The Mahāvidyās are approached in a variety of ritual contexts, and the worship of one Mahavidya may differ from that of others. Some of the Mahāvidyās, for example, have ancient and widespread cults that existed, and still exist, quite apart from the Mahāvidyās as a group. This is the case with Kali, Tara, Tripura-sundari, and Kamala, for example. In general, though, we can think of their worship as taking place primarily in two contexts: in temples, where they are served by priests and where people come to take part in public worship, and in temporary places marked off by individual aspirants, where worship is undertaken in tantric fashion, either right-handed or left-handed. Although temple and tantric styles of worship have some similarities, they are quite different in mood and style.
TEMPLE WORSHIP
The extent to which individual Mahāvidyās are worshiped in temples varies considerably. There are Kali and Laksmi temples throughout India, and these two goddesses have been widely worshiped in such settings since ancient times. Other members of the Mahāvidyās, such as Dhumavati, Bagala, and Chinnamasta, however, are not well known at all outside the group, and there are very few temples dedicated specially to them anywhere in India. As for temples dedicated to the Mahāvidyās as a group, I know of only the one mentioned above in Calcutta, although the Mahāvidyās are depicted as a group in many goddess temples across North India.
A worshiper in a temple approaches a Mahavidya primarily as a devoted servant attending a royal mistress. The whole structure of Hindu temple *piija *is patterned on the model of a subject serving a royal person. The proper mood of the devotee is that of humble supplication before a superior being from whom one makes requests and to whom one offers respectful service and homage. The standard sixteen-part *piija, *which is performed daily, often several times daily in large temples, consists of actions that are thought appropriate for a servant or subject toward a superior, royal figure. The devotee who comes to the temple— the royal court—also brings offerings appropriate to the particular deity. Several of the Mahāvidyās like blood offerings (which are made in the form of animal sacrifices), in addition to the typical flowers, incense, and fruit. Kall, Chinnamasta, Tara, and Bagalamukhi all have a reputation for being pleased by blood offerings, although practices vary from temple to temple.
Worship of the Mahāvidyās in temples invites an open, public approach to them as powers who are able to grant devotees blessings and favors and who are pleased with devotional service and the public festivals and celebrations that are a part of every temple’s annual cycle. In the context of temple worship, the individual Mahāvidyās are perceived as very similar to other Hindu deities. They are thought of as great beings who have an objective existence outside the devotee and who live in heavenly places or special, sacred dwellings constructed for them on earth. In this context, the ritual actions of the devotee are directed outward toward the powerful being, who is affirmed to exist outside, above, or beyond the worshiper.
TANTRIC WORSHIP
The majority of texts that mention the Mahāvidyās are tantric. Indeed, it is probably fair to refer to the Mahāvidyās as primarily tantric goddesses, by which I mean that the proper framework in which to understand them is tantric. It is clear that they are typically approached by means of tantric rituals and that their worship is to be interpreted according to tantric principles. Although many tantric texts give the specific details for sixteen-part *pujd *(discussed above), such *pujd *takes on a somewhat different meaning in a tantric context, as we shall see.
In tantric worship, which is generally referred to as *sadhana, *or spiritual exercise, the aspirant seeks to achieve an awakened or enlightened state of consciousness through techniques that are physical, mental, ritualistic, and spiritual at the same time. A central theme in tantric *sadhana *is the identification of the macrocosm with the microcosm, which is represented by the human organism, specifically by the *sadhaka, *the practitioner or adept. Through meditation techniques, rituals, images, mantras, yantras, and *mandalas *(schematic diagrams), the adept systematically identifies parts, aspects, or dimensions of himself or herself with parts, aspects, or dimensions of the cosmos. The deities are thought of as aspects of the cosmos that correspond to aspects of the human organism— mental, physical, or both. The aim of tantric *sadhana *is to establish identity with the deity worshiped, to appropriate that deity, or to awaken that deity within oneself, and then to offer *it **pujd, *which in effect means worshiping the divinity within oneself. Or, conversely, one worships the deity residing within in the hope of awakening in oneself the reality that it represents.
The self-divinization of tantric *sddhana *may have several results. The adept may acquire an expanded self-awareness, that is, the wisdom of selfknowledge, which is often said to be tantamount to achieving *moksa **(mukti *or “liberation”). That is, tantric *sadhana *may result in redemptive transformation. Or such *sadhana *may lead to heightened sense perception, the acquisition *oisiddhis *through which the adept excels at one of the senses or even transcends the limitations of sensory perception. These *siddhis, *in turn, may lead to enjoyments impossible before achieving such perfections. Or tantric *sadhana *may result in an intensified or expanded mental capacity or power that enables the practitioner to achieve feats of selfcontrol or control over others. We have already seen, and will see in more detail below when we discuss the Mahāvidyās individually, that all of these results, or “fruits”—redemptive wisdom, increased sensory perception, worldly boons, and magical powers—are associated with worship of the Mahāvidyās.
We can get a good idea of how the Mahāvidyās are worshiped according to tantric principles and rites from a brief description *oisamanya **pujd, *ordinary or regular worship of the goddess, as described in the *Kdlikd-purdna, *a fourteenth-century text devoted to the goddess in the form of Kali.85 Though the text does not describe tantric worship of the Mahāvidyās per se, it provides a rather detailed outline of the stages of tantric worship, which can be adapted to any given deity. The ritual may be done almost anywhere, although the text does recommend certain sites, such as a mountaintop or a cave, and says that the ritual is more potent if done at a place sacred to whichever form of the goddess is being worshiped. The ritual may be performed at any time and does not require a priest. It is done by an individual by and for himself (let us imagine that the adept is a male in the following description, although the adept could be female). A physical image of the goddess is not necessary. The ritual probably takes no longer than an hour and could be done in abbreviated form in considerably less time. The *Kalika-purana *describes a continuous set of actions, but we can think of the ceremony as having four parts: (1) preparation, (2) meditation, (3) worship of the goddess herself, and (4) concluding rites.
The opening rites of *samanya **pujd *aim primarily at purification of the adept and the delimitation of an appropriate place within which to perform the ceremony.86 The adept bathes, sips water (signifying internal purification), and asks the goddess to rid his mind of any impurities. He also recites certain mantras at this point to expel potentially harmful spirits.
The adept next purifies the place of worship by sprinkling water on the ground. He carefully inspects the items to be used in the ritual to insure that they are unblemished. Flowers to be offered, for example, should be free from insects. Items are also purified by means of mantras and water. The adept then draws a yantra (a schematic diagram) representing the particular goddess to be worshiped. In the case of the Mahāvidyās, each has her distinctive yantra or *mandala. *
In the second phase of the ceremony, the adept performs a series of acts that are primarily mental to further purify himself. In general, this part of the rite aims at the adept’s symbolic death and dissolution. The text says that the body is composed of impure elements—mucus, feces, urine, and so on—and as such is unfit to be an instrument of worship. The adept’s symbolic death is followed by his mental re-creation of the world and, most important, by the appearance of the goddess herself.
Assuming the correct posture and practicing breath control, the adept begins a ritual that releases his life force, his jiva,, from his body. He imagines *his **jiva *passing through different stages, each connected with an element: earth, water, fire, air, and sound. Finally, identifying himself with space, he imagines his life force leaving his body through the top of his head. This signals his symbolic death.
The adept then symbolically dissolves his body, which as a microcosm of the universe also represents the physical world as a whole. He imagines his body dissolving, then imagines it burning on a funeral pyre, then imagines the ashes blowing away, and finally imagines a shower of pure nectar cleaning the place where his body had lain and been burned. In effect, the adept has destroyed the cosmos and himself by reducing them to their elemental constituents. His ultimate purification is now complete, and he is ready to be reborn.
Re-creation of the cosmos, and the rebirth of the adept, begins with the adept pronouncing the seed syllable *(bija) *of the goddess. He then visualizes the different parts of the cosmos, often in the form of letters, syllables, or mantras. He completes the re-creation of the cosmos by visualizing the goddess herself seated on a throne in the center of the world, which is imagined as her particular *mandate. *Next he identifies himself with the goddess by placing a flower that he has been holding in his hands on top of his head and saying: “I am this.” The adept reinforces his deification with *mudras *(hand gestures) and mantras that identify parts of the cosmos with parts of his body. Having provided himself with a new, divine body (actually identified with the goddess herself), he is now prepared to undertake worship of the goddess herself.
This begins with inward worship. That is, the adept imagines the goddess and her attendants dwelling in his heart. He pictures the goddess by reciting her *dhyana *mantra, which often describes her in great detail. He then transfers the goddess from his heart into the yantra he has drawn on the ground by exhaling through his right nostril onto a flower that he holds in his hand. Her transference to the yantra can also be done with *mudras, *hand gestures with which the adept “catches” the goddess and places her in the yantra. The adept now praises the goddess with hymns and treats her as an honored guest by offering her various articles, physically or mentally. The actions are similar to temple *pujd, *but in contrast to elaborate and costly temple *pujd, *in this ceremony the adept offers the goddess little more than purified water and flowers. The text instructs the adept, throughout this part of the ceremony, to constantly repeat the goddess’s special mantra, which is said to be identical with the goddess herself.
Outward worship of the goddess in the *mandala, *who can be any of the ten Mahāvidyās, closes with a final offering, usually consisting of rice or some other grain. The adept may also make a blood offering. An entire chapter in the *Kdlikd-purdna *suggests offerings appropriate to the goddess and the rewards that may be expected from them. Among the Mahāvidyās, Kali, Tara, and Chinnamasta are fond of blood offerings, so these are recommended in their worship, while Mahāvidyās like Kamala do not receive such offerings.
The adept now dismisses the goddess by circumambulating the flower that represents her and mentally visualizing her return to her normal abode: heaven, the adept’s heart, or some particular holy place. If the goddess is visualized as returning to the worshiper’s heart, the adept smells the flower that represents her, inhaling her, as it were, and then places the flower on his head. With the worship of the goddess complete, he finishes the ceremony by erasing the yantra or *mandala *and disposing of the remains of the offerings. The remains are considered especially potent and dangerous and must be handled with great care. Fierce goddesses are associated with these leftovers and must be propitiated before the ceremony is complete.87
*Samanya **puja *is a ritual through which the worshiper is deified. After ritually undertaking one’s own death and dissolution, one re-creates the world and oneself. In this act of re-creation, the goddess is identified with the worshiper. The two are declared essentially one. In this sense, *samanya **puja *is worship of one’s own inner sacred essence as well as of a superior divine being. Or perhaps one could say that in *samanya **puja, *which is essentially tantric in nature, one reveres one’s highest or most essential nature, which is identified with the goddess.
During *samanya **piijd, *then, which is the likely setting for worship of the Mahāvidyās, the emphasis is upon individual meditation and identification with the goddess in question. Unlike temple worship, the goal is to inwardly realize the presence of the goddess in the aspirant. Although *samanya **puja *perceives the goddess in question to be both a superior being who exists outside the *sddhaka *and an inward dimension or aspect of the worshiper, the emphasis, particularly in comparison to temple worship, is on the latter.
The Mahāvidyās are also worshiped in a format known as the lefthanded (Vamacara) path in Tantrism. This type of worship is characterized primarily by *xhepadca tattva *or *panca **makdra *ritual, the ritual of the “five forbidden things.” According to the *tantras, *it is reserved for the few of heroic nature who are capable of undertaking it without harming themselves in the process. The *sadhaka *must partake of five things that are ordinarily forbidden or are highly polluting: meat, fish, wine, *mudrd *(a type of grain that may have hallucinogenic properties), and sexual intercourse with a woman who is not one’s wife (the ritual is described from a male point of view). The ritual is done under the guidance of a guru.
Individual texts differ over whether this rite is to be done alone or in a group. Texts devoted to the Mahāvidyās often refer to the *panca **tattva *ritual, indicating that at least some of the goddesses are worshiped in this context.
The logic or intention of this ritual appears to be related to perceiving or intensely realizing the basic truth that all of reality, all things, are pervaded by *sakti, *the goddess herself, or *brahman. *By partaking of forbidden things, one affirms that ultimately there is nothing that is not the goddess, that nothing is polluting, for she pervades all.88 Such distinctions as “pure” and “polluting” impose artificial qualifications on the manifestation of the goddess as the physical world. The *panca **tattva *ritual seeks to abolish a mentality that perceives the world according to artificial human constructs, that perceives the essentially unified world that is the goddess (or *brahman, *with which the goddess is often identified) as fractured and divided.
The precise connection between the Mahāvidyās and the left-handed path, and the *panca **tattva *ritual specifically, is not entirely clear. Their worship may include this ritual, but some may be worshiped by either the right- or left-handed paths. Perhaps the fierce or inauspicious qualities of some of the Mahāvidyās that are worshiped according to the lefthanded path relate to the logic of *thepafica **tattva *ritual, in which the adept is forced to confront and partake of forbidden things. Some of the Mahāvidyās, particularly Kali, Tara, Dhumavati, and Chinnamasta, are identified with such harsh realities as death, destruction, old age, and decrepitude. By confronting these deities, and one’s fears, one gains release from the inhibitions and constraints they can generate.