It would be a poor service to India to palliate the evils and extravagances of Śâktism, but still it must be made clear that it is not a mere survival of barbaric practices. The writers of the Tantras are good Hindus and declare that their object is to teach liberation and union with the Supreme Spirit. The ecstasies induced by tantric rites produce this here in a preliminary form to be made perfect in the liberated soul. This is not the craze of a few hysterical devotees, but the faith of millions among whom many are well educated. In some aspects Śâktism is similar to the erotic Vishnuite sects, but there is little real analogy in their ways of thinking. For the essence of Vishnuism is passionate devotion and self-surrender to a deity and this idea is not prominent in the Tantras. The strange inconsistencies of Śâktism are of the kind which are characteristic of Hinduism as a whole, but the contrasts are more violent and the monstrosities more conspicuous than elsewhere; wild legends and metaphysics are mixed together, and the peace that passes all understanding is to be obtained by orgies and offerings of blood. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 680: See also chap. XXIV. as to Śâktism and Tantrism in Buddhism. Copious materials for the study of Śâktism and Tantrism are being made available in the series of tantric texts edited in Sanskrit and Tibetan, and in some cases translated by the author who uses the pseudonym A. Avalon.] [Footnote 681: See _Annales du Musée Guimet_, Tome VIII. Si-Do-In-Dzon. Gestes de l'officiant dans les cérémonies mystiques des sectes Tendai et Singon, 1899.] [Footnote 682: See Underhill, _Mysticism_, chaps. VI. and VII.] [Footnote 683: See Dhalla, _Zoroastrian Theology_, p. 116.] [Footnote 684: Specially Ath. Veda, XII. 1.] [Footnote 685: Village deities in south India at the present day are usually female. See Whitehead, _Village Gods_, p. 21.] [Footnote 686: Thus Cândî is considered as identical with the wood goddess Bâsulî, worshipped in the jungles of Bengal and Orissa. See _J.A._ 1873, p. 187.] [Footnote 687: Vaj. Sanh. 3. 57 and Taittir. Br. I. 6. 10. 4.] [Footnote 688: Crooke, _Popular Religion of Northern India_, I. 63. Monier Williams, _Brahm. and Hinduism_, p. 57 gives an interesting account of the shrine of Kâlî at Vindhyâcal said to have been formerly frequented by Thugs.] [Footnote 689: This idea that deities have different aspects in which they practically become different persons is very prevalent in Tibetan mythology which is borrowed from medieval Bengal.] [Footnote 690: Though there are great temples erected to goddesses in S. India, there are also some signs of hostility to Śâktism. See the curious legends about an attendant of Śiva called Bhriṅgi who would not worship Pârvatî. Hultzsch, _South Indian Inscriptions_, II. ii. p. 190.]