https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=MaithunaMaithuna - Revision history2026-07-31T20:32:12ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Maithuna&diff=458242&oldid=prevChristenHii at 16:31, 9 November 20252025-11-09T16:31:42Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Sanskrit term used in Tantra most often translated as "sexual union"}}<br />
{{Redirect|Mithuna|the genus of moth|Mithuna (moth)|the month|Mithuna (month)}}<br />
[[File:MET Asian Wing.jpg|thumb|Loving Couple, Maithuna, Eastern Ganga dynasty, 13th century Orissa, India]]<br />
'''''Maithuna''''' ([[Devanagari]]: मैथुन) is a [[Sanskrit]] term for [[sexual intercourse]] within [[Tantra]] ([[Tantric sex]]), or alternatively for the sexual fluids generated or the couple participating in the ritual.<ref name=Kiss/><ref name=Cush/> It is the most important of the [[Panchamakara]] and constitutes the main part of the grand ritual of Tantra also known as Tattva Chakra.<ref name=Elia>{{cite book |last=Eliade |first=Mircea |author-link=Mircea Eliade |title=Yoga: Immortality and Freedom |year=1969 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691017648 <!--|pages= -->}}{{page needed|date=January 2021}}</ref> Maithuna means the union of opposing forces, underlining the [[Nondualism (spirituality)|nonduality]] between human and divine,<ref name=Elia/> as well as worldly enjoyment (''[[kama]]'') and spiritual liberation (''[[moksha]]'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Paul |title=Kāma Kalpa, Or, The Hindu Ritual of Love |year=1960 |publisher=D.B. Taraporevala |location=Bombay [Mumbai] |oclc=762156601 <!--|pages= -->}}{{page needed|date=January 2021}}</ref> Maithuna is a popular icon in [[Hindu art|ancient Hindu art]], portrayed as a couple engaged in physical loving.<ref>{{cite book |last=Menzies |first=Jackie |title=Goddess: Divine Energy |year=2006 |publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales |isbn=978-0734763969}}</ref><br />
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==Concept==<br />
Maithuna entails male-female couples and their union in the physical, sexual sense as synonymous with [[kriya]] nishpatti (mature cleansing).<ref name=Devi>{{cite book |last=Devi |first=Kamala |title=The Eastern Way of Love |pages=19–27 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=1977 |isbn=0-671-22448-4}}</ref> Just as neither spirit nor matter by itself is effective but both working together bring harmony so is maithuna effective only then when the union is [[consecrated]]. The couple become for the time being divine: she is [[Shakti]] and he is [[Shiva]], and they confront ultimate reality and experience [[Ānanda (Hindu philosophy)|bliss]] through union. The scriptures warn that unless this spiritual transformation occurs, the union is incomplete.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garrison |first=Omar |title=Tantra: the Yoga of Sex |publisher=Causeway Books |year=1964 |page=103 |isbn=0-88356-015-1}}</ref> However, some writers, sects and schools like [[Paramahansa Yogananda|Yogananda]] consider this to be a purely mental and symbolic act, without actual intercourse.<ref name=Devi/><br />
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Yet it is possible to experience a form of maithuna not solely just through the physical union. The act can exist on a metaphysical plane with sexual energy penetration, in which the shakti and shakta transfer energy through their [[Three Bodies Doctrine#Sukshma sarira - subtle body|subtle bodies]] as well. It is when this transfer of energy occurs that the couple, incarnated as goddess and god via diminished [[Ahamkara|egos]], confronts ultimate reality and experiences bliss through sexual union of the subtle bodies.<ref name=Elia/><br />
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==History==<br />
{{main|Tantra#History}}<br />
[[File:Khajuraho10.jpg|thumb|Maithuna, Lakshmana Temple, [[Khajuraho Group of Monuments|Khajuraho]]]]<br />
[[File:38.Khajuraho Laksmana south wall mithuna.jpg|thumb|Maithuna, Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho]]<br />
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Maithuna intercourse has been traditionally interpreted to be performed with [[semen retention]] by the male practitioner,<ref name=Elia/> although other writers consider it optional, possibly relegated only to late Tantra.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Balaban |first1=Oded |last2=Erev |first2=Anan |title=The Bounds of Freedom: About the Eastern and Western Approaches to Freedom |year=1995 |publisher=P. Lang |isbn=978-0820425146}}</ref> Early maithuna might have insisted on generating sexual fluids (''maithunam dravyam'', or solely ''maithuna'' by [[metonymy]]) in order to be ritually ingested, in a similar way to the other four edible Panchamakara.<ref name=Kiss/><ref name=Cush>{{cite book |last1=Cush |first1=Denise |last2=Robinson |first2=Catherine |last3=York |first3=Michael |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135189785}}</ref> The shedding of semen is also compared to water-offering (''[[tarpana]]'').<ref name=Kiss>{{cite book |last=White |first=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White |title=Kiss of the Yogini: 'Tantric Sex' in its South Asian Contexts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5RwARVMg2_4C |year=2006 |edition=paperback |orig-year=2003 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-02783-8 |pages=81–85}}</ref> <br />
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Ascetics of the [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] school of [[Mantra marga|Mantramarga]], in order to gain supernatural power, reenacted the penance of [[Shiva]] after cutting off one of [[Brahma]]'s heads ([[Bhikshatana]]). They worshipped Shiva with impure substances like alcohol, blood and sexual fluids generated in orgiastic rites with their consorts.{{sfn|English|2013|p=40}} As part of tantric inversion of social regulations, sexual yoga often recommends the usage of consorts from the most taboo groups available, such as close relatives or people from the lowest sections of society. They must be young and beautiful, as well as initiates in tantra.{{sfn|English|2013|p=41}}<br />
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[[Jayanta Bhatta]], the 9th-century scholar of the [[Nyaya]] school of [[Hindu philosophy]] and who commented on Tantra literature, stated that the Tantric ideas and spiritual practices are mostly well placed, but it also has "immoral teachings" such as by the so-called "Nilambara" sect where its practitioners "wear simply one blue garment, and then as a group engage in unconstrained public sex" on festivals. He wrote that this practice is unnecessary and it threatens fundamental values of society.{{sfn|Flood|2006|pp=48-49}}<br />
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Later sources like [[Abhinavagupta]] in the tenth century warn that results of maithuna are not meant to be consumed like the rest of Panchamakara, calling those who do so "brutes" (''pasus'').{{cn|date=October 2023}} The 11th century ''[[Toḍala tantra]]'' places maithuna as the last of its ''pañcamakāra'' or "set of 5 M-words", namely ''madya'' (wine), ''māṃsa'' (meat), ''matsya'' (fish), ''mudrā'' (grain), and ''maithuna''.<ref name=Kiss/><br />
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Around the 12th century, practices seemed to turn towards the absorption of sexual fluids into the body of the practitioner, like that of ''[[vajroli mudra]]''.<ref name=Kiss/> This is related to similar practices like ''rajapana'', the drinking of female discharge found in [[Kaula (Hinduism)|Kaula]] Tantra, and the mixing of all five ingredients into nectar (''[[amrita]]'') in the [[Jagannatha]] temple of [[Puri]], as described by [[Frédérique Apffel-Marglin]].<ref name=Kiss/><br />
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Douglas Renfrew Brooks states that the antinomian elements such as the use of intoxicating substances and sex were not [[animistic]], but were adopted in some Kaula traditions to challenge the Tantric devotee to break down the "distinctions between the ultimate reality of Brahman and the mundane physical and mundane world". By combining erotic and ascetic techniques, states Brooks, the Tantric broke down all social and internal assumptions, became Shiva-like.{{sfn|Brooks|1990|pp=69–71}} In Kashmir Shaivism, states David Gray, the antinomian transgressive ideas were internalized, for meditation and reflection, and as a means to "realize a transcendent subjectivity".{{sfn|Gray|2016|p=11}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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===Works cited===<br />
{{refbegin|2}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Brooks |first=Douglas Renfrew |title=The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f22pAqKz3zsC |year=1990 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-07569-3}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=English |first=Elizabeth |title=Vajrayogini: Her Visualization, Rituals, and Forms |url= |year=2013 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-861-71657-9}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Flood |first=Gavin D. |author-link=Gavin Flood |title=The Tantric Body, The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion |publisher=I.B Taurus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Uer8W670IoC |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84511-011-6}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Gray |first=David B. |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |chapter=Tantra and the Tantric Traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.59 |isbn=9780199340378}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{commons category inline|Mithuna}}<br />
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{{Yoginis}}<br />
[[Category:Tantric practices]]<br />
[[Category:Hinduism and sexuality]]<br />
[[Category:Religious sex rituals]]</div>ChristenHii