# Aghori

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Tantric Shaivite tradition and monastic order

For other uses, see [Aghori (disambiguation)](/source/Aghori_(disambiguation)).

Aghori An Aghori at a ghat in Varanasi Total population A few thousand[1] Regions with significant populations Varanasi, North India

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The **Aghori** (from [Sanskrit](/source/Sanskrit_language): अघोर, [lit.](/source/Literal_translation) 'not dreadful', 'dreadless', [IAST](/source/IAST): *aghora*) are a Hindu [monastic order](/source/Monasticism) of [ascetic](/source/Asceticism) [Shaivite](/source/Shaivism) [sadhus](/source/Sadhu) based in [Uttar Pradesh](/source/Uttar_Pradesh), India.[2] They are the only surviving sect derived from the *[Kāpālika](/source/Kapalika)* tradition, a [Tantric](/source/Tantra), non-[Puranic](/source/Puranic) form of [Shaivism](/source/Shaivism) which originated in [Medieval India](/source/Medieval_India) between the 4th and 8th century CE.[2][3][4][5][6]

Similarly to their Shaivite predecessors,[2] Aghoris usually engage in [post-mortem](/source/Post-mortem_interval) rituals, often dwell in [charnel grounds](/source/Charnel_ground), smear [cremation](/source/Cremation) ashes on their bodies,[7] and use bones from human corpses for crafting *[kapāla](/source/Kapala)* ([skull cups](/source/Skull_cups) which [Shiva](/source/Shiva) and other [Hindu deities](/source/Hindu_deities) are often iconically depicted holding or using) and jewellery.[3][4][5] They also practice post-mortem [cannibalism](/source/Human_cannibalism), eating flesh from foraged human corpses, including those taken from [cremation ghats](/source/Shmashana).[8][9]

Their practices are sometimes considered contradictory to orthodox [Hinduism](/source/Hinduism).[3][4][5][10] Many Aghori [gurus](/source/Guru) command great reverence from rural populations and are widely referred to in [medieval and modern works of Indian literature](/source/Indian_literature), as they are supposed to possess healing powers gained through their intensely [eremitic](/source/Hermit) rites and practices of [renunciation](/source/Renunciation) and *[tápasya](/source/Tapas_(Sanskrit))*.[3][4][5]

## Beliefs and practices

The Aghorī tradition and its precursors within [Shaivism](/source/Shaivism)

Aghoris are Hindu devotees of [Shiva](/source/Shiva) [manifested](/source/Avatar) as [Bhairava](/source/Bhairava),[3][4][5][11] and ascetics who seek [liberation](/source/Moksha) (*mokṣa*) from the [endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth](/source/Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra) (*saṃsāra*). This freedom is attained through the knowledge that [the Self](/source/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism)) (*ātman*) is identical to the eternal and formless [metaphysical Absolute](/source/Absolute_(philosophy)) called *[Brahman](/source/Brahman)*. Because of their [monistic doctrine](/source/Monism), the Aghoris maintain that [all opposites are ultimately illusory](/source/Nonduality_(spirituality)). The purpose of embracing [intoxicant substances](/source/Psychoactive_drug), [pollution](/source/Pollution), and physical degradation through various [Tantric](/source/Tantra) rituals and customs is the [realisation of non-duality](/source/Advaita_Vedanta) (*advaita*) transcending social [taboos](/source/Taboo), attaining what is essentially an [altered state of consciousness](/source/Altered_state_of_consciousness) and perceiving the illusory nature of all conventional categories.

Aghori rituals, which are performed precisely to oppose notions of purity commonplace in orthodox [Hinduism](/source/Hinduism), are typically [macabre](/source/Macabre) in nature.[12][13] The practices of Aghoris vary[4] and include living in [cemeteries](/source/Cemetery), smearing [cremation](/source/Cremation) ashes on their bodies,[7] using human skulls for decoration and bowls, [smoking marijuana](/source/Cannabis_smoking), [drinking alcohol](/source/Alcoholic_beverage), and [sitting in meditation](/source/Meditative_postures) on top of corpses.[14][15] Although contrary to mainstream Hinduism, these practices exemplify the Aghori philosophy of criticising commonplace social relations and fears through the use of culturally offensive acts.[12] Furthermore, they demonstrate the Aghoris' acceptance of death as a necessary and natural part of the human experience.[12][16]

Another unusual Aghori belief is that they attribute spiritual and physical benefits, such as the prevention of ageing, to the [consumption of human flesh](/source/Human_cannibalism). In 2006, an Indian TV crew witnessed one Aghori feasting on a corpse discovered floating in the [Ganges](/source/Ganges)[8] and a member of the [Dom](/source/Dom_(caste)) caste reports that Aghori often take bodies from [cremation *ghats*](/source/Ghat#Shmashana,_the_cremation_ghats) (or [funeral pyres](/source/Pyre)).[9]

## History

An Aghori with a human skull, c. 1875

An Aghori in [Satopant](/source/Satopanth)

An Aghori in [Badrinath](/source/Badrinath) smoking [hashish](/source/Hashish) or [cannabis](/source/Cannabis_(drug)) from a [chillum](/source/Chillum_(pipe))

In his book *Yoga: Immortality and Freedom* (1958), the religion scholar [Mircea Eliade](/source/Mircea_Eliade) remarks that the "Aghorīs are only the successors to a much older and widespread ascetic order, the [Kāpālikas](/source/Kapalika), or 'wearers of skulls'."[2] According to [David Lorenzen](/source/David_Lorenzen), there is a paucity of primary sources on the Kāpālikas, and historical information about them is available from fictional works and other traditions who disparage them.[3][17][2] Various [Indian texts](/source/Indian_literature) claim that the Kāpālikas drank liquor freely, both for ritual and as a matter of habit.[3] The Chinese pilgrim to India in the 7th century CE, [Xuanzang](/source/Xuanzang), in his memoir on what is now [Northwestern Pakistan](/source/Geography_of_Pakistan), wrote about [Buddhists](/source/Indian_Buddhism) living with naked ascetics who covered themselves with ashes and wore bone wreathes on their heads, but Xuanzang does not call them *Kāpālikas* or any particular name. Historians of [Indian religions](/source/Indian_religions) and scholars of [Hindu studies](/source/Hindu_studies) have interpreted these ascetics variously as Kāpālikas, [Jain](/source/Jainism) [Digambara monks](/source/Digambara_monk), and [Pashupatas](/source/Pashupata_Shaivism).[3]

The Kāpālikas were more of a monastic order, states Lorenzen, and not a sect with a textual doctrine.[3] The Kāpālika tradition gave rise to the [Kulamārga](/source/Kaula_(Hinduism)), a subsect of Tantric Shaivism which preserves some of the distinctive features of the Kāpālika tradition.[18] Some of the Kāpālika Shaiva practices are found in [Vajrayana Buddhism](/source/Vajrayana_Buddhism),[2] and scholars disagree on who influenced whom.[19] Today, the Kāpālika tradition survives within its Shaivite offshoots: the Aghori order, [Kaula](/source/Kaula_(Hinduism)), and [Trika](/source/Trika) traditions.[17][2]

Although akin to the Kāpālika ascetics of [Medieval India](/source/Medieval_India) and [Kashmir](/source/Kashmir), as well as the [Kālāmukha](/source/Kalamukha) of the [Deccan Plateau](/source/Deccan_Plateau), with whom there may be a historical connection, the Aghoris trace their origin to [Baba Keenaram](/source/Baba_Keenaram), a Shaivite ascetic who is said to have lived 150 years, dying during the second half of the 18th century.[20][21] [Dattatreya](/source/Dattatreya) the [avadhuta](/source/Avadhuta), to whom has been attributed the esteemed nondual medieval song, the *[Avadhuta Gita](/source/Avadhuta_Gita)*, was a founding [adi guru](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adi-guru) of the Aghor tradition according to Barrett (2008: p. 33):

Lord Dattatreya, an antinomian form of Shiva closely associated with the cremation ground, who appeared to [Baba Keenaram](/source/Baba_Keenaram) atop [Mount Girnar](/source/Girnar) in Gujarat. Considered to be the *adi guru* (ancient spiritual teacher) and founding deity of Aghor, Lord Dattatreya offered his own flesh to the young ascetic as *prasād* (a kind of blessing), conferring upon him the power of clairvoyance and establishing a guru-disciple relationship between them.[22]

Tantric goddess [Bhairavi](/source/Bhairavi) and [Shiva](/source/Shiva) depicted as [Kāpālika ascetics](/source/Kapalika), sitting in a [charnel ground](/source/Charnel_ground). Painting by [Payag](/source/Payag) from a 17th-century manuscript (c. 1630–1635), [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), [New York City](/source/New_York_City).

Aghoris also hold sacred the [Hindu](/source/Hindu) deity [Dattatreya](/source/Dattatreya) as a predecessor to the Aghori tradition. Dattatreya was believed to be an incarnation of [Brahma](/source/Brahma), [Vishnu](/source/Vishnu), and [Shiva](/source/Shiva) united in the same singular physical body. Dattatreya is revered in all schools of Tantra, which is the philosophy followed by the Aghora tradition, and he is often depicted in Hindu artwork and its holy scriptures of folk narratives, the [Puranas](/source/Puranas), indulging in Aghori "[left-hand](/source/Vamachara)" Tantric worship as his prime practice. Aghoris are known for controversial rituals such as *shava samskara or [shava sadhana](/source/Shava_sadhana)* (a worship ritual in which a corpse is used as altar) to invoke the mother goddess in her form as Smashan [Tara](/source/Tara_(Devi)) (Tara of the Cremation Grounds).

In Hindu iconography, Tara, like [Kali](/source/Kali), is one of the ten [Mahavidyas](/source/Mahavidya) (wisdom goddesses) and once invoked can bless the Aghori with supernatural powers. The most popular of the ten Mahavidyas who are worshiped by Aghoris are [Dhumavati](/source/Dhumavati), [Bagalamukhi](/source/Bagalamukhi), and [Bhairavi](/source/Bhairavi). The male Hindu deities primarily worshiped by Aghoris for supernatural powers are manifestations of [Shiva](/source/Shiva), including [Mahākāla](/source/Mah%C4%81k%C4%81la), [Bhairava](/source/Bhairava), [Virabhadra](/source/Virabhadra), [Avadhuta](/source/Avadhuta), and others.

Barrett (2008: p. 161) discusses the "[charnel ground](/source/Charnel_ground) sādhanā" of the Aghora in both its left and right-handed proclivities and identifies it as principally cutting through attachments and aversion and foregrounding primordiality; a view uncultured, undomesticated:[23]

The gurus and disciples of Aghor believe their state to be primordial and universal. They believe that all human beings are natural-born Aghori. Hari Baba has said on several occasions that human babies of all societies are without discrimination, that they will play as much in their own filth as with the toys around them. Children become progressively discriminating as they grow older and learn the culturally specific attachments and aversions of their parents. Children become increasingly aware of their mortality as they bump their heads and fall to the ground. They come to fear their mortality and then palliate this fear by finding ways to deny it altogether.

In this sense, the Aghora sādhanā is a process of unlearning deeply internalised cultural models. When this sādhanā takes the form of charnel ground sādhanā, the Aghori faces death as a very young child, simultaneously meditating on the totality of life at its two extremes. This ideal example serves as a prototype for other Aghor practices, both left and right, in ritual and in daily life."[23]

Lord Aghora, an antinomian and annihilater form of Shiva closely associated with the cremation ground, who appeared to [Baba Keenaram](/source/Baba_Keenaram) atop Girnar Mountain in Gujarat. Considered to be the *adi guru* (ancient spiritual teacher) and founding deity of Aghor, Lord Dattatreya offered his own flesh to the young ascetic as *prasād* (a kind of blessing), conferring upon him the power of clairvoyance and establishing a guru-disciple relationship between them.[24]

## See also

- [Aghora Yoga](/source/Aghora_Yoga)

- [Baul](/source/Baul)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Wetmore, Kevin J. Jr. (2021). *Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters*. London: Reaktion Books. p. 53.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-Eliade_1958_2-6) [Eliade, Mircea](/source/Mircea_Eliade) (1969) [1958]. ["Chapter VIII: Yoga and Aboriginal India — Aghorīs, Kāpālikas"](https://books.google.com/books?id=L-WvAvKOwc0C&pg=PA296). *Yoga: Immortality and Freedom*. [Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology](/source/Bollingen_Foundation). Vol. LVI. [Bucharest](/source/Bucharest), [Chicago](/source/Chicago), and [Princeton](/source/Princeton%2C_New_Jersey): [Princeton University Press](/source/Princeton_University_Press)/[University of Bucharest](/source/University_of_Bucharest)/[University of Chicago Press](/source/University_of_Chicago_Press). pp. 296–298. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780691142036](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780691142036).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-Lorenzen_2020_3-8) Lorenzen, David N. (2020) [1972]. ["Chapter I: Four Śaivite Sects"](https://books.google.com/books?id=qRp4EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1). *The Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas: Two Lost Śaivite Sects*. Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies (1st ed.). [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley%2C_California) and [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles): [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press). pp. 1–12. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1525/9780520324947-003](https://doi.org/10.1525%2F9780520324947-003). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780520324947](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780520324947). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1224279234](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1224279234).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Barrett2008_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Barrett2008_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Barrett2008_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Barrett2008_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Barrett2008_4-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-Barrett2008_4-5) Barrett, Ronald L. (2008). ["Introduction"](https://books.google.com/books?id=SGFNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1). *Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in Northern India*. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 1–28. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780520941014](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780520941014).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Urban_2007_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Urban_2007_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Urban_2007_5-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Urban_2007_5-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Urban_2007_5-4) [Urban, Hugh B.](/source/Hugh_Urban) (2007) [2003]. ["India's Darkest Heart: Tantra in the Literary Imagination"](https://books.google.com/books?id=wvtLClojU_4C&pg=PA106). *Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion* (1st ed.). [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley%2C_California) and [Delhi](/source/Delhi): [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press)/[Motilal Banarsidass](/source/Motilal_Banarsidass). pp. 106–133. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1525/california/9780520230620.003.0004](https://doi.org/10.1525%2Fcalifornia%2F9780520230620.003.0004). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780520236561](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780520236561). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [10.1525/j.ctt1pp4mm.9](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pp4mm.9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-lochtefeld349_6-0)** James G. Lochtefeld (2001). [*The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 1*](https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC&pg=PA349). The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 349. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8239-3179-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8239-3179-8).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Staff2014_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Staff2014_7-1) Staff Reporter (9 March 2014). ["Westerners Flock to Join Indian Cannibal Sect"](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/westerners-flock-join-indian-cannibal-sect-1439533). *[International Business Times](/source/International_Business_Times)*.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-today_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-today_8-1) ["Indian doc focuses on Hindu cannibal sect"](https://www.today.com/popculture/indian-doc-focuses-hindu-cannibal-sect-wbna9842124#.UsLVWdIW1A0). *Today*. [The Associated Press](/source/The_Associated_Press). 27 October 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_9-1) ["Aghoris"](http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/aghoris/3360380). *Encounter*. 12 November 2006. ABC.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** John Bowker, *The Meanings of Death*, Cambridge University Press, p. 164.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** "Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstasy" Page 46, by Wolf-Dieter Storl

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_12-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_12-2) Suri, R.; Pitchford, D. (2010). "The Gift of Life: Death As Teacher in the Aghori Sect". *International Journal of Transpersonal Studies*. **29**: 128–134. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.24972/IJTS.2010.29.1.128](https://doi.org/10.24972%2FIJTS.2010.29.1.128). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [24887302](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:24887302).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Rebello2017_13-0)** Rebello, Lara (11 March 2017). ["Hindus outraged as CNN's new series shows Reza Aslan eating human brains with India's Aghori sect"](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hindus-outraged-cnns-new-series-shows-reza-aslan-eating-human-brains-indias-aghori-sect-1610988). *[International Business Times](/source/International_Business_Times)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Sharma, Nitasha; Rickly, Jillian (2 November 2019). ["'The smell of death and the smell of life': authenticity, anxiety and perceptions of death at Varanasi's cremation grounds"](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F1743873X.2019.1610411). *Journal of Heritage Tourism*. **14** (5–6): 466–477. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/1743873X.2019.1610411](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F1743873X.2019.1610411). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[11370/0a873351-d242-4de1-a75b-9dc432e31d60](https://hdl.handle.net/11370%2F0a873351-d242-4de1-a75b-9dc432e31d60). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [164957487](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:164957487).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Holden, Lynn (2001). *Taboos: Structure and Rebellion*. The Institute for Cultural Research. p. 19. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0904674330](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0904674330).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Sharma, Nitasha (14 March 2020). ["Dark tourism and moral disengagement in liminal spaces"](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F14616688.2020.1713877). *Tourism Geographies*. **22** (2): 273–297. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/14616688.2020.1713877](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F14616688.2020.1713877). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[11370/683749ee-d0a5-472a-a447-d26769d23ea9](https://hdl.handle.net/11370%2F683749ee-d0a5-472a-a447-d26769d23ea9). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1461-6688](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1461-6688).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Barrett_2008_17-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Barrett_2008_17-1) Barrett, Ronald L. (2008). ["Introduction"](https://books.google.com/books?id=SGFNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1). *Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in Northern India* (1st ed.). [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley%2C_California), [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), and [London](/source/London): [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press). pp. 1–28. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780520941014](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780520941014). [LCCN](/source/LCCN_(identifier)) [2007007627](https://lccn.loc.gov/2007007627).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Sanderson, Alexis. ["The Śaiva Literature."](http://www.alexissanderson.com/uploads/6/2/7/6/6276908/sanderson_2014_the_saiva_literature_jist_kyoto_(1).pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104838/http://www.alexissanderson.com/uploads/6/2/7/6/6276908/sanderson_2014_the_saiva_literature_jist_kyoto_(1).pdf) 4 March 2016 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) Journal of Indological Studies (Kyoto), Nos. 24 & 25 (2012–2013), 2014, pp.4-5, 11, 57.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Ronald Davidson (2002), *Indian Esoteric Buddhism*, Columbia University Press. pages 202-218

1. **[^](#cite_ref-IBT2017_20-0)** Roy, Ananya (11 March 2017). ["Mystical or magical? Who are the Aghoris who feed on human brains and mate with corpses?"](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mystical-magical-who-are-aghoris-who-feed-human-brains-mate-corpses-1611017). *[International Business Times](/source/International_Business_Times)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Parry1994_21-0)** Parry, J. P. (1994). *Death in Banaras*. Cambridge University Press.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Barrett, Ron (2008). *Aghor medicine: pollution, death, and healing in northern India*. Edition: illustrated. University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-520-25218-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-25218-7), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-25218-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-25218-9). Source: [\[1\]](https://books.google.com/books?id=BSeYR93tIzwC&dq=dattatreya+aghor&pg=PA33) (accessed: Sunday 21 February 2010), p.33.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_23-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_23-1) Barrett, Ron (2008). *Aghor medicine: pollution, death, and healing in northern India.* Edition: illustrated. University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-520-25218-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-25218-7), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-25218-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-25218-9). p.161.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Barrett, Ron (2008).

## Further reading

- Dallapiccola, Anna (2002). *Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend*. Thames & Hudson. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-500-51088-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-500-51088-1).

- Howard, John (2018). [*The Aghorī: Modern Myth or Ancient Truth*](https://www.academia.edu/42043486) (Master's thesis). University of London. Retrieved 20 March 2025.

- McDermott, Rachel F.; Kripal, Jeffrey J. (2003). *Encountering Kālī: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West*. University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-23239-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-23239-6).

- McEvilley, Thomas (2002). *The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies*. Allworth Communications, Inc. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-58115-203-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-58115-203-6).

- Parry, Jonathan P. (1994). *Death in Banaras*. Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-521-46625-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-46625-3).

- Patel, Rajan (2016). *Feast of Varanasi*. Raafilms.

- Svoboda, Robert (1986). *Aghora: At the Left Hand of God*. Brotherhood of Life. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-914732-21-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-914732-21-8).

- Svoboda, Robert (1993). *Aghora II: Kundalini*. Brotherhood of Life. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-914732-31-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-914732-31-5).

## External links

- Media related to [Aghori](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Aghori) at Wikimedia Commons

- ["Conversation with an Aghori Baba" videotaped in Varanasi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8eZVHa4fdk) archived at [Ghostarchive.org](https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/y8eZVHa4fdk) on 18 June 2022

- Joël Gugler (2024), [Cannibal monks (Aghori)](https://joelgugler.com/cannibals/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aghori](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aghori) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aghori?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.