ome different persons is very prevalent in Tibetan
mythology which is borrowed from medieval Bengal.]

[Footnote 690: Though there are great temples erected to goddesses in
S. India, there are also some signs of hostility to Saktism. See the
curious legends about an attendant of Siva called Bhringi who would
not worship Parvati. Hultzsch, _South Indian Inscriptions_, II. ii. p.
190.]

[Footnote 691: There is a curious tendency in India to regard the male
principle as quiescent, the female as active and stimulating. The
Chinese, who are equally fond of using these two principles in their
cosmological speculations, adopt the opposite view. The _Yang_ (male)
is positive and active. The _Yin_ (female) is negative and passive.]

[Footnote 692: The Mahanirvana Tantra seems to have been composed in
Bengal since it recommends for sacrificial purposes (VI. 7) three
kinds of fish said to be characteristic of that region. On the other
hand Buddhist works called Tantras are said to have been composed in
north-western India. Udyana had an old reputation for magic and even
in modern times Saktism exists in western Tibet and Leh. It is highly
probable that in all these districts the practice of magic and the
worship of mountain goddesses were prevalent, but I find little
evidence that a definite Sakta sect arose elsewhere than in Bengal and
Assam or that the Saktist corruption of Buddhism prevailed elsewhere
than in Magadha and Bengal.]

[Footnote 693: But the Brahmans of isolated localities, like Satara in
the Bombay Presidency, are said to be Saktas and the Kanculiyas of S.
India are described as a Saktist sect.]

[Footnote 694: The law-giver Baudhayana seems to have regarded Anga
and Vanga with suspicion, I. 1.13, 14.]

[Footnote 695: See especially the story of Manasa Devi in Dinesh
Chandra Sen (_Beng. Lang. and Lit_. 257), who says the earliest
literary version dates from the twelfth century. But doubtless the
story is much older.]

[Footnote 696: Viratap. chap. VI. (not in all MSS.). Bhishmap. chap.
XXIII. Also in the Harivamsa, _vv._ 3236 ff. Pargiter considers that
the Devi-Mahatmya was probably composed in the fifth or sixth century.
Chap. XXI. of the Lotus Sutra contains a spell invoking a goddess
under many names. Though this chapter is an addition to the original
work, it was translated into Chinese between 265 and 316.]

[Footnote 697: But he does mention the worship of the Divine Mothers.
Harshacar. VII. 250 an