Volume 1 / Part 1 — Sākta, Shakta Sect
Reading edition
“Sāktism is based on the worship of the active producing principle, Prākriti, as manifested in one or other of the goddess wives of Siva (Durga, Kāli, Pārvati) the female energy or Sakti of the primordial male, Purusha or Siva. In this cult the various forces of nature are deified under separate personalities, which are known as the divine mothers or Mātrigan. The ritual to be observed, the sacrifices to be offered, and the mantras or magic texts to be uttered, in order to secure the efficacy of the worship and to procure the fulfilment of the worshipper’s desire, are laid down in a series of religious writings known as Tāntras. The cult is supposed to have originated in East Bengal or Assam about the fifth century.”
Devotees, possessed, embracing each other, while supported on tridents, at Siva’s fair at Pachmarhi