Kiss of the Yogin: "Tantric Sex" in Its South Asian Contexts by David Gordon White

Review by: Gerald James Larson

Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 128, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 2008), pp. 154-157
Published by: American Oriental Society
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154 Journal
of
the American Oriental
Society
128.1
(2008)
lip-service
is
paid
to
"eight-limbed yoga,"
the focus in
theory,
but
perhaps especially
in
practice,
has
dramatically changed.
Whether Hatha
Yoga
traditions influence tantra traditions or whether tantra tra
ditions influence Hathha
Yoga
traditions,
there
appears
to be
clearly
an elective
affinity
in Max Weber's
sense and a remarkable lack of
affinity
with the older
P?tanjala Yoga.
The historical relations
among
these traditions have
yet
to be
fully
understood. The influences of local vernacular
(non-Sanskritic)
ritual traditions and archaic tribal traditions need to be examined.
Also,
traditions from outside of
India,
in the far northwest of the subcontinent as well as the far
northeast,
must be taken into careful con
sideration,
as P. C.
Bagchi
has
suggested (see
his "Evolution of the
Tantras,"
in Studies on the
Tantras,
ed. Swami Lokeshwarananda
[Calcutta, 1989], 6-24).
There is also the
important
material
from the Kashmir
region being
researched in the work of A.
Padoux,
A.
Sanderson,
and M. S. C.
Dy
czkowski.
One of the
great
virtues of the collection under review is the excellent
bibliography,
which
provides
a
comprehensive
overview of both
primary
and
secondary
works on
yoga.
The
only
lacuna in the
volume is the absence of a
chapter
on Buddhist
yoga
and the manner in which Buddhist traditions
have
played
a
key
role in the
history
of
yoga
traditions.
Gerald James Larson
University of
California,
Santa Barbara
Kiss
of
the
Yogini:
"Tantric Sex" in Its South Asian Contexts.
By
David Gordon White.
Chicago:
University of Chicago
Press,
2003.
Pp.
xix +
372,
28 illus.
$45.
Perhaps
the easiest
way
to
begin
a review of this remarkable book is to
identify
the
meaning
of
the
title,
"Kiss of the
Yogini."
The first reference
comes at the
beginning
of
chapter
2
(p. 28)
and is
a citation from the
Cary?giti,
a
seventh-century
c.e. Buddhist tantric text.
Pressing
the
triangle [of
the
yoni], give,
O
Yogini,
an
embrace;
in the
rubbing
of Lotus
[vulva]
and
Vajra [penis], bring
on the
evening;
O
Yogini,
without
you
I cannot live for a
moment;
having
kissed
your
mouth
[vulva],
I drink the
juice
of the Lotus.
Another reference comes in
chapter
3
(p. 73)
from the
Hevajra
Tantra,
another Buddhist tantric text.
Listen,
O
Goddess,
to the service of
worship.
In a
garden,
in an uninhabited
country,
or within
the inner chamber of one's own
dwelling,
one
possessed
of
yogic knowledge
should
always
worship
the naked "Great Seal" consort.
Kissing
and
embracing
her,
and
touching
her
vulva,
he
should effect the
drinking
of
fertilizing drops
of the "male nose" and of the
honey
down below
(adharamadhu).
Yet another reference
(p.
57)
derives from the
Kath?sarits?gara.
A sorceress named Siddhik?ri
impersonates
a tree
goddess
in order to draw into her clutches a
merchant's
unwitting
servant.
Seeing
him
coming
from
afar,
she climbs into a tree
and,
rustling
its
branches,
calls out: "You have
always
been dear to me. Climb
up here;
here is
wealth;
take
your pleasure
with me." When the servant climbs
up
to
her,
she embraces
him,
kisses his
mouth,
and with her teeth bites off his
tongue.
He falls out of the tree
spitting
blood.
Or,
again,
there is the reference
(p. 80)
from the
Kaul?valinirnaya.
Without a
doubt,
female
discharge
is consciousness
(samvit)
in manifest form.
[The goddess]
Parames?ni is
"Prakrti,"
and the
drop [of
male
seed, bindu]
is called "Purusa." Without
a
doubt,
"yoga"
is the
conjunction
of Siva and Sakti.
. . .
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Reviews of Books 155
Know
[the product
of
]
sexual intercourse
[to be]
the
water-offering,
and the
shedding
of semen
[the concluding
rite
of] releasing [the image
of a
deity
into
holy water].
Having purified
[the
body]
with the clan fluid
(kuladravyam),
one becomes
comprised
of Siva and Sakti.
In other
words,
the "kiss of the
Yoginl"
refers
principally
to the oral
kissing
of the female
genitalia,
that
is to
say,
ritual
cunnilingus,
of the
goddess (Sakti)
or the
lineage
of the various
goddess-clans (kula,
kauld).
The
kissing
includes as well the
imbibing
of the female sexual
discharge
and on occasion the
menstrual fluids.
Presumably
the "kiss" is likewise the
reciprocal kissing
of the male
organ,
that is to
say,
ritual
fellatio,
and the
imbibing
of the male
ejaculate.
Such sexualized ritual
practice
enables male
practitioners
to attain
special "powers" (siddhis)
or to become
"powerful
ones"
(siddhas, mah?siddhas,
or
vims),
and
reciprocally
the
petulant, angry,
and
terribly dangerous Yoginis
become
pacified
and
manipulatable.
At
first,
the reader
(at
least this
reader)
is somewhat taken aback
by
the bold assertions
regarding
"Tantric Sex" in White's work.
Early along,
however,
White makes it
quite
clear that the "sexualization
of
ritual,"
to be taken for the most
part quite literally,
is
precisely
what he intends to examine. More
than
that,
he asserts at the outset that this "sexualization of ritual" found in the tantra is the true
"mainstream" of South Asian
religiosity,
at least from the seventh
century
c.e. onward in South
Asia,
up
to the
beginning
of the modern era. The conventional characterization of "mainstream"
spirituality
in this
period
in terms of "bhakti
religiosity
and neo-Vedantic
philosophy"
is in need of
"revisioning."
These latter sorts of
religiosity,
that
is,
bhakti and neo-Ved?nta
philosophizing,
are elitist reformist
constructions
representative
of a
"relatively
small cadre of Hindu
religious specialists,
literati,
and
their
mainly
urban
clientele,"
and not at all
representative
of the
"truly 'perennial'
Indian
religion"
of
the tantra.
But
perhaps
it is best to let White
speak
for himself
(p. 7) regarding
the thrust of his
study.
It is
beyond
the
scope
of this work to
present
an exhaustive
history
and
anthropology
of South
Asian Tantra.
Rather,
its focus will be on that element of Tantra
that,
as I will
argue,
has
given
it its
specificity
over and
against
other South Asian
religious
traditions. That distinctive element
is a form of sexualized ritual
practice
that first makes its
appearance
in circa
seventh-century
Hindu and Buddhist medieval
sources, and has continued to the
present
time in a
significant
number of
"popular"
South Asian traditions.
My analysis
of this
body
of
practice
will be based
to a certain extent on a literal
reading
of a small
grouping
of Sanskrit terms?kula
("family,"
"clan"), dravyam ("fluid"),
mukham
("mouth"),
vira
("Virile Hero"),
siddha
("Perfected
Being"),
and khecara
("flight")?complemented by iconographic
and
ethnographic
evidence
from the medieval as well as the modern
periods.
A bit further in the same
opening chapter (p. 11)
he
spells
out in
greater
detail the texture of the "sex
ualized ritual
practice"
that he
proposes
to examine in each
chapter
of the book.
Again,
it is worth
quoting
at some
length
to make clear what is meant
by
the "kiss of the
Yoginl."
Only through
initiation
by
and continued interaction with the
Yoginis
could these male
practi
tioners access this fluid essence and boundless
energy
of the
godhead.
It was therefore
necessary
that male
practitioners
be
"inseminated,"
or more
properly speaking "insanguinated,"
with the
sexual or menstrual
discharge
of the
Yoginis?rendering
the "mouth" of the
Yoginl
their sole
conduit to
membership
in the clan and all its
perquisites.
Here,
the "mouth" of the
Yoginl
was
her
vulva,
and
"drinking
female
discharge" (rajap?na),
the
prime
means to
fulfilling
these male
needs.
Therefore,
the
erotico-mystical practice,
the "Tantric sex"
practiced by
the Kaula
prac
titioners,
mainly
involved
drinking
the
"power
substances" that were sexual
fluids,
either
through
"mutual oral
congress"
or
through
a form of
genital
sex called
vajroli
mudr?
("urethral suction"),
by
which the male
partner
was
able,
following ejaculation,
to draw
up
into himself the sexual
discharge
of his female
partner.
Following
the
introductory chapter, subsequent chapters
examine
Yogini
traditions in terms of their
origins
in
"bird,
animal and Tree
goddesses
and Demonesses"
(ch. 2);
the blood and/or "fluid"
(dravya)
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156 Journal
of
the American Oriental
Society
128.1
(2008)
of the
Yogini (ch. 3);
the "mouth" of the
Yogini (ch. 4);
the
"power"
of the
Yogini (ch. 5);
"heroes"
and
"perfected
ones"
(viras
and
siddhas) (ch. 6);
the
"flight"
of the
Yoginis (ch. 7);
the sublimation
of "sexualized ritual
practices"
into the aesthetic and
"gnoseological" "High
Tantra" of later thinkers
such as
Abhinavagupta (ch. 8);
and a
concluding
discussion
(ch. 9)
of the manner in which tantra has
been domesticated
and,
as it
were,
"neutered" in
many contemporary
contexts.
The book is rich with citations and new translations from a
variety
of
tantras,
and is
replete
in
every
chapter
with detailed
ethnographic
material and
iconographic
illustrations. It is
exemplary
in
exhibiting
how serious research in the
history
of
religions
becomes enlivened
by stepping
outside of texts to ex
plore
visual, artistic, architectural, medical,
and
political
dimensions. In this
regard,
the discussion in
chapter
5 of the use of tantra in
royal
households is
especially fascinating by way
of
showing
the
manner in which ritual and
polity
interacted in India in the medieval and
pre-modern periods.
Likewise
the discussions of
Yogini temples
in terms of architecture and
iconography
exhibit the
indispensable
value of art
history
in the
study
of the
history
of
religions.
All of this is to
say
that it is no
exaggeration
to
suggest
that White's Kiss
of
the
Yogini
is one of the
best,
if not the
best,
book on tantra
currently
available in the
secondary
literature. The book's
comprehensive bibliography
and elaborate
system
of
notation makes it essential
reading
for
anyone
interested in
exploring
the most recent
developments
in tantra research.
My
own intellectual interests fall outside the boundaries of
tantra,
and as a
friendly
outsider who has
read
reasonably widely
in recent studies in
tantra,
I am inclined to offer two critical observations for
those who are
currently working
in tantra studies. Both observations are
pertinent
to the
present
volume
but are relevant as well for some of the other current work in tantra. One observation has to do with
the
metaphor
of "mainstream." The second has to do with the notion of "literal."
Regarding
the meta
phor
of
"mainstream,"
I am inclined to think that it is
misleading
in the South Asian context,
histori
cally
as well as in terms of the
contemporary
social
reality. Regarding
the notion of
"literal,"
I am
inclined to think that it fails to do
justice
to the
deeper meaning
of the tantra. Let me comment
briefly
on each of these observations.
First,
the
metaphor
of "mainstream." The
Anthropological Survey
of India in its
"People
of India"
survey
has identified the
staggering
number of 4599 distinct communities in
India,
some 325
languages
in twelve
language
families with some
twenty-four
distinct
scripts.
India has no
majority language.
Hindi is
spoken by only forty percent
of the
population; English
somewhere between three
percent
and five
percent.
As all of us who work in South Asian
religious
traditions
surely
now
recognize,
the
notion of "Hindu" is
highly problematic, hardly
more than an artifact of census,
and
mind-boggling
in its
diversity
whether viewed
historically
or in terms of
contemporary
social
reality.
Consider,
further
more,
the
regional
cuisines in
India,
the
regional
folklores,
the
regional
musical
traditions,
the
styles
of
architecture,
the vernacular
literatures,
patterns
of
marriage,
the
many
learned
traditions,
regional
j?ti configurations,
and
so forth.
My point
here is not that scholars would do well to "revision" the
debate about the "mainstream" in
India,
whether it be
"colonial," "reformist," "bhakti," "subaltern,"
"tantric,"
or whatever. It is rather that the
metaphor
detracts from a
proper appreciation
of the rich
diversity
of South Asian
spirituality.
White is
undoubtedly
correct when he dismisses "bhakti and neo
Ved?nta
philosophizing"
as in
any meaningful
sense the "mainstream" of South Asian
religious
tra
ditions,
but he
trips
into his own
trap
when he then
proceeds
to
suggest
that the
"truly 'perennial'
Indian
religion"
of the tantra is the
properly
"re-visioned" "mainstream."
Surely
a more
plausible metaphor
would be
something
like an
"important
stream,"
rather than an essentialist "mainstream." "Bhakti" is an
"important
stream,"
I would
suggest,
as is
"tantra,"
and "Vedic
ritual,"
and "mendicant
spirituality,"
and
"tribal
spirituality,"
and
"P?tanjala Yoga,"
and "Hatha
Yoga,"
and a host of other
important religious
"streams." Peter
Hardy
commented some
years
back that "Islam in South Asia has been united
only
by
a few common rituals and
by
the
aspirations
of its scholars"
(see
his "Islam and Muslims in South
Asia,"
in The Crescent in the
East?
ed. Israeli
[London, 1982], 39-40).
The same is even more the
case in
regard
to
characterizing
Hindu traditions.
Second,
the notion of the "literal." It is
clearly
the case that "sexualized ritual
practice"
is funda
mental to the tantra,
whether "soft core"
(right-handed)
or "hard core"
(left-handed),
to use White's
idiom. It
may
also well be the case that ritual
cunnilingus
and ritual fellatio are fundamental for attain
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Reviews of Books 157
ing
the
"power"
of the
Yoginis
and the
pacification
and/or domestication of these
powerful
female
spirits
in
open-air temples
and cremation
grounds.
I would
suggest, however,
not
simply
in
regard
to
White's work but with
respect
to much of the work in recent tantra
research,
the need for a
greater
dose of what I would call
Anglo-Saxon
common
sense, or,
if
you prefer,
at least some
appreciation
of
elementary
Freudian
psychoanalysis. By
the
expression Anglo-Saxon
common
sense,
I do not mean
that
sexuality
is not
important,
even
fundamental,
in
understanding
tantra,
but it seems obvious to me
that much of this discourse must be taken cum
grano
salis.
By my
reference to
elementary
Freudian
psychoanalysis,
I do not mean the
empirical
scientific
validity
of Freudianism that has been
rightly
criticized in recent
years.
I mean
simply
that fundamental moment in his
early theorizing
when it
dawned on Freud that not all of his
nineteenth-century
neurotic
hysterical patients
had
literally
been
abused in childhood. What he had to
accomplish
was to devise a method for
analyzing
the fantasies
of his
patients,
whether or not
they
had been
literally
abused. More than
that,
he had to devise a
method for
understanding
and
eventually intervening
in the
patterns
of "transference" that
generated
neurotic
symptoms
and made it
impossible
for his
patients
to achieve lieben und arbeiten. That
is,
he
had to devise a
therapy
that would enable his
patients
to function
satisfactorily
in adult
genital
sexual
activities
(whether
in heterosexual or same-sex
relationships)
and the
ability
to function in the work
a-day
world of
everyday
life.
Regardless
of how one assesses the success or lack of success of Freudian
theory
and
therapy,
it cannot be
seriously
doubted that his
understanding
of the
literal-cum-symbolic
importance
of human
sexuality
has been
profoundly
influential in the human sciences.
It seems odd to
me, therefore,
that so few
attempts
have been made to
interpret
the
symbolic sig
nificance of
sexuality
in the
tantra,
over and above the obvious literal discourse. There
are,
of
course,
the two well-known efforts
along
these
lines,
the
first,
Eliade's discussion of "intentional
language,"
sometimes
(probably incorrectly)
called
"twilight speech";
the
second,
Agehananda
Bharati's discus
sion of "efferent" and "afferent"
"meanings"
in tantric discourse.
Interestingly,
both
attempts
are little
more than
allegorical
or what I would call "token-token"
interpretations
of tantra. That
is,
either the
apparently
abstract
philosophical
terms of tantra "hide" a secret
meaning
in a one-to-one
allegorical
type
correlation that
only
an initiate can
properly
understand,
or the various terms of tantra are ex
plicitly
offensive so as to
keep
outsiders
away
from a
particular
tantric
group.
One has to
begin,
of
course, with what the texts
literally say, just
as
psychoanalysis begins
with
free association.
Eventually,
however,
there is
surely
a level of
symbolic meaning
that transcends the
literal. To use a
psychoanalytic
idiom,
surely
a moment comes when an
interpretive analysis
of the
"transference" becomes
possible. My
hunch is that tantra research will be
greatly strengthened
when
these
larger interpretive
frameworks
help
us to
gain greater understanding
of the literal discourse. David
Snellgrove's concluding
comments about the Buddhist tantras
(in
The
Hevajra
Tantra: A Critical
Study
[London, 1959], 46)
are still
very
much to the
point
for current research in tantra.
The literal
interpretations
...
are
merely
incidental to the main intention.
. . .
They
wrote their
commentaries neither for those who wished to eat
repulsive
sacraments,
nor for those who de
sired to
study critically
such
strange practices,
but for those who wished to consume the notion
of their own selfhood. This is so
apparent
in the manner of their
writing,
so
completely
taken for
granted,
that it is oneself who becomes the
fool,
when one sets about a literal
interpretation
of
the text. For them the
text, like the
image,
is but an
expression
of the
essentially inexpressible.
It is itself the
convention,
the
samaya.
Gerald James Larson
University of
California,
Santa Barbara
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