[Footnote 712:  Pasu-, vira-, divya-bhava.]

[Footnote 713:  Avalon, Mahan.  Tan. pp. lxxix, lxxx.]

[Footnote 714:  “The eternal rhythm of Divine Breath is outwards from spirit to matter and inwards from matter to spirit.  Devi as Maya evolves the world.  As Mahamaya she recalls it to herself....  Each of these movements is divine.  Enjoyment and liberation are each her gifts.”  Avalon, Mahan.  Tan. p. cxl.]

[Footnote 715:  Yair eva patanam dravyaih siddhis tair eva codita—­Kularnava Tantra, V. 48.  There is probably something similar in Taoism.  See Wieger, Histoire des Croyances religieuses en Chine, p. 409.  The Indian Tantrists were aware of the dangers of their system and said it was as difficult as walking on the edge of a sword or holding a tiger.]

[Footnote 716:  Vamacara is said not to mean left-hand worship but woman (vama) worship.  This interpretation of Dakshina and Vamacara is probably fanciful.]

[Footnote 717:  Sometimes two extra stages Aghora and Yogacara are inserted here.]

[Footnote 718:  Mahan.  Tan.  X. 108.  A Kaula may pretend to be a Vaishnava or a Saiva.]

[Footnote 719:  Although the Tantras occasionally say that mere ritual is not sufficient for the highest religions, yet indispensable preliminary is often understood as meaning sure means.  Thus the Mahanirvana Tantra (X. 202, Avalon’s transl.) says “Those who worship the Kaulas with panca tattva and with heart uplifted, cause the salvation of their ancestors and themselves attain the highest end.”]

[Footnote 720:  But on the other hand some Tantras or tantric treatises recommend crazy abominations.]

[Footnote 721:  Mahanir.  Tant.  X. 79.  Bhartra saha kulesani na dahet kulakaminim.]

[Footnote 722:  Ib. XI. 67.]

[Footnote 723:  E.g. It does not prescribe human sacrifices and counsels moderation in the use of wine and maithuna.]

[Footnote 724:  See Frazer’s Adonis, Attis and Osiris, pp. 269-273 for these and other stories of dismemberment.]

[Footnote 725:  See Frazer, Golden Bough:  Spirits of the Corn, vol.  I. 245 and authorities quoted.]

[Footnote 726:  Images representing this are common in Assam.]

[Footnote 727:  Hsuean Chuang (Walters, vol.  I. chap.  VII) mentions several sacred places in N.W.  India where the Buddha in a previous birth was dismembered or gave his flesh to feed mankind.  Can these places have been similar to the piths of Assam and were the original heroes of the legend deities who were dismembered like Sati and subsequently accommodated to Buddhist theology as Bodhisattvas?]

[Footnote 728:  It is an autumnal festival.  A special image of the goddess is made which is worshipped for nine days and then thrown into the river.  For an account of the festival which makes its tantric character very clear see Durga Puja by Pratapachandra Ghosha, Calcutta, 1871.]