Vamachara

(“left-hand practice”) In the secret, ritually based religious practice known as
tantra, this term denotes a type of
tantric practice that makes ritual use of
forbidden substances, such as the Five
Forbidden Things (panchamakara), or
promotes behavior that the orthodox
would consider scandalous or objectionable. When seen in a tantric context,
the use of such normally forbidden substances is not mere license, but a powerful ritual tool. 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
because in this ritual the adept breaks
societal norms forbidding consumption
of intoxicants, nonvegetarian food, and
illicit sexuality, in a conscious effort to
sacralize what is normally forbidden.
Within the tantric tradition itself there is
a long-standing debate about the propriety of such acts, and whereas the
vamachara practice uses these elements
in their actual forms, in the dakshinachara (“right-hand”) practice, other
items are substituted for the forbidden
ones. This distinction between “right”
and “left” hand also reveals the pervasive polarity between right and left in
736
Valmiki Jayanti
The god Vishnu’s Vamana avatar, a dwarf.
Vishnu takes this form to release the universe
from the control of the demon Bali.
Indian culture, with the former being
deemed better.