[Advaita-l] Tantrik acts

[Satish Arigela]

>But before the British rule came also there were many restrictions.

Perhaps my intention is unclear. I am not in anyway implying that the British 
stopped ancient rites.

>The Ashwamedha Yajna is prohibited in Kali Yuga this restriction was
>earlier than British rule. 

Of-course . But there are inscriptions showing that the ashvamedha was performed 
a couple of times
in this very kali yuga by some kings... not trying to say a stray practice 
legitmizes things..

>The restrictions on Vamachara were not there they came later. Is this
>true?

We can observe different phases here. It must be kept in mind that those people 
to whom the vAmAchAra tantra-s/rites were "revealed"(or "seen") and practiced in 
ancient times came from all varNa-s.

Then there was a phase where some brAhmaNa-s who were in awe(for very good 
reasons) of those ritual systems adopted the rites whole sale.

In the next phase, the rites were practiced by the brAhmaNa-s and others but the 
usage of forbidden materials were substituted with acceptable ones. The 
brAhmaNa-s did this because they cannot abandon their vedic rituals for the 
tAntric ones, though they are welcome to practice both... which is what a 
majority of really traditional smArta-s did and still do.

In the middle we also had some smArta-s with half-baked orthodoxy who indulged 
in unnecesary criticism of tAntric rites, mainly because they did not get the 
depth of the rites. Such kind are really few though. There is a surge of these 
kind of half-smArta+half-christian Indians(of all varNa-s) in recent times, 
inspired by Abrhamistic ideals/nuances. 



>Sri.Shankara Bhagawathpada strived hard 
>to stop these Tantrik rituals.

He authored an entire work by name prapa~nchasAra tantra on how to worship 
various tAntrik deities.
So this book is full of tAntrik rites.