________________
260
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1906.
The names of these letters are, as we shall see, the same as, or are synonymous with, the names of the hieroglyphics from which the letters have been derived.
Before describing the hieroglyphics or ideograms, it is necessary to dwell at some length on the probable date of the composition of Tantrio texts in general and of the origin of the Tantric cult in particular. It is presumed by many Oriental scholars that the worship of Siva or Sakti originated subsequent to the beginnings of the Christian era and that Tantric texts dealing with that worship are, therefore, the productions of nelieval mystics. It is probable that many or almost all the Tantrie texts are not earlier than the first four centuries before the Christian era, inasmuch as most of the texts presuppose the derivation of the Devanagari Alphabet from ancient ideograms long bofore that. Still, the traditions preserved in them regarding the development of Sakti-worship from prehistoric phallic worship are incontrovertible proof that the worship of the goddess Sakti in the form of hieroglyphics proceded by many centuries the worship of the same goddess in the form of terrible idols. The carliest authentic proof as to the prevalence of the worship of Sakti in the form of idols is furnished by an inscription on the Bhitari Lat of the Gupta period. The inscription has been partially restored and translated in page 8, Vol. VI., J. 4. S. B., by the Rev. W. H. Mill, D.D., Principal of Bishop's College. The text, together with the translation and historical remarks based upon it, is as follows:
न विहित मनवान्मा ताम्वधीवर्शिकीर्तिः
अविनतपलसात्ता विक्रमेण क्रमेण. Possessed of clear insight into the profound wisdom of the Tantras, with a spirit of unceasing silence on their incommunicable mysteries and in accordance with their precept and discipline) mangling the flesh of the refractory in successive victories,'
aurrea arranca at: . महेशप्रतिगुप्तः सततं सेवते मूर्ति मिमां बचाव भूपतिः
रुद्रेणन्द्रेणाय देशे स मतः प्रणयपण्यधीरम. Wbatever prince in this place perpetually worships this sacred image, is considered by Rodra (Siva) himself as one whose understanding is ennobled and rendered praiseworthy by his affectionate devotion, oven in the land of Indra and other celestials.
And here I must recall an observation that I have hazarded elsewhere, when commenting on the Allahabad Inscription (p. 268, Vol. III., J. A. S. B.), that the worship of the Saktis, with its existing mysteries and orgies, was most probably unkņown in India at the date of that monument. The terms, in which that species of devotion is spoken of, about a century after, in the second of the inetrical stanzas in the Bhitari Inscription, show that the same systein was even then dominant and sufficiently powerful and sedncing to enlist kings among its votaries. And while this (if I am correct in supposing the age of the Gupta dynasty to be somewhere between the first and the ninth centuries of our era) may be among the earliest authentic notices of that roode of worshipping Bhairava and Kali, the mention of it at all furnishes an additional proof to my mind of the impossibility of referring these monuments to the earlier age of Chandragupta Maurys or of Alexander the Great and the century immediately following.'
It is clear from the above Inscription that Tantric wo ship was as predominant as it is now in the third and fourth centuries A. D., when the Gupte princes ruled over Northern India. But it is surprising to note an assumption in the remarks of Dr. Mill on the texts above quoted, that the mero mention of Tantrio worship in this or any other inscription is sufficient proof that that monument must be subsequent to the period of the Maurya dynasty. For it is an historical fact to be bome in mind that there is no religious system in the world that has not its basis in the remotest antiquity, Innovations and changes may be made in all religions now and then, but the various root-principles on which different religions are based can be traced to a great antiquity. The
