14 
Rajendralala Mitra,— Spirituous Drinks in Ancient India. [No. 1, 
Utpatti Tantra , u the Brahman who drinks unpurified liquor is guilty of 
killing a Brahman ; drinking purified arrack he becomes as pure as a flaming 
fire. At the Sautramani rite and in the Kaula circle, a Brahman should 
always drink arrack ; but by drinking elsewhere for the mere gratification of 
his senses, he loses his Brahmanhood.* 
The JKdtrikd-bheda Tantra is most eloquent in praise of drinking. It 
makes S fiva address his consort thus : “ 0 sweet-speaking goddess, the salva¬ 
tion of Brahmans depends on drinking wine. I impart to you a truth, a great 
truth, 0 mountain-born, (when I say) that the Brahman who attends to 
drinking and its accompaniments forthwith becomes a S'iva. Even as water 
mixes with water, and metal amalgamates with metal; even as the confined 
space in a pot merges into the great body of surrounding space on the destruc¬ 
tion of the confining vessel, and air commingles with air, so does, dear one, a 
Brahman melt in Brahma, the great soul. There is not the least doubt about 
this, O mountain-born. Similitude with the divinity, and other forms of 
liberation are designed for Kshatriyas and others ; but true knowledge can 
never be acquired, goddess dear, without drinking wine ; therefore should 
Brahmans always drink. No one becomes a Brahman by repeating the gay- 
atri, the mother of the Vedas ; he is called a Brahman only when he has a 
knowledge of Brahma. The ambrosia of the gods is their Brahma, and on 
earth it is arrack ; and because one attains the character of a god ( suratva ), 
therefore is arrack called surd .f” The work, nevertheless, will admit of no 
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