The (un)dreadful goddess: Aghorī in early śākta Tantras
Résumé
The aim of this paper is to define the place of the Hindu goddess Aghorī (lit. 'undreadful') in early Tantric scriptures (cca. 7th-8th centuries CE) that teach the cult of goddesses and female spirits. First, it attempts to explore the ways in which goddesses called Aghorā or Aghorī are related to the vedic mantra and its male personification, Aghora. In this context, it is shown that the triad of female powers (śakti) headed by Aghorā is already present in the pre-tantric scriptures of the Lākulas. However, the relation of these female powers and their male equivalents becomes reversed in śākta Tantras, the goddesses take the leading role. Second, the paper examines various groups of eight goddesses in which Aghorī figures either at the beginning or the end of the series. Many examples attest again that male mantras and deities are replaced or superseded by female ones in the pantheon, while others show the ways in which the cult of the seven Mothers was adopted and transformed in śākta Tantras. Finally, Aghorī's cult as a supreme goddess is analyzed in early śākta Tantras, in which she is associated with cremation ground rituals. It is suggested that Aghorī was perhaps the supreme goddess, or a form of the supreme goddess, of the skull-bearing Kāpālika sect, an important precursor of the śākta tantric currents.
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