Genesis and Origin of the Esoteric Culture in White Shamanism: A Historical–Cultural Analysis

The recent historical and cultural researches of the ancient Central Asian polytheistic religion (known by the name of Tengerism, representing the cult of the ‘sky’ (Buryatian: tengeri) and ‘earth’ (Buryatian: gazar), widely spread across the south regions of Siberia and Mongolia) consider it as a form of ‘white shamanism’. It can be compared with ancient Vedic religion, though it shares many similar characteristics, especially concering the worship of the ‘sky-earth’ cult (Sanskrit dyāvāpŗţhivī) (Macdonell, 2002, p. 9). Such evidence points to the conclusion that Tengerism does not bear its origin from the aboriginal proto-Turkic-Mongolian people and that it arrived in Central Asia from the outside (Dugarov, 2009).

The term Tëŋri is still present in Turkic phrase Tanggri ta’ Ala’, which is currently used in some parts of Afghanistan, which means the supreme god of Islam. Ethnographically, Afghanistan is part of Central Asian region, and local shamanism bears its origin from the ancient Turks, having similar characteristics of some shamanic traditions, which are even now practiced in the regions of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia. Modern Afghan ascetics, successors of ancient shamans, are skilled in the practice of ecstasy techniques, and are able to enter into shamanic trance. They are called the ‘holly people, touched by the hand of Allah’. During their rituals, they read Koran and their prayers are addressed to Allah (Sidky, 1990).

According to the history, the most ancient cult of the sky, Tengeri, was known to the civilization of Sumer in Mesopotamia. Archaeological excavations in the city of Ur in lower Mesopotamia (3rd millennium BC) show that during the period sixteenth to thirteenth century BC, there was a huge powerful kingdom of Hurrian state called Mittani, which in the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC came in contact with the Indo-Iranian tribes, who were coming from the north of the Black and the Caspian seas. They brought with them the cult of Vedic gods, such as, Indra, Varuna, Mitra, Nasatya and others (Dugarov, 2009). This is evidenced by the fact that in the year 1906, in Asia Minor, at a place called Boghas Kuy (Turkic Boğaz Köy) near the city of Ankara, modern Turkey, an archive of Hittites rulers, containing Akkadian text in the form of a contract between the Hittites and rulers of the Mittani kingdom was found. In that contract, the ruler of Mittani gives an oath in front of the ancient Indo-Iranian Vedic gods Mitra, Varuna, Indra, etc. Obviously, the citizens of the Mittani state were carriers of ancient Vedic cultural traditions (Katičić, 1973, p. 67).

In the thirteenth century BC, a significant part of the Hurrian–Mittani army headed by the Indo-Iranians left the Near East and headed towards Central Asia, north-west China and south Siberia, where during the period from twelfth to ninth century BC they created a Karasuk culture. The archaeological excavations of that period, that is, from eighth to third century BC, are connected with the cult of deer, which is very familiar to the ethnic culture of the people dwelling in Mongolia and Baykal region (Ermakov, 2007, p. 382).

The deer cult is widely spread in Siberia, including Buryatia and Mongolian shamanism, and also in Tibetan religion of Bön, whose shamans and priests wear a horned headdress, made from the deer antlers, which symbolizes their ability of ‘soul-flight’. During that period, a great number of rock art paintings appeared in the forests—steppe lands of south Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and Baykal region. Many of such rock art paintings depict war chariots, similar to those in the Near East (Dugarov, 1991, p. 69). The worship of the horse, particularly famous among the Turkic-Mongolian people, is considered as very ancient and, maybe, it has Indo-Iranian and Indo-European origin. Such chariots found in western Mongolia date back to the middle of 1st millennium BC, together with the so-called fantastic anthropomorphic ‘horned’ beings, carved or painted on the rocks. According to D.N. Dugarov, Tengerism arrived in those regions during the Late Bronze Age, precisely in the period of Early Iron Age, from the nomadic people, that is, Indo-Iranians. He suggests that the ancient religion of the sky, Tengeri, had been adopted 3,000 years ago by the aborigines of Turkic-Mongolian tribes of Buryatia, Yakutia and other people of the Sayan–Altay region (Dugarov, 2009). Keeping this statement in mind, let us have a look at the connection between Tengerism and Vedic religion, and how they can be connected with the destiny of Indo-Iranians, precisely Indo-Aryans who have migrated to India.

Vedic mythology contains a very important position in the research of religious culture. It belongs to the early period in the evolution of religion, and its philosophy is based on the personification and worship of the nature, while the Vedas are considered as the most important literary monument in the whole world. The philosophy, on which their mythology is based, is that every object in nature, everything that surrounds the humans, has to be endowed with a soul and is considered as sacred. Everything that impressed the soul, or was considered as capable of having a good or bad effect on humans, in Vedic times became an object of religious rituals. The most important origin of Vedic gods is the ancient literary record of the Rigveda (Sanskrit ŗgveda), which includes a variety of gods, personifying the spirits of the earth and sky. Apart from the cult of divinities, the worshipping of the ancestor spirits and some inanimate objects was in common, which points out to the elements of animism, totemism and shamanism in Vedic religion. The material of Atharvaveda basically consists of domestic and magic rituals, which are related to the world of spirits and demons. Atharvaveda (Sanskrit atharvaveda) is much more older than Rigveda (Macdonell, 2002, pp. 2–4).

The chronology of the Vedic literature is very hard to determine. Max Müller, the leading Indologist of his time, believes that the only date in Hindu history, which can be considered as valuable, is the birth of the Buddha, approximately about 500 years BC; in that case, the Vedic culture and literature can be dated from the period of twelfth to tenth century BC. B.G. Tilak and H. Jacobi trace that date in the later period, back to even 4,000 years BC, but their chronology has been criticized by many scholars (Katičić, 1973, p. 104). Indo-Iranians, precisely Indo-Aryans, entered the land of India approximately about 1,500 years BC, probably arriving from Central Asia (Smart, 1989, p. 54), where they came in contact with an ancient, highly developed culture of the Indus Valley (Basham, 1954, p. 15). The history of the culture of the Indus Valley civilization lasted approximately during the period from 2,500 to 1,500 years BC. Many scholars believe that it was destroyed by Indo-Aryans (Smart, 1989, p. 52).

Many fascinating series of seals were left behind from the Indus Valley culture, discovered in archaeological findings in 1924, which were written in ideographic script (Sir Mortimer Wheeler, 1968, p. 107). The script itself consists of 270 symbols, sometimes the list of symbols exceeds the number of 396, mostly of pictographic origin with ideographic or symbolic meanings. It is still not possible to decipher its meaning and contents; for now, it is possible to only guess and try to determine its meaning (Basham, 1954, p. 19). There have been several attempts to decipher the language of the Indus Valley seals, but these attempts were without results. Seals had a function of determining the ownership, and sometimes they served as amulets. Basically, they were representing animals, often a horse (Worthington, 1989, p. 12).

The motif of horses leads to the conclusion that the cities of Indus Valley civilization, Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, were Indo-Aryan settlements because India did not know horses until their arrival. Some seals were filled with geometric lines and some represented the svastika. In Buryatia shamanism, it is considered that svastika (Buryatia haas temdeg) was accepted from Buddhism and it symbolized the movement of the constellation Ursa Major (Sarangerel, 2000, p. 184). The motif of svastika on Indus Valley seals points out to its non-Aryan origin; obviously, Indo-Aryans adopted it as a sacral symbol after they came in contact with the Indus Valley culture (Sir Mortimer Wheeler, 1968, p. 102). That great civilization expanded from the north-west of India to Gujarat in the south, from eastern Punjab in the north to the river Sindh in the west, and till the borders of the state of Uttar Pradesh on the east. Its major cities were Mohenjo Daro on the river Indus and Harappa on the river Ravi (Smart, 1989, p. 51).

The most interesting and popular divinity, pictured on the seals of the Harappa culture, is the so-called ‘horned god’. He was represented in a position of meditation with an excited phallus. The basic characteristic of the Indus Valley religion was the phallic cult and the cult of Mother-Goddess. The horned divinity wears a headdress made of two buffalo antlers, which seem to grow out of his head. Sometimes, he is surrounded by animals and his face shows a fierce look, a beastly expression. Sir John Marshall, a famous archaeologist, who worked on the excavations of the Indus Valley civilization, named that divinity as a Proto-Shiva (Sanskrit Śiva), and that name is commonly accepted because, indeed, the horned god of Indus Valley did in fact have much in common with god Shiva of the later Hinduism. He is often represented as the lord of fertility called Pashupati (Sanskrit paśupatī), ‘the lord of the beasts’ (Basham, 1954, p. 23).

God Shiva in esoteric Hinduism, and in yogic and tantric tradition, is considered as the greatest of all yogis, the lord of the yogis (Sanskrit yogīśvara, mahāyogin), which proves the fact that mediation had its roots in the early Indus Valley culture (Katičić, 1973, p. 65). Together with the researches of Marshall, the oldest records of practicing meditation and yoga can be found in archaeological ruins of Mohenjo Daro and other cities of the Indus Valley and from the research of Sir Mortimer Wheeler. The sculptures show ‘the horned god’ standing between the branches of the sacred Peepal tree (Latin Ficus religiosa), under which the Buddha himself got enlightenment (Basham, 1954, p. 23). Similar sculptures of the horned gods can be found in France, in the cave of Les Trois Freres, representing the famous picture of an anthropomorphic being, dressed in animal skin with horns, maybe, representing the great medicine man, a sorcerer or a shaman, who has a connection with sacred powers. In England, a horned skull has been found with punched horns; hence, we assume that it was worn as a headdress, and also in Denmark in Gundestrup, a seal was found representing horned shaman, also surrounded by wild animals (Aldhouse-Green & Aldhouse-Green, 2005, p. 129).

All these remind of some forms of headdresses worn by modern shamans in Siberia and Central Asia (Sir Mortimer Wheeler, 1968, p. 38). The design of the Indus Valley seals points out that yogis had, probably, a very high position in the society, maybe they were even worshipped (Worthington, 1989, p. 11). Maybe, the visions of primal shamans have transformed into later improved forms of yoga. It is likely to be believed that the primitive cultures had an idea about the afterlife; the self-control practices may have their origin in the primordial forms of yoga (Smart, 1989, p. 41).

Yogis and masters, who serve out of the Brahmanical society, in Vedic times, were known under the name of Shramana (Sanskrit Śramaņa, from the root ŚRAM—‘effort, work, austerity’, Pali Sāmana—‘practicing austerities, ascetic’, representing a name for a Buddhist monk) (Sir Monier Williams, 1997, p. 1096). Some scholars explain the meaning of the Tungus word ‘shaman’ as having the meaning of the priest, shaman. Although according to that topic there have been many discussions, which led to a conclusion that the connection between those terms is linguistically evident, it is possible that they represent a similar meaning. From the early sources, it is clear that ancient Hindu rulers were unsatisfied with the service of the Brahmin (Sanskrit brāhmaņa) priests, whose rituals seemed to be unuseful, and for that reason, they took advantage of Shramans, choosing them as powerful allies and counsellors. The reason for this was that a ritual without emotions was cold, and doctrines without compassion were considered as dry (Smart, 1989, p. 14).

Many Upanishads contain dialogues between rulers and yogis, who are considered to be the authors of some early Upanishads. The term Upanishad (Sanskrit upanīşad) means ‘to sit near the feet of the master’. They represent a dialogue in the form of a ‘secret doctrine’ (Sanskrit rahasya), and they belong to such levels of the Vedic texts, which are placed at the end of the Vedas. Shramans and yogis went to live far away in the forest, gathering around them a group of few disciples (Worthington, 1989, p. 13). In that way, they have developed the essence of metaphysics, abstract thought and practice of yoga. Hinduism was always highly syncretic and has always been assimilating other teachings. The Shramanic line in India is based on independent and freely developed Brahmanical religious forms.

The general characteristics of all yogis and Shramans were the practice of austerities and meditation, non-violence, yogic breathing and physical exercises, which led to mystical experiences. The main characteristic of mystics is the confirmation of their constant connection with the transcendental (Spencer, 1966, p. 11). Some of them were primordial medicine men, others were sorcerers and the majority of Shramans were actually travelling ascetics or healers (Worthington, 1989, p. 15). In Vedic literature, the so-called ‘forest books’ (Sanskrit āraņyaka) became an integral part of the Hindu thought. In the Aranyakas, we find the desire to liberation from the ritual ceremonies as an importance of understanding the inner essence of rituals, which can particularly be found in the philosophy of Upanishads and Aranyaka texts known under the name of Vedanta (Sanskrit vedānta), meaning the ‘end, essence of the Vedas’ (Katičić, 1973, pp. 91–93).

According to the ancient Vedic text Shatapathabrahmana (Sanskrit Śatapaţhabrāhmaņa), the forest ascetics attained their visions and mystical experiences through the practice of austerities (Sanskrit Śram—‘effort, labor, austerity’) and Tapas (Sanskrit Tapas—heat, pain). That is why they are called Rishis, as they have mastered themselves with the help of austerities (Mitchiner, 1982, p. 286). They are the authors and preservers of Vedic culture in the form of ritual hymns and magic incantations, which were transmitted by oral tradition. Their names are mentioned in the list of Vedic authors (санскр. anukramāņī) in the end of the texts called the Brahmanas and Vedangas (Sanskrit vedāńga) (Katičić, 1973, p. 74). Vedangas are considered as ‘the limbs of the Vedas’; they represent additional literature in the form of the Sutras (Sanskrit sūtra). They were not considered as a part of the Vedas, but served for the proper conduct of Vedic rituals.

The ancient Vedic sages were represented as a group of the seven Rishis (Sanskrit saptārşi), who have been considered as gods. They are connected with the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major (MacDonell, 2002, p. 144). In Buryatia shamanism, we find the same popular ‘magical seven’—the seven elders (Buryatia doloon ubghen) or seven gods (Buryatia doloon burkhan), the seven visible stars of the Ursa Major, whose symbolism is very popular in fantastic folklore and epic literature of Shamanic, Buddhist, Hindu and Vedic traditions. In Buryatia epic Geser, that constellation is related to the seven blacksmiths, sons of the heavenly blacksmith called Hozhiroy (Zhukovskaya, 2002, p. 177). The role of the sages in ancient Vedic ritual was in their correlation between microcosmos and macrocosmos, ritual and mythological world and human and divine law (Oguibenine, 1998, p. 202), where the secret cosmic law (Sanskrit Ŗta) represents the secret truth—Brahman (Katičić, 1973, p. 73).

According to the French Indologist L. Renou, in ancient Vedic mythology, there was a concept of ‘flight’ and ‘journey’ inside the philosophy of yoga, which points to the phenomenon of ‘soul-flight’, similar to shamanic journey. The Rishi-poet has to open his way to the Brahman, asking the gods to help him: ‘hari rathe sudhura yoge…/indra priyā kŗņuhi’ (RV 5.43.5); ‘O Indra, please do so, that we can ₹₹saddle our horses”, so that the journey could beginn’ (Oguibenine, 1998, pp. 204–206). The thoughts of the Vedic poets are ‘dragged by horses’ (Sanskrit aśvayogāh), where the fire, Agni, in the form of a horse, plays the role of messenger between the worlds. According to the Atharvaveda, through the power of fire (Sanskrit agni), the Vedic ascetics gained the subtle body, with the help of which they go on journeys to the other worlds (Macdonell, 2002, pp. 165–166).

In Buryatia and Mongolian shamanism, and also in Buddhism and Hinduism, there is a term ‘windhorse’ (Buryatia hii morin), meaning the personal psychic energy, with whose help the shamans maintain their work and participate in shamanic journeys (Sarangerel, 2000, p. 15). There were several attempts of determining the traces of shamanism in Rigveda, which in majority of cases turned out to be unreliable. According to the Indologist M. Witzel, the elements of shamanism can be seen in some of the hymns of the Rigveda, particularly in those, devoted to the god Soma (Sanskrit Soma, Iranian Haoma—‘nectar, ambrosia, drink, which gives clairvoyance, immortality’), pointing out to the characteristic of Central Asian shamanism. The herb of Soma/Haoma is related to the elements of magic and healing in connection with the Vedic god Indra. In the whole Vedic and post-Vedic mythology, there is an element showing the essential feature of god Indra, and his ability to ‘shift’ into human form, so that he might help or counsel the people in the role of the shaman.

Some parts of the Rigveda contain the hymns called Atmastuti (Sanskrit Ātmastuti—‘hymns of self-praise’) symbolizing the embodiment of the divine in humans. Such incantations are connected with shamanic seances in which Vedic Rishi stands out in the role of the God, which reminds B. Malinowski’s phrase: ‘What the ancient Vedic Rishi bears in his mind, when he says: I am Indra and Varuna’. Here, the deities are those who have been invoked, but the one speaking is actually the human being, pointing out to the clear elements of mediumistic trance where the voice of Rishi is transformed into the ‘voice of Indra’, for example, Indra is talking through the sage. The personification of Indra indicates the Central Asian elements in Rigveda, and it becomes obvious, that he was later adopted as an Aryan deity (Thompson, 2001).

Who were the people who created the Indus Valley culture? Some Hindu historians believe that it could be the Indo-Aryans, who were the authors of the Rigveda, but that is a subject of debate (Basham, 1954, p. 24). According to many archaeological findings, it is obvious that during that period, the northwest part of India was a meeting place of many races, including Mongoloid, Proto-Australoid and Caucasoid types. It is possible that Dravidian tribes who were the aboriginal settlers of India, until the arrival of Indo-Aryans, came from Central Asia to the region of the river Indus (Smart, 1989, p. 52). The language of the Indus script seems to be an early version of Dravidian language and many sculptures and seals symbolize the later Dravidian conceptions of fertility, which were based on animism (Worthington, 1989, p. 14). Also, the religious culture of Harappa has much in common with modern Hinduism, nowadays very popular in Dravidian parts of South India (Basham, 1954, p. 25). Many Dravidian gods have been included in the later Hinduism, and changed under the influence of Brahmanism.

Dravidian gods are of local origin and, basically, they represent village deities, spirits and souls of the deceased, mostly representing female divinities (Elmore, 1995, p. 10), which are connected to the Tantric cult of Shakti (Sanskrit śakti) and Yogini (Sanskrit yoginī). Yoginis were probably the priestess who can be possessed by goddess in the form of Kali, Durga (Sanskrit Kālī, Durgā), and attain the status of divinities. It is possible that they represent the traces of archaico-magical–esoteric cultural traditions of Munda and Dravidian tribes of the Central India, whose religious forms are dominated by shamanic worldview and strong worship of ancestor cult.

All female spirits embodying the Shakti (Brighenti, 2001, p. 214) are identified with shamanic priestess, who played an important role in religions of non-Aryan people. The nature spirits, modified as Yoginis, represent the supernatural powers, which are connected with shamanic practices and magic of the aboriginal people of India, often present in rituals mostly practiced by women (ibid., pp. 294–296). Some traditions of Tantric Siddhas show clear elements of shamanism, where yogis heal themselves from illness with the help of mantras (Sanskrit mantra). Ascetic yogins are addressed as Siddha or Siddhayogin (Sanskrit Siddha, siddhayogin—‘the prefect one, one that has attained perfection’) in Hinduism and Buddhism. There were also cases in which shamans got initiation in Siddha traditions. Orientalists mostly translate the term mantra as a ‘prayer, hymn’ or ‘mystical spell’. But, mantra does not have to mean prayer in a strictly religious sense. It represents the power (Sanskrit mantraśakti), which comes out for any purpose; a person can harm or even kill with the help of a mantra. Among the aboriginal tribes of India, the Sanskrit word ‘Bhagat’ (Sanskrit bhagat) has the meaning of the shaman, sorcerer, magician and medium, and such a term in the first place belongs to the adepts of the goddess (White, 1996, p. 298).

We can conclude that the practice of mediation and ecstatic techniques bears its origin not from Indo-Aryans but from the people living during the period of Indus Valley civilization, and that the cult of ‘horned deities’ in India and Central Asia points out to the complexity of the origin of the white shamanism. These are the reasons this topic needs further scientific exploration.