The Aghori are a Hindu sect believed to have split off from the Kapalika order (which dates from 1000 A.D.) in the fourteenth century. Both Kapalika & Aghori sects are worshipers of Lord Shiva. Aghori means non-terrifying in Sanskrit, and may refer to how members of the sect view death. This extremely secretive community is known to live in graveyards, wear the ash from the pyre, and use human bone from the graveyards for the rituals.

Members of the Aghori drink from human skulls and practice cannibalism in the belief that eating human flesh confers spiritual and psyhical benefits, such as prevention of aging.

The Aghori are widely censured in India for their use of human remains. The sect is said to practice human sacrifice, however this has not been confirmed and many believe it to be unlikely. It is also believed that Aghoris perfrom Tantric ritual involving sex

Doctrines

Aghori ascetics, while being devotees of the Hindu god Shiva, are monists who adhere to the common Hindu belief in liberation (moksha) from the cycle of reincarnation (samsara). This liberation is a realisation of the self's identity with the absolute. Because of this monistic doctrine, the Aghoris maintain that all opposites are identical and the conventional Hindu distinctions between purity and impurity are ultimately illusory.

The Aghoris are ascetics living in cremation grounds, smearing themselves with the ashes of corpses and eating from a cranial begging bowl. They are attributed with eating corpse flesh, which may be a once in a lifetime ritual act, and meditating seated upon a corpse and thereby gaining control over the corpse's spirit. They have also been accused of practising human sacrifice. The Aghoris claim to perform a secret Tantric ritual involving sex

History

Although akin to the Kapalika ascetics of medieval Kashmir, with whom there may be a historical connection, the Aghoris trace their origin to Kina Ram, an ascetic who is said to have lived to 150 years during the second half of the eighteenth century. Kina Ram is thought to have been an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva, as have been each of Kina Ram's successors. Necrophagy, the eating of corpse flesh, is attested to by a sixteenth century Persian source and in nineteenth century British accounts.

Symbols

The Aghori ascetic is himself a symbol of the god Shiva. He goes naked or is dressed in the shroud of a corpse, he covers himself in the ashes of the cremation ground, which would be polluting for an orthodox Brahmin, and his, sometimes macabre, ritual actions are symbols of his non-dualistic beliefs. The corpse upon which he meditates is a symbol of his own body and the corpse devouring ritual is a symbol of the transcendence of his lower self and a realisation of the greater, all pervading self .

Adherents

No official figures are available. At the end of the nineteenth century there were an estimated two or three hundred Aghori ascetics in Varanasi, though now there are perhaps as few as twenty living in their main centre. The Aghoris do, however, have quite a large lay following and devotees from the Indian middle classes.

Headquarters

The Aghoris are headquartered in Kina Ram's hermitage or ashram in Varanasi. Here Kina Ram is buried in a tomb or samadh which is a centre of pilgrimage for Aghoris and Aghori devotees. Apart from this, any cremation ground would be a holy place for an Aghori ascetic.

References

• Page 22. - "It's What's For Dinner:" An interview with Gary Stevenson, aka "Kapal Nath"
• Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0500510881) by Anna Dhallapiccola

• AGHORA, At the Left Hand of God (Aghora): by Robert E. Svoboda. ISBN: 0914732218