The Devi as Fatherless Daughter, Womb of Wombs, and Spouse of Her Son

In the light of an autoethnographic approach, I propose to evaluate a comparison between a personal tradition that was offered to me in a dream and the beliefs of Bengali Śaktism, considered through relevant textual traditions instead of contemporary ritual practice. Vamachari Tantrism such as it is reported to be practiced by the Kaula and Aghori groups, especially in Tarapith, is the special focus. Three linked ideas form the hinges upon which my tradition turns, all of them shared with Bengali Śaktism. The first hinge is the idea of the Devi as Fatherless Daughter, the second is the notion of the Devi as Womb of Wombs, and the third is the designation of the Devi as Spouse of Her Son. The Devi as Fatherless Daughter is a notion that may be inferred from Devi Gita, where Parvati is born as the daughter of Himalayah and Menaka even though she is eternal and birthless. The Devi was said to have generated the Father already in Hymn 125 in Book 10 of the Rig Veda. The birth of the Serpent Goddess Manasa is also brought to bear on the subject. The Devi as Womb of Wombs is an idea that is also present in Devi Gita, where Parvati connects the practice of Yoga with inter-uterine life. The commentary of Bhāskararāya to Devī-Māhātmya underlines the same concept of Brahman as Śakti that the author of Devi Gita seems to refuse, but the latter certainly had in mind Mahaśakti as the Womb of Wombs. Tutelar deities of children such as Manasa, Shashthi, and Jara are much worshipped in Bengal and in their being Śakti they also represent the Womb of Wombs. The Devi as Spouse of Her Son is an idea that is found in Devī-Māhātmya, in Devi Bhagavata Purana, and in Tripura Rahasya, although the latter maintains an Advaita Vedanta approach that sets it apart from the other texts. In Tantra Tattva and Maha-bhagavata one finds other witnesses of the notion of Shiva as the Devi’s son. The Bengali legend of Manasa and Chand bears witness to the conflict between Śaivism and Śaktism arising from Śaivist opposition to the idea and worship of the Supreme Goddess, never succeeding in suppressing the Śaktic faith but managing to force some measure of diminishment to the Devi’s claims to power, silencing the voices proclaiming Śiva’s filiation from the Devi as well as those affirming her being Mother, Spouse, and Daughter in order to impose rationalist abstractions instead of the fullness of human life. The Mother of Her Spouse is provided with an explanation in the sixth chapter of the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra and in Mahāsukhavajra’s Padmāvatī commentary as the Yogini initiating the Tantric Yogi into the mysteries of sex, that may also include oral and anal positions. In the Linga Purana, Parvati the spouse of Śiva in her Kali form rages after killing an Asura on his behalf, and Śiva calms her by taking a child’s form and being breastfed by her. In the mystery of Goddess everything finds its fulfilment.