Religion, Religious Myths and Legends (Introduction)

Much information could be gleaned from Amarakośa on the religious practices of the day and Kṣīrasvāmin adds supplementary information b y referring to various texts. By and large, it could be seen that Vedic sacrifices were still performed with faith and devotion. Śiva, Viṣṇu and Śakti were the prominent deities of worship. Buddhism and Jainism were also equally prevalent.

It is interesting to note that Kṣīrasvāmin mentions the Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, Śākta, Bauddha and Jaina schools of religion with their sub-sects in the Brahma varga after commenting on yama and niyama (II. 7. 49; p. 173).

Though Amarakośa does not mention any religious sect in his text, Kṣīrasvāmin takes an opportunity to mention these schools probably much prevalent during his time–

śaiva ūrdhvasrotasikaḥ siddhāntī śuddha mārgikaḥ |
pañcārthikaḥ pāśupato lākulo'tha mahāvratī |
kāpālī somasiddhāntī tāntrikaḥ syādviśeṣadṛk |
yāmalo'dvayamārgī syāttrikabhedī ṣaḍardhikaḥ |
pūrvāmnāyī mahāmārgo bhairavī dakṣiṇāgamaḥ |
śākto vāmasrotasikaḥ kaula ānvayiko mataḥ |
ekāyanaḥ sātvataśca vaiṣṇavaḥ pāñcacarātrikaḥ |
raktāmbaro bhadantaśca śākyaḥ śramaṇavandakau |
bhikṣuḥ śvetaḥ śvetapaṭaḥ kṣapaṇārṣirdigaṃbaraḥ |
nagnāṭaḥ śrāvako'hnīko nirgrantho jīvajīvakau |

Of the śaiva schools he mentions the Siddhānta school, Pañcārthikaḥ or Pāśupata also called Lākula school, the Kāpāla school and Trika schools. Of the Tāntra practices he mentions Pūrvāmnāyī and Dakṣiṇāgama.

The Śākta school is mentioned with two sub divisions—Vāmasrotasika and Kaula; Vaiṣṇava with Ekāyanaḥ and Pāṅcarātrika; Bauddha school with two sects–Śramaṇa and Vandaka and Jainas also with two sects–Śvetāmbara and Digambara.

The Siddhānta school is also called as Śaiva or Siddhānta school. This school is represnted by Śambhudeva and Śrīkaṇṭhaśivācārya. According to this school Śiva develops in himself a Śakti or power consisting of the rudiments of the individual soul and the material world, and from this power the whole world is developed.

The Pāśupata school is the earliest Śaiva school which is also called as the Lākula school after its founder Lakula or Nakula. The Pāśupata sūtras were commented upon by Kauṇḍinya and it was called Pañcārtha bhāṣya earning the name to its followers Pāṅcarātrikas.

The Kāpāla school is mentioned by Rāmānuja in his bhāṣya on Brahmasūtra II. 2. 37. They were also called Mahāvratiṃs as they observed great vows such as eating food in the skull; besmearing the body with ashes of the dead body; eating the ashes; holding a club; keeping a pot of wine and worshipping the god as seated therein. Literary works belonging to this school are not available so far and hence their philosophical views are not known. Prof. R. G. Bhandarkar opines that the Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas^[1] were not distinguished and might be synonymous.

The Trika school is also called the Kashmir Saivism. Kashmir Saivism ia a kind of monoism or nondualism. This system is known as Trika, Spanda or Pratyabhijñā. It mainly deals with three principles viz., Śiva-Śakti-aṇu or pati-pāśa-paśu–God-bond- Soul thus earning the name trika. Though these principles are accepted in other schools of Saivism, Kashmir Saivism regards the individual soul and the world as essentially identical with Śiva and so the three according to this school is reducible to one. Vasugupta (8th or 9th C. A.D.) is believed to have got the revelations from Śiva and the propogator of this school. Abhinavagupta is a great advocator of this school.

The Śākta school is mentioned as—Vāmasrotasika–‘left–stream practices’ meaning ‘reverse’ process towards the goal. The Kulārṇava tantra mentions seven ācāras or paths in sequence: Veda, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, Dakṣiṇa, Vāma, Siddhānta and Kaula. The emphasis in the Vedic descipline is on ritual, in the Vaiṣṇava on devotion and the śaiva on knowledge. The fourth, Dakṣiṇa seeks to coserve the results gained in the first three. All these stages are in the process of going forth. From the Vāmācāra the return current commences because of the use of wine, women and the like called the pañcamakāras. The last two stages in the tāntrika descipline viz. Siddhānta and Kaula complete the process of making the soul divine.

Probably Kṣīrasvāmin refers to these pracrtices of the śākta school in the expression–

pūrvāmnāyī mahāmārgo bhairavī dakṣiṇāgamaḥ |
śākto vāmasrotasikaḥ kaula ānvayiko mataḥ|

The Vaishnavaites call their literary and doctrinal heritage Pañcarātra, hence its followers are called Pāñcarātrikas. They are also termed ekāntin or ekāntika as they believe that this school was the only way (ekāyana) for emancipation; Also called Sātvatas or Vaiṣṇavas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

For details, see–Vasundhara Filliozat, Kālāmukha and Pāśupata Templs in Dharwar, The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Chennai -4, 2001.