The dance of the Shaktas

 

Not from the Radha Tantra

“The Radha Tantra: A critical edition and annotated translation” is a scholarly book published in 2017, containing a translation of an obscure 17^th century Hindu Tantra from Bengal, known as Radha Tantra (RT). The volume also contains the original Sanskrit text (but in Latin characters) and an extensive introduction discussing the manuscript history, dating and provenance. The scholar responsible for this critical edition is Måns Broo, based in Finland. The curious decision to render a Sanskrit text in the Latin alphabet is apparently due to the fact that RT´s Sanskrit was written in Bengali script, which few Western scholars can read.

It´s possible that RT is no longer as obscure as it once was, since some Gaudiya Vaishnavas use it to “prove” certain aspects of their tradition. Thus, RT claims that Radha was born from a lotus, gives the Hare Krishna mantra and supposedly references a Vaishnava initiation ritual. There is just one problem: the Radha Tantra is really a Shakta work…

The social milieu in which RT was composed seems to have been marked by fierce competition between Shaktism and Gaudiya Vaishnavism, but also by syncretism between the two traditions. For instance, Krishna is described as Kali´s son in some Shakta Tantras. RT uses this syncretism for Shakta ends. Vishnu, Krishna and Radha are depicted as subordinated to the Tantric goddess Tripura, who in turn is tacitly identified with Kali. Other goddesses also play prominent roles. Vishnu is said to be Tripura´s son and is said to fail in his quest for enlightenment, despite reciting a Tripura-related mantra. Tripura then tells him that he must take birth as a human (Krishna) and engage in Tantric sex rituals with Radha, who is an incarnation of Padmini, one of Tripura´s attendants. Kali stages a guest appearance…turned into the boat which takes Krishna, Radha and the gopis across a river?! 

Another important goddess in the narrative is Katyayani, apparently a form of Durga, who guides Krishna at various points in his spiritual journey. RT tries to claim Vrindavana for Shaktism, and at one point claims that the Hare Krishna mantra is really suitable only for Shudras, the real mantra combining Krishna´s name with that of Shiva. RT also attacks the Bhagavata Purana (Shrimad Bhagavatam), claiming that this scripture – which is central to Gaudiya Vaishnavas – is really a hoax.

It´s therefore somewhat ironic that a work originally intended to subvert Vaishnavism have 400 years later become another apologetic tool for the very same Vaishnavism (or rather its Gaudiya branch).

In contrast to other Tantras, RT doesn´t contain any complex ritual instructions. Somebody has called the Radha Tantra “a Purana dressed up as a Tantra”. Måns Broo believes that the purpose of RT was to tell a story to bolster the confidence of the Shakta community, by portraying Krishna and Radha – the central deities of Gaudiya Vaishnavism – as subservient to Tripura/Kali. Broo has managed to find one reference in an Indian daily paper from 2012 about a single family in Calcutta worshipping an idol combining Kali and Krishna “according to the Vaishnav rituals in the Radhatantra” (although no such rituals exist in the text). And two years ago, I found a picture of a Hindu deity at Quora which seem to combine the traits of Kali and Krishna (see my post “Come and meet your maker”). So it´s certainly a thing. Kind of.

I read most of the Radha Tantra two years ago (I think), but hardly remember anything, so this review is based on a quick skimming of the introduction!