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Human life in its all phases is said to be in an everlasting relationship with the power or energy. The notion of power generally indicates the potential to the production or prevention of changes in existing condition of anything. In the field of social science, power is a simple concept that deals with the potential to act. Such a definition tends to trace out the variations among different potentials held by different people. So, the concept of power as observed by Robert A. Dahl,^[1] helps to develop the definition tapered to the statement of relative degree of different power bearers, which also offers the probability to be treated as an ubiquitous idea, like that of the other similar theories.

In the realm of philosophical discussions, the idea of power-from its primitive form itself-had an independent and absolute identity. This view differs from the aforesaid conception of 鈥榩ower to鈥� and solely concerned about the 鈥榩ower over鈥�. Being a product of ancient human intellect, this concept of transcending power is considered to have emerged out of some sort of fear.^[2] It is well known that the group of ancient human beings, who were developed intellectually, had carried out the social life in a meaningful manner. Obviously, they framed the awareness about the experiences used to happen in their everyday life. Death was one of the incidents that frightened them more, because the dropping out of members caused to shrink the size of the society and endangering the social life. The scare about the loss of life crafted the totems and taboos and in a later period they were developed to the concept of god and systems of belief in various cultural contexts which mainly share the idea of supernatural power.^[3] Birth was the phenomenon that invalidated the loss caused by the death. Therefore the 鈥榩ower to create鈥� surpassed all other types of power, which created the earliest concept of the 鈥�mother god鈥� or divine female having an ability to give birth to the offspring.^[4]

Indian thought traditions also have an energy principle of their own known as 艢补办迟颈 (in Sanskrit), which holds important position among the religious as well as the philosophical domains. Even though many of the Indian thought systems and religious beliefs are acquainted with this principle in diverse forms, it is enormously known as a signature character in the area of Tantrism^[5]. The present chapter principally focuses on the form as well as diverse functions of the concept of 艢补办迟颈 within the realm of Kashmir 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘 which embraces monistic religious philosophy as its core theme. Literary sources that directly come under the tradition of Kashmir 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘 are used here to explore the concept of 艢补办迟颈 and its essential nature and functions.^[6]

Before moving on to the analysis of the forms and functional features in a particular sub school of Tantric philosophy, the history of shaping of the concept of 艢补办迟颈 within the particular area needs to be examined. Subsequently it necessitates the enquiry of origin as well as status of the same in the earliest literary sources. For this reason, the chapter is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the historical aspects and the role of 艢补办迟颈 in the orthodox philosophical systems, while the second analyses the appearance of the very concept in Kashmir 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Robert. A. Dahl. 鈥淭he Concept of Power鈥�, Behavioural Sciences, Vol.2, No.3,1957, pp.201- 215.

[2]:

See, Edmund Bruke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas, Section.5. This work is significant only for such limited remarkable observations. It is strange that the studies on the concept of power in ancient religious as well as thought systems are hardly available.

[3]:

Ninian Smart, while discussing about the remnants of the earliest thinking human race in the West Germany, shares some thoughts about the notable peculiarities related to their thoughts on death. He observes that the evidences collected from burial ground are indicative of rituals such as the smearing of the bones of corpse with red orchids etc. meant for the re-appearance of blood in the life. Similar proofs of rituals-like the adorations using the symbolic materials from the revival of flesh and blood-suggest about the belief in the life beyond death. See Ninian Smart, The World Religions, Cambridge University Press, UK, 1998, p.37. Although the theories about the relationship between the fear of death and origin of religious beliefs had been treated as ambiguous, some contemporary philosophers, with the help of psychometrically tested evidences, establish the link between fear and religious beliefs. For more discussion, refer to, Jonathan Jong, Matthias Blumke and Jamin Halbestadt (Eds.), 鈥淔ear of Death and Supernatural Beliefs: Developing a New Supernatural Belief Scale to test the Relationship鈥�, European Journal of Personality, 2013, pp.1-12.

[4]:

Refer to Lynn. E Roller, In Search of the God Mother: The Cult of Anatolean Cybele, Preview, www.books.google.com; N. N. Bhattacharya, History of 艢腻办迟补 Religion, Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1974, passim.

[5]:

Etymologically, the term 艢补办迟颈 resonates the semantic tones of the word tantra itself. Both of these terms actualise the meanings expansion and contraction. For details see, Geoffrey Samuel, The Origins of Yoga and Tantra, Cambridge University Press, 2008, p.4.

[6]:

Unless mentioned otherwise, the term Kashmir 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘 in this chapter indicates the monistic philosophy of 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘, designated in the contemporary context through the term 笔谤补迟测补产丑颈箩帽腻 or Trika. It stays apart from both the cultic phase of former period and the following mystical 鈥榥ormalised鈥� phase. Particularly the works of Vasugupta [艢颈惫补蝉奴迟谤补], 厂辞尘腻苍补苍诲补 [艢颈惫补诲峁涐梗峁璱], Utpala [莫艣varasiddhi, Sambandhasiddhi, Aja岣峚pram膩t峁泂iddhi and 莫艣惫补谤补辫谤补迟测补产丑颈箩帽腻办腻谤颈办腻] and Abhinavagupta [莫艣varapratyabhij帽膩vimar艣in墨, and 莫艣varapratyabhij帽膩viv峁泃ivimar艣in墨] come under the school of 笔谤补迟测补产丑颈箩帽腻 or Recognition. In the time prior to this, there was no specific developed philosophical structure for Tantric 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘; and the stage afterwards has a blended identity. If 笔谤补迟测补产丑颈箩帽腻 is selected, then the representation would be limited to the philosophy of Utpala and the usage of the term Trika in the aforesaid meaning is not agreeable. Hence, as the appropriate term here accepted Kashmir 艢补颈惫颈蝉尘 (though it literally indicates the 艢aivite schools originated in Kashmir) which commonly used in a restricted sense of 艢aivite non-dualistic philosophy.