Pasupata History (Introduction)

An interesting passage quoted in Varaha Purana^[1] narrates the story of Sage Gautama who had given refuge in his ashram to some rishis during a long famine. When the famine was over these rishis desired to go to various pilgrimages but fearing Gautama’s refusal they cheated him and wrongly accused him of “go hatya’ (cow slaying) and so on that pretext left his ashrama.To repent for his supposed sin Gautama went to Himalayas and prayed to Siva for a hundred years and finally obtained from Lord’s jatamandala, some gangajala to sprinkle on the dead cow.After reviving the cow this holy water flowed in the form of Godavari. On realizing the cunning of the rishis Gautama cursed them to be Vedabahyas or those outside the pale of vedic religion.On being appeased by the apologetic rishis he mellowed down and granted that they could only rise to heaven through bhakti. The fallen rishis went to Kailasa and prayed to Siva to grant them some sastras which had a few vedic rites at least. Thence they were decreed to be born to the Raudras, the lovers of spirituous liquors and flesh, who sprang up from the sweatdrops which flowed from Siva while he was in the aspect of Bhairava and to these rishis he gave the Pasupata Sastra. This last sentence sheds quite some light on the position of Pasupatas.

Before one starts to ask questions about Lakulisa and the order founded by him one needs to look into any possible precedents of Pasupata thought. Embarking on this journey one encounters an intriguing character ‘Srikantha’,who is considered as the original founder of Pasupata school. In later traditions as we will see he is completely deified that his having been human being has been questioned by various scholars. We should remember it is the same tradition which has deified Lakulisa to an extent that scholars had to go to great lengths to assert his humanity.

Mahabharata mentions Pasupata as one of the five religious schools. It is supposed to have been revealed by Srikantha, the consort of Uma(uma pati) and son of a Brahmin (which has been translated as Brahma by V.S Pathak.) ^{[2] [3]} but which clearly speaks of a Brahmin parentage and does not claim Brahma to be the father^[4]

The tradition recurs in several works belonging to various schools of Saivism and composed in different parts of the country but it is rather difficult to ascribe any date for the origin of this order.R.G.Bhandarkar who played a great role in bringing the LakulisaPasupata school to forefront somehow for whatever reasons best known to himself downplayed the humanity of Srikantha. He rather considered him an incarnation of Lord Siva and only one of the nomenclatures used for the Lord in Lakulisa-Pasupata order.

He remarks^[5]

“Lakula was the general name by which the Saiva sects were called …this general name has for its basis the historical fact that a person of the name of Lakulin or Lakulisa founded a Saiva system corresponding to the Pancharatra system which the Vayu and Linga Puranas consider to be contemporaneous with it.”

He further states that:

“The other general name Pasupata arose by dropping the name of the human individual Lakulin and substituting that of the the god Pasupati, whose incarnation he was believed to be”

But the tradition preserved in authoritarian texts like Tantraloka⁴⁶ (Kashmir Shaivism,pp 5-6, Tantraloka, I,p27),Sivadrishti^[6] , the Brihadyamala^[7] , Pingalamata^[8] and Siva Purana⁵⁰ have a different story to tell.

Tantraloka^[9] mentions Srikantha and Lakulisa as only two authorities on Siva Sasana and Srikantha as a unique teacher on the earth. Further it mentions a text “Mangalya Sastra’ in which Srikantha discussed the nature of Sakti and Saktiman.

Interestingly a commentary on the Saradatilaka^[10] begins with a salutation to Srikantha, who is considered the first teacher of the doctrine which was later followed by Vasumanta, Vasugupta,Somananda, Utpaladeva, Laxmanacharya,Abhinavagupta and by Kshmeraj. In this tradition Srikantha is considered as a Vidyesvara who gave instructions to three disciple Trayambaka, Amardaka and Srinatha to descend and teach the Saiva doctrines of non-duality (tantric), duality and dual cum non duality respectively^[11] . Now Trayambaka’s daughter is supposed to have founded a fourth school, ‘Ardhatrayambaka’ which can be identified as the Kaula tradition. What comes across is the sure shot connection between the Pasupata school of thought and later Kaula school which will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.

The colophon of a manuscript of the Tantrasara deposited in the Nepal Darbar Library mentions Sriknathnatha, (another form of Pasupati), the great Pasupata teacher as the writer of the book⁵³.

Moreover there is a manuscript in the Nepal Darbar Library which seems to be a compilation of the 8^th CE. In the first Patala of the work called Aksara vidhana, the Isvara relates the origin of the Tantras⁵⁴. He says that he worshipped the lord Srikantha devotedly for thousands of years and Srikantha, being thus propitiated, communicated to him the great store of spiritual knowledge in a versified language. Now this knowledge is represented by Sada-Siva himself and was communicated in 125 thousand verses by Amrita to others, and through generations to Srikantha who communicated it to others in amplified versions in crores of Slokas.

The denomination of this Tantric text is Pingalamata and it follows Pratisthakalpa called Jayadratha (yamala) belonging to the Brahmayamala and was composed for goddess Pingala by Bhagvan Srikantha comprising of 8000 verses.

Moreover Srinatha, one of the mind born sons of Srikantha is mentioned as the originator of Kapalika school in Sabara tantra^[12] where his name finds mention in the list of twelve Kapalikacharyas. They are Adinatha, Anadi,Kala,Atikalika (Vaikalika), Karala, Vikarala, Mahakala, Kalabhairavnatha, Batuka,Bhutanatha,Viranatha and Srikantha^[13] . Interestingly there is a passage in Varaha Purana which narrates that the Pasupata doctrine was originally given to Kapalikas thus drawing an interesting connection which will be discussed in detail in the later part of the study.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Hazra, Rajendra Chandra (1987) [1940]. Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 96–107.

[2]:

Pathak V.S, ‘History of Saiva cults in Northern India from Inscriptions, (700AD -1200AD), Varanasi,

[3]:

, p.6

[4]:

Mahabharata, Santiparvan, 349

[5]:

Bhandarkar R.G’Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor religious systems’,New Delhi, 1983 ‘(pg 171-172)⁴⁶ Pathak, V.S. History of Saiva Cults in Northern India (from inscriptions 700 AD to 1200 AD). Varanasi: Tara Printing Works,1960 p.5

[6]:

Ibid p.5

[7]:

Ibid p.5

[8]:

Ibid p.5

[9]:

Ibid. p.5

[10]:

Ibid p.5

[11]:

Muller-Ortega P, ‘The Traidic Heart of Siva’,Delhi, 1997 p.15 53Bagchi P.C. Studies in the Tantras, Part I, Calcutta, 1975 p 6-8⁵⁴ Ibid.

[12]:

Dowman Keith, Master of Mahamudra,2004

[13]:

Lorenzen David, ‘The Kapalikas and Kalamukhas, Two lost Saivite sects’, Delhi, 1972 p.37