ABSTRACT
Some periods of Indian history seem to have been especially drawn to self-torturous expressions of bloody devotion. One possible reason for this may be that those worshippers under the intolerable stress of epidemic disease and social upheaval reacted with introverted religious masochism. The two periods of the greatest expression of religious self-torture and self-sacrifice occurred in the 7th and 14th centuries CE. Indian attitudes ensure that an individual confronted with a certain painful death has the option to transform his death into an act of pious self-offering. The offering itself was not a depressing event; it was performed joyously. The European descriptions of self-decapitation accord with others, which represent the various blood offerings, flesh offerings and self-sacrifices as happy events, which were untainted by sadness or regret. Descriptions of self-offerings typically include the mention of loud music, drumming, dancing and the press of the crowds, elements that when combined are conducive to trance-like states.
