1873.] llajendralala Mitra —Spirituous Drinks in Ancient India, 
11 
of the last fifteen or sixteen hundred years to show how frequently reference 
are made to drinking among the higher classes of the community. But I can¬ 
not omit noticing the Tantras, which afford the most indubitable proofs of a 
strong attachment on the part of a large section of the Hindus to over-indul¬ 
gence in spirituous drinks. These works profess to he revelations made by 
Siva to his consort Parvati, and constitute the life and soul of the modern sys¬ 
tem of Hinduism. In the way of religious rites, nothing is done in the present 
day, and nothing has been for the last fifteen hundred years in Bengal, which 
does not, or did not, borrow its main characteristics from the Tantras. They 
govern alike the conscience of the followers of Siva, the worshippers of S'akti, 
and the adorers of Vishnu. In the present day, some few ceremonies are 
called Vedic, and Vedic mantras are used in a great many others; hut inmost 
instances, the mantras used have been transmitted through a Tan trie medium, 
and it may be said with very little exaggeration that the life of a Hindu from, 
birth to burning-ground is one eternal bondage to the ordinances of the Tantras. 
Doubtless the Tantras are of various kinds, some Vaishnavite, others Slvite, 
and others designed for the glorification of S'akti, or the female energy, and 
the last two classes of works are described by the Vaishnavas, and very just¬ 
ly, as sanmoliini or “ delusive,” designed with a view to mislead mankind in 
this sinful iron age ; but even the most bigoted Vaishnava dares not ques¬ 
tion their character as revelations by Siva, and most faithfully owns his 
allegiance to such Tantras as are of a Vaishnavite tendency. The Slvite 
and S'akta Tantras are, however, much more numerous, and their followers in 
the present day may be reckoned by hundreds of thousands. Before the 
advent of Chaitanya, four hundred years ago, their influence was much greater ; 
and the great bulk of the Hindus professed the faith inculcated in those 
works. The doctrine of equality which Chaitanya and his successors preach¬ 
ed, won over over to their side the major portion of the lower orders of the 
people, and the Vaishnavas, therefore, now prevail in Bengal; but the Brah¬ 
mans could never brook the .idea of owning equality with low caste men, so 
most of them stuck to, and still follow, the doctrines of Shiva or S'akta 
worship, and the Tantras which inculcate them give free liberty to their 
votaries to indulge in drinking spirits. The S'akta Tantras go further, and 
insist upon the use of wine as an element of devotion. According to them 
no worship of the Devi can be complete which is not celebrated with the five 
great essentials, “ fish, flesh, wine, fried grain, and female society,” technically 
called the five Ms, from the circumstance of the initial letters of their Sanskrit 
names being- M. To describe the details of the worship would be so shock- 
o 
ing that I cannot venture upon the task. Suffice it to say, that the Kaulas, 
who arc the most ardent followers of the S akta Tantras, celebrate their 
rites at midnight in a closed room, where they sit in a circle round ajar of 
country arrack, one or more young women of a lewd character being in the 
