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The Embodiment of God among the Buls of Bengal

Author(s): June McDaniel
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Source: Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Fall, 1992), pp. 27-39
Published by: FSR, Inc.
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 THE EMBODIMENT OF GOD AMONG THE
BAULS OF BENGAL

June McDaniel

In the history of religions, it is rare to find a tradition inwhich women

are ritual equals, inwhich nonprocreative sexual activity ismore valuable
than the reproductive variety, inwhich menstruation is both positive and
spiritual, and inwhich the woman's body is sacred and the dwelling place
of a deity which is neither male nor female, but includes aspects of both.
The Baul religion of Bengal, in India, is one such tradition.The Bauls' views
about the role of women in religion are in many ways unique, and thus
might interest feminist religionists.
Bauls are village singers and holy people in both West Bengal and
Bangladesh, who wander from town to town playing musical instruments,
dancing and singing of their religious beliefs and experiences. They are a
syncretistic group, grown from influences as diverse as Tantric Buddhism,
Sankhya philosophy, SahajiyaVaisnavism, Saktayoga, and Sufism, and there
are Baul lineageswhich focus upon each of these.'While many people have
heard of the antifemale aspects ofmainstream Hinduism (sati,dowry death,
the purity rules and rules forwidowhood), there are also sides of Indian
religionwhich show a strong egalitarian strain,andwhich stand in opposition
to the dominant tradition.Both male and female Bauls are unconventional,
emphasizing freedom of spirit, followingnature and avoiding ceremony, hy
pocrisy and elitism. They call their path ultd or the reverse path.
Upendranath Bhattacarya, a Bengali writer who is himself a Baul prac
titioner, speaks of fivemajor elements that are importantfor an understand
ing of the Baul religion.2 First, it is nontraditional and non-Vedic, with
different values and beliefs than those ofmore mainstream Hinduism.3 Sec

l For a discussion of these influences, see Shashibhusan Das Gupta, Obscure Religious
Cults (Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1976).
2
Upendranath Bhattacarya, Bdngldr Bdul 0 Bdul Gdn (Calcutta: Orient Book Co.,
1388 B.S.). Bhattacarya discusses these in detail from pp. 291-368.
3Bauls reject mainstream Hindu belief and ritual, and the literary tradition derived
from the Vedas. They call it sdstriya, based on the 'dstric texts, but dead to religious
28 Journalof Feminist Studies inReligion

ond, the role of guru is very important forBauls, for it is the guru who leads
the disciple to the state of liberation. (In thisway they are similar tomany
other Hindu traditions, especially the devotional or bhakti schools.) Third
is the belief that the god dwells physically within the human body. This is
called bhanda/brahmdnda, the body as the microcosm of the universe. The
deity lives in the sexual fluids, the waters of bliss (maharasa or ananda
dmrta).The fourth element is the deity, one of whose names is the man of
the heart (maner mdnus), whom the Baul practitioner seeks to realize
through ritual practice. And the fifth is rfpalsvarfpa, the doctrine that the
true state of the human man and woman is in the union of the divine
couple (jugalamilana) in an eternal relationshipof love, shown in theHindu
tradition as Krsna and Radha or Siva and Sakti. The divine couple is the
svaripa, the true form of the person, as opposed to the ordinary physical
form (rupa) of man and woman.

Deha Sadhana-The Practice of the Body

While for some Bauls the religious goal is spontaneous ecstasy, others
emphasize ritual practice or sadhana. The major ritual practice in many
formsof Baul religion is sexualyoga, the transformationof sexualenergy and
substance. Lust (kdma)must be transformed into devotional love (prema),
poison into nectar, and the divine state realized.There are twomajor styles
of understanding this ritual practice, each one based on a differing symbol
ism of male and female.According to one approach, each gender holds one
aspect of the divine. In the woman is nir or water, inwhich one aspect of
deity dwells, and in the man is ksir or milk, which holds the other aspect.
Both are understood as equal in spiritual value. The divine dwells in the
woman's water (nir) or sexual fluid, and is believed to descend down in the
form of a fish during the woman's period. This fish (themin-rfpa or fish
avatarof god) swims in the "high tide" of the menstrual flow, and can be
caught by ritual practice.When both aspects of the divine are united (and
the fish is "caught"or recognized), a state of bliss results for the prac
titioners.4The sexualunion is a form of yogawhose goal for the participants
is the revelation of the divine. Lalan Fakir, the most influentialof the Baul
poets, describes the descent:
Only the diver knows
how swirling is the movement of love
in deep waters.
That river the uninitiated cannot see
There waves rise without wind.

experience. Baul informants frequently toldme how books were dead, and how the tradi
tion of Hindu discussion and commentary did not bring about ecstasy.
4This
aspect of the practice iswritten primarily from the male perspective. The woman
 McDaniel: The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal 29

At the correct moment of the tide

the riverspringsinto life.
In this river untouched by earth
dwells a fish in solitary glory.
The fish comes to the surface
at the call of the moon.
Then is the time to catch it
when youth is a luminous spirit.

Bathe in that river at that auspicious moment

and your heart will shed all fear
Says Lalon, and the summons will hold
no terror for you.5

He speaks of the fluidsmore specifically:

God plays in the nir and ksir
O my mind, understand your own house . . .
Clouds rise in the land of the void
The drops of nir rain down
And the fruit which ripens
Is full of rainbow color
And amazing, glorious sound . . .
The river of nir is deep, and diving in is difficult
But if you enter it, you will see wonderful things
0, this vessel of nir is the universe
When I speak of it, I start to cry. . .6

The best time to perform this practice is once a month, during the
woman's period, which is called mahdyoga (or the time of the great union).
The earlier days of the period are viewed as a time of lust (kdma),and the
first day is called the new moon (amuvasyd),the time of greatest temptation.
The third day of the period, when the deity reveals itself, is called the time
of the fullmoon (pirnimd). At this time, the deity isbelieved to "come down
to bathe and play." It is called "tide time in the river,"and the fish comes
down one of the three streams or currentswithin themenstrual flow.These
streams are called the srlrupa-nadis, the rivers of grace or beauty. They
include the primordial waters (karana bdri), the tender waters (tdrunya
bdri), and the charming waters (ldvanya bdri). These are also understood
to have three tastes (bitter, salty and sweet) as well as different colors and
essences.7 The presence of the god is also shown by a special glow and

is understood to unite with the divine aspect within the man, but her technique of doing
so is unspecified in the literature. It is unclear if the woman can "go fishing" for her own
fish.
3 Songs Lalon Shah, trans. Abu Rushd (Dacca: Bengali Academy, 1964), 30.
6Matilal of
DSs and P. K. Mahapatra, eds., Ldlan Gitikd (Calcutta:University of Calcutta,
1958), no. 34, p. 24.
7 Some Baul writers associate these with the three qualities or gunas of Sankhya philoso
30 Journal of Feminist Studies inReligion

fragrancewhich the woman has at this time.When the fish comes down to
the confluence of these three streams, called the Triveni or three rivers, it
can be grasped by means of sexual yoga (triveni is also used as a term for
the female genitals). The Baul poet Lalan Fakirwrites:
You can grasp the hidden god
If you lay a trap at the Triveni
At the time of new moon and full moon
It reveals itself there.
The Triveni has three streams
In order to know how to catch (the fish)
You must know inwhich stream
It likes to play . .8

This ritual is also called the tin diner kriyd, the ritual actions of the
third day. The deity only reveals itself at this time; at other times it stays
secret and invisible. Lalan Fakir condemns the unsuccessful practitioner.

You should have built a dam while there was still time9
Now the water will dry and the fish will swim away
And your heart will be full of regret, and blinded.
There are three streams in the Triveni
The god [sai] plays there in the form of a fish
You are wandering about on the surface
But you do not dive in deep.
During the month is the time of union
Then the place that was dry floats with water
If you do not find the right time
You cannot play the game of the fish
The world reflects the fish avatar
And they are both united . .10

Intercourse at this time (atmahiyoga) is called the union of water and

milk (nir and ksir), and its goal is not reproduction. The woman is under
stood to be at her most intensely feminine time-indeed, menstruation is
seen as an overflow of feminine essence, when the body simply cannot con
tain such intensity.Her womanly and creative nature overflows in the form
of blood (as themale essence overflows in the formof sperm).When themale
creative energy localized in the spermmeets the female energy localized in
the blood, this meeting can create a new human life, or an intensity of

phy: sattva (purity or light), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia or passivity). However,
there is no set theology about the nature of these streams.
8Ldlan Gitikd, no. 36, p. 25.
9This is to
symbolically catch both the waters and the mystical fish.
10Anwarul Karim, The Bauls
of Bangladesh (Kushtia:Lalan Academy, 1980), 194. Trans
lated from the romanized Bengali in his text.
 McDaniel: The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal 31

creative energy and beauty that results inmystical experience and visions
of light. Here, contraception leads to the revelation of the Baul god.1
Sexual ritual (called dehavada or bindu sadhana) clearly focuses on dei
ties that are in some sense immanentwithin the body. Sometimes the fluids
are understood to be the physical representations of the divine male and
female, as Ridha and Krsna, or Siva and Sakti, and sometimes the deities
exist in various localeswithin the body. However, there is also a transcendent
way of uniting the deities, and that involves the Baul version of kundalini
yoga.
According to this variant, each individualhas within himself or herself
both a male and a female aspect. The male aspect of god (Isvara)dwells in
women in the brain, or inmen in the sperm (which is believed to be stored
in a sort of cup at the top of the head, within the brain).The female aspect,
called Kulakundalini, dwells sleeping at the base of the spine, in themulddh
dra cakra,12and inwomen Kulakundalini is also present in themenstrual
flow.
When the woman's menstrual period begins, and the couple comes
together, Isvara is attracted by Kulakundalini's presence in the blood and
descends from the crown of the head tomeet her. Lsvarais believed to be
made of pure spiritual love (prema), andwhen he encounters his feminine
aspect, the body of the couple becomes radiantwith love, and both return
to the sahasrara cakra (the thousand-petalled lotus) at the crown of the
head. The feeling within both practitioners is the bliss of union (miland
nanda), which occurs between Isvara and Kulakundalini, and echoes the
union of cosmic male and female essences (asRadha and Krsna, or Prakrti
and Purusa). Ideally, this state of bliss would be continuous, and when the
Baul practitioner realizes him- or herself as this union of opposites, he or
she enters the state called sahaja, a state of pure, spontaneous creativity
(generally expressed in songs and poetry) and yogic realization.
Lalan Fakir describes this revelation of the union of opposites.
As the man and the woman in me
Unite in love,
The brilliance of beauty
Balanced on the bipetalled
Lotus bloom inme
Dazzles my eyes.
The rays

11Impregnation is a form of creativity, and thus valuable to a tradition that emphasizes

various forms of creative expression. However, spiritual creativity ismore highly valued
than physical creativity-thus revelation takes precedence over impregnation.
12In this variant, both male and female aspects are equally spiritual, though it can be
argued that the male is "on top."
32 ofFeminist
Journal inReligion
Studies
Outshine the moon
And the jewels
Glowing on the hoods of snakes.

My skin and bone

Are turned to gold
I am the reservoir of love,
Alive as the waves.
A single drop of water
Has grown into a sea,
13
Unnavigable..
In order for Isvara and Kulakundalini to return to their true home in
the thousand-petalled lotus, theymust travelup through the seven energy
centers or cakras. Each center has amale deity and his sakti (orpersonified
feminine energy), and each center must be pierced (cakrabheda) for the
couple to travel up the spine. In this case, the union of male and female
occurs within each individual, rather than through the union of the sexual
fluids of the two practitioners.
Some Bauls, especially those influenced by SahajiyaVaisnavism,14feel
that the best way to realize the divine is by identifyingwith female energy,
to the point of male Bauls believing themselves to be transformed into
women.15 This allows the men to feel as deeply and passionately as the
women, and it is this passionwhich allows the revelationof the innerdivinity.
The male Baul poet Rfipchand describes the virtues of this approach.

My heart,
Dress yourself
In the spirit of all women
And reverse
Your nature
And habits. ..
Millions of suns

13Deben
Bhattacarya, trans., Songs of the Bards of Bengal (New York: Grove Press,
1969), 88. The translator admits to having taken liberties with this translation. The drop
of water becoming the ocean shows the influence of Vedantic thought, and the two
petalled lotus is the ajia cakra, located between the eyes, often thought to be the locus
of visionary experience.
14
Sahajiyi Vaisnavas believe that the best way to show pure love for Krsna and Radha is
to identify with them, especially trying to share their emotions during their sexual interac
tions. For a detailed description of Sahajiya Vaisnavism, see Edward C. Dimock, The
Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiyi Cult of Bengal
(Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1989).Many of them try to identifywith the female
perspective, aswomen are understood to be more sensitive emotionally and more capable
of true religious passion than are men. See Dimock, 158-61.
15
Oddly enough, this approach is also seen among Sufi Bauls, who show strongMuslim
influence. See Karim, The Bduls of Bangladesh, 115.
 McDaniel: The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal 33

Will burstopen
With brilliance
And the formless
In visual forms.
Youwill see
What cannot be seen. . .16

However, it should be noted that becoming a woman, for Sahjiyas and

Bauls, does not mean that one becomes closer towomen. Rather, itmeans
that the person develops divine love (prema)which women have in greater
abundance and intensity thanmen, and which is directed towards the god
or the divine couple.17Becoming awoman also does not mean that themale
loveswomen; itmeans that he becomes immune to their beauty and ability
to generate lust. There is no corresponding discussion in the literature of
the woman becoming a man to overcome lust towardsmales.

The Man of theHeart and theDivine Couple

As Upendranath Bhattacarya says of the deity, "It takes on the forms of
father andmother, brother and sister,man andwoman, to taste and experi
ence the various rasas (moods or emotions that each may feel)."'8The Baul
deity is neither male nor female, and is generally described by neuter rather
than gendered pronouns.
Different Baul lineages and gurus have different theologies. However,
in terms of understanding the divine, there are twomajor approaches: the
god is either a divine person, or a divine couple. For those of more yogic
inclination, the god ismaner rnunus, the person who liveswithin the heart.
Literally, the termmdnus can mean either humanity, or man as in "male."
BothWestern scholarsand English-speaking Indianwriters usually translate
maner munus as "man of the heart," though the deity iswithout gender.
Indeed, it is not limited to human manifestations: he/she is also referred to
as the unknown bird (acin pdkhi)who lives in the cage of the body yet floats
in the boundless sky, and the fish avatar (min-rfpa). The maner mdnus is
the atmi, the indwelling spirit,which is invisible and secret yet capable of
taking on many forms, and themila tattva, the deepest truth.
However, according to a different set of Baul beliefs andmetaphors, the
deity is not one but two: a divine couple, who exist in eternal play (lhid)
within the person. God is not a person, or even a bird or fish, but rather
the union of opposing qualities of male and female. For Bauls of a Sankhya

16
Songs of the Bards of Bengal, 112. At this point, when the physical body becomes
full of joy and spiritual love, then the body (ripa) has become fully divine (svarupa).
17To direct love towards a
physical woman would be considered almost a descent into
lust (kama), for as love becomes spiritualized it becomes directed towards divinity.
'1Upendranith Bhattacarya, Bdnglir Bdul 0 Bdul Gan, 341.
34 Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion

philosophical orientation, the male is purusa, who represents pure aware

ness, potential and stillness, while the female is prakrti, who is the force of
action and manifestation. For Bauls of Tantric Buddhist background, god is
the union of prajia (femaleperfect wisdom) and upaya (male compassionate
action), in the blissful state ofmahasukha. For Bauls ofVaisnavabackground,
the male essence is Krsna, lord of playfulness and appreciator of love, and
the female essence is Radha, whose state of mahdbhdva or intense ecstasy
of love and passion is beyond the understanding even of her beloved Krsna.
For Sakta and SaivaBauls, the couple is composed of the god Siva or Isvara,
who dwells in the sahasrara cakra at the top of the head, and the goddess
Sakti or Kulakundalini, who dwells in themalidhara cakra at the base of
the spine. In order for them to unite, the goddess must rise along the spine
to the dwelling-place of the god, where they shine like the sun.
All of these are understandings of the deity as a divine couple. It is an
egalitarian notion of the divine, reflected in the divinity of both males and
females on earth.

Esotericism and Feminism

In a culture where the marriage blessing is "Mayyou have a hundred
sons," it is necessary forBauls and other tantrikasto justify a ritual sexuality
that is not procreative. Practitioners interviewed in Bakreswar in Bengal
spoke of how sexual ritual is also a form of birth control, and how the wife
(though already well up into her twenties)was in excellent health because
she was not bearing children early in life.19Both the husband and their
guru emphasized themeditative benefits of extended sexuality,and its other
benefits for thewoman if she chose not to be quite someditative.20The pain
of childbirth, both physical and mental, was contrasted with the state of
sahaja,which could be the inspiration forpoetry, song and religious vision.
They may have children later,but thewoman's spirituality ismore important:

19Even in the modern

day, it is not unusual in village India for girls tomarry in their
teens and start bearing children almost immediately. By theirmid-twenties, many women
have a house full of children and often have had miscarriages as well, and they are
physically exhausted. In the case of this couple, the contraceptive aspects of sexual yoga
were a selling point, as they were trying to convince me to be initiated by their guru.
The husband spoke of his wife as awonderful partner who glowed with health and spiritual
energy, while the wife looked down modestly, nodding her head and smiling. She was
unwilling to discuss her own experiences with me unless I agreed to be initiated. She
did, however, say that she visualized her guru during the practice.
20 Interview, Bakreswar, 1984. The benefits described were specifically those of sexual
pleasure, and the sexual abilities of Indian male practitioners were compared with the
potential for extended sexuality ofWestern men, to the latter's detriment.
 McDaniel: The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal 35

as the Bengali expression goes, "forevery tree there is a flowering time, but
every tree does not bear fruit."21
The body is understood to be a precious and valuable thing, for it is
the locale of the divine. The doctrine of bhanda/brahmdnda states that the
whole universe iswithin the body, and that it can be realized only through
love.As Abdul Wali states, "TheMurshid, Guru or spiritual guide is to be
found in (the human body). He can only be found through woman. The
temple of God is said to be in the middle of the earth, but in fact that
temple is in the centre of the human body."2This statement emphasizes the
necessity of thewoman for ritual practice, though forbalance both male and
female are necessary.23
It is not only the body, but bodily substances aswell, which are consid
ered sacred.The practice of the fourmoons, the cdri-cdndra, is a recognition
and full acceptance of the body's elements. According to the four moon
ritual, the four elements (earth,water, fire and air), and their bodily manifes
tations (excrement, urine, blood and semen)must be recognized, separated
and accepted, with no reaction to their purity or impurity.This is a strong
violation of traditionalHinduism, which has hierarchies of purity, aswell as
hierarchies of social status. The Baul goal is the unity of high and low,
acceptable and unacceptable, purity and impurity, in the search forwhole
ness. Holiness is not thatwhich is "set apart,"but thatwhich is united.
The most important of the fourmoons ismenstrual blood, which is
viewed as a sacred substance,worthy of offering to the gods.24Indeed, among
some tantric groups, the menstrual blood of a virgin is a desirable object
forworship.25 Such blood is the essence of creativity and fertility, and there
are holidays dedicated to it. At the time of Ambuvaci (during the third
month of the Hindu calendar), especially inBengal andAssam, it isbelieved
thatMother Earth menstruates for four days, and there is a cessation of

21
Karim, The Bduls of Bangladesh, 119. Among Bauls, the term flower, or phul, refers
to the menstrual flow. It is understood among some Bauls to have properties of healing
and rejuvenation. Its symbolism is also discussed by Charles Capwell in his article "The
Esoteric Belief of the Bauls of Bengal," Journal of Asian Studies 33, 2 (1974): 255-64.
2
Quoted in Karim, 121. Again, of course, this statement iswritten from a male per
spective.
23 It also emphasizes the Baul belief in the integrity of the body. Bauls interviewed in
Siuri felt that no person who had ever had an operation where some bodily part was
removed (such as tonsils or appendix) could ever really be a Baul.
24In
Bengali, such blood is called raja or stri-virya, literally the woman's strength or
courage.
25Narendranath Bhattacarya, History of the Tantric Religion (New Belhi: Manohar,
1982), 136. Virgins themselves are also worshipped in the ritual of kumari pijd. They are
understood to incarnate the goddess, and the young girls are given gifts and offerings as
part of the worship.
36 Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion

plowing, sowing, and farmwork. Women, like the earth, are expected to
rest and retire. At the temple of Kamakhya inAssam, a red liquid is sold to
devotees as her blood, and it is believed by them to hold life-giving power.
The rocks and statues that represent the goddess are painted red or smeared
with vermilion.2 For Bauls, the drop of blood is described in poetry as the
"red pearl" or "red jewel," inwhich the deity can be seen.
A note of clarification, however, should be added. While fertility is
highly valued in India, the notion of "mother"has a broader application.
The titlemd, or mother, is the highest title awoman can have, but it is not
necessarily related to her having children. Both tiny infantgirls and elderly,
white-haired, celibate women may be called Ma by Indian gurus (religious
teachers) and practitioners. The title shows respect for the woman's sakti
(power)and allows themale to avoid lookingat thewoman in a sexual fashion.
To call a woman "mother" is a classic way for an Indianmale to deflect a
woman's hint at marriage or a courtesan's proposition. Gurus traditionally
call their female disciples and visitors "Ma"to avoid having sexuality inter
ferewith communication.27

The Social Situation

Baul religion emphasizes that the woman herself must be educated in
the ritual practice andmust be in a state of meditation for the sexual ritual
towork. Ideally, she should be skilled both at breathing exercises (prandy
dma), and visualization techniques. The Baul attitude towardswomen prac
titioners differs from several other types of tantra28inwhich it is acceptable
to have an uneducated low-castewoman participate as a "temporarywife."
In those cases she is a symbolic object, a vessel for the man's meditative

26
Ibid, 133. Ambuvaci is derived from ambu, water, and vdci, to speak, express or
blossom. It is a holiday which involves austerities, and those performing tapas or ritual
vows usually fast at this time.
27 I saw this avoidance
very clearly while interviewing ascetics in India. I spoke with a
pigdca tantrika (aman both sage and black magician) in Calcutta about Sakta belief, but
before he was willing to speak with me, I had to feed him sandesh (amilk-based dessert)
with my hands. He then thanked me, calling me "Ma," and after repeating this numerous
times, he was willing to answer my questions. Iwas then safe from any sexual relationship
or problem. My local informant was very impressed that the tantrika would do this and
said that Iwas being called Ma formy own good, because even a powerful and dangerous
black magician would never harm his mother. Thus, the title allows more than one kind
of safety.
28For instance, in some forms of SahajiyaVaisnavism all women contain Radha, and thus
any woman is suitable as a ritual partner. In some forms of tantric Saktism, all women
are considered to be incarnations of the goddess or Devi, who may be worshipped within
them. For examples of such practice, see my The Madness of the Saints: Ecstatic Religion
in Bengal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 122-24.
 McDaniel: The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal 37

practice, and her state at the end of the ritual is irrelevantand not discussed
in the literature.29It is not expected that shewill have training inmeditation.
It is unfortunate that virtually all Baul songs have been written by men,
for it is thus difficult to gain access towomen's religious experience. How
ever, during fieldwork inWest Bengal, I observed Bauls of both householder
and ascetic types.Among Baul householders, themale/female relationships
seemed traditional except for the ritual practices, and the couples acted
fondly towards each other. The women participated in conversation and
seemed equally involved in the religious practice, and in some cases they
were more capable of describing the belief system and ritual practice than
the men.30
Among Baul ascetics, the social situationwas quite different. Relation
shipswere temporary and largely for the purpose of ritual, as ascetics cannot
marry and are supposed to be detached from the world. Here, women
were not wives, but rather sevddisis or bhairavis, handmaidens or ritual
assistants.The ascetic goal is not to build relationships, but to escape from
theworld ofwhich relationship is a part. For the ascetic, there is no distinc
tion between good and evil, no shame or fear, no acceptance of Veda and
dharma (Hindu tradition).Both partnerswere expected to be detached and
impersonalpractitioners. For such couples, pregnancywas a great problem,
for it showed either attachment to the realms of desire or a lapse inmedita
tive concentration.3' Such a situation could either force the ascetics to be

29There is a range of views about the role of women in the Baul, Sahajiya and tantric
writings-there is no set image upon which all agree. They range from the sort of idealiza
tion of women described by Dimock in The Place of the Hidden Moon, to the more
manipulative approach shown in the Sahajiya primary text Premavilasa: "Beehives are
filled up with honey collected frommany flowers.When the honey is collected, the flowers
are of no use to the bees." The translation of this phrase is quoted inManindra Mohan
Bose, The Post Caitanya Sahajiya Cult of Bengal (Calcutta:University of Calcutta, 1930),
76. In describing the consort, some texts focus upon her beauty, youth and modesty,
others upon her education, piety and ritual skills. No one text is canonical. Bengali Saha
jiya practitioners in Calcutta and Siuri had differing opinions on the issue.
30 In one Bengali village I interviewed a Baul couple, a strongly built woman with long
white hair and a younger and smaller man. He was questioned first, out of politeness, but
he would answer only a word or two and then turn to her for elaboration. She did most
of the talking, explaining their beliefs and lineage, and showed me the ritual text that
they used.
31Different Baul schools have different views on
orgasm. For the more Vedic and devo
tional types, ejaculation is the sacrifice or offering to the gods. Orgasm is necessary for
the union of opposites, for the male and female essence to unite, for the union of milk
and water in which the vision of God arises. Some schools believe that women also
ejaculate a watery or invisible substance, in a corresponding fashion tomale ejaculation.
For the more yogic Baul practice, sexual fluids of both partners should be held in the
body and transmuted, but never released. Orgasm is a sign that sexual yoga was practiced
carelessly and without discipline. Pregnancy iswidely understood to be a sign of lapsed
38 Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion

come householders (and thus renege on their vows of renunciation),or cause

the breakup of the relationship.32 Among the householders, thewomen were
respected as long-term partners, and they appeared to hold high status.
Among the ascetics, women were shorter-term ritual partners, who were
either professional assistants or ascetics themselves. Partners seemed inter
changeable among renunciantswho were seeking to overcome both lust and
human love.

Conclusions
Women are often depicted in a negative way in the doctrines of world
religions partly because they are associatedwith the realm of nature and
manifestation, which is lower than the realm of spirit and mind.33 From
menstrual huts, to the Hebrew tum'ah and niddah (impurity) laws, the
Christian idea of Eve's fall, and theMuslim woman polluted and be-sharm
(ashamed),women's bodies have been made the loci of impurity,only safe
when pregnant or too old to reproduce. They epitomize theworld of fallen
nature, and aremore distant fromGod than theirmale counterparts.
Religions that emphasize an immanent divinity seem to evade this prob
lem, for there is no radical distinction between the twoworlds. Bauls are
dualistic, but they avoid hierarchies in their dualism-male and female are
like two banks of a river, united when the river is high with the waters of
love. The body is not expected to be pure (suddha), or even auspicious
(subha), but rather pakka, ripened or mature, and sweet like a mango, for
the deity to exist fullywithin it.34
Women are still associatedwith creativity, but in this case it is both a
virtuous and a spiritual process. In the Baul religion, creation did not come
about through thewill of a single male god. Instead, itwas the result of the
lovemaking of a divine couple, or the emanation of a nongendered deity.
Thus, creativity inwoman and earth can be considered positive, for human
reproduction actually reflects and extends divine creation. This is unlike the
Christian notion of ex nihilo creation,where there is an absolute distinction
between God and world, and where sexuality is later associated with the

concentration, but it is believed to be the fault of both partners: women trained as ritual
partners learn techniques to hold back male ejaculation. As for field research, I found the
Baul female practitioners unwilling to discuss the issue of orgasm.
32This situation is discussed inR. M. Sarkar's article "The Bauls of
Bengal: Their Diverse
Nature and Patterns of Thinking" inMan in India, 68, no. 1 (1988).
33For a discussion of this near-universal, see Sherry Ortner's classic article, "Is Female
toMale asNature is toCulture?" inWomen, Culture and Society, ed. Michelle Z. Rosaldo
and Louise Lamphere (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974).
34Ripeness is not a function of age, but of spiritual maturity. The person is "sweetened"
when he or she develops spiritual love.
 McDaniel: The Embodiment of God Among the Bauls of Bengal 39

fallen world. Bauls have no concept of a fall from grace, nor of women's
responsibility for it.Women are the bearers of sakti, feminine power, and
the title of the ritual consort, sakti md, reflects this. Mother is not the
woman who is "saved"through childbearing, but the one who can give sakti,
the female blessing and power.
While the Baul lifestyle follows the traditionalHindu norms of house
holder and ascetic, there is respect forwomen in its theology and ritual. If
it is indeed a goal of feminist theology to sanctify the body and abolish the
disharmony between body and soul, or between nature and God,35 Baul
theology provides a positive model. No additional purification or reconcili
ation is necessary forwomen, for there is no ontological difference between
men and women with respect to their spiritual status.
Baul religion already highly values the body and nonprocreative sexual
ity, and accepts woman's vital role in religious experience. Baul notions of
freedom and spirituality are nonexclusionary,protesting against the limita
tions of caste, gender and status. They still have far to go in terms of the
woman's social role, and women should be writing some of the songs, as
they too have access to the ecstatic stateswhich serve as inspiration.But
within the body of the woman, traditionally the most impure of locales in
most of the world's religions, they have foundGod.

35These ideas are found in such works asMary Daly, Beyond God the Father (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1973) and Phyllis Trible, "Genesis 2-3 Reread," inWomanspirit Rising,
ed. Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979).