and most
comprehensive conceptual changes, thus accompanying the
characteristics of non-linearity, flexibility and multicultural
interaction that the current mentality allows and demands at all
times.
In an attempt to give a plastic form to our concept of what
would be a “deconstructive critical pedagogy”, we seek to textually
describe some experiments developed during the construction of this
work. These experiments had the didactic objective of breaking the
normally existing distance between purely intellectual and
theoretical work and the concrete, sensorial and immediate
experience of otherness, that is, of difference, identity and unity in
the context of diversity.
Permeating this work, we also raise reflections on the
academic notion of the “Eastern Other”, observed from the theories
elaborated by scholars of alterity, subalternity and orientalism, such
as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Edward Said. We intended to
bring to light provocative fragments of a reflection that would
awaken our consciences to the context of subalternity and facilitate
the production of interactive processes of encounter with the
“Other”, based on knowledge organized around Tantrism.
We also add extracts from some texts of Tantric literature
(Tantras Shastras) to illustrate the poetic and symbolic aesthetics
existing in these scriptures and serve as an analysis tool for readers,
based on the theoretical approach that we use as a guideline in our
work. (theoretical foundations of the critical debate on subalternity,
post-colonialism and gender studies). Much of this material, which
was obtained during several trips to India, was in Sanskrit and
translated into English, which led to the need for translation into our
Portuguese language. In the exercise of this translation, elements
related to the specific language of tantric literature and related to
cultural issues that influence the understanding of the tantric
philosophy implicit in the texts were taken into account.
We hope that the reader can find in this work productive
elements for their reflections and that we can serve as motivators
and inspirers to new searches and experiments in the universe of
Tantra, in the interaction with the “Other” and in the encounter with
oneself.
Swami Aghorananda Saraswati

AGHORANANDA SARASWATI
Chapter 1
Introduction to Tantra Vidya
1. Origin of the Tantric Tradition

The tantric tradition to which we refer in this work has its
mythical seeds and historical roots in the first agricultural
communities which existed in the geographic space that we today
call Indian territory, in approximately 10,000 BC. To these Indian
aborigines we attribute the formation of a sociocultural experience
and an interactive practical relationship with nature, which, in our
work context, we call Natural Tantra.
These ancient communities, some historically known as
Nagas, Nishadas or Proto-Australoids, had their culture structured
on animism and totemism, with the serpent (Naga) being one of the
main symbols revered in their traditions. The serpent, symbolic
representation of virility, knowledge and magic, combined with the
spirits of trees, rivers, mountains, stones and animals, formed the
mythical pantheon that in its dynamism influenced domestic rites
and traced the boundaries of religious and philosophical
development of these communities. Many of the animistic and
totemic characteristics of these ancient Indian peoples are
perpetuated in the religious and philosophical culture of modern
12
INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA VIDYA
India.1
We can find them in the various offering rites (Puja),
meditative techniques (Dharanas), bodily practices (Kaya
Sadhanas), chants (Mantras), in philosophical speculations about the
cycles of existence of the universe (Samsara-Yugas)2 and the
human being (Dharma-Karma-Moksha)3, among others.
With the advent of the Indus Valley Civilization,
approximately 3300 BC, part of the first aboriginal communities
were assimilated, while other groups withdrew to more remote
regions, continuing their traditions. This civilization, also known as
the Harappan or Dravida culture, occupied a large area that stretched
from the Indus Valley to the Ganges, down to the coast of the
headwaters of the Sea of Oman, on the present-day border between
Iran and Pakistan, continuing to the Gulf of Cambay and very close
to modern Mumbai (Bombay).
Until the twenties of our era there were no archaeological
studies to prove the numerous popular references to this civilization.
It was not until 1924 that the two great capital cities of this
civilization were unearthed and studied by archaeologists.
According to the researchers, these cities, called Mohenjo Daro and
Harappa, were meticulously planned, and their constructions
demonstrated high social refinement. The large number of figurines
and seals found during the excavations indicate a possible tendency
of this civilization to worship the feminine elements of nature, the
mother goddess and the use of practices found today in the
methodology of Tantra, Yoga and Ayurveda medicine.
Due to the symbolic characteristics of the representations
found in these cities, one can raise the hypothesis that the Indus
1
These aborigines profoundly influenced all Indianism, ethnically and
linguistically, and many later metaphysics derive from their naturalist
view of the world. See: OURSEL (1957).
2
Cycles of rebirth and death of the universe, the eternal return –
Cosmic ages.
3
Duty – Performance - Liberation
13
Valley Civilization had a social and family structure of matrilineal

orientation, of a non-warrior but commercial nature, focused on the
arts and Philosophical studies. The causes of the decay and final
ruin of this civilization are still debatable. Researchers look for
answers in the catastrophic floods of the Indus River, in the
consequences of the desertification of the productive plains for
agriculture, in the seismic movements and also in the possibility of
an ethnic, cultural and social clash between the Dravida and Indo-
European-speaking peoples (historically called Aryas), from areas
bordering the Indus Valley, between 2200 and 1800 BC.
There are many discussions on the question of the clash
between the Arya/Dravida cultures, for example whether or not
there was an ethnic invasion of this territory that led to the ruin of
the ancient civilization4 or whether these terms refer only to
philosophical and cultural differences behavior within the same
ethnic group. To address this issue, we chose to start from an
interdisciplinary articulation. The interaction between History (from
the perspective of revised Orientalism and Post-Colonialism),
Anthropology (studies of myths and symbols from a cultural and
Post-Structuralist perspective) and Literary Theory (from the
perspective of Post-Modernism, in the areas of Alterity and Gender
Studies).
From our point of view, this interdisciplinary articulation
provides a process of analysis that we call “deconstructive
pedagogy”, that is, a logic of interpretation and intervention that
leads to the attempt to transit between possible “truths”, in the
search for the expansion and articulation of knowledge and the
rupture with the hegemonic models of knowledge. In a more
metaphorical language, it is the attempt to “reach the third margin”,
depolarizing the analyzed contexts, making linear thinking more
flexible, seeking to work with unpacked knowledge and giving
space to other forms of learning that go beyond intellectual
language. and immediate rationale.
4
See: FEUERSTEIN, Georg. The Yoga Tradition. p.138
14
Transposing this logic of interpretation and intervention to

the Arya/Dravida question, we can observe that, without a doubt,
academic approaches are gradually changing, accompanying global
political, cultural and economic transformations. This is bringing
extremely positive results for all different ways of thinking, as we
will be able, over the generations, to build knowledge in a more
democratic way and act more appropriately within this very diverse
social group that makes up our human reality.
The confrontation between new readings on prehistory and
ancient Indian history versus the Arya/Dravida distinction and the
crystallized concept of possible invasion and ethnic struggle clearly
represents an ongoing process of the formation of a new academic
mentality. Until this process is structured on a broader basis, it will
take time, more research, a lot of dialogue and, above all, an
ideological disidentification with the theme. Seeking to act in this
way, we can, who knows, try to avoid the error of crystallizing “new
truths” to the detriment of the extinction of “old lies”. We have to
slowly learn to move between different theoretical possibilities,
seeking to understand their internal adjustments, structuring and
expressive function.
Returning to the central question, claiming that the Arya
invasion is simply “a lie constructed by Western scientific
intelligence in order to maintain cultural and economic dominance”
becomes simplistic. There are many variants to this statement. It is
not only by imposing this ideological point and by reporting the
counterpoints of the invasion issue (which by the way are quite
significant) that we will deconstruct oppressive stereotypes,
xenophobia, extremism or racism. We also need to change our way
of interacting with the “new” and dialoguing with the “to come”,
opening ourselves to a more creative mentality.
In the Indus Valley Civilization, some representative
elements of the tantric tradition were present, among them the cult
of the mother goddess (Devi) and the feminine principle (Shakti)
associated with Yoga techniques. Nevertheless, it was only from the
4th century onwards, with the beginning of the literary codifications
15
of some of the ancient Tantric treatises, previously transmitted by

oral tradition, that the philosophical and practical structure of
Tantrism acquired greater transparency and was shaped by what we
know today as Classical Tantra.
In a simplified way, we can approach the Classical Tantra
through three perspectives: philosophical, behavioral and technical.
Philosophically, Tantrism is based on speculations that point to the
universal creation process as the responsibility of the primordial
energy known as Shakti. This Sanskrit term (Shakti) is literally
translated as “power”, but it also represents the dynamic principle
that acts in the production of all the matter that composes the
universe and everything that exists in it. Shakti is also synonymous
with wife, feminine and woman. The philosophical counterpart or
binomial of Shakti is known by the term Shiva. This is the static
overriding principle, powerless before the power of Shakti, a mere
spectator in the creative process and also synonymous with husband,
masculine and man. For Tantrism, Shiva and Shakti are one. One
without the other is Shava (corpse); they only exist for their own
sake. Duality is only apparent, a distraction from Lila (game or play)
from the great mother (KulaKundalini) to have fun and continue the
cosmic and human cycles of existence (Samsara). The
transcendence of the Shiva/Shakti principles leads to the central
point, which is the transcendent Kundalini Shakti itself and the
answer to everything. These ancestral speculations of Tantrism gave
rise to the numerous cults of female deities (Devi) that exist today in
the context of Hinduism.
The main behavioral characteristic of Tantrism is centered
on the transgression of restrict social values (deconstruction of
cultural and psychological stereotypes and clichés) rooted in the
dominant culture. Tantric texts, legends and symbols express voices
that contest the rigid patriarchal structures in which conceptions of
caste differences, the submissive social and family role of women,
Brahmanical superiority of the priestly class, the use of derogatory
references of the body and sexuality and the norms and ways of
seeking the divine that exclude “minorities” (lower castes, women,
16
homosexuals, among others.).

Tantrism has also developed psychological and bodily
techniques (Vidhis) and practices (Sadhanas) that aim to provide a
practical, sensorial experience to the followers of its principles. In
the practices of Tantra, we find a complex methodology that has as
objectives: the awareness and mastery of the body-mind-emotions;
the manipulation of human physical and psychic energies in favor of
the development of paranormal powers (Siddhis) and their use in the
mundane or spiritual process; the union of opposites and
transcendence of duality (Shiva/Shakti); immersion in a possible
ultimate reality.
2. The tantric literature and tantrism

Tantric literature is identified, as a whole, in Orientalist
academic circles and known by scholars of the Indian tradition with
the terminology of Tantras Shastras. Defining this term implies
working with variables according to the needs of the context to be
complemented. This is due to the fact that the Sanskrit terminology,
in which the Tantric texts are found in their first literary
codification, has as a characteristic a wide range of meanings,
sometimes completely different for each word. It is also due to the
very metaphorical nature of the tantric tradition. Therefore, the term
Tantra can mean:
name of a loom [instrument for weaving]; the first,

the main or essential part; a main point; a
characteristic appearance; model; type; system;
structure; doctrine; law; theory; scientific work; a
class of works that teach magical and mystical
formulations (many in the form of dialogues
between Shiva and Durga5, dealing with five
5
Durga, in Indian mythology, is a warrior goddess, one of the aspects
17
subjects: the creation and destruction of the

universe, the worship of the gods, the attainment of
all objects of desire and especially the powers
paranormal [Siddhis] and the four forms of union
with the supreme spirit through meditation).6
In the discourse of Tantrism, the term Tantra is composed of

the Sanskrit root Tan (Tanot), which means expansion, and the suffix
Tra (Trayat), which means to save or release. In this conception,
Tantra could be seen as something that expands what saves, that is,
Tantras would be the scriptures or treatises (Shastras) that spread
knowledge (Jnana), that liberate (Moksha).7 Despite this current
meaning, Tantra in its remote origin it was not a philosophy with a
liberating aim (Moksha Shastra). It was indeed a message of a
positive attitude to life, a distinctive style of behavior that permeated
all the mental, emotional, and cultural activities of a society. It was
intimately associated with the practical aspects of life, the basic
needs for survival and the maintenance of the species (food,
sexuality, art, etc.), to technological creations in the areas of
agriculture, chemistry and medicine, among others. It was a natural
and creative expression of human spontaneity and inner freedom.
In a generalized way, the term Tantra can also be used as a
denominator for all ritualistic processes elaborated in the context of
historical and contemporary Hinduism. Tantra is synonymous with
ritual. But, from a practical and metaphysical perspective, this term
represents the process of expanding the mind and releasing energy
from the bonds of matter, so that the light of consciousness can
illuminate the whole being.
of Shakti.
6
WILLIANS (1993: 436).
7
Moksha or Mukti is a term that defines liberation in its broadest sense,
as transcendence of bonds that bind to the wheel of existence
(Samsara).
18
The Tantras are known mythologically as Srauta Shastras,

revealed scriptures that do not originate in chronological time and
are not products of the ordinary human mind. Seen as of divine
origin, they would have been given to men through spiritual
tradition and are regarded as eternal and immutable; "they are what
they are — pure and simple."
According to the tantric tradition, the Tantra Shastras are
divided into three groups of 64 treatises each. These texts can be
found, to a small extent, in book form, usually written in Sanskrit
with Devanagari characters8 (some Tantras were later transcribed
into Latin characters) or, as is most often the case, can still be found
in its perpetuation through the tradition of oral transmission. In a
taxonomy that has a somewhat surrealist touch, the first known
group are the Tantras of the Vishnukranta region, which extends
from the Vindhya Mountains to Chattala (Chittagong), including
West Bengal; the second group are those from the region of
Rathakranta, which goes from Vindhya to Mahacina (China),
including Nepal; the third group belongs to the region of
Asvakranta, which starts in Vindhya and goes to the “great ocean”
(Indian ocean), including all of India 9. These treatises present the
teachings of Tantrism in the form of a dialogue between the
characters Shiva and his wife Shakti.
Regarding the use of Shastras through the practical ways of
Tantra, we can see two aspects: Atimarga, the ascetic path where we
find the Kapalikas schools, in which literature has little meaning in
everyday or ritualistic use; Mantramarga, the participatory way, in
which interaction with literature is a fundamental part of specific
stages of Sadhana. This second way is also divided into two distinct
schools, the Shaivasiddhanta and the Bhairavatantra. The first,
Shaivasiddhanta, also known as the Pasupata tradition, is subdivided
8
Iconographic writing used by the Sanskrit language.
9
See: WOODROFFE (1981: 69-71), RIVIERE (1978: 35-37).
19
into the Lakula, Vamala, Mausala and Karuka schools. The

Bhairavatantra school is subdivided into Mantrapitha and Vidya-
pitha, which is also distinguished between Yamala Tantras and
Shakti Tantras, in which we find the traditions of Trika Tantra and
Kali Tantra.
The Tantras Shastras are distinguished in: Agamas, texts in
which Shiva plays the role of master (Guru) passing on the
teachings to his wife (Shakti) and in Nigamas, texts in which Shakti
is the Guru and Shiva the disciple10. Most of the teachings found in
these texts are based on Shakti Vada, the doctrine consisting of the
worship of the supreme universal energy as feminine manifestation.
The great mother is the one who, through her manifestations,
creates, maintains and destroys the universe. In this aspect, the
divine is active, produces and nourishes all existence. For Tantrism,
the production of the universe is an act of love. Shakti and Shiva
love each other before and during creation. In a comparative
analogy, the practice of human love would be an infinitesimal
fragment, small and pale reflection of the creative act.
In the mythical tradition, it is said that Dattatreya,
considered as the incarnation of the Hindu trinity (Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva) in one being, is the author of all the Tantras. In the
Tantras we find the description of the most diverse themes, among
which: the glorification of the supreme reality; reflections on the
process of emanation and absorption of the universe; the ritualistic
worship of deities; the distinction of the categories and qualities of
Sadhakas (practitioners); knowledge of astrology; notions about the
different planes of existence (Lokas); descriptions of the energy
centers (Chakras) in the subtle body; the location of sacred places
10
There are variants in the definition of these two Sanskrit terms.
Agama, meaning “induction” and being related to Tantra. Nigama,
meaning "deduction" and relating to the Veda. See: MISHRA (1999: 4-
5). Agama can also literally mean 'coming from the past'. In relation to
the teachings of a tradition, 'coming', originally in oral form. See:
DYCZKOWSKI (2004: 95).
20
for pilgrimage (Pithas); the construction of diagrams (Yantras) and

their meanings; the use of gestures and attitudes (Mudras); the
recitations of sounds (Mantras and Bijas); the elaboration of rites
and ceremonies; philosophical discourses and poetic exaltations of
the feminine principle embodied in the goddesses.
According to Jean Varenne11, the first tantric text to have a
transmission, breaking with the purely oral tradition, was the
Guhya-Samaja Tantra. It is a text that had its origins in the Tantric
Buddhist schools and is dated to approximately the 4th century. This
text contains the foundations of the tantric doctrine, so that many
later texts would do nothing more than specify or expand on some
detail of the Guhya's teachings.
Varenne tells us that the literary codification of the Tantras
developed from the Guhya, and one can also find texts from the 15th
(Yoni Tantra), 16th (Chintamani Tantra), 17th (Vishvasara Tantra)
and 18th (Mahanirvana Tantra) centuries. These texts were
characterized, as their writings approached our time, for being
increasingly didactic. He still considers that the concept of tantric
literature goes beyond the framework of the Tantras themselves,
including also some of the Upanishads12, especially those dealing
11
VARENNE (1985: 14,15).
12
The Upanishads (term translated as: sitting together / teachings
transmitted in intimacy) are texts that comment on the Vedas (the main
and first books of Hinduism - Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas),
philosophically discussing the identity between the universal being and
the individual being (Brahmam and Atmam). They were made from
800 BC. and his body of teachings is known as Vedanta, that is, the end
of the Vedas (Vedas, term literally translated as knowledge). There are
dozens of Upanishads. Ten of them are considered to be major: Isha,
Kena Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittirya, Aitareya,
Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka and Shwetaswatara Upanishads. See:
NITYABODHÂNANDA, Swami. Update on the Upanishads.
Barcelona: Editorial Kairós, 1985.
21
with Shakta and Kaula13 doctrines (ex: Devi Upanishad, Kula

Upanishad, Tripura Upanishad, Saraswati Rahasya Upanishad,
etc...), as well as the Puranic mythological texts14 where exaltations
to the manifestations of the divine as a feminine principle appear.
There is, therefore, a process of expansion to other texts of the
Hindu tradition from the perspective of Tantrism.
The Sanskrit language, used in the literary codification of
the Tantras, was elaborated in the Tantric texts in a structure known
as Sandha-Bhasha (intention, deliberate purpose) or Sandhya-
Bhashya (belief, deliberate purpose). It is a style of language
(Bhasha) created with the aim of making obscure some realities that
could, according to the precepts of tradition, be profaned if they fell
into the hands of the uninitiated. As a result, an uninitiated could
read a tantric text without realizing its tantric character15.
13
Doctrines whose main point is the exaltation of the feminine principle
as a representation of the last and divine reality to be experienced in
human existence.
14
The Puranas are books for popular education. They exemplify
through myths the teachings of the Vedas. They were composed from
the beginning of our era, until the 10th century. In the Puranas, the
characteristics of some deity, details about the creation of the world,
genealogy of the gods, royal dynasties, religious and philosophical
speculations, etc. are found. There are dozens of Puranas, but eighteen
of them are considered the main ones. They may be classified as: those
dedicated to elevating Brahma, the creator god (Brahma Purana,
Brahmananda P., Brahmavaivarta P., Markandeya P., Bhavishya P.,
Vamana P.); those dedicated to elevating Víshnu, the preserving god
(Víshnu Purana, Padma P., Bhagavata P., Naradiya P., Garuda P.,
Varatha P.); those dedicated to elevating Shiva, the destroyer god
(Shiva Purana, Skanda P., Agni P., Matsya P., Kurma P., Lingam P.,
Vayu P.). See: RENOU, Louis. Hinduism. Lisbon: Editora Verbo,
1980.
15
See: ELIADE (1977: 241), WILLIAMS (1993: 1144, 1145),
VARENNE (1985: 158).
22
We can exemplify this twilight structure of the tantric

language through the term Chakra Puja. In common parlance,
Chakra means wheel and Puja means offering. Literally we could
translate this term as the practice of offering to a wheel (in the same
way: Shiva Puja is a ritual offering to Shiva, master of Yogis / Guru
Puja is an offering to the master or teacher). Due to the Indian
animist ritualistic daily life, we could imagine a rite of offering
flowers, food, songs and others to a wheel (ex: wheel for ox cart,
wheel for use in irrigation or animal-drawn mill, etc.), built for an
important purpose and identified with the wheel of life (Samsara —
eternal cycle of rebirth and death). The word Chakra could also be
interpreted as a circle or energy center. It would represent the subtle
centers responsible for capturing, storing and distributing vital
energy (Prana) in human beings16. In this context, the term Chakra
Puja could then be seen as a moment in which, technically, through
breathing exercises and visualizations, interventions would be made
in these energy centers. In another interpretation, Chakra Puja could
also mean a tantric initiation ritual, in which the circular structure is
adopted by the participants to carry out practices of a sensorial and
sexual nature. In this tantric experience of Chakra Puja, the
offerings of flowers, fruits, perfumes, etc., the vocalizations of
chants (Mantras), practices of breathing exercises (Pranayamas),
visualizations, activation of Chakras, energetic manipulation and
techniques are present. sensory and sexual.
The Sandhya-Bhashya (or Bhasha) combines in its structure
a first (“profane”) meaning accessible to all and a second (“sacred”)
meaning reserved for initiates. In this way, intentional language
would also be in itself a source of knowledge, an instrument and an
object of meditation. Octávio Paz17 identifies the Sandhya-Bhashya
with poetic language and its laws of artistic creation. According to
him, tantric metaphors, in addition to being intended to veil the
meaning to the uninitiated, would also be verbal manifestations of a
16
See: MOTOYAMA (1993).
17
See: PAZ (1979: 78,79).
23
form of universal analogy that are based on poetry. These texts

would be governed by the same psychological and artistic need that
inspired and led the baroque poets, the surrealists and James Joyce
to create their own languages. It is the need to conceive of writing as
the double of the cosmos. The language of the Tantras would be the
representation of a microcosm, the verbal double, the sonorous
expression of the universe (macrocosm) and of the body. To
decipher this language, it would not be enough just to have the keys
of traditional tantric knowledge, but mainly to have penetrated the
symbols in an experiential way, identifying with the symbols
themselves in the tantric rite. The poetry and language of Tantrism
would be similar in that they are both concrete practical experiences.
3. The triune division of Tantra
Tantra can be distinguished between Primordial Tantra

(probably much earlier than 10,000 B.C.), known as Adya Tantra18,
Natural Tantra (found in early Neolithic communities), and
Classical Tantra, coded literary and historically between the period
of the Kurukshetra War and the rise of Buddhism (1200 to 450
BC)19.
Regarding Primordial Tantra, we only have speculations, which
can be associated with mythical expressions, reinforced by tradition.
All its teachings were probably transmitted through a mythical-
poetic symbolism and an iconographic language of proto-Australian
roots, being currently accessible only from an immersion in Natural
and Classic Tantra and a deep experience of the techniques and
mythical language. available to the practitioner (Sadhaka) in the
18
The Sanskrit term Adya can be translated as: "first", "fundamental",
"primordial".
19
See: LUZ (Naga Vidya, 1996: 55-58).
24
tantric literature20.
Natural Tantra can be identified in the magical-poetic
expressions (shamanic and mythical) and in the social and
interpersonal behaviors found among some aboriginal peoples with
a matrilineal tradition. In these communities, we found several ritual
activities (fertility, regeneration, initiation, passage, healing, etc.) in
which the feminine principle acts as a guide for beliefs and practical
actions in everyday life.
Classical Tantra took on a more visible form, from the 4th
century onwards, in communities located in the frontier regions of
the Indian subcontinent. These communities absorbed more
intensely certain cultural characteristics and ancestral beliefs of the
aboriginal peoples, expressed in the symbolism of the goddesses, in
the myths and rites of fertility, death and immortality.
From Natural Tantra, the Indian philosophical and ritualistic
tradition inherited a great mythical and symbolic repertoire. These
speculative and practical elements are nowadays found emphasized
in Classical Tantra approaches, whether from any existing lineage or
school. As a result of a historical and cultural context, Classical
Tantra gave rise to different lineages or schools of tantric
expression. The most significant and which still profoundly
influence contemporary Tantrism are known as: Shakta Tantra,
Shaiva Tantra, Vaishnava Tantra, Buddhist Tantra, Ganapatya
Tantra and Saurya Tantra. All these lines have the epistemological
and metaphysical principles of Tantra as the structural basis of their
doctrines, but they differ from each other in their theoretical
didactics, technology of self-realization, ritualism, behavioral
actions and, mainly, in the emphasis given to the cultural and
psychological symbol that would represent the ultimate reality to be
reached.
These lineages of Tantra have internal variants or sub lineages
(Acharas) aimed at meeting local social needs and ordering the
20
See: DANIELOU (1989).
25
intellectual-emotional-spiritual, group and individual characteristics

of their tantric followers. Eight variants, which in a way can also
represent an individual process of identification, integration and
deepening in the tantric universe, were decoded in the following
order: Vedachara, Vaishnavachara, Shaivachara, Dakshinachara,
Vamachara, Siddhachara, Trikachara and Kaulachara.
The Tantras state that the highest stage of tantric practice is the
Kaulachara system. A Sadhaka would become a Kaulika only after he
had passed through the previous Acharas. For that it would be of
supreme necessity that he knew the previous forms of practice. It is said
that only one whose mind is purified by the practices and Mantras of
Vishnu, Surya, Ganesha, Durga and Shiva would achieve the
manifestation of Kaula knowledge (Kula Jnana).
In the continuity of the expansive process of Tantra, the tantric
masters, with their symbiotic mentality, assimilative practice and
creativity in the face of the needs of sociocultural adjustment,
developed different schools (Sampradayas) to disseminate their
experiences and offer different options to the followers. Among the
large number of schools, we can mention the following as the most
prominent: Sampradaya Natha, Aghori, Spanda, Krama, Kula and
Pratyabhijna (affiliated with the lineages of Shaiva and Shakta Tantra)
— Sampradaya Pasupata, Kalamukha, Mattamayura, Virashaiva and
Siddhanta (affiliated with the Shaiva Tantra lineage) — Sampradaya
Sahajiya (affiliated with the Buddhist and Vaishnava Tantra lineages)
— Sampradaya Baul (affiliated with Buddhist Tantra,
Vaishnava and Sufism lineages) — Sampradaya Kapalika (affiliated
with Buddhist Tantra, Shaiva and Shakta lineages) — Sampradaya
Srividya (affiliated with Vaishnava, Shakta and Brahmanic Tantra
lineages).
Classical Tantra, in many of its expressions, favors an
approximation with the tradition found in the Vedas and in its
philosophical-literary unfolding. In some specific aspects, it can show
us a great contextual distance and radical oppositions. In the unorthodox
Brahmanic milieu, the Tantras are regarded as the fifth Veda, and the
26
rites, practices and ceremonies contained in them are equated with those
described by the Vedas. Orthodox Brahmins no longer consider this
approach and entitle the Tantras to heresy in the sacred Hindu literary
canon.
There is a tantric saying that Tantras are to the Vedas what
perfume is to flowers. The Tantras, in a more simplified and accessible
form, offer practitioners the essence of Vedic rites and purifications,
greater clarity in understanding the monism enunciated by the
Upanishads, the experience of the devotional elements (Bhakti) and the
relative monism found in the Puranas, the recitations (Mantras) of the
Atharva Veda and the ascension steps in Yoga ordered by Pantanjali.
Perhaps the big difference between Tantra and Vedachara or
Vedanta is of the Upanishads is that, for the Tantras, the Sadhaka does
not only receive freedom, liberation (Mukti), but he also experiences
pleasure (Bhukti), that is, not only spiritual bliss, but also progress and
harmony in the material world. Another factor of significant importance
is that, in tantric practice, the combination of Kriya (action, purification,
ritual and participation) and Bhavana (meditation, emotion and
imagination) is recommended, resulting in a dynamic and creative
meditative practice. Whereas for Vedanta only the meditative or
reflective factor is prescribed as necessary for the attainment of
attainment.
4. The contextual conflicts of Tantra

Transporting ourselves to the western social and cultural
context, in search of a definition or concept of what Tantra or
Tantrism could be, is shown to be an instigating provocation due to
the great cultural and linguistic distance, added to the ideological
conditionings that we are impregnated in relation to India. We will
come across, even among representatives of the academic university
sector and groups with greater access to information, with definitions
that are not very friendly to Tantra. The Tantras Shastras or Tantrism
are, not infrequently, seen as literary works or practices that deal
27
only with sex, in their most libertine expressions, or as manuals of

folk magic of primitive and culturally backward peoples.
The concern to combat the derogatory notion of Tantra and
its literature in the Western imagination has already been observed
since the beginning of the 19th century in a restricted circle of
Indianist authors. Among these we can mention John Woodroffe,
known by the pseudonym of Arthur Avalon, responsible for several
works of studies on Tantrism, considered classics. Woodroffe21
exemplifies this depreciation of Tantrism through excerpts from texts
he collected from some works. Without wishing to be exhaustive, we
reproduce some of these excerpts as an example of the universe in
which many Orientalist and Indianist scholars and scholars were
inserted:
“The Hindu system is the most puerile, impure, and bloody of any
of the idolatrous systems established on earth, among a lazy,
effeminate, vicious people, of disordered imagination, who
frequent their temples not in search of devotion, but of
satisfaction of their licentious appetites22. Hinduism is the most
material and childish animalism that has masqueraded as
idealism. It has no morality and the absurd object of its cult is a
mixture of Bacchus, Don Juan and Dick Turpin. It is not a religion,
but a pit of abomination, as far from God as the mind of man can
conceive23. The very colorful Yogi imagination pales together with
the doctrines of the infamous Tantras, in which a veritable
aggregate of demons is produced, in varying forms, in a swarm of
21
WOODROFFE (1981: preface).
22
BEGBIE, H. The Light of India, Christian Literature Society for
India. Quoted by WOODROFFE (1981: 10).
23
WARD, W. A View of the History, Literature and Mythology of the
Hindus. Serampore Mission, 1818. Quoted by WOODROFFE (1981:
10).
28
sects and most of those of Shiva influence.24/25”
The derogatory characteristic of the excerpts presented can

be understood if we take into account: the ideological conditions of
colonization and political-economic domination of India; the
imaginary cultural superiority of the social model implanted in India
by British colonization; the strong Christian religious pattern that
accompanied the colonizing process; and the natural difficulties of
assimilating the contents of the Indian religious tradition, due to the
thick symbolic veil that covers all the ritualism and literature of this
millenary culture.
Another relevant factor in maintaining a derogatory image
of the Tantras, seen as literature or practical philosophy, can be
found along with some Indian religious and philosophical schools
that see in the tantric message elements that question and transgress
their moral, sexual and social convictions and proscriptions26. Many
24
BARNETT, L. Antiquities of India. Quoted by WOODROFFE
(1981: 13).
25
Shivaists are the devotees of Shiva, the renewing aspect of the Hindu
trinity. Brahma is the creator aspect, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the
destroyer. Shiva destroys in order to renew, continuing the cosmic and
personal cycle of rebirth and death.
26
Sri Gopalcharandas Shastri, member of Swami Narayan Sect, in the
preface to his book quotes: “The emergence of Vamah Marga and
Shakta Worship led to the deterioration of ethical and social values, or
undermined the morality of the people, to such an extent that the people
in general became adept at wine, meat and game. Adultery has become
commonplace.” [The rise of Vamah Marga and Shakta Cult led to
deterioration in the ethical and social values, which turn undermined
the morality of the people to such an extent the people in general
became addicts to wine, meat and gambling. Adultery became
rampant.] SHASTRI, Sri Gopalcharandas. Shri Hari Van Virachan
Kavyam. Part 1. Surendranagar, Saurashtra, India: Sant Bhushan,
Dharmavidyabhasker.
29
Indian philosophical and religious schools are structured under strict

rules of moral and sexual behavior and their followers normally
maintain a life withdrawn from the daily obligations of everyday
social and family life, in addition to a vow to a celibate life. In
contrast, literary texts and tantric practices spread transgressive
messages, contrary to what is accepted in most Indian schools27.
Yoni Tantra gives us an example:
Devi [the goddess] said: God of gods, Natha [protector] of the whole
cosmos, cause of creation, maintenance and destruction, without you there is
no father, just as without me there is no mother. You have spoken of the last
form of Yoni Puja [offering] through sexual intercourse. What kinds of
Yonis [vaginas] should be worshiped and which ones bring good fortune?
Deva [the god] said: The devotee should worship the Mother Yoni and have
sexual intercourse with all the Yonis. He could have sex with any woman
between the ages of twelve and sixty.
We cannot fail to mention that the official modern Indian

culture, shaped by the orthodox urban elite, was deeply influenced
by the moral values of the Christian Puritanism of the first
missionaries and administrators of British India; in addition,
moralistic patriarchal elements still remain in this culture,
originating from the more than seven hundred years of Muslim
domination in much of India. This official urban Hinduism is hostile
to the sensory practices found in Indian tribal aboriginal cultures
and Tantrism, and its puritanism has sought at all costs to transform
these natural human expressions into symbols of spiritual, asexual
and divine love28.
For Tantrism, sexuality, rather than being an obstacle to
liberation, is an instrument for spiritual development, and life is to
be lived and celebrated in all its expressions, from social and family
27
See: PAZ (1979: 60-78).
28
See: SARAN, Prem. Tantra, Hedonism in India Culture.
30
obligations to the most intimate needs29.

Some scholars of sexuality30 have found a large field of
research in the tantric tradition. In the Tantras and in the books
under the influence of this philosophy, sexuality is treated as an
instrument for the improvement of the human being. Based on
philosophical expressions and tantric techniques, researchers have
developed therapies for sexual invigoration, the development of
sensorial experience, to prolong sexual pleasure, in addition to
concepts related to a healthy sex life and without prejudice31. They
also found indications in the Tantras that the tantric Sadhaka
(practitioner), through an expansion of sexuality to the whole body,
the development of sensorial and psycho-physical consciousness,
seeks the intensification of the primordial energy of sexual
manifestation (known as Kundalini) and directing it towards the
improvement of artistic, intellectual and spiritual potential.
Tantrism, in its historical trajectory, generated behaviors
that profoundly transgressed the norms that regulate the Indian
patriarchal socio-religious structure. From the twelfth century, a
period of effervescence of tantric texts, to the present day, the Indian
cultural context has seen the emergence of several women,
considered high philosophical and religious teachers, who influence
thousands of people with their ideas. Among these memorable
women, we can mention Akka Mahadevi, a member of the Vira
Shiva movement that moved southern India in the twelfth century.
The Vira Shivaists were social transgressors who rejected the caste
system, orthodox Brahmanical priestly ritualism and patriarchy.
Popular folklore presents Akka Mahadevi as the first woman to
walk naked on Indian roads, following the tradition of Sadhus (male
renouncers), accompanied by her devotees and preaching her
teachings. In the 14th century, Lalleshvari, another legendary
woman, played a major role in Kashmir Shivaism. She, tired of the
29
30
See: ANAND (1992), SAGNE (1988).
31
See: INTERNET (http://www.tantra.com) – website about Tantra.
31
role of ideal and submissive wife, fled to the house of a tantric

master and improved her spiritual life, obtaining high states of
consciousness that enabled her to philosophically confront the
representatives of the Brahmanism priestly tradition and transmit
many teachings. Like Akka Mahadevi, Lalleshvari traveled through
India, following the characteristics of the Tantric Sadhus (pilgrims),
free as the winds and clothed in the sky (naked), having many
disciples and gaining great recognition. The names32 and stories of
many other women from the Indian past could be cited here, as well
as the names of dozens of other women33 who today contribute in
the Indian and world context to a change in patriarchal sociocultural
paradigms of ways of relating and interacting to the feminine
“Other”34.
We can find, in the tantric tradition, elements that today
represent raise flags in the struggle for the development of personal
freedoms, choice of use of the body and sexuality, such as sexual
practice detached from religious taboos, moral restrictions on
pleasure, the objective of reproduction and romanticism. We also
find mythical narratives35 that in their symbols, plots, poetics and
philosophy express voices of a movement that can be conveyed to
modern feminism. As examples below, we find in Tantric literature
many voices expressing themselves in favor of valuing the
32
Arundhati (quoted in the Vedas), Anusya Devi (Andhara Pradesh,
1923), Chudala (quoted in the Yoga Vashishta Upanishad), Hemalekha
(quoted in the Tripura Rahashya Upanishad), Godavari Mataji (Sakori,
early 20th century), Mira Bai (Rajasthan , 16th century), Sarada Devi
(19th century, Bengal) etc.
33
Sri Ma, Anandamayi Ma, Anandi, Gurumayi, Ma Yoga Shakti,
Ammachi etc.
34
See: JHONSEN (1996); see: INTERNET
(http://www.spiritweb.org/HinduismToday/94-02-
Trinidad_Woman_Priest.html)
35
The symbolism and myths of the goddess Durga can serve as an
example.
32
sociocultural feminine role and to the detriment of women:
The woman creates the universe, she is the very body of this
universe.
The woman is the support of all three worlds, she is the essence of
our body. There is no other happiness than what a woman seeks.
There is no other way than what a woman can open up for us.
There never was and never will be, neither yesterday, nor today nor
tomorrow, any other fortune than the woman, nor any other
kingdom, nor pilgrimage, nor Yoga, nor prayer, nor magic formula,
nor sacrifice, nor other fullness, than those bestowed upon us. by
the woman. (Shaktisagama Tantra II. 52)36
A woman is a goddess.
Worship a woman or girl like her being Shakti, protected
by the Kulas. No one should ever raise their voice against girls or
women. (Kaulajnana Nirnaya Tantra, Patala 23)37
In Kula, every woman is considered to be a manifestation of the

goddess. No man could raise his hands to hit or threaten a woman.
When she is naked, man should kneel and worship her as a goddess.
She has the same rights as man at all levels. (Occult World of a
Tantrik Guru. Values. Vol. IX)38
Although we are constantly faced, within the Tantric

literature, with the transgression and presentation of new values,
Tantrism has not yet had the necessary strength to influence more
36
LYSEBETH, André V. (1990: 123).
37
Introduction of Yoni Tantra,
http://www.hubcom.com/magee/tantra/yoni.htm
38
Introduction of Yoni Tantra,
http://www.hubcom.com/magee/tantra/yoni.htm
33
significantly the Indian psychosocial behavior, as it did in the

philosophical and religious practical universe. Echoes of patriarchy
can still easily be seen well accommodated in Tantric texts. We see
an example of this in the description of female participation in the
context of Maithuna practice. On the one hand, the woman is seen
as a goddess at certain times and, on the other hand, in some
practices she is just another object of the rite. The appreciation of
women cannot cross the border from the rite to social life. The
tantric literary body is still, for the most part, a masculine writing,
made by men and to be used by men.
Even so, we conclude that the identification and
presentation of these voices expressed by tantric literature, added to
a deconstructive critical reading, could help in our cultural debate as
elements for reflection and contribution to the formation of new
paradigms and resolution of personal and social conflicts, caused by
the way our contemporary society still deals with gender.
34
Chapter 2
A Look into the Indian Tantric Mirror
Shakti
I leave you as your shadow.
I circle around you,
dancing in silence.
I stalk you
on the margins of your thoughts,
I follow you in your actions,
invisible,
I give form to your desires.
I am the shape of all your desires.

I am the water of the transparent river,
where you dream carried away by death,
I am the blue stones at the bottom
visited by the rays of the sun
– like goldfish under water.
I am the stone without time in the garden,
the gray stone in the wall
where stones repeat on high.
stone, snake stone,
sound of falling water, silent fish,
mist crowning the mountains in the distance.
I am the sun in your hair,

a bird in a cup,
the water you drink when you wake up.
I am the nectar falling on your tongue,
I am your delight, I am your intoxication.
I come back to you when you call me, I disappear.

In you I remain dissolute, unreflect consciousness, living
pleasure.
And again the boundless expansion from you,
outside of you takes me.
I pass the shapes.
Free I am in space, without space.
You even convert me into space.

I go to all points whose centers are one, whose center
I am myself.
I mark the confines,
I put rules to the game, I have fun,
I divide, I dissolve.
I'm just an emanation.
I am pure vibration, sound that condenses and creates forms.
I am the arrow of impulse, the movement,
the breath.
I am the perfect oval,
the substances that nourish each other, the tiny spiral,
the smallest particle
dictating the reading in her own way,
writing immediately, by herself,
under the silent auspices of this game.
And you are all things
without leaving the enclosure self-absorbed,
secret where your thought does not yet separate us,
where the impulse is fulfilled in itself,
is only, before time, before the sound,
the very word with which now
they invoke us, they tell us, they ask us39
39
CROSS, Elsa. (1994; p.96) [Saio de ti como tu sombra. Doy vueltas
en torno a ti, danzo en silencio. Te acecho al borde de tus pensamientos,
te sigo en tus actos, invisible, doy forma a tus deseos. Soy la forma de
todos tus deseos. Soy el agua del río transparente, donde te sueñas
llevado por la muerte, soy las piedras azules en el fundo, visitadas por
los rayos del sol - como peces dorados bajo el agua.. Soy la piedra sin
tiempo en el jardín, la piedra gris del muro, donde reptam hiedras a lo
alto. Hiedra, piedra, serpiente, ruido de agua que cae, pez silencioso,
bruma, coronando a lo lejos las montañas. Soy el sol en tus cabellos, el
tintineo en una copa, el agua que bebes al despertar. Soy el néctar
cayendo hacia tu lengua, soy tu deleite, soy tu embriaguez. Vuelvo a ti
cuando me llamas, desaparezco. En ti quedo disuelta, consciencia
irreflexiva, placer vivo. Y de nuevo la expansión sin límites desde ti,
fuera de ti me lleva. Traspaso las formas. Libre estoy en el espacio sin
espacio. En el espacio mismo me conviertes. Voy hacia todos los
puntos cuyo centro son uno, cuyo centro yo misma soy. Marco los
confines, pongo reglas al juego, me diverto, me divido, me disuelvo.
Soy sólo emanación. Soy vibración pura, sonido que condensa y crea
36
A LOOK INTO THE INDIAN TANTRIC MIRROR
1. The mirror metaphor and the theoretical

articulations
We open this chapter with a beautiful poem in praise of

Shakti (primordial energy) that inspires us to try to exercise “a look
at the Indian tantric mirror” in an academic way, associated with a
sensorial experience of metaphorical interpretation and expression40.
Following this line of thought, the phrase “a look at the Indian tantric
mirror” represents for us a sign that groups around itself the human,
social, cultural, psychological and artistic (literary) characteristics
that are inserted in the context construction of our reflections in this
chapter.
This metaphorical expression used by us can be materialized
through a plastic image such as eyes looking at a mirror that reflects
colors, shapes, sounds, thoughts, desires, questions, emotions and
infinite moments that form the dynamism of life. These eyes seek,
through a symbiotic act provided by imagination and guided by
formas. Soy la flecha del impulso, el movimiento, el soplo. Soy la

forma oval perfecta, las sustancias que se nutren mutuamente, la
pequeña espiral, la más pe- queña partícula dictando a lectura de su
propia forma, escrebiéndose ya, por sí mesma, bajo el auspicio si-
lencioso de este juego. Y tú eres todas las cosas sin dejar el recinto
ensimismado, secreto donde no nos separa todavia tu pensamiento,
donde el impulso en sí mismo se cumple, es solamente, antes del
tiempo, antes del sonido, de la palabra misma con que ahora nos
invocan, nos dicen, nos preguntan.]
40
In our reading of this style of expression, we are based on the
conception that metaphor provides an understanding of ourselves and
our world in a way that no other mode of thinking can. Far from being
merely a matter of words, metaphor is a matter of thought—all kinds of
thinking: thinking about emotion, about society, about human character,
about language, and about the nature of life and death. It is
indispensable not only for our imagination, but also for our reason.
37
reason, the understanding of the many “I's” reflected in the Indian

tantric mirror and the diversity of relationships that promote the
interaction between beings and the world.
We use metaphorical language and this surrealist plastic
image of eyes looking into a mirror as a way of evoking that “the
metaphorical conceptual process produces (or represents) new
hypotheses and new expressions of experience, and suggests new
possibilities for perceiving the world”41. From this we translate some
characteristics that accompany our intention: the desire to be
contributing to the development of new forms of production of
intellectual experience, the presentation of different conceptions of
the world and the approximation of these new experiences and
conceptions to our reality. academic and social everyday life, through
a path that uses creative and effective resources.
We chose to develop our analyzes through an
interdisciplinary articulation, between History (from the perspective
of Edward Said's revised Orientalism), Anthropology (studies of
myths and symbols from a cultural and post-structuralist perspective)
and Theory of Literature (from the perspective of post-modernism).
This is consolidated through the intersection of tantric texts and Post-
Colonial, Subaltern and Gender Studies.
This exercise of interdisciplinarity, which can be seen as a
discursive practice of difference, made possible a logic of
interpretation and intervention that leads us to the experience of
moving between "truths" that differ in their textual constructions, but,
at the same time, if they identify within a process of expansion and
articulation of “knowledge”, resulting from the desires and needs
generated by the social moment of economic globalization and
cultural transformation.
We do not intend to define a model of deconstructive critical
reading of Tantric literature and Tantrism as a result of a Latin
41
CORMAC (1985:147). In: ZANOTTO, Mara Sophia. Metaphor,
Cognition and Reading Teaching. p.243.
38
American academic study. We thought of just bringing provocative

reflective fragments, as elements that can illuminate our consciences
and produce an interactive process during the exercise of this reading.
These provocative reflective fragments can be represented,
metaphorically, as bubbles of oxygen slowly emerging from the
bosom of the waters to the surface. We seek much more the
possibility of providing theoretical and practical experiences of
encounter with the Other, than the simple construction of a theoretical
body that only describes and continues to maintain the frontiers of
difference.
We deal in our experiences and reflections with the notion of an
Oriental Other. Edward Said42, in Orientalism, argues the existence of
different imaginaries about the Orient. He distinguishes an Orient
built by Europeans and another by North Americans. For Europeans,
the Orient would be related to the historical experience of
imperialism. The Orient as a place “where the largest, richest and
oldest European colonies are located, the source of their civilizations
and languages, their cultural competitor and one of their deepest and
most recurrent images of the Other”43. Said attributes to the Orient the
function of an object, from which the European West can define itself
as an image, idea, personality and experiences of contrast. The Orient
thus became an integral part of European civilization, expressing and
representing a mode of discourse supported by institutions,
vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrine, bureaucracies, and
colonial styles. For North Americans, the East would be more
associated with the Far East, expressed and represented in a tenuous
way by the economic and political relations with China, with the
Asian Tigers, by the Japanese adventures in the US economy and the
interventions in the Middle East.
42
SAID (1990).
43
SAID (1990:13).
39
Through the relations of the East with the West, we can also
reflect on the possibility that the East has created for itself a modern,
capitalist and competitive definition and personality. We can conceive
of this process of construction of the innovative self-image of the
Orient from the reflections of the brilliant, seductive and benevolent
image of US economic policy on the lifestyles, consumption, media,
culture, etc., of the social elites of the great eastern urban centers.
The [Eastern] Asian intellectual elite consider the US the most

benevolent great power in history. America does not carry the hybrids
of history, like Europe. All Emeritus PhDs—Americans—from
Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan praise the essential openness and
compassion at the heart of the American Idea. Recognize that East
Asia would not be in this [in] a position of glory [great economic
development] today if it were not for the generosity of the American
spirit.44
From this interface between the eastern elites and America,
we would have the West as a matrix, mainly due to the valorization
of the “heroic, victorious and benevolent” profile of the North
Americans, becoming a decisive part in the construction of the face
of a modern Orient.
This game of identifications and reflexes allows the human
imagination to have, on the one hand, a reference to the West
(Europe and North America), with a first world face, an exemplary
model of civilization, democracy, human rights, quality of life,
intellectual development, reason, success and “natural world
leaders”; on the other side, on the other side, it made possible the
reference of two Orients. An Orient, representative of the “third
(Other) worlds”, with its face of outdated, archaic, stagnant
civilization, religious dictatorships, terrorism, disrespect for human
rights, poverty, intellectual and technological restriction, chaos, lack
44
ESCOBAR (1997: 106).
40
of hygiene, emotion and “subaltern naturals”; and the other East,

with its clear, clean, reliable face, which is managing to follow the
linearity of history for development, modernity, social, political and
economic evolution. “An East with the Soul of the West”.
Returning to the theme of a critical Latin American reading,
we can ask, in a reflective and provocative way: do we Latin
Americans exist in the face of the East/West binary division? Are we
Westerners or Easterners? Or are we neither? What would our image
be and what are our reflections in relation to this binary? Do we have
a crystalline image like the European or the North American? Or do
we have a double image like the Oriental?
Thinking from the Brazilian context, our official social
model of development, well-being, quality of life, intellectuality,
culture, etc., is intimately linked, historically and politically, to the
countries that hold economic hegemony in the world. We have our
official face shaped by the reflection of the “western soul”. We are
identified with the Western model of civilization and we have
absorbed the West's way of looking at the East as an Other:
The translation of Asia [East] in the Brazilian media tends to be fully

aligned with the Anglo-American vision, which wins the battle of
ideas because it thinks and uses the hegemonic language —
English. It is noted in the Brazilian elites — especially in some
official spheres — a certain institutionalized arrogance towards
Asia [the Orient]. There is a mix of envy and a sense of cultural
superiority. These people think they know everything and have
nothing to learn on the other side of the world.45
If we search in our daily lives, many clichés and derogatory

images used to represent the Oriental Other can be found circulating
in our media, literature, cinema, etc., serving as food for the popular
imagination and contributing to the strengthening of stereotypes. We
45
ESCOBAR (1997: 16).
41
find: the Arab as a subject of dissimulation and intrigue; the Indian

as fanatical, lazy, effeminate; the Chinese as suspicious and servile;
the Islamist as a terrorist; the Iranian as dictator; the Turk as a
trickster, greedy; the Japanese as cunning, brute, etc.
We Brazilians believe we are Westerners, but we are seen by a
good percentage of Europeans and North Americans as possessing
qualities very similar to those of Easterners. There are many
stereotypes in the European and North American imagination about
Brazil. For many first world citizens, we still live in the middle of the
jungle, among snakes, Indians, jaguars and other animals. Our
women walk the streets naked, the men are lazy and indolent. Brazil
is a paradise for outcasts, a sexual paradise, where people indulge on
the first date and anywhere, country of samba, football and carnival.
On the other hand, we are also seen by another part of the First
World population - the economic intelligentsia and producer of
consumer goods - as a developing country, with great economic
possibilities, a large export and consumption market, an excellent
North American partner. For them, we are adequately following the
historical process of globalization governed by the neoliberal
hegemonic order.
We continue our provocative considerations or reflective
fragments asking ourselves about the existence of a cultural and
intellectual behavior, conditioned by models of Western hegemonic
thought, within our Latin American or Brazilian academic context
and the reproduction and exercise of an academic censorship to the
themes or studies that deal with cultural expressions that originated
outside the borders and western models of knowledge (in this case,
the Indian ones).
Historians and orientalists, such as K. M. Panikkar46 and
46
PANIKKAR (1977).
42
Edward Said47, alert to the fact that, in our contemporaneity, we are

subject to construct analyzes based on rigid theories that are based on
the ideological principles of Western superiority, repeating the same
mistakes of the imperialist context. For Said, all academic
knowledge is somehow marked and violated by vulgar political fact.
The producer of Western knowledge comes to the East first as a
European, or North American, then as an individual. He will first
interact with the Other, based on his social history as a colonizer.
As for the academic environment, Derrida48 draws our
attention to the naivety of thinking that censorship does not exist
within universities. According to him, there are things that cannot be
said in universities, and there are objects that cannot be studied,
analyzed and worked on in certain university departments. This
censorship would not consist in reducing the object to absolute
silence, but to a limitation of the scope and of exchanges in general.
There would be censorship from the moment when forces, linked to
powers of evaluation and to symbolic structures, limit the extension
of a field of work, the resonance or the propagation of a discourse.
We hope that answers to the questions raised here will
emerge as provocations for a deeper debate on the issue of
receptivity to the different, to the new, to the Other.
2. Post-Colonialism, Subaltern and Gender

Studies
The theoretical constructions that guide our studies (Post-
Colonialism, Subaltern and Gender Studies) imply deconstructionist
strategies, developed from discussions about the crisis and the
decentering of the notion of subject, about the binomial center-
margin, alterity and the difference. They are strategies of theoretical
47
SAID (1990).
48
DERRIDA (1995: 89).
43
reflection of the social and human sciences, built in an environment

of progressive and systematic distrust in relation to any totalizing
discourse and to a certain type of cultural monopoly of modern
Western values and institutions.49
We work primarily with analyzes from the theoretical
points of view of Edward Said and Gayatri C. Spivak. One reason
for our choice is the fact that Said and Spivak have the Orientals as
their starting point and are historical and theoretical subjects who
lived the concrete experience of being the Other who, in an act of
cultural decolonization and social conquest, managed to crossing the
margins of subalternity, maintaining its alterity and conquering
space in the hegemonic centers to express itself and influence a
whole generation of academics.
Edward Said, with the release of his book Orientalism
(1990), gave impetus to a new area of academic concern that
focuses its efforts on the analysis of colonial discourse. He
identified, as colonial discourse, a variety of textual forms in which
the West produces and codifies knowledge about non-hegemonic
areas and cultures, especially those directly under colonial rule.
For Said, colonial discourse is a complex and contradictory
mode of representation that implies the participation of the colonizer
and the colonized. The analysis of this discourse would be based on
a counterpoint (deconstructive) reading, which would seek to
identify each subject (colonizer or colonized), their specific
discourse and the ways in which the discourses bring within
themselves the contradictions that deconstruct them in their own
terms. The great acceptance of this approach is due to the fact that,
in Orientalism, Said manages to use Foucault's Post-Structuralism
and Marxism in Gramsci's reading as the basis of his theoretical
work. The analysis of Said's colonial discourse is, in short, a critique
of the process of producing knowledge about the Other.
Post-Colonialism as a theoretical body can be seen as a
49
BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA (1994: 9).
44
radicalization of colonial discourse analysis, academically

inaugurated by Said. It is a counterpoint and deconstructionist
reading of the narratives with which the Hegemonic Power Centers
were made and institutionalized. Its central topics of discussion are
the colonial experience and the strategies of resistance and dialogue
between the parties in conflict. It deals, in particular, with the
discourses through which the subordinates respond to the most
significant narratives of the Hegemonic Centers, in the field of
History, Philosophy and Theory of Literature. Post-Colonialism
seeks to point, at all times, to a dialectical process existing between
literature in the language of the colonizers and the written or oral
texts in native languages of the colonized peoples.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak gained recognition in the
international academic milieu for her work “Can the Subaltern
Speak? Speculations on the sacrifice of widows (1985)”. Building
on this work, Spivak argues that the subaltern, in its attempt at self-
representation and expression through patriarchal vehicles, is not
understood or supported. Despite the subaltern's voice having
obtained space for expression, in reality they rarely manages to
speak, due to the regulatory ideological mechanisms used by the
hegemonic cultural structure that interfere in the dialogue between
the subaltern and the listener, not letting communication reach a
level minimal interaction. With Spivak and other Indian critics
(Homi Bhabha, Partha Chatterjee, Aijaz Ahmad, Ranajit Guha,
Gauri Viswanathan, etc.) the subaltern really gets to express
themselves.
Subaltern Studies seek to introduce new readings that
represent the emerging claiming social movements with their
various subaltern agents, inserting subaltern intellectuals and
practitioners in a more active process of emancipation and social
justice.
Theorists of Post-Colonialism and Subaltern Studies ... propose the

displacement of the conceptualization based on categories of geographic
45
location of knowledge. It is now necessary to change the angle of

observation to perceive the way in which geo-cultural categories relate to
knowledge and power, determining the exchange value of knowledge that
demarcates hierarchies between domains and classifications of knowledge.
Both groups share concerns, such as the limitations imposed by populist
nationalisms and dependency theory, the insufficiency of the traditional
national state, the critique of institutions of high culture, including
literature, the critique of Eurocentric historicism, the modernizing
vanguardism, etc., ... themes that demand a redefinition and insertion into
new paradigms.50
Gender Studies, today guided by Derridian deconstruction,

emerge as an advance in the feminist theoretical debate and in the
articulation of its issues with historical and political determinations.
Leading-edge feminist thinking is marked by the demand for a
theoretical and methodological approach in which the question of
women, like all questions of meaning, is systematically, particularized,
specified and historically located, opposing any and all any essentialist
or ontological perspective.51 Gender Studies' strategy is to seek to
overcome dichotomies such as, for example, male/female, and the
imperative to fight against all hegemony.
It is by thinking of culture as a living, essential, practical and
active reality, as the quintessential means of human fulfillment and
self-fulfillment52 and in the enrichment of experiences through cultural
diversity, that we interact with the Indian civilizing context. The
postmodern cultural moment is organized in the sense of accepting the
insertion of alternative cultural forms that increase the options for
experimentation. Postmodernists want to find a field of continuous
50
RAVETTI (1997: 4,5).
51
See: BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA (1994: 9).
52
RAMÍREZ (1996: 24). [como una realidad viviente, vital, practica y
activa; como el medio por excelencia de realización y autorrealización
humana.]
46
experimentation and a playful transition between fashions, languages

and expressions of all times53. The Indian context can be seen as
alternative, because it differs as a whole from our Western forms of
intellectual, emotional and social organization. He represents an Other
who, if heard in his crossing of imaginary and ideological borders, can
promote, through deconstruction, reflections, confrontations and the
intertwining of knowledge, the most significant experiences for
individuation54 and the maturation of human relationships.
We speak of imaginary and ideological borders as conceptual
borders of the West, constructed by colonial discourse (an apparatus
that ignites the recognition and denial of social, cultural and historical
differences55), in order to create a space of subjectivity where the
peripheral, the colonized or the subaltern are kept confined in
degenerative stereotypes, with the function of justifying a domain and
establishing administrative and cultural systems, for the maintenance
of a political-economic hegemony.
We turn to the alternative, post-colonized and peripheral
Indian Other that, immersed in the signs of subalternity, has its
otherness duplicated through the political, economic and cultural
constructions that have placed it in the even greater label of Oriental.
Said (1991) highlights in his critical work, the need to develop
intellectual strategies that come to intervene deeply and effectively in
the structures that maintain the Oriental, or Orient, as the silent Other
of Europe. It alerts us to:
53
HOPENHAYN (1994: 23). [los postmodernos quieren encontrar un
campo de experimentación continua y un transitar lúdico entre modas,
lenguajes y expresiones de todos los tiempos.]
54
Compreendemos o termo “individuação” significando: a realização
melhor e mais completa das qualidades co- letivas do ser humano
(JUNG, 1978: 163), [somada a] um processo de desenvolvimento
psicológico que faculte [também] a realização das qualidades
individuais (JUNG, 1978: 164).
55
BHABHA (1991: 184).
47
“the need to cross borders; greater interventionism in interdisciplinary

activities; a concentrated awareness of the situation—political,
methodological, social, and historical—in which intellectual and cultural
work takes place; an enlightened political and methodological commitment
to dismantling systems of domination; and a very keen sense of the
intellectual both in defining a context and in modifying it.”56
With Said as our inspiration, we intend, within the

reflective context, to contribute to the development and
experimentation of strategies for deconstructing stereotypes that
help to maintain structures of control and political-economic-
cultural domination over the Other.
3. Crossing-0ver of texts
The use of tantric literature as one of the expressions of the
Indian cultural spectrum was made taking into account the rich
possibilities of reflections that it brings to our context. In it, we find
substrates of old communities, expressing themselves on the social
and cultural dichotomies that afflict those who are called subalterns
today. As an example, we will try to present, through a comparative
analysis of studies carried out on The Hunt57 (Mahasweta
Devis/Gayatri C. Spivak) and extracts from Indian tantric literature,
that narrate the mythical adventures of the goddess Durga.
THE READING OF THE HUNT
From our reading of Spivak's text58, we were able to extract
56
SAID (1991: 272, 273).
57
SPIVAK, Gayatri C. Who Claims Alterity?
58
SPIVAK, Gayatri C. Who Claims Alterity?
48
some elements that mark the story of the characters in The Hunt and
the sociocultural context they experience. Next, we present these
characters, adding some data that transcend Spivak's text, carrying
out some reflections on Alterity and seeking some parallels with our
own way of being Other (otherness in the Brazilian context).
• Mary is the Subaltern Agent. Her signs of subaltern begin to form

at birth. The White Man, a colonizing farmer, despoiler of the land
and the Indian peasant workforce, rapes one of the women of the
Oraon community and returns to his home country, Australia,
leaving Mary in her mother's womb. She is the result of rape.
Through this violation, she is born with diluted ethnicity: she is not
truly tribal, for she has in her the blood and history of the white
farmer. Mary is and is not Oraon/Indian/Tribal/Australian/White.
Her ethnicity, her identity, is undefined, and this brand is established
in her own name. “Mary” is not a name belonging to the Indian
cultural tradition, but a sign of the Christian cultural-religious
colonizer. By maternal heritage, Mary is also and is not a Christian,
is and is not a Hindu. Mary's mother belonged to a group of tribal
people who were converted to Christianity by missionaries. Due to
difficulties in getting a job, Mary's mother abandoned her Christian
creed, as the Hindus did not accept her, for fear of contamination of
their castes by Christian elements.
• The Oraon Tribe belongs to the Advasis group, that is,

aboriginal inhabitants of India. In the course of Indian political-
cultural development, the Advasis were framed in the social
category of Regulated Tribes (groups that live in reserved areas,
receiving visits only with official authorization and, in some
cases, they can be aggressive), and various special sanctions.
officers were created for their control and protection. The
Regulated Tribes, along with the Outcasts (untouchables) and
outcasts, form the official underlings of India. This official
subalternity of the social group to which Mary belongs brings up
49
the problem of different levels of Alterity. Mary is subaltern

twice. The first concerns her social history before the Indian
Nation; the second, her personal story before the Oraon
community.
• Singh Collector, Neocolonial Agent, is what we can classify

as a buffer between external administrators and the administered
territory. As a tax collector and agent of the Indo-British
bureaucracy, he brings the time-shifted repetition of many of the
old lines drawn by colonialism. He rapes the land by selling the
area's Sal forests, deceiving small landowners with reduced
prices; he rapes the tribe, employing them in highly exploited
wage work and distracts them with copious amounts of liquor
and a travesty of Western mass culture; he rapes Mary.
• The Spring Festival represents the «Game of Hunt», perpetuated

by the Oraon tribal tradition thousands of moons ago. Here, men
play, as only they know the necessary steps in the search for prey.
Women simply disguise their knowledge and are allowed to play
every twelve years. For men, the «Game of Hunting» has become a
working metaphor: in fact, the Game can no longer take place
literally, as there are no more forests or anything to hunt. The
pleasure of the day remains real, and now the prey has been replaced
by the woman. For women, this Game has no name, no form and no
meaning, since they know that their real participation is to play the
role of prey. In the most modern social version of this spring
festival, known as the Holi festival, the hunting rite was transformed
into moments in which the participants, mostly male, go out
stimulated by alcoholic beverages, in search of moments of pleasure
by splashing water. colors on the people they meet on the streets.
Sometimes, these hunting moments turn into violent practices, with
exotic colored waters being replaced by decomposing waters, feces,
urine or whatever else is at hand. In these cases, the victims end up
receiving the weight of the permission of the transgression, the
50
rescue and the negotiations that take place between the structures of
subalternity and hegemony, in this Indian “carnival” period.
• In Ritual Sacrifice, Mary, by transforming the female role

from prey to hunter, transgresses male convention, giving
women a participatory sense in the ritual. There is a
negotiation with the rape structures that imprisoned women in
knowing/not knowing. For Mary the forest becomes home to
an Animal, the reality of the day becomes as real as it is full of
meaning. She appropriates the rape and uses it as a weapon,
rewriting the Singh Collector as an animal and legitimizing
him as prey.
• In the negotiation of subalternity and in the production of

emancipatory narratives, the subaltern agent (Mary) negotiates
with the structures of violence and violation that produced and
imprisoned her as such. In The Hunt, Mary carries out this
negotiation, rewriting her ethnicity and appropriating the
structure of rape. In this remaking of history, there was a
negotiation with the structures that built the individual as a
subaltern agent. Spivak draws attention to the risk that, in this
dialogue, there is a denial of the legacies of post-coloniality, that
is, of the psychic, social and cultural elements assimilated by the
colonized, in the coexistence and identification with the
colonizer and in the name of a cultural rescue purist and
centralizing (ethnic nativist culturalism), a kind of collaboration
with neocolonialism can therefore be produced, strengthening
what is intended to be fought (the binomial:
hegemonic/subaltern).
• The Transnationality of the concepts of Alterity. Through
51
The Hunt's narrative, we can think about the transnationality of

the concepts of alterity. Resuming the metaphor of the mirror, we
see how Mary, the subaltern agent, can be identified with
Brazilian Marias, peasants or rural workers, landless or who live
in villages or camps close to land, for example, in the large sugar
industry. Singh Collector, a neocolonial agent, is not much
different from a contracting boss, the one who collects, transports
and handles the wages of day laborers in the sugarcane fields.
The Oraon Tribe, in the Indian narrative, has its rights to
citizenship, well-being and development ignored and
circumvented in the same way as those of our Maxakalis,
Krenaques, Xavantes, black quilombo communities, secular
squatters and many others, subject to the massacre of economic
and political power games. The story of rape, which marks the
lives of Mary and her mother, can be told by many Marias, with
the same structures, the same sufferings and the same hopes. We
can find the Hunting Ritual in indigenous communities, or even
replace it with other carnival rites, which are inscribed in the
history of peoples, regardless of their appearance, not even the
cultural boundaries that delimited them, but rather their function
of maintaining a stagnant binary hierarchical structure.
• Transgression and Liberation. In Ritual Sacrifice, Mary

literalizes the ritual of hunting by negotiating with the
structure of rape and rape, appropriating it as if it were a
weapon. For Mary, the imaginary forest harbors an animal,
and the reality of the day is as real as it is full of meaning,
to the point that Singh Collector is rewritten as an animal
and legitimized as prey. In this act, Mary negotiates with
the structures of violence and violation that produced her as
a subaltern agent, appropriating her story and rewriting it
under new perspectives. She rescues her ethnicity and
52
transforms her social role through a transgression of the

subaltern/colonial and hunter/hunted binaries. She
embodies a transgressive and liberating behavior that,
compared to tantric mythical-behavioral expressions, can be
identified with the Shakti Durga myths, presented below.
THE SHAKTI DURGA
We add an extensive description of Durga's mythology,

because it is little known in the West, especially in our Brazilian
context, and because it is an important element for understanding
one of the deconstructive pedagogy experiments developed by us.
Through legends, some of the exploits of the character Durga
are presented, who, in her acts, transgresses the servile and docile
image attributed to the feminine by patriarchal social and cultural
conventions.
In the Indian mythological universe, Durga represents the
transcendent and unconditioned feminine expressing itself as force.
It is the power [Shakti] through which the primordial essence
manifests itself as warrior, protector and benefactor. Its mythical
origin is associated with moments of cosmic crisis and decay of the
Dharma, with the laws that regulate and balance existence. Its
function is to fight the demons that endanger universal stability.
The Skanda Purana59 presents Durga as an aspect of the
goddess Parvati60, adopted at the request of the gods to fight a
terrible demon that had taken over the universe. Another text, the
59
One of the classic books of Hindu literature, used for popular
philosophical-religious education.
60
Mythically it represents the Shakti, wife or power, of Shiva, the
universal destructive and renewing aspect, member of the Hindu
classical triad, together with Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu, the
preserver.
53
Devi-Mahatmya61, reports the emergence of Durga as the result of

the union of the cosmic fires [Tejas] and pure consciousness
[Chaitania] of the gods Brahma (the universal creator), Vishnu (the
preserver) and Shiva ( the destroyer), to fulfill the mission, which
only a feminine power could carry out, of destroying the terrible
demon Mahisa.
In many of the existing artistic representations62, Durga
appears as a beautiful woman, richly ornamented with silks and
precious jewels, with a serene face, having several arms, carrying
weapons for her combats, performing gestures of blessing for her
devotees and riding a tiger or a lion. The first references to this
goddess are associated with ancient Indian aboriginal populations,
peripheral to the historically and socially dominant culture, as well
as people with habits of drinking intoxicating liquor, blood and
eating meat63. In more contemporary Indian peasant tribal cultures,
which still preserve aboriginal cultural elements in their tradition,
Durga and other goddesses are in intimate relationship with the
cycles of harvest and vegetation fertility, with power, blood and
battles64.
THE ORIGIN OF DURGA DEVI65
“A giant named Durg, son of Ruru, having practiced many

austerities to please the creator god [Brahma], obtained his boon and
became so powerful that he conquered the three worlds [the earth,
61
It constitutes chapters 81 to 93 of the Markandeya Purana.
62
See page 65.
63
Hymns for the Arya, Harivamsa – 3.3; Vishnu Purana – 1.5.98; Maha
Bharata – Virata Parva 6.
64
See: KINSLEY, D. (1987: p.106-115). The worship of Durga.
65
Legend translated from the Spanish version taken from the book by
WILKINS, W. J. (p.287-289).
54
atmosphere, and heavenly realms], dethroning Indra [head of the

first divine realm] and the other gods. Durg compelled the wives of
the Rishis [sages] to sing his glories, he took the gods out of heaven,
forcing them to live in the woods, and commanding them to bow
their heads to him. Durg abolished religious ceremonies; the
Brahmanes [priests] abandoned the reading of the Vedas [sacred
scriptures] out of fear; the rivers changed their courses; the fire lost
its energy and the frightened stars became invisible. Durg took the
form of clouds and made it rain when he wanted to; the earth,
frightened, offered an abundant production and the trees bloomed
and bore fruit out of season.
In their affliction the gods ran to Shiva [the god of
destruction and renewal] and Indra said, "I have been dethroned!"
Shiva, pitying, wanted his wife Parvati to go and destroy the giant.
Gladly accepting the mission, Parvati calmed the nerves of the gods
and sent Kalaratri [Dark Night], a woman whose beauty fascinated
the inhabitants of the three worlds, to order the demon to restore
things to her natural order. Durg, filled with rage, sent his soldiers to
capture Kalaratri, but she with the breath of her mouth reduced them
to ashes. Durg then sent another 30,000 soldiers who formed a mass
so monstrous that it covered the surface of the earth. This time,
Kalaratri ran to Parvati pursued by soldiers.
Durg, with 100,000,000 chariots, 120,000,000 elephants,
100,000,000 horses and thousands of soldiers, went to Mount
Vindhya to fight Parvati. When he was near, Parvati assumed a form
with 1000 arms, summoned the most diverse beings to her aid and
produced numerous weapons from her body.
During the battle, the giant's troops shot their arrows at
Parvati, who was seated on Mount Vindhya, these forming a curtain
as thick as raindrops from a storm; accompanying the arrows, they
hurled trees, stones, and whatever they could find ahead against it.
In response, Parvati fired the Sudharsana, a disc-shaped weapon,
which severed the arms of many thousands of soldiers. Durg then
fired two incendiary darts at the goddess; she stepped aside and
55
stopped them with a hundred arrows. The giant then shot a mighty
arrow into Parvati's chest, as well as two more weapons, a stake and
a mountain peak—all repelled by her.
At one point, being very close to each other, Parvati
grabbed Durg and put his right foot on her chest, but he managed to
free himself and revived the fight. Parvati then forced out of her
body a large number of helpers who destroyed the rest of the giant's
army. In retaliation, Durg launched a terrifying shower of stones, the
effect of which Parvati nullified with a weapon called Sosuna. The
giant then assumed the form of an elephant as big as a mountain and
approached the goddess, but she tied his legs and with her sharp
nails cut him into thousands of pieces. Durg now reappears in the
form of a black buffalo and with his horns he has hurled rocks, trees
and mountains over Parvati. She drove her pitchfork into the
buffalo's body, which staggered and fell agonizingly beside her.
Durg assumed the form of a giant with 1000 arms and carrying a
weapon in each of them. Being close to Parvati, she grabbed him by
the arms and sent him rolling through the air, hurling him to the
ground with astonishing force. Seeing that even fallen he was not
yet destroyed, she pierced his chest with a spear, causing him to
release gulfs of blood from his mouth and then he died.
The gods were delighted at such a beautiful outcome of the
battle, for they soon regained their former radiance. After this
episode, the goddess was called Durga, which is the name of the
female form of the demon Durg that she had destroyed.”
THE BATTLE OF DURGA AGAINST SUMBHA AND

NISUMBHA 66
“At the end of Tetra Yuga [the third cosmic age], two
giants named Sumbha and Nisumbha carried out for 10,000 years
religious austerities [Tapas] of such merit that they caused Shiva to
66
WILKINS, W.J. (p.292-295).
56
descend from the heavens. Shiva discovered that through such

extraordinary devotion the giants aimed to obtain the gift of
immortality. He quarreled at length with them and tried in vain to
persuade them to ask for any other gifts. Sumbha and Nisumbha,
being denied what they precisely wanted, began much stricter
austerities for another thousand years, at the end of which Shiva
emerged again to continue denying them what they asked for.
Disappointed, the giants then hung themselves upside down over a
slow fire, until blood began to seep down their necks; continued that
way for 800 years.
The gods were afraid that, by practicing such strict acts of
holiness, these demons might even dethrone them. Afraid of this,
Indra, the king of the gods, convened the council and exposed his
fears. Everyone recognized that there were plenty of reasons to be
concerned and questioned what the solution would be. On the advice
of Indra, Kandarpa, the god of love, together with Rambha and
Tilatama, the most beautiful celestial nymphs, went to tempt the
minds of the giants with sensual desires. Kandarpa wounded both of
them with his arrow, and they, awakening from the state of sacrifice
and beholding the two beautiful women, fell into the plot and
abandoned their austerities.
Sumbha and Nisumbha lived with the nymphs for 5,000
years, after which they realized the folly they had done in giving up
their hopes of obtaining immortality in exchange for sensual
gratification. They suspected that this stratagem must be the work of
Indra, and as soon as they sent the nymphs back to heaven, they
resumed their practices by cutting the flesh from their bodies and
burning it in offering to Shiva. In this way they went on for 1,000
years, until finally they were nothing more than skeletons. Shiva
then appeared before them and granted them the gift that in riches
and powers they would be superior to the gods.
The giants, exalted to be above the gods, began to make
war against them. After several victories on both sides, Sumbha and
Nisumbha began to win on all sides, when Indra and the gods,
reduced to the most complete state of misery, requested the
57
intervention of Brahma [the creator god] and Vishnu [the preserving

god]. These sent Indra and the other gods to Shiva, who declared,
after hearing all the lamentations, that he could do nothing for them.
However, when in a last attempt to get help, they reminded Shiva
that it was because of the gift bestowed by him that they had been
ruined. Shiva, paying more attention to the matter, advised them to
offer austerities to Durga. So they did, and after some time, the
goddess appeared to them, distributing blessings and promises that
she would solve the problem.
Durga went to the Himalayas where Chanda and Manda,
two messengers of Sumbha and Nisumbha, resided. These were
walking along the mountain when they saw the goddess. They were
greatly impressed by her charms and rushed to describe her to their
masters, advising them to win the favor of the goddess, even if they
had to give up all the glorious goods they had plundered from the
heavens and the gods.
The giants sent Sugriva as a messenger before the goddess
Durga, to inform her that the riches of the three worlds were in their
palaces, that the offerings that could be made to the gods were now
offered to them, and that all these offerings, riches etc. would be
hers if she went with Sugriva to meet them. The goddess replied that
the offer was very generous, but she had decided that the person
who married her would first have to defeat her in combat,
destroying her pride. Sugriva, not wanting to return unsuccessfully,
pressed for a favorable response, promising that her masters would
overcome her and subdue her pride. Then he said in an authoritative
tone: “It's because you don't know my masters, before whom no
inhabitant of any of the three worlds can be compared, even if he is
a god, devil or man. How, then, can you, a mere woman, think of
resisting his offers?” Durga recognized that all this was very true,
but that she had made this decision and asked him, therefore, to
persuade her masters to come and measure their strength with her.
Sugriva returned and reported what had happened to his
masters. On hearing the news, Sumbha and Nisumbha became
enraged, and without giving any answer they summoned
58
Dhumlochana, the general of their armies. They gave him orders to

leave for the Himalayas and arrest the goddess, totally destroying
everything or everyone who intervened in the mission.
Dhumlochana went to the Himalayas with his troops and
informed the goddess of the orders of his lords. She, smiling, told
him to execute it. As soon as Dhumlochana approached, Durga
released a terrible roar that reduced him to ashes along with most of
his soldiers, leaving only a few fugitives to report the denouement.
Sumbha and Nisumbha, in wrath, sent Chanda and Manda, who on
ascending the mountain found the goddess sitting on an ass and
smiling. Seeing them, she was so enraged that she grabbed dozens
of soldiers and devoured them as if they were fruit. Then she
grabbed Manda by the hair and cut off his head, holding it high
under her mouth and drinking his blood. Chanda, upon seeing his
companion die in this way, began to wrestle with the goddess. But
Durga, now mounted on her lion, pounced on Chanda and tore him
apart as she had done to Manda. After that she destroyed part of the
army and drank the blood of all the dead.
When Sumbha and Nisumbha heard this alarming news,
they decided to submit to the goddess. They gathered all their troops
and headed for the Himalayas. The gods beheld, astonished and
motionless, that so vast and mighty army, while the goddesses
descended from the heavens to help Durga, who, in a terrible battle,
destroyed the whole army. Sumbha and Nisumbha, in a state of
despair, personally faced the goddess. The battle was inconceivably
terrible for both parties, until finally the giants were slain and Durga
sat down to feed on the carnage she had wrought.
At the end of the episode, the gods and goddesses sang
glories to the heavenly heroine, who, in turn, bestowed blessings on
each of them.
MARY (THE HUNT) AND THE SHAKTI DURGA
In our reading of The Hunt, we come across many of the
59
signs of Mary's subalternity. She is the result of a rape by the White

Man, colonizer, despoiler of land and the Indian peasant workforce.
Through this violation, she was born with her ethnic identification
diluted. Her identity is undefined and this brand is established in her
own name. Mary, by birth, belongs to the group of Advasis,
aboriginal inhabitants of India, official underlings. She is subaltern
twice. The first concerns her social history with the Indian nation,
and the second concerns her personal history with the Oraon
community. In her history, she commits a ritual (sacrifice) murder,
having as a victim a colonial agent, tax collector and agent of the
Indo-British bureaucracy who sexually violated her and who
imposed on the Oraon community a wage work with a high level of
exploitation.
In ritual sacrifice, Mary transformed the female role and
transgressed the male convention that imprisoned women in the role
of the prey, the hunted, the subordinate, the docile, the helpless, the
not knowing, the subaltern.
Let us return here to the theme of Shakti which, seen from a
hegemonic patriarchal approach, can also be identified: on the
spiritual plane, as the “subaltern matter”; on the existential plane, as
the “subaltern nature”; on the human level, as the “subaltern
woman”. Shakti thus represents, from the hegemonic point of view,
the “inferior” pole of the three great binary relationships: spirit and
matter; human being and nature; man and woman. In this conception,
Shakti is Mary under the gaze of the colonial agent, that is, the
subaltern within the hegemonic context, as a being available to the
political, economic or sexual power games of the dominating
structure. In Tantric mythology, as already seen, Shakti is, contrary
to the patriarchal view, the universal dynamism responsible for all
cosmic manifestation or creative power. She is the goddess who,
through her mythical warrior acts, comes to rescue a transgressive
and liberating message from the chains that bind the subaltern to the
hegemonic context. Seeking now to oppose the figure of Mary to that
of the goddess Durga, we find in the myths and legends elements that
represent subaltern voices, expressing themselves through counter-
60
hegemonic narratives. Durga also has its origin and distinct and
diluted nature: it was mythically created by the union of the fiery
forces of the three main male representatives of the Hindu pantheon
(Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), but its signs, values and acts represent
aspects of the culture of different peoples. who lived on the fringes of
the hegemonic Indian society of antiquity. The name Durga was
given to the goddess by her creators, as the feminine form of the
name of the demon (Durg) she slew. In her actions, the goddess
violates models of behavior and social function attributed to Hindu
women by the law codes that regulated society. She is neither
submissive nor subordinate to male figures, does not fulfill the duties
and obligations of a good housekeeper, in addition to appropriating
the traditional male role of taking up arms and going to battle. As an
independent warrior, she normally doesn't need help in her battles,
but when she does, she only accepts or seeks support from other
female deities. In several legends, we find moments in which male
figures, demons and great warriors fell in love with Durga wishing to
marry her, but in the pursuit of this goal, after trying by all means to
seduce her, they ended up murdered.
Durga and Mary are characters that cross their stories,
despite being inserted in different universes. Both, with their extreme
acts and consummated through a sacrificial rite or bloody battles, are
spokespersons for the raped woman trapped in an oppressive social
and family role, for the tribes and peasants trapped by cultural and
geographical boundaries. They are subalterns who, in their moments
of transgression, manage to launch many voices within the
boundaries of their realities, in opposition to the hegemonic social
structure. Durga and Mary are, in our view, examples of women who
kill men to exercise a justice that is above the State and that seems to
condense all justice. Those who kill form part of a constellation of
new female representations, but they are clearly different from the
others. They are the reverse or counterpart of the victims67.
67
LUDMER, Josephine. (1996: 781).
61
4. Myth and subalternity

We took advantage of the previous moment, in which we made
parallels between The Hunt and the myths of the goddess Durga, to
develop reflections on the process of formation of the various meanings
given to the term “myth” and to mythologies, by the western theoretical-
scientific tradition, in contrast to the Eastern thought, represented by the
Indian point of view, on the practical philosophical use of mythical
forms of expression. For this, we trace below, in a synthetic and
simplified way, the trajectory of the development of concepts about myth
and mythologies, according to certain historical periods that exemplify in
their own development the contrasts and ideological influences of the
western mentality in the formation of theoretical bodies. As a critical
approach, we follow the line of thought of the Studies of Alterity, aiming
to present in the discourse of the work the differences between the
approaches developed in the West (hegemonic center) in relation to the
East (subaltern periphery) and the new possibilities of interaction
between these poles, promoted by postmodernity.
In order to understand the process of formation of the
(pre)concept of myth and also other ways of defining this term, we will
delimit it within some of the phases of historical evolution.
In archaic societies, myth was considered an existential
reference factor. It expressed the abstract world of the relations of these
societies with the more subjective planes of the individual and collective
mind. Mythical and ritual experiences were the form of interaction
between the individual, nature and society. They served to appease the
anxieties, make the desires explicit, validate the behavioral principles,
organize the world around and revere the sacred.
For traditional or first peoples68, myth is expressed as a sacred
tradition, a primordial revelation, an exemplary model of conduct. This
is the meaning of the term myth and mythologies, familiar to
68
We use the terms “traditional and early” in an attempt to replace the
imprecise designation of “primitives”.
62
ethnologists, anthropologists and historians of religions. Contributing to

the understanding of this meaning, Malinowski69 presented the following
definition of the nature and function of myth in early societies:
Myth, when studied live, is not an explanation designed to satisfy a scientific

curiosity, but a narrative that revives a first reality, which satisfies deep
religious needs, moral aspirations, pressures and social imperatives, and
even to practical requirements. In primitive civilizations, myth plays an
indispensable role: it expresses, extols, and codifies belief; safeguards and
enforces moral principles; guarantees the effectiveness of the ritual and
offers practical rules for the orientation of the man. Myth, therefore, is a
vital ingredient of human civilization; far from being a vain fantasy, it, on
the contrary, is a living reality, which one resorts to incessantly; it is by no
means an abstract theory or an artistic fantasy, but a true codification of
primitive religion and practical wisdom... These stories constitute for the
natives the expression of a first, greater and more relevant reality, by which
immediate life is determined, the activities and destinies of humanity.
Knowledge of this reality reveals to man the meaning of ritual and moral
acts, indicating how he should perform them.
With the evolutionary process of social transformation, myths

also developed, and their use adapted to the environment in which
they were inserted. The most archaic myths were being remodeled
and given new clothes, to meet the social and psychological needs of
the moment. In this case, the symbolic elements of ancient traditions
undergo a process of lethargy, remaining in the recesses of the
folkloric universe. This process of social transformation and mythical
adequacy led to the formation of new meanings for the term “myth”.
In Greek antiquity, the term mythos was used by Homer and
other authors with the meaning of “fact”, “history”, “word”, “thing”,
“matter”, and mainly “report” of what had happened in the past. From
69
MALINOWISK (Studies of Primitive Psychology: 33-42).
63
the moment the Greeks began to submit mythical stories to the

process of intellectual criticism (6th century BC), mythos began to be
understood through more elaborate conceptions that distinguished it
from rational philosophical truth.
For Pythagoras, Thales and Teagenes de Region, myths were
considered poetic allegories of nature and its phenomena.
Metaphysicians (5th century BC) saw mythical gods as
representations of metaphysical concepts and experiences. The
Moralists tried to show that the myths were didactic allegories. The
Sophists interpreted traditional myths or theological narratives as
allegories that explained naturalistic and moral truths. The
Neoplatonists (3rd century BC) had myths as creative representations
of the concepts of the universe, nature and that hid moral principles in
themselves. Epicureans considered myths as fables that concealed
naturalistic or historical events, which were used to sustain the
authority of priests and rulers70. In summary, the heritage of Greek
thought brings us the myth as an allegory or fable, which contains
historical remnants mixed with moral principles and symbolic
representations of man's interaction with nature, used by religious and
state structures in the maintenance of their powers.
From the end of the Middle Ages, we will find the beginning
of the exaltation of the traditional myths of the first peoples as a fantasy,
a lie and other prejudice conceptions. This is basically due to two
distinct historical processes. The first is the expansion of Catholicism
and its Christian dogma through religious crusades; the second is the
advent of the Enlightenment movement.
With the Crusades, religious missionaries arrived in
civilizations with cultures and customs completely different from their
religious and cultural formulations. Because they did not understand
how these civilizations interpreted the cosmos, nature and themselves,
70
See: PATAI (1974: 20-22).
64
they began to deny the culture of these peoples and attribute to them the
values of fiction, the illusory and the heretical. The Enlightenment has
since contributed definitively to the establishment of the meaning of
myth as fantasy or illusion, through the overvaluation of reason,
scientific methods, and its fierce fight against the exacerbated religiosity
inherited from the medieval period. This intellectual movement dictates
the verdict of the scientific mind of the time to the abstract and psychic
world of primitives and religious mystics, seeing mythology as the fruit
of ignorance and deception produced by the infantile mind of the most
ancient peoples.
A third meaning given to the term myth is quite contemporary:
it is the myth as psychic reality. This is the language used by Jungian
psychoanalysts, who concluded in their studies what the first peoples
already intuited: myth is a symbolic explanation of the psychic
processes of a society, it is its referential of existence and the interaction
of the conscious with the unconscious.
For these psychoanalysts, man, however realistic and
materialistic he may be, constantly lives mythical behaviors. A first
example comes from the obsessive desire that man has for power, for
success, which in mythical language we could translate as an obscure
desire to transcend the limits of the human condition and to become
equal to heroes or gods. In modern man, we have impregnated an
enormous nostalgia for “paradise”. This is represented in many books
and films, which describe a desirable space where everything is
beautiful and everyone lives happily, working with pleasure, having
possession of the body, free love, an end to illness and suffering.
This mythical behavior, or “longing for paradise”, can,
perhaps, to be found in two important ideological currents that
influenced the entire history of the 20th century: in Hitler's Nazism,
with its return to noble origins and racial purity; and in Marx's
communism, with its quest for the perfect and egalitarian society. Both
stimulated in their followers yearnings for liberation, peace and
65
overcoming social conflicts, as signs of beatified life. In mythical

language, these ideological systems promised and announced the end of
an era of suffering (chaos, impermanence, lack of references, lack of
guidance, lack of security) followed, from the materialization of their
ideas, for the beginning of a new era of beatitudes (the cosmos, the
organized, oriented, socialized world). They reproduced in the field of
mythical language, the battle of the elect (gods), the Aryans, the pure
race of Hitler, or the proletarians of Marx, against the hosts of evil
(demons), the Jews or the bourgeois.
Another example of the mythical experience is the social

influence of video games, cartoons and movies on modern
superheroes, whether they are bad guys or good guys in their
actions. The identification of the individual with these modern
versions of mythological heroes clearly shows the unconscious
desires present in man, who, feeling limited, dreams one day of
becoming an exceptional character, a hero, a superman or even a
demigod. The words of C.G. Jung71 are a source for reflection:
The individual is the unique reality. The further we get away from it to get
closer to abstract ideas about Homo sapiens, the more likely we are to be
wrong. In this time of social upheaval and drastic changes, it is important to
know more about human beings, as much depends on their mental and
moral qualities. To see things in their proper perspective, however, we need
to understand both man's psychic past and his present. Hence the essential
importance of understanding myths and symbols.
The three senses of myth presented—myth as a sacred

tradition, primordial revelation, and exemplary model; like a fantasy
and a lie; as a psychic reality — they are interpretations and
71
JUNG (1977: 58).
66
formulations on the theory and functionality of myth and

mythologies, which can interact with each other in an observation of
the various possibilities of working with mythical material. In a
single myth we can identify each of these meanings and
contextualize them, without one coming to invalidate the other, or
even, depending on the interest, follow the analysis only by a bias,
depending on what you want to emphasize. The myth, as an object
of analysis, allows the displacement of concepts around a center,
without the rigid determination of a final and static conclusion. It
can be understood, at once, as a sacred tradition, a primordial
revelation, an exemplary model, a fantasy, a lie, a psychic reality, or
even it can be seen only in one of these senses.
In our model of Western thought, we are not used to
dealing with conceptual shifts, but rather with well-defined
matrices, supported by distinct theoretical lines and centered on the
affirmation of the veracity and topicality of its findings. This
produces in our social context patterns of intellectual behavior
restricted to pre-established logic, which make it difficult to accept
the diversity of points of view on the same object of analysis,
preventing the necessary displacement between the planes of
rational and mythical language.
In the West, the term “myth” is closely correlated with
ideologies conveyed by the process of cultural, economic and
religious colonization imposed on traditional or first peoples.
Mythologies have their origin and foundation in a subject built with
the stigma of being “Other”, presented as primitive, childish and
irrational by some, seen as heretical, naive and in need of salvation
by others or even as a supplier of the raw material of dreams. and
the signs of expression of the human unconscious. This subject, if
kept silent, contributes to the ideological and intellectual support
structure of the hegemony that present the “Other” as the different,
the exotic and the object of study. If made audible, through
interactions with the myth and crossing cultural and intellectual
boundaries, it can enable the formulation of new paradigms that will
contribute to the construction of intellectual and social organization
67
models that respond more effectively to humanist aspirations. In the

context of traditional tantric philosophical thought, myth, language
and the ways in which mythical concepts are expressed are
considered as instruments of meaning and translation of the
processes that can be experienced by the mind through the
meditative state. According to this conception, the meditative state
would go beyond the sphere of logical thought, thus requiring a
language specific to its illogical characteristics. Therefore, to
express and communicate these moments, metaphorical and
mythical constructions are used. These mythical structures and
meaningful images can encompass and communicate the reality
known to the meditator. A trans-logical reality, which is expressed
in common, rational language, could be labeled inconsistent,
contradictory and meaningless.
In India we can meet the philosophical thought gone hand
in hand with the mythological universe. Both, in a constant
interaction, produced a rich and complex pictography that,
enlivened by a creative narrative poetic imaginary, is used by
different schools of thought and religious currents in a popular
interaction process. This philosophical and religious expression,
linked to the historical and cultural process, sometimes shows itself
in a discourse that maintains the hegemonic status quo and, at other
times, is shown to be conveyed to signs of subaltern that erupt in a
narrative that transgresses the dominant structure.
5. Deconstructive Pedagogy Experiments

These experiments were elaborated in an attempt to give a
plastic form to a possible “Deconstructive Pedagogy”, they aim, at
first, to reduce the gap between the emphasis on purely mental work
(intellectual and theoretical) and the concrete experience, sensorial
and immediate of inter-culturalism72 and otherness. In a second
72
We will use the term inter-culturalism in place of multiculturalism, as
68
moment, they also aim to bring reflections that foster a cultural,

social and personal transformative model of life, which is active in
the necessary negotiations of deconstruction of dichotomies:
hegemonic/subaltern, center/periphery, masculine/feminine, among
others. We aim, therefore, to arrive at a radicalization of the
experience of the Other. For this, we use several levels of sensory
perception.
The term “Deconstructive Pedagogy”, used by us to name
the elaborated experiments, emerged from the interpretation of the
theoretical reflections of Gayatri C. Spivak (1994: 198), which aim
to seek new ways of reading and writing emancipatory narratives.
Spivak did not give us a formula, recipe or concept of what this new
Pedagogy would be. proposes:
The persistent establishment and re-establishment, the repeated consolidation

of the undoing, of a classroom education and pedagogy strategy concerned
with interim solutions to oppositions such as those between secular and non-
secular, national and subaltern, national and international, cultural and
sociopolitical, through the provocation of their complicity73.
Spivak's basic question is in the contribution to the project

of sustaining voices that are always changing under the alternative
it expresses a more progressive position on issues of difference.

According to Licino (1997:11), the term multiculturalism expresses the
recognition of a plural and differentiated society and the need to
manage differences in a way that plurality does not cause conflicts. As
for the term inter-culturalism, it expresses a broader sense of
interaction, exchange, disclosure, reciprocity and solidarity, moving
from a restricted position on valuing different cultures to a position that
expands this vision, based on the idea of exchange and interaction.
Faced with the interaction with other cultures, a given culture may
destabilize or be relativized and even contested in its basic principles,
exposing itself to criticism and self-criticism.
73
SPIVAK (1994: 198).
69
perspective. That is, to allow moments for the manifestation of

subaltern voices that, because they are not contained within a model
of discourse of the hegemonic context, are always voices that echo
dispersed in their forms of expression.
In the world of classrooms, the tasks arising from a
pedagogy such as that suggested by Spivak should seek provisional
solutions to transcend binary oppositions, through the provocation
of their complicities. According to our reading, the solutions sought
by Spivak would be consolidated from the definition of the profile
and field of action of each opposition (in principle, an affirmation of
difference) and the presentation of the interfaces, or complicities
between them. This, in a way, would be a filling of the empty space
between one pole and the other (hegemonic/.X../subaltern =
hegemonic–subaltern–subaltern–hegemonic = hybrid = the new
would emerge from a reading of this hybrid) and a new reading of
alterity.
Spivak suggests a pedagogy that refuses to offer counter-
narratives that copy the models of power maintenance of the
hegemonic context, respecting the historical regulation of who is
allowed to narrate emancipatory representations. Counter-narratives
that are compressed into discourses or institutions, molded into rigid
and lifelong concepts of knowledge of truths and real needs for
sociocultural development, should be seen with suspicion, or even
as a reflection of the face of the hegemonic, assimilated and
reflected by what is proposed to be representing subaltern. The
pedagogical objective of Spivak's proposal would be to develop
narratives that make people ready and willing to listen to the voices
and expressions of the Other. From the elaborated experiments,
affiliated to the theme of literature,
Indian tantric structure is composed of a triple articulation:
practical, descriptive and theoretical, we were able to experience
strategies that, in all cases, led the people involved to reflect on
what the Other actually is, the difficulty of this recognition and also
the discussion about the question of the Other in our own culture,
70
mediated by the Indian theme.

Next, we proceed to the description of these experiments.
Theoretical-practical experiments
PERFORMATIVE TEXT 1:
“THE RITUAL SACRIFICE– THE HUNT”
74
In this experiment we seek to present the theme of alterity

and the discussions about post-colonial, from the perspective of the
interaction between literature and anthropology. We chose to work
with the text “Who Claims Alterity”, by Gayatri C. Spivak, in order
to bring representations of subaltern through Indian sociocultural
elements. In the practice of this experiment, we come across
moments that escape the common structure of learning and
exercising knowledge, delimited by the Enlightenment project of
pedagogical-academic-scientific behavior. We added, through
dramatization and performance, elements that reproduced, within
the scope of the presentation and in the spectator's imagination, a
different range of sensations and emotions, sometimes attractive or
repulsive. This was done through the body, the music, the pictorial
image, the smell of incense and a differentiated character.
structuring the position of the classroom desks.
Within the plural organism that is the University, we live
the “Nation of Mind”, officially governed by the principles of
74
This experiment arose in the context of the presentation of seminars
of the course on Theory of Literature and Interdisciplines, Master's
level, offered by FALE-UFMG, in the first semester of 1997 and taught
by Professor Haydée Ribeiro Coelho. The internal dynamics of the
course provided several reflections and reflections about the process of
postmodernity and multiculturalism, in addition to enabling, through an
interdisciplinary critical instrument, the understanding and exercise of
interactions between literature and other disciplines.
71
Greco-Western rationalism. This experiment constituted, for us, an

attempt to raise options that could fill gaps, evidenced when we
expand the reflection on the academic learning process, in an
attempt to go beyond the rational instrument. We do not intend to
deny the great role of reason in the apprehension of knowledge and
scientific development, nor do we wish to question human
intellectual maturation, but simply to present, so that it is (re)known,
an element that brings together realities, which has always existed.
However, only now do the conditions seem to be in place to become
aware of this: the “Other”, represented, in this first phase of the
work, by the body and the senses claiming alterity; and, in a second
phase, by the cultural signs that form the imaginary of being
“woman” and “Indian”, presented by the character Mary.
This experiment was being constructed and presented,
plastically, through different moments, but complementary in the
final context of the work. We describe these moments below:
1. Our first step, before students arrived in the classroom, was to

create an environment that differed from the normal normality of a
university classroom. We undid the traditional position of the desks,
aligned in front of the blackboard and the teacher's desk, creating two
semicircles, one facing the other, remembering the
parentheses ( )75, so that students could perceive each other during
the experiment and have a new spatial reference of the classroom.
We lit some incense sticks, with the intention of awakening the
olfactory sense, and we reduced the brightness, with the aim of
creating a feeling of comfort and rest, in addition to having good
75
The arrangement of the desks in a semicircle ( ), as was later
announced to the participants, aims to represent the female sexual
organ, called Yoni in the Indian tantric tradition. Symbolically, the
vagina is conceived as an initiation portal to the experiences of
transcendent and liberating knowledge. It is the door through which one
enters the material world [through birth] and through which one
transcends it [through supreme ecstasy].
72
conditions for slide projection. With the arrival of the students, we

realized that our initial intervention was having results. The break
from the routine was well accepted, arousing interest and curiosity
about the work that was to be presented. Our intention was to add in
the context of the classroom the participation of sensory senses such
as the visual (the new spatial notion) and the olfactory (incense
smell), aids in the learning process and intellectual reflection. During
the accommodation of the students in the desks, until the beginning
of our presentation, we kept silence, allowing an atmosphere of
expectation to be created.
2. In the continuity, we announced that we were going to make our

presentation of the seminar, we asked for the participation of those
present, at first, with silence and predisposition to observe what was
about to happen and, in a second moment, reflecting with us on what
happened . Without further explanation, let's move on to the
performance.
3. The performance lasted approximately 15 minutes. In the first 3

minutes, we started the projection of three slides with images of the
warrior goddess Durga, accompanied by the melody, sung in
Sanskrit, of a devotional song (Bhakti Mala — Meri ek antar
abhilash) from the Indian Shakta tradition.
Next, we reproduce the iconographic images of the mythology of

Durga, used in the presentation of our experiment.
73
Durga Rajeswari
In this aspect, she is the
sovereign goddess
provider and protector of the
fields. Allusion to one of the
symbolic functions of the
feminine in Indian agricultural
communities, seen through
tantric ways.
Durga Mahisasurmardini
Durga wages battle with the powerful
l demon Durg. Reason for its existence
and origin of its name.
Legend reported on previous pages.
Durga Simhavahini
Durga, the one who can ride a
lion, wages battle against the demons
Sumbha and Nisumbha. Legend
reported on previous pages.
74
4. After the first three slides and in the continuity of the music, the
characters Mary and the Tax Collector (the Indian peasant and the
representative of the British colonial government in the text by
Mahashweta Devi’s — The Hunt)76 appear in the context of the
classroom. The actors, only through the body, without words,
describe a rape, a negotiation between the parties involved and a
ritual sacrifice. This performance took place in the center of the
semicircle (Yoni). At first, Mary appears circulating among the
spectators in her red costume (Sari – traditional Indian dress for
women) worn out by work, her eyes and face showing the tiredness
of a poor peasant woman at the end of the day, her expression
looking like a distant thought and at the same time worried that I
was returning home through a deserted place. Watching Mary in a
hunting attitude, appears, behind the spectators and circling the
group, the character of the Tax Collector with his eyes and mouth
thirsty for that prey. A confrontation between the two creates the
violent environment of rape. A negotiation and imaginary
acceptance of the role of prey on the part of Mary creates an
atmosphere of seduction and malice. The Collector withdraws from
the scene waiting for a future love encounter. The Oraon female
community enters the scene from the staging of a ritual, Mary drinks
the intoxicating liqueurs (a foreign drink brought by the Collector)
and offers it to some women in the audience, symbolically inviting
them to participate in the rite. Drunk, Mary goes to meet the
Collector and both begin a scene of much desire and foreplay of the
sexual act. At this point, the role reversal begins. Mary dominates
the situation, the Collector is totally intoxicated and immersed in the
pleasure provided for him. Placing herself over the Collector's body,
Mary murders him with a ritual knife. After this act, she rises, places
76
These characters were represented by actors Denise Pedron and
Marcos Alexandre, members of the Mayombe Hispanic Theater group
at FALE/UFMG and colleagues during the postgraduate course.
75
her left foot on his body, raises her weapon aloft and expresses,
through a glorious smile, her victory. In this scene another slide, this
time the image of the warrior goddess Kali, is projected. The final
position of the performance is a representation of this slide.
Below, we present some photographs of the performance of the
Sacrifice Ritual, depicting moments of the confrontation between
Mary and the colonial agent, the Singh Collector.
2 4
76
UM OLHAR NO ESPELHO TÂNTRICO INDIANO
9 10
7 8
77
Ma Kali
The Black
Mother, after
having won the
In a fierce battle
with the demon
Raktabija, she
remains static
over the body of
her husband,
Shiva,
immobilized by
her during her
mad and blind
euphoria.
5. With the end of the song, keeping the slide and the final
scene of the performance frozen, we begin the verbal
description of the body performance, through the following
extract from the text by Mahashweta Devi’s:
“Mary is coming home from work; the monotony of festival music is in the
air as the Collector surprises her on the deserted path. First Mary was
afraid. After a while of struggling, Mary managed to free herself from his
grasp. Long sideburns, long hair, polyester pants, pointy shoes, a dark red
shirt. Under the musical background of springs songs, Mary thought he was
78
an animal. Animal. The syllables echo in her head. Suddenly, Mary smiles.
Mary arranges a meeting with him, intending to kill him. But she cannot kill
him without the help of inscribed power or ritual. There is, once again, a
negotiation and a transformation. The women of the tribe, on their picnic
after the hunt, are at that moment getting drunk on the liquor donated by
the Collector. For his clandestine meeting with Mary, he brings imported
liquor.
This replaces the festival music and Mary starts drinking. Yes, her face is
starting to look like the hunted animals. Without a doubt, Mary transforms
that face. She caresses him, gives him loving bites on the lips. There is fire
in the Collector's eyes, his mouth is open, his lips wet with saliva, his teeth
are gleaming. Mary stares, stares, her face becomes, becomes what? Yes, it
becomes that of an animal. Not sure who asks the next question: Now take
me? In this moment of indeterminacy, Mary appropriates the rape. She
holds the Collector, makes him lie down. The cane-cutting machete
becomes the phallus of rape. The ritual sacrifice of the beast is also a
punishment for the violation of the people, the land, and yet a return,
historically displaced, of the violation of her birth: Mary raises and lowers
the machete, raises it, lowers it.”
6.[....................................................................................... .................
........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................]
This sequence of dots represents a moment of silence, produced by
the end of the verbal narrative. In this moment of pause, we
symbolically materialize the sign of the discussion in the classroom
environment.
7. From this moment of silence, we started theoretical reflections

with the participants, launching some reflections about:
• Deconstructive Pedagogy: A search for new ways of

reading and writing emancipatory narratives, based on
79
creative and problematizing interventions (The Hunt's

performance).
• Reading 'The Hunt': Signs of Subaltern; Subaltern Agents;

Neo-Colonialism; the Colonial Agents; different levels of
subaltern; official/marginal subaltern; functional rites (the
Hunting Game); negotiation with the structures of violation
and subaltern acts (the ritual sacrifice);
• Transnationality of the concepts of Alterity: A parallel

between Mary and Marias. Oraons and Maxakalis. Collectors
and Contractors. Hunting Rites and Carnival Rites.
• Transgression and Liberation: Mary and Shakti Durga,

women who kill.
The result of the presentation of this experiment was very

encouraging. We had very good acceptance by the participants
and rich theoretical reflections on the subject.77
77
We had different opportunities to repeat this experiment. One of them
was during the Scientific Initiation Week, which took place at FALE-
UFMG, in June 1997. This experience was of significant importance,
because, although we were still in the academic environment, the
participants of the experiment were not in the context of the discipline
that we were studying in graduate school and came from different and
different areas of activity and studies. We also received very positive
feedback from those present, which gave us more strength to continue
the research and improvement of this new form of pedagogical-cultural-
educational language.
We experienced another moment for reflection and evaluation of the
experiment, during the VI Week of Letters, promoted by the Federal
University of Ouro Preto, in August 1998 (ICHS, Mariana, MG). In this
80
event, we were able to discuss with the participants of the round table
and the public present, made up of students and university professors,
the validity and importance of producing new forms of interaction
between the object of knowledge and the process of apprehension,
using this the sensorial senses conjugated to the reason. We reflect on
the process that the academy is initiating in the search for conceptual
and pedagogical reformulations, for the construction of new paradigms
that will more efficiently supply the breadth of possibilities, needs and
experiences that arise from human beings in their maturation process as
person and social member.
Another presentation of the experiment took place as part of the India
Project, promoted under our direction in partnership with the Municipal
Department of Culture of Belo Horizonte, in September 1998, at the
Cultural Center of Parque Fazenda Lagoa do Nado. For this
presentation, we made some adaptations to the previous experiment.
We changed the name of the experiment to: “The hunt – Reflections on
the role of women in India-Brazil”. In the sequence of the experiment,
after the accommodation of the participants and before starting with the
slides and the music, we added the narration of some excerpts collected
from the Manu Smriti [Puranic codes of behavior to regulate society.
“The source of dishonor is the woman, the source of discord is the
woman, the source of worldliness is the woman; therefore, women must
be avoided.” “A faithful woman should serve her lord as if he were a
god and never cause him pain, even though he be destitute of any
virtue.” Manu Smriti, V, 154-6. See: DURANT, Will. Our Oriental
Heritage. History of Civilization I. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Record, 2nd
edition, p.331-333] and the booklet: “Perfect Marriage”, by Diogo
Paiva de Andrade [Codes of behavior used by Christian education in
the Brazilian colonial period. “Love your wife, but in such a way that
your husband is not lost for her.” “Let the husband avoid the women of
life, or at least seek them out without scandal. In the last case, if the
husband's betrayal becomes public, the best remedy is to deny the
rumors, curing the husband of levity and the wife of jealousy. But if the
husband is faithful and the perfidious wife comes to betray him, he has
no option but to kill her.” See: VAINFAS, Ronaldo. Tropic of Sins.
81
Morals, Sexuality and the Inquisition in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Ed.

Campus, 1989, p.113 – 120]. The audience was culturally diverse and
we were for the first time placing an emphasis on community
interaction. The result was also very positive, with great participation in
discussions about the problem of the female role and great criticism of
the experiment.
82
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Swami Aghorananda

The Tantric Mirror. Reflections of

The Tantric Mirror. Reflections of a

Belo Horizonte | 2008

Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP)

1. Filosofia oriental 2. Literatura indiana 3. Tantrismo I. Título.

Índices para catálogo sistemático:

Rua Fernandes Tourinho, 470 s/ 709 - Savassi

SatyananDa Yoga Estrada do Azevedo, Bela Vista, Moeda, MG, Brasil

for the opportunity that they provided me, through their

I would also like to thank Professors Carlos Alberto Gohn and

Om Kulanidhi Saraswati Bhyo Svaha.

Om Bhur Bhuva Svaha Tat

Asato Ma Sat Gamaya Tamasoma

Chapter 1: Introduction to Tantra Vidya 12

Chapter 2: A look into the Tantric Mirror 31

Chapter 3: Uttara Kaula Tantra 85

Chapter 4: Kaula Bhairava Shastras– Kulakula Jnana 98

Chapter 5: Uttara Kaula Vidhis 203

This study on Tantra Vidya (the knowledge of Tantra) aims

Swami Aghorananda Saraswati

Introduction to Tantra Vidya

1. Origin of the Tantric Tradition

Valley Civilization had a social and family structure of matrilineal

Transposing this logic of interpretation and intervention to

of some of the ancient Tantric treatises, previously transmitted by

homosexuals, among others.).

2. The tantric literature and tantrism

name of a loom [instrument for weaving]; the first,

subjects: the creation and destruction of the

In the discourse of Tantrism, the term Tantra is composed of

The Tantras are known mythologically as Srauta Shastras,

into the Lakula, Vamala, Mausala and Karuka schools. The

for pilgrimage (Pithas); the construction of diagrams (Yantras) and

with Shakta and Kaula13 doctrines (ex: Devi Upanishad, Kula

We can exemplify this twilight structure of the tantric

form of universal analogy that are based on poetry. These texts

3. The triune division of Tantra

Tantra can be distinguished between Primordial Tantra

intellectual-emotional-spiritual, group and individual characteristics

4. The contextual conflicts of Tantra

only with sex, in their most libertine expressions, or as manuals of

sects and most of those of Shiva influence.24/25”

The derogatory characteristic of the excerpts presented can

Indian philosophical and religious schools are structured under strict

We cannot fail to mention that the official modern Indian

obligations to the most intimate needs29.

role of ideal and submissive wife, fled to the house of a tantric

sociocultural feminine role and to the detriment of women:

In Kula, every woman is considered to be a manifestation of the

Although we are constantly faced, within the Tantric

significantly the Indian psychosocial behavior, as it did in the

A Look into the Indian Tantric Mirror

I am the shape of all your desires.

I am the sun in your hair,

I come back to you when you call me, I disappear.

You even convert me into space.

1. The mirror metaphor and the theoretical

We open this chapter with a beautiful poem in praise of

formas. Soy la flecha del impulso, el movimiento, el soplo. Soy la

reason, the understanding of the many “I's” reflected in the Indian

American academic study. We thought of just bringing provocative

The [Eastern] Asian intellectual elite consider the US the most