whose ritual is public and decent, and the Vamacarins who meet to engage in secret but admittedly immoral orgies.  But for practical purposes the division is just, although it must not be supposed that Dakshinacarins necessarily condemn the secret worship.  They may consider it as good for others but not for themselves.  Saktists apparently would prefer to state the matter thus.  There are seven stages of religion.  First come Vedic, Vishnuite and Sivaite worship, all three inferior, and then Dakshinacara, interpreted as meaning favourable worship, that is favourable to the accomplishment of higher purposes, because the worshipper now begins to understand the nature of Devi, the great goddess.  These four kinds of worship are all said to belong to pravritti or active life.  The other three, considered to be higher, require a special initiation and belong to nivritti, the path of return in which passion and activity are suppressed.[714] And here is propounded the doctrine that passion can be destroyed and exhausted by passion,[715] that is to say that the impulses of eating, drinking and sexual intercourse are best subjugated by indulging them.  The fifth stage, in which this method is first adopted, is called Vamacara.[716] In the sixth, or Siddhantacara,[717] the adept becomes more and more free from passion and prejudice and is finally able to enter Kaulacara, the highest stage of all.  A Kaula is one who has passed beyond all sects and belongs to none, since he has the knowledge of Brahman.  “Possessing merely the form of man, he moves about this earth for the salvation of the world and the instruction of men."[718]

These are aspirations common to all Indian religion.  The peculiarity of the Tantras is to suppose that a ritual which is shocking to most Hindus is an indispensable preliminary to their attainment.[719] Its essential feature is known as pancatattva, the five elements, or pancamakara the five m’s, because they all begin with that letter, namely, madya, mamsa, matsya, mudra, and maithuna, wine, meat, fish, parched grain and copulation.  The celebration of this ritual takes place at midnight, and is called cakra or circle.  The proceedings begin by the devotees seating themselves in a circle and are said to terminate in an indiscriminate orgy.  It is only fair to say that some Tantras inveigh against drunkenness and authorize only moderate drinking.[720] In all cases it is essential that the wine, flesh, etc., should be formally dedicated to the goddess:  without this preliminary indulgence in these pleasures is sinful.  Indeed it may be said that apart from the ceremonial which they inculcate, the general principles of the Tantras breathe a liberal and intelligent spirit.  Caste restrictions are minimized:  travelling is permitted.  Women are honoured:  they can act as teachers:  the burning of widows is forbidden:[721] girl widows may remarry[722] and the murder of a woman is peculiarly heinous.  Prostitution is denounced.  Whereas Christianity is sometimes accused of restricting its higher code to Church and Sundays, the opposite may be said of Tantrism.  Outside the temple its morality is excellent.