the latter seem to connect her with mountains. She is Uma
Haimavati, the daughter of the Himalayas, and Parvati, she of the
mountains, and was perhaps originally a sacred peak. In an interesting
but brief passage of the Kena Upanishad (III. 12 and IV. 1) Uma
Haimavati explains to the gods that a being whom they do not know is
Brahman. In later times we hear of a similar goddess in the Vindhyas,
Maharani Vindhyesvari, who was connected with human sacrifices and
Thugs.[688] Siva's consort, like her Lord, has many forms classified
as white or benignant and black or terrible. Uma belongs to the former
class but the latter (such as Kali, Durga, Camunda, Canda and Karala)
are more important.[689] Female deities bearing names like these are
worshipped in most parts of India, literally from the Himalaya to Cape
Comorin, for the latter name is derived from Kumari, the Virgin
goddess.[690] But the names Sakta and Saktism are usually restricted to
those sects in Bengal and Assam who worship the Consort of Siva with
the rites prescribed in the Tantras.

Saktism regards the goddess as the active manifestation of the
godhead. As such she is styled Sakti, or energy (whence the name
Sakta), and is also identified with Maya, the power which is
associated with Brahman and brings the phenomenal world into being.
Similar ideas appear in a philosophic form in the Sankhya teaching.
Here the soul is masculine and passive: its task is to extricate and
isolate itself. But Prakriti or Nature is feminine and active: to her
is due the evolution of the universe: she involves the soul in actions
which cause pain but she also helps the work of liberation.[691] In
its fully developed form the doctrine of the Tantras teaches that
Sakti is not an emanation or aspect of the deity. There is no
distinction between Brahman and Sakti. She is Parabrahman and
_paratpara_, Supreme of the Supreme.

The birthplace of Saktism as a definite sect seems to have been
north-eastern India[692] and though it is said to be extending in the
United Provinces, its present sphere of influence is still chiefly
Bengal and Assam.[693] The population of these countries is not Aryan
(though the Bengali language bears witness to the strong Aryan
influence which has prevailed there) and is largely composed of
immigrants from the north belonging to the Tibeto-Burman, Mon-Khmer
and Shan families. These tribes remain distinct in Assam but the
Bengali represents the fusion of such inv