Shava sadhana
The purpose of practicing the ritual range from knowledge, propitiating a deity, material motives, even dark objectives to gaining control over the spirit of the deceased.
The following Tantric texts detail the ritual process: Kaulavali-nirnaya, Shyamarahasya, Tara-bhakti-sudharnava, Purasharcharyarnava, Nilatantra, Kulachudamani and Krishnananda's Tantrasara.
[2] The Kali tantra says that those who worship goddess Parvati without shava sadhana will suffer in Naraka (hell) until dissolution of the world.
Vasudeva Bhattacharya of Tipperah (West Bengal) went to the Goddess temple of Kamakhya and worshipped the deity by Tantric means.
Purvananda, now an old man, now served Sarvananda, who he passed the secret of shava sadhana ritual, told by his former master.
Purvananda volunteered to be used as the corpse for shava sadhana and Sarvananda performed the ritual, where ghosts tormented him; storms tried to interrupt his practice; beautiful dancers tempted him, until the Goddess gave him a vision.
The Shakta poet Ramprasad Sen is also told to have performed the ritual and gained the vision of his patron, goddess Kali.
[1] Shava sadhana is "the most secret part of Tantric mysticism" and is regarded one of the most "misunderstood" due to its non-Aryan nature.
[3] From a yogic or Tantric point of view, it signifies detachment from the physical world, and uniting with the Absolute, identified with the male god Shiva, the Divine Mother Shakti or the abstract Brahman.
The detachment leads to freedom from Samsara (the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation) and the adept goes beyond the orthodox concepts of purity and impurity; auspiciousness and inauspiciousness.
[1] Since it deals with directly encountering death, it is believed to lead to non-death, symbolized by longevity, wealth and power.
In humans, the most preferred (maha-shava, great corpse) are a chandala (a child of a Shudra father and a Brahmin mother; an outcaste and the lowest of the mixed castes) who died due to drowning, lightning-strike, snake-bite, injury, or was killed by a stick, sword, spear, or other weapon; and a courageous young man who died in battle while fighting his enemy.
The latter happens only after the kapala kriya ritual of the funeral, when the skull of the burnt corpse bursts or a hole is opened in it so the prana (life force) exits it.
[1] The Tantrasara recommends the following for the ritual: a shmashana (cremation ground) or cemetery, or an abandoned house, a riverbank, a mountain, a battlefield, near a bilva tree or any other lonely place.
The corpse is believed to be a vessel of power while the rite is performed and tying the hair ensures that the energy does not escape.
[1] In Shakta narratives, betel nut is put into the corpse's mouth and it is turned on its back and smeared with sandalwood paste.
He (or she) identifies with the corpse and contemplates on the ephemeral nature of the body, whose dissolution leads to the discovery of the living force within.
[6] He can also practice japa (repetition of a mantra or a deity's names or epithets), till the corpse promises him to grant his wish.
Shakta practitioners are said to have a theophany of the Goddess, in the form of a young girl or woman or in the sky or she may possess the corpse.
Persons who practice shava sadhana with lower goals may be blessed with siddhis, but those in turn may lead to their downfall.
The corpse is bound to a stake at the wrist or ankle by a silken thread and a protective circle drawn around it to keep evil spirits of the cremation ground away.
The spirits would try to talk with the practitioner and gain entry in the circle but he should ignore them until finally he will conquer them, forcing them to accept his offerings and leave.
Finally, the Aghori decapitates the corpse to acquire its skull or extracts a bone from its spine to gain control over its soul.
While the Aghori sits on the corpse's chest and meditates, the ojha (exorcist or wizard) performs the ritual by seating on the stomach of the deceased.
