Saktas, the worshippers of the Sakti (q. v.), the female ]irinciple, or the divine nature in action, which is personified under different forms, according as the worshippers incline towards the adoration of Vishnu or Siva — Saraswati being the Sakti, or wife, of Brah- ma; Lakshmi the .Sakti, or wife, of Vishnu; and Devi or Durga the Sakti, or wife, of Siva. Since Siva is tlie type of destruction, his energy, or wife, becomes still rnore the type of all that is terrific. As a conse- quence, her worship is based on the assumption that she can be propitiated only by practices which involve the destruction of life, and in which she herself delights.
SAKTI
250
SALADIN
Such a worsliip leads to brulalism and licentiousness, and it became the worst of all forms which the various aberratii>ns of the Hindu mind assumed. Appealing to the superstitions of the vulgar mind, it has its profess- ors chieflv among the lowest classes. Tlie works from which the tenets and rites of this religion are derived are known by the collective name of Tantras ; but as in some of these works the ritual enjoined does not com- prehend all tlie impure practices which are recommend- ed in others, the sect became divided into two leading branches — the Lakshinacharins and Vnmachaiins, or the followers of the right-hand and left-hand ritual. The Dakshinacharins are the more respectable of the two, although they indulge in practices contrary to the Vedic ritual. The Yamacharins adopt a ritual of the grossest impurities. Their object is, by reverencing Devi, who is one with Siva, to obtain supernatural powers in this life, and to be identified after death with Siva and his consort. The worship of Sakti requires the presence of a female as the living representative and type of the goddess, and is mostly celebrated in a mixed society — the men representing Bhairava (or Siva as the Territic), and the women Bhairavi (or Sakti as the Ter- ritic). The ceremony generally terminated with the most scandalous orgies among the votaries. The mem- bers of the sect are very numerous, especially among the Brahminical caste. All classes are, however, admissible and equal at these ceremonies. The particular insignia of ihe Saktas are a semicircular line or lines on the fore- head of red Sanders or vermilion, or a red streak up the middle of the forehead, with a circular spot of red at the root of the nose. The\' use a rosary made of the seeds of the el ocarpus or of coral beads, but of no greater length than may be concealed in the hand. In Avor- shippiiig they wear a piece of red silk round the loins and decorate themselves with garlands of crimson flow- ers. Two other sects are likewise mentioned as belong- ing to the Saktas, but it is doubtful whether they are still in existence. See Wilson, Sketch of Reliyioiis Sects of the Hindus, i, 240 sq. — Chcuiibers's Encijclop. s. v.
Sakti, the active volition or omnipotent energy of any one of the members of the Hindu Trimurti. It ma}' exist separately from the essence of Deity, and in such a case it is conceived to be invested with a species of personality, and to be capable of exerting an inde- pendent agency. When viewed as the cause of phe- nomena, or sensible appearances, it is called Maya (q. v.). The Sakti is worshipped by many Hindus, be- ing personated by a naked female, to whom meat and wine are offered. — Gardner, Faiths of the World, s. v.
Sakti Sodhaiia, a religious ceremony in connec- tion with the Salli, or personilied energy of Deity among the Hindus. The object of worship in this case should be a dancing-girl, a harlot, a washerwoman, or barber's wife, a female of the Brahminical or Sudra tribe, a flower-girl, or a milkmaid. The ceremony is performed at midnight with a part}' of eight, nine, or eleven couples. Appropriate mantras arc to be used, ac- cording to the description of the person selected for the Sakti, who is then to be worshipped according to the prescribed form. She is placed disrobed, but richly or- namented, on the left of a circle described for the pur- pose, with various mantras and gesticulations, and is to be rendered pure by the repetition of different formulas. Being finally sprinkled over with wine, the act being sanctified by tiie peculiar mantra, tlie Sakti is now puri- fied; but if not previously initiated, she is further to be made an adept by the communication of the radical man- tra whispered thrice in her car, when the object of the cer- emony is complete. — (Jardner, Faiths (fthe World, s. v.
Sakuntala, one of the most pleasing female char- acters of Ilindfi mythology. She is mentioned as a water-nymph in the Yajiirveda, is the subject of a beautiftd episode of the Mahahharata, and is spoken of in the I'lirunas, Her name has liecome specially fa- miliar in Europe through the celebrated drama of Kuli-
ddsa, which, introduced to us by Sir William Jones in 1780, became the starting-point of Sanscrit philology in Europe. — Chambers's Encyclop. s. v.
Sakyamuni, or Saint Sakya, a name of Buddha (q. v.), the founder of the Buddhist religion.
Sa'la (SaXa), the Greek form (Luke iii, 35) of the name of the patriarch Salah (q. v.), the father of Eber (Gen. X, 24).