The “Kamasutra” temples of India: A case for the encoding of psychedelically induced spirituality
Journal of Psychedelic Studies May 29, 2019 Meena Maillart-Garg, Michael Winkelman 21 citations
The essay argues that entheogenic mushrooms and shamanic experiences are encoded in the erotic sculptures of the Khajuraho Temples in India. Statues with limbs in anatomically impossible positions or separated from the body represent dismemberment experiences typical of shamanic and mystical initiation, a phenomenon with precedents in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The central placement of mushroom depictions in the temple structures supports the entheogenic hypothesis, though features distinguishing mushroom species are often ambiguous. The argument for the originality of Amanita muscaria is made by assessing principal names of the God Vishnu. A repeated “figure 8” pattern suggests artists deliberately constructed sculptures to appear vandalized to encode information about early stages of A. muscaria and other entheogenic fungi, connecting Hindu God Vishnu, Jain Mahaveera, and the Buddha.