Like the tribal people in the Vedic culture of about thousand years earlier, the tribal Tantric communities also asserted that their rituals and practices – their religio-cultural institutions – gave them access to supernatural powers. Similarly, they were often variations of the anthropological Shamanic Model outlined earlier. By this I mean that in response to the pressure from surrounding societies, crystallised around Shamanic leaders, these tribes -Vedic or Tantric found their identity and resistance in communities relying on supernatural powers and leaders.
A simplified historico-sociological map for the whole sub-continent therefore would show two cultural processes developing and living in parallel and interacting: the civilised states/kingdoms of the Great Tradition around Northern rivers and the community based life of the Little Tradition spread over the rest of the sub-continent (Redfield 1956). The latter often consisted of forest hunters, fishermen, pastoral farmers, shifting cultivators or warrior groups. In Central and Southern India during the mediaeval times these ethnic groups and local farmers were sucked into kingdoms emerging and expanding along irrigated river plains settling around temple centres and trading centres. These new kingdoms initially reflected the culture of the Little Tradition, but the rulers also adapted the Great Tradition’s political and social institutions. They built their kingdoms and dynasties implementing new political and social structures copied from the Great Tradition, the caste system. And in this way they also transformed themselves into emerging Great Traditions. So this is just another way of describing the process of Hinduisation.
Often the expanding king or local ruler invited loyal warlords and Brahmins to settle in his territory by offering them land grants and control of temples. The Great and Little Traditions merged with the effect that Little Tradition doctrines and institutions became reflected in mediaeval Tantric literature. However this Tantric discourse signifies momentous changes in culture (Freeman 2005). What we witness in the Tantric scriptures is the first literate registration and adaptation of the culture of the Little Tradition, which was undergoing dramatic change in this period of society building. It is a clash of cultures and institutions – the merger of discourses creating new discourses.
Be sure to keep your neck and shoulders relaxed and stretched 8 yoga poses for weight loss away from each other. Your hips and thighs should be on top of the ball. 8 yoga poses for weight loss Lift both knees off the ball, squeezing your butt and hamstrings away from the ball. Hold. Release both knees back to the ball. Repeat 5 times, working your way up to 10 times. 89 ADVANCED Prone Shoulder Roll BENEFITS: Stretches the shoulder. Lie prone over the ball, and extend your legs straight out behind you, hip-distance apart.
