Vamachara

Vāmācāra (pronounced: vāmāchāra) is a Sanskrit term meaning "left-handed attainment" and is synonymous with "Left-Hand Path" or "Left-path (Sanskrit: Vāmamārga). It is used to describe particular Tantric practices that are considered heterodox according to usual Hindu social norms. The term Dakshinachara (Right-Hand Path) is used to refer to Tantric sects that do not engage in these heterodox practices.

Nomenclature and etymology

N. N. Bhattacharyya explains the Sanskrit technical term Ācāra as follows:

"[t]he means of spiritual attainment which varies from person to person according to competence.... Ācāras are generally of seven kinds -- Veda, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, Dakṣiṇa, Vāma, Siddhāṇta, and Kaula, falling into two broad categories -- Dakṣiṇa and Vāma. Interpretations vary regarding the nature and grouping of the ācāras. It is generally held that those who participate in the rituals of Five Ms belong to the category of Vāmācāra."^[1]

Vāma means "pleasant, lovable, agreeable" and Dakṣiṇa means "south". Facing the rising sun towards east, Dakṣiṇa would be the right side. For this reason, the term Vāmācāra is often translated "Left-hand practice", while Dakṣiṇamārga is translated as "Right-hand practice". An alternate etymology is that it is possible that the first word of the expression Vāmācāra is not vāma or "left", but vāmā or "woman". N. N. Bhattacharyya notes that a main feature of the Tantras is respect for the status of women as a representation of Shakti, and that if this was the original conception underlying Vāmācāra the opposing term Dakṣiṇācara may have been a later development.^[2]

An alternate term Vāmamārga ("Left Path") is also used^[3]. In this compound the ambiguity between vāma and vāmā is not present because the final "-a" in Vāmamārga is clearly short.

Practices

The Brahma Yamala, a Tantric text, says there are three currents of tradition (dakshina, vama, and madhyama) characterized respectively by the predominance of each of the three gunas (sattva, rajas, and tamas). According to this text, dakshina is characterized by sattva, and is pure; vama, characterized by rajas, is mixed; and madhyama, characterized by tamas, is impure. The Tantras of each class follow a particular line of spiritual practices.^[4]

Vamachara is particularly associated with the pancha-makara or the "Five Ms", also known as the pancha-tattva. In literal terms they are: Madya (wine), Mamsa (meat), Matsya (fish), Mudra (cereal), and Maithuna (sexual intercourse).^[5] Mudra usually means ritual gestures, but as part of the five Ms it is parched cereal.^[6]

Vamachara traditions place strict ritual limits on the use of these literal forms and warn against nonsanctioned use. If so used they encourage the person to sin.^[7]Practitioners of vamachara rituals may make symbolic substitutions for these literal things, which are not permitted in orthodox Hindu practice.^[8][9] The fact that tantric practices can be done without involvement with the literal pancha-makara is emphasized by Swami Madhavananda, and said to have been practiced by numerous saints.^[10]

See also

• Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path
• Tantra

References

Further reading

• Bhattacharya, N. N. History of the Tantric Religion. Second Revised Edition. Manohar Publications, Delhi, 1999. ISBN 81-7304-025-7
• Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Shakta Tantrism University of Chicago Press, 1990. ISBN 0-226-07570-2
• Macdonell, Arthur Anthony. A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. Munshiram Monoharlal Publishers. 1996 Edition. ISBN 81-215-0715-4
• Prabhananda, Swami. Studies on the Tantras. The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture. Second Reprint Edition, 2000. ISBN 81-85843-36-8