Brief History of Saivism with a Focus on Pasupati Aspect

Before dealing with the history of Pasupata system we need to briefly look into the concept of Siva itself. Even on the cost of repetition one cannot reject the seals found from Indus valley with the so called “Proto Siva” figure etched on them.The horned figure seated in possible Kurmasana and surrounded by animals has been considered as a very crucial find.Chakraborti ^[1] finds it of particular interest because of the yogic posture and the possible Ithyphallic aspect which connects very well in general with the yogic practices associated with Siva and in particular to the descriptions and images of Lakulisa. Moreover the central figure here is shown flanked by animals which again have led scholars to read the antecedents of future Pasupati Siva in it.

[Illustration 1. Protosiva, Indus valley, 2500BCE]

Considering the extremely scanty and scattered material from Indus valley I would like to restrain from reading too much into one particular visual representation.The seal I could see preserved in the National Musuem,Delhi at the most can lead one to form contentions. The enthusiasm with which scholars like Chakraborti try to link it with Lakulisa-Pasupata order though tempting requires further research in the nature of religion in Indus Valley civilization

Interestingly Daneilou^[2] ,a French scholar compares the content of the seal with a scene ethched on the Gundestrup cauldron, a richly decorated silver vessel dated to C.1^st BCE from Denmark. The scene in question depicts a horned male deity in somewhat crosslegged position holding what seems to be a rosary in one hand and a snake in the other. This central figure is flanked by animals on both sides. To the left is a stag with antlers very similar to the deity and there is a dog-like figure on the right.(coincidently both elements of later Siva and Bhairava iconography)

[Illustration 2. Gundestrup cauldron 1^st BCE, Denmark]

Compositionally the comparision seems to be justified and the fact that the vessel was used for ritualistic purposes establishes the religio-ritualistic importance of the central figure usually identified with Cernnunos^[3] , a Celtic deity. Moreover in his 1928 book Buddhism in Pre-Christian India, Donald Alexander Mackenzie^[4] proposed the figure was related to depictions of the Buddha as Virupaksha which has again connections with Siva thus stressing on a common stock for all the three icons.

Here it would suffice to say that certain ancient rituals and practices are not initially associated with a particular religion. Some forms, iconographies, rituals as well as folklore associated with them have parallel in various parts of the world. Though these may be known by different names in different places the practices, the esotericism and to quite some extent the visual depictions on closer examination reveal a common reserve maybe pointing at a very distant common past which all individuals must have shared. To be precise some aspects preserved in “Collective Unconcious”, a term taken from Carl Jung.

While explaining the concept Jung^[5] says:

“in addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche, there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents.”

Coming back to the figure on Indus seal the “urdhavalinga’ or the erect phallus is not clear enough and even if for a moment we believe it exists then its symbolic meaning again raises further questions like, Is it the virile symbol of male energy ready for creation or is it the male trying to retain the semen and channelize it in other form of energy viz: mental, spiritual or psychical. Here I am reminded of the Freudian idea of libidinal energy^[6] which according to him is the actual vital energy,the ultimate life force which is stored in Id in form of sexual energy and can be channalezed into various energies.

O’Flaherty’s excellent work “Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva” ^[7] explains this dichotomy in a very comprehensive and acceptable manner. To begin with she talks about the western scholars of Saivism who had access to very limited translated material and who found the sexual ambiguity in the nature of Siva as a result of his ‘NonAryan’antecendents (a term used,abused and misused by various scholars).The derogatory references to the “Sisna devas’ in Rg Veda^[8] was directly read as references to linga worshippers.However,Sayana^[9] explains the term Sisna-deva in a different way to mean wanton and sensual people.A simple example like this should wary us of too literal a translation of highly complex texts like Vedas.

Flaherty^[10] states:

The Siva of Brahmin philosophy is predominantly ascetic; the Siva of Tantric cult is predominantly sexual.But even in each of these elements of the contrasting nature are present, and in the myths which form a bridge between rational philosophy and irrational cult-Siva appears far more often in his dual aspect than in either one or the other

She then painstakingly refers to various Vedic, Vedantic and Epic texts to bring out this ambiguous sexual nature of Siva and suggests that:

The ambiguity of ithyphallicism is possible because, although the erect phallus is of course a sign of priapism, in Indian culture it is symbol of chastity as well”^[11]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Chakraborti Haripada, ‘Pasupata Sutra with Pancarthabhasya of Kaundinya, Translated with an Intoduction on the history of Saivism in India, Calcutta, 1969

[2]:

Daneilou A, ‘Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The tradition of Siva and Dionysus’, Inner Traditions Bear & Company, 1992

[3]:

Cernnunos: A Celtic deity

[4]:

Mackenzie D.A, ‘Buddhism in Pre-Christian India’, 1928

[5]:

Jung C.J., The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (London 1996) p. 43)

[6]:

Freud Sigmund, ‘The Unconcious’,Penguin Classics,2005

[7]:

Wendy O’Flaherty’‘Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva,Delhi,1975

[8]:

Rgveda-Samhita (text in Devanagari) English Translation, Notes and Indices by H.H Wilson, Ed. W.F Webster, Nag Publisher, Delhi, 1990, Hymn vii 21:5, x 99:3

[9]:

Rgveda-Samhita Srimat Sayanacharya virchita bhasya-sameksa Ed. by N.S Sontakke, Published by Vaidika Samsodhana Mandala, Pune, 1972,Hymn vii 21:5, x 99:3

[10]:

Wendy O’Flaherty’‘Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva pg 6

[11]:

Ibid pg 10