Panchamakara

“The Five Forbidden Things,” literally,
“the five m’s”: A group of five things used
for worship in the secret, ritually based
religious practice known as tantra. This
name arises because the names for all
five of these begin with the letter “m”—
madya (wine), matsya (fish), mamsa
(meat), mudra (fermented or parched
grain), and maithuna (copulation).
They are used in their actual form in
“left hand” (vamachara) tantra, and by
substitution in “right hand” (dakshinachara) tantra.
All five are condemned by
“respectable” Hindu society (the last
because it is characterized as adulterous), and their use in tantric ritual must
be seen in a larger context. One of the
most pervasive tantric assumptions is
the ultimate unity of everything that
exists. From a tantric perspective, to
affirm that the entire universe is one
principle—often conceived as the activity of a particular deity—means that the
adept must reject all concepts based on
dualistic thinking. The “Five Forbidden
Things” provide a ritual means for
breaking down duality, since in this ritual
the adept violates societal norms forbidding consumption of intoxicants, nonvegetarian food, and illicit sexuality, in a
conscious effort to sanctify what is normally forbidden. Tantric adepts cite
such ritual use of forbidden things as
proof that their practice involves a more
exclusive qualification (adhikara) and is
thus superior to common practice. For
further information see Arthur Avalon
(Sir John Woodroffe), Shakti and Shakta,
1978; Swami Agehananda Bharati, The
Tantric Tradition, 1977; and Douglas
Renfrew Brooks, The Secret of the Three
Cities, 1990.