Surā Regained

Abstract

Chapter 8 presents a brief, simplified account of how drink was used in a selection of Tantric rituals, mainly as presented in some (though by no means all) Hindu Tantras, and in particular in the writings of the Kashmiri author Abhinavagupta. Additionally, this chapter explores a later text that contains a spectacular description of the personified goddess of liquor: Surā (and her nine cups): a mythological account of how humans came to have access to all the intoxicating substances they now possess. This text also mentions cannabis, which is discussed here along with opium, considering some ways in which new substances were incorporated into Indian religious and intellectual traditions.