Bhairava (the Aghoris), devotees of Lord Shiva, come from an ancient society of India and are known for their weird living and eating rituals.
Meaning ‘non-terrifying’ in Sanskrit, the term refers to how the community sees death and are not death fearing. This extremely secretive community is known to live in graveyards, wear ash from the cremated bodies and use human bones for rituals. Described as cannibals by some, the Aghoris believe that the human body is nothing but flesh with emotions and one should deny the human pleasures and be a part of their rituals.
To become a part of the community, an individual needs to meditate a minimum of twelve years to enhance the spiritual strength under the guidance of their guru. They believe their act of eating human flesh is a holy practice because according to them, when a person dies the body becomes useless and the soul simply escapes the body.
So they do not take there to be any difference in eating a dead chicken or a dead human being! Additionally, the members also practice cannibalism in the belief that eating human flesh provides spiritual and physical benefits such as immortality and also drink from human skulls. They are known to perform tantric rituals from the dead human bodies.
For an Aghori, residing in cremation grounds, forests or by the riverside is not just a ritual, but they rather enjoy the practice along with that of cannibalism where they dig cremated bodies for their meals. The ‘Bhakti’ also demands to cover themselves with the ashes of corpses, having sex with the corpses which is a practice called ‘necrophilia’ and mediating while seated again upon a corpse and thereby gaining control over the dead’s spirit.
An Aghoris’ lifestyle is symbolic of God Shiva and are often naked or only wear a shroud of a corpse. The communities’ headquarters is the Keenaram’s temple in Varanasi. Aghoris and their devotees pilgrimage is the samadhi.
An Aghori can look for an any holy place for cremation and there are several members of the society in India. During the Maha Shivratri, each member comes together at the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal to worship the “destroyer of evil and the transformer”.
