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77 Chap. II.] HINDOO SECTS. 77

and allow their nails to grow till they completely perforate the hand ; and the a.d.

Akasmukhis hold up their faces to the sky till the muscles of the back of the neck become contracted and retain it in that position.

The Saktas, or worshippers of the Sakti, the wives, or active energies of TheSaMas. the male deities, are numerous among all classes. If their bias is in favour of the supremacy of Vishnu, their worship is offered to Lakshmi; on the other hand, if the bias is towards Siva, the worship is offered to Parvati, Bhavani, or Durga. In Bengal the latter worship is by far the more popular. Saras- wati, also, is not so much forgotten as Brahma her lord; and among the populace generally a great number of malevolent and hideous demons are regularly worshipped. One great authority for the Sakti worship is the Brahma Vaivartta Purana, one section of which, the Prakriti Khanda, is devoted to the subject. According to it, Brahma having determined to create the universe, became twofold — the right half male, and the left half female. The latter was Prakriti, illusion, eternal and without end, and under her various forms, chiefly of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati, has produced all other female existences. Besides her principal avatars, she has also subdivided herself into almost endless portions, and thus given rise not only to the whole body of god- desses, and nymphs of every order, but to every creature, human or brutal, of the female sex : while Purusha, the other half of Brahma, has in like manner given rise to all males. Another still more important series of authorities for the Sakti worship are an immense body of writings called the Tantras, which those who follow them regard as a fifth Veda, as ancient as the others, and even of superior authority. A few of them may have existed before the tenth cen- tur}^, but most of them are of recent origin, and appear to have been written chiefly in Bengal and the eastern districts. They are all in the form of a dialogue between Siva and his bride, the former in answer to questions proposed by the latter, explaining, under a strict injunction of secrecy to all but the initiated, the various ceremonies, prayers, and incantations that are to be employed.

The leading sect of the Saktas forms two branches, the Dakshinacharis and Leading

brtinoliGS of

Vamacharis, or the followers of the right-hand and left-hand ritual. The Dak- saktas. shinacharis, called also Bhaktas, have the credit of worshipping agreeably to Vaidik or Puranik ritual, and abstaining from the impure practices of other votaries of Sakti. Their ball or oblation should consist only of pulse, rice and milk, with what are called the three sweet articles — ghee, honey, and sugar ; but many make offerings of blood, particularly kids killed by decapitation, except where the still more barbarous practice is used of pummelling the animal to death with the fists. The immense carnage at the festival of Kali, already described, is part of the worship of the Dakshinacharis, and it is therefore difficult to draw the line of demarcation between them and the more heterodox branch of Vamis or Vamacharis. After what has been said, it is obvious that the shedding