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Magic and Pragmatic Ritual

Magic is ritual with pragmatic results, pragmatic ritual.¹ With the possible exception of kāmya rites in the nitya/naimittika/kāmya distinction, no single, exact translation for the English term 'magic' is found in Sanskrit. Nitya are those rites done perpetually, naimittika on occasion when needed, and kāmya when desired.² Pragmatic

1 Mandelbaum identifies pragmatic and transcendental modes in Indian religions. Following Milford Spiro, religion is the relation to supernatural beings, transactions with the invisible that effects the world and heavens. “Religion as used here means all of a group’s beliefs and acts relating to their concept of the supernatural. The term "religion" thus includes abstract cosmology as well as "magical devices used to cure or exorcise. The test of what is to be taken as religious is whether those who hold the beliefs and perform the acts believe that in doing so they are dealing with forces beyond those that men, by their own power, can control and command.” (1174) He defines the transcendent as “The transcendental complex is used to ensure the long-term welfare of society, to explain and help maintain village institutions, to guarantee the proper transition of individuals from stage to stage within the institutions. It is concerned with the ultimate purposes of man.”(1175) The pragmatic mode is the mode of magic and is main concernconcern of this dissertation. “The pragmatic complex, by contrast, is used for local exigencies, for personal benefit, for individual welfare . . . While acts of the transcendental complex are directed toward such concerns as the proper fate of the soul after death and the proper maintenance of the social order, the pragmatic looks to the curing of a sick child, the location of a lost valuable, victory in a local tussle.”

(1175) Mandelbaum, David G. “Transcendental and Pragmatic Aspects of Religion.” American Anthropologist 68.5 (1966): 1174–1191.

2 Sanjukta Gupa argues that this classification may have been modeled on normative ritualism; tantrics use the threefold division of nitya, naimittika, and kāmya. “Nitya covers the group of rites regarded as being compulsory for a Tantric to perform every day; naimittika rites are observed on particular occasions; and kāmya rites are performed to fulfil a special wish, or to avert a great misfortune.” (124-5) Kāmya-pūja covers rites done for particular benefits for self and the other, including the ṣaṭkarman. Furthermore, Gupta argues, “It is important to know that only the performer of the daily pūjā is eligible to perform naimittika-pūja, and he who is capable of performing both is entitle to perform kāmya-pūja.” (125) Gupta argues these special rituals “verge on magic”, for when performed without a flaw they will “automatically produce the desired result. But there potency is only aroused when they are performed by someone in whom the divine power has been awakened.” (126) These arguments may be true for kāmya versions of specific pūjas, but it does not hold for the saṭkarman and other rites in the magic tantra. Gupta, Sanjukta, Dirk Jan

rituals are done on specific occasions, for specific results, and have discrete ends;

techniques include mantra, yantra, and myriad ritual actions.³ As I ague throughout this dissertation, three Sanskrit categories constitute magic in South Asia: the 'six-results' (ṣaṭkarman),⁴ 'fantastic feats' and 'enchanted items' (kautukakarman, indrajāla),⁵ and 'conjuring' (yakṣinīsādhana).⁶ I focus on the six results to explore magic in the magic tantras.⁷

The distinction between theurgy and thaumaturgy does not perfectly map upon South Asian magic categories, but this distinction nuances my description by using

Hoens, and Teun Goudriaan. Hindu Tantrism. Leiden: Brill, 1979. Jamison and Witzel that “We will use

“magic” in this work to refer to ritual avtivities that have private, well-defined ends – to win the love of a woman, to cure an illness, to harm and enemy.” (49) Jamison, S.W. and M. Witzel. “Vedic Hinduism.”

1992. http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf

3 Pragmatic rituals and their results must not be confused with siddhis that, once established, become abilities effective in perpetuity. Even those pragmatic results that seem perpetual--such as becoming delightful to all people or subjugating the three-fold world should be considered finite. Magic results are not lasting, like a siddhi. Once a siddhi is perfected, it is never undone. Once a mantra is perfected, for instance, it is ready for use in a ritual, but should another ritual require the same mantra, the mantra usually must be perfected again.

4 The 'six results' encompass an array of procedures, organized according to results. While restricting the number to six, tantras set forth upwards of twenty results under the ṣaṭkarman heading. The six results are reasonably synonymous with black magic or sorcery (abhicāra), for only a small minority have positive effects (śānti, puṣṭi).

5 'Fantastic acts' include techniques not directly under the six results rubric but are magic-pragmatic nonetheless: alchemy, cosmetics, obstetrics, enchanted items and tools, divination, invisibility, resurrection, and so forth. Fantastic acts usually succeed the six results in tantras. Some manuscripts fill twenty folios on the six results followed by eighty folios on fantastic acts; consequently, fantastic acts function as catch-all textual device to expand tantras ad infinitum.

6'Conjuring' summons unseen superpowers (mostly goddesses) who, if worshiped and appeased properly, will appear to the practitioner and grant his desires. As long as he remains brave, upon her arrival, the practitioner and goddess develop a relationship--sister, mother, consort, wife--and that relationship determines gifts given or services performed for the conjurer.

7 The richest source for indigenous magic discourse is the magic tantras, procedural grimoires that explain the intricate, gory details to enact sorcery, fantastic feats, and conjuring. The fount of magic discourse may be Śaivism, but other magic tantras that appropriate and expand the discourse flourish outside Śaivism, even outside Hinduism. Tenth-century Digambar Jains appropriate the six results, fantastic feats, and conjuring in two medieval tantras. The Buddhist Bhūtaḍāmaratantra demonstrates a robust, early tradition of conjuring whose goddess pantheons and even exact verses make their way into the Uḍḍ-corpus (the text is also called the Yakṣinīsādhana and Bhūtinīsādhana). New Hindi commentaries are written on the magic tantras even today, continuing magic discourse by interpreting, but not discounting, magic using the language of science, sociology, and psychology.

established western magic vocabulary without resorting to neologisms or nifty theoretical abstractions.⁸ The thaumaturge works miracles via charisma and purity; the power of a holy figure is created by pious connection to a divinity or, more abstractly, to the divine.

Thaumaturgy uses magic for 'non-religious purposes', to effect the world not to worship

8 The closest analogue to a tantra sorcerer is a goetic theurge of the ancient world. We would be well off to compare tantra magic to the magic of the Hellenistic world as opposed to indigenous described by such as twentieth century anthropologists as Evans-Wentz, who studied magic and sorcery among of the Azande. or Favre-Saada, who studied rural french sorcery. Neologisms such as magick from western occultism only confuse inquiry by syncrotizing magic system from everywhere and anytime and

overemphasizing the role of psychology in magic. The English term magic itself is inextricably connected to hypnotism, slight-of-hand, stage-craft, and illusion, as opposed to pragmatic rituals, that it can only be used with care. Fifteenth-century western occultism, exemplified by the Ars Goetia and Lesser Key of Solomon, offer intriguing parallels, but the literary and scholastic context is so far removed from tantra magic as to only obfuscate matters. The theurge is contrasted with the thaumaturGe. In the western tradition, the theurge is thought to coerce, dominate, and deploy gods and supernatural entities. From this we get the term the goetic, the sorcerer who uses sorcery to control spirits, the goeia, the howlers. The tantra sorcerer practicing magic alternates between appealing to deities, usually through mantras, and worshiping deities, to conjuring and binding lower spirits like yakṣiṇīs. Finally, the very term 'magic' comes from the actions of a magus, the magi, the magoi, originally this referring to a Persian priestly class.

These were the “easterners” who brought a foreign magic to the Greek-speaking world. Over time, the term and label was applied to sorcerers, as magicians, and magic, the rituals they perform. Not unlike the magoi who brought magic from the exotic east, the tantra sorcerer brings his magic from exotic hinterlands, from mountain tops, from strange places with strange gods who make their homes alongside Jinas and Devas. Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Witchraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford : Clarendon Pr., 1972. Favret-Saada, Jeanne. Deadly words: witchcraft in the bocage. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1980. Crowley, Aleister. Magick in Theory and Practice. New York: Dover Publications, 1976.

Peterson, Joseph H. The Lesser Key of Solomon Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis. Newburyport: Red Wheel Weiser, 1999.

God.⁹ The theurge appeals to a deity or supermundane creature, i.e. an invisible entity, to effect a miraculous action. That invisible agent, entity, or force is his power source. In South Asia, thaumaturgy characterizes magic acts performed by siddhas due to their own might, accomplishment, or sanctity, but siddha-magic and the perfections (siddhi) or

9 While popular in nature, Bonewits provides a lovely short definition of thaumaturgy. "The use of magic for nonreligious purposes; the art and science of “wonder working;” using magic to actually change things in the physical world." Bonewits, Isaac. Authentic Thaumaturgy. [Austin, Tex.]: Steve Jackson Games, 1998. p.138. Magic throughout world cultures, particularly theurgy, is illegal. The anonymous board of scholars who translate the Mantramahodadhi and commentary attend a a warning after the first paces:

“Warning: * If any person on the basis of the Yantras as provided in this book commits any nefarious acts which causes loss etc,. To any body then for his action the authors/editors/translators, printer and publisher will not be responsible in any way whatsoever. * The Mantras/Yantras as provided in this book if are tried by any body and is not crowned with success, which entirely depends on Sadhaka [sic], the

author/Editors/Translators, printer and Publisher will not be responsible in any way for such failures. *The Mantras/Yantras be practiced and used for the help, good cause and service of Mankind. These should not be used for any nefarious means, the responsibility of such actions will be only that of the Sadhaka.” This warning is found in other text published in India, and it is echoed in nearly every Hindi introduction of magic tantras. Smith argues that illegality is one essential quality of magic. (1993:192) Joseph Peterson, translating the Girmorium Vermum: A Handbook of Black Magic, disclaims the rituals as being illegal, immoral, or just criminally antinomian. His disclaimer is worth quoting in full: “Part of the fascination of this text is no doubt due to the many grotesque and criminal elements, such as using a human skull and blood. This is particularly true in the appended “amazing secrets.” These should in one way be regarded in any other way than horror fiction. Anyone attempting them literally is more likely to end up in jail, or a hospital for the criminally insane, rather than experience true magic.” (ii) [Bold face in original]

supernatural powers are not the concern of this study.¹⁰ In tantra magic, theurgy rituals exhort a deity, usually via mantra, to cause a declared result. Mantras invoke the power of a deity in the mantra, but mantras themselves may be the power or entity invoked;

mantras ambiguously invoke a deity and are a deity. Theurgy constitutes the majority of tantra magic; it compels invisible beings to energize the operation due to spells (mantra), ritual acts (vidhi), worship (pūjā), fire oblations (homa), and tribute offerings (bali).

When a technique does not contain a mantra or contains a mantra without deity

exhortation, it has inherent power due to its correct performance: I call this a mechanical ritual. Mechanical rituals are not necessarily outside theurgy, for the same rituals are often reproduced with a mantra added or are found in earlier forms without a mantra.

Mechanical rituals are usually incomplete theurgy rituals.

An interrelated group of Śaiva texts on pragmatic ritual consists of the

Uḍḍīśatantra, Uḍḍāmeśvaratantra, Uḍḍāmaratantra and more; I call this group the

Uḍḍ-10 The classic eight siddhis according to Danielou are as follows. Aṇimā: reducing one's body even to the size of an atom. Mahima: expanding one's body to an infinitely large size. Garima: becoming infinitely heavy. Laghima: becoming almost weightless. Prāpti: having unrestricted access to all place. Prākāmya:

realizing whatever one desires. Iṣṭva: possessing absolute lordship . Vaśtva: the power to subjugate all.

Only two of the eight map onto the six acts and pragmatic magic, namely that which grants sovereignty (rājya) and universal subjugation (sarvavaśīkaraṇa). Only on occasion are the results generalized and made in perpetuity, and even then the generalization and perpetual reward seem in doubt. Daniélou, Alain.

While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind.

New York: Harper & Row, 1987. Vasudeva ranks the powers in early Śaiva tantra as upper, middling, and lower powers. This roughly corresponds to the Siddhi powers above in the higher level, the middling as being Indrajāla and Kautukakarma, and the lower being constituents of the six acts. (265-7) Vasueva, Somadeva. “Powers and Identities: Yoga Powers and the Tantric Śaiva Traditions”. Yoga Powers

Extraordinary Capacities Attained through Meditation and Concentration. ed. Knut A. Jacobsen. Boston:

Brill, 2012. 265-302. Vasudeva is instructive on the siddhis and all sorts of powers and accomplishments, but he makes little recourse to the six results. This is consistent with the content of the early Śaiva tantras that did not dedicate extensive space to the six results. Vasudeva displaces the usual Oxford bias toward the early tantras, rather than later ones and those that continue to circulate into contemporary tantra magic discourse. Vasudeva's three part typology is instructive but does not apply to the magic tantras that never describe the siddhis.

corpus.¹¹ These texts share the prefix 'Uḍḍ-', identical introductory verses, and similar, often identical, pragmatic ritual techniques. A single Uḍḍīśatantra may contain contents usually found in a text, or multiple texts, titled Uḍḍāmeśvaratantra, and vice versa. I will describe the Uḍḍ-corpus as a group, its contents, and my reasoning for grouping them as such below. But first I set out a few parameters for describing magic tantras.

Process and Telos - The Complete Picture

A rich description of Hindu magic,¹² or any magic, must describe both procedure and telos, ritual along with result. Magic rituals are distinguished from Hindu temple ceremonies and ubiquitous domestic rites because such rituals are pragmatic, specific, and finite. They are not performed to fulfill obligations. They are not performed to maintain the universe or society. They are not performed to induce a vision of the divine or to transform the practitioner. When worship is performed in magic--for example, reverential offering of flowers to a presiding being--it is performed for pragmatic results:

11 A similar, if not the same, body of texts is called the “Uḍḍīśa cluster” by Goudriaan (119). I have been using the Uḍḍ-corpus since the beginning of my doctoral research, though I must have read this term earlier in my career. I retain my own term, Uḍḍ-corpus, due to its familiarity to me, and others, and because it is shorter and more encompassing than Goudriaan's term, especially considering Uḍḍām- is used as often or more of ten than Uḍḍi-. Goudriaan, Teun, and Sanjukta Gupta. Hindu Tantric and Śākta Literature.

Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1981.

12 I refer to the Śaiva Uḍḍ-corpus for my date on magic, making my topic a generally Hindu magic. While many 'folk rites' or, as David White calls them, 'vernacular ritual technologies' may have pragmatic results, they are non-consistent with the methodology of the magic tantras. A few examples prove the rule. Warding off bad luck and inviting a good prosperity by posting a Bhairava-like mask in Nepal or placing a straw-man with a pot head before a building site in Tamil Nadu is a general pragmatic technique, but these prophylactic practices are not common techniques found in the magic tantras. The same can be said of innumerable methods for warding off the evil eye--usually these involving actions using or display of limes and chiles. While in the same vein, these evil eye removing practices are not in the genre of magic tantras.

that is truly worship without devotion.¹³ The telos of magic is not suited for gnosis and gnosis not suited for magic; magic claims no transcendental nor gnostic effect.

Neither secondary scholarship on magic nor emic polemics against magic actually focus upon procedure, the mechanics to effect the operation, to confer declared results.

Prior studies of magic in Hinduism include the inspiring work of Türstig, Goudriaan, and Bühnemaan.¹⁴ These studies claim to uncover a universal structure or science of magic in tantras, but each merely catalogs separate magic systems. Overemphasis on similar telos vocabulary elides procedural difference and unique innovation in each magic tantra.

When scholars encounter magic in narrative or philosophical texts, the procedures are scrubbed from translations because they are too complicated for the scholar and too boring for the reader, even the specialist reader. Emic polemics against magic--such as found in Yoga, Bhakti, Sikhism, Orthodox Hinduism, and so forth--and legal

prohibitions--such as found in the Manusmṛṭi--only describe magic to prohibit it or deny it is effective. Such descriptions use general procedural terms--such as kṛyābhicāra, mūlakaraṇa, auṣadhi and so forth--and occasional stereotypical procedural elements--such as using foot dust, oblating dangerous ingredients, or making voodoo-doll simulacra--but they do not describe specific details and techniques such as clearly delineated in the magic tantra texts.¹⁵ Critiques and polemics are evidence of magic but

13 The phrase “worship without devotion” is the title of a radical course by David White that decentralizes Bhakti in the history of Indian polytheism.

14 Goudriaan, Teun. Maya divine and human: a study of magic and its religious foundations in Sanskrit texts, with particular attention to a fragment on Visnu’s Maya preserved in Bali. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978. Turstig, Hans-Georg. “The Indian Sorcery Called Abhicāra.” Weiner Zeitschrift Fur Die Kunde Sudasiens Fur Indische Philosophie, v. 29 (69-117), 1985. Buhnemann, Gudrun. "The Six Rites of Magic."

in Tantra in practice. ed. David Gordon White. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000 See my earlier chapter on prior studies of the ṣaṭkarman.

15 I describe the prohibition in more detail from the Manusmṛṭi and the Arthaśāstra in chapter one, “Magic

provide little evidence about magic.¹⁶

I translate spells, procedures, and results in detail, in full. Doing so, my project serves as a starting point for comparison of magic in the Uḍḍ-corpus to magic elsewhere in South Asia and to grimoires in magic cultures outside South Asia. In disciplines such as Classics or Anthropology spells are translated in full,¹⁷ historians of religions who

I translate spells, procedures, and results in detail, in full. Doing so, my project serves as a starting point for comparison of magic in the Uḍḍ-corpus to magic elsewhere in South Asia and to grimoires in magic cultures outside South Asia. In disciplines such as Classics or Anthropology spells are translated in full,¹⁷ historians of religions who