Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c15.20

v2.c15.20

on many points. From the statement, *Yasya-niśvasitam-vēdāh*, of the Advaitins the followers of the Āgamānta considered Vēdas as inferior to the Āgamas; for they assert that the former came out of Śiva as unconsciously as His breath, whereas the twenty-eight Āgamas were personally and consciously dictated by Śiva. Besides, the Āgamāntins consider the Advaitins and the Mīmāmsakas as *paśus* or unevolved souls and to be therefore unfit for receiving Śaiva *dīkshās* or initiations. The Āgamāntins are in their turn reviled by the Vaidikas as being heterodox; Kumārila-bhaṭṭa classes them among atheists and we read Amarasimha accordingly classing Dēvalas who are generally the Pāśupatas, the Pāñcharātras and other Tāntrikas that are addicted to image worship, among Śūdras.¹ At any rate, these Śaivas did not evidently hold a high place in the system of castes; the *Sūta-samhitā* also states that very low classes of Brāhmaṇas alone underwent the *dīkshā* or initiatory ceremony in the Pāśupata, the Pāñcharātra and other tantras. It is therefore clear that inferior Brāhmaṇas embraced some of the non-Āryan cults and became Pāśupatas and Pāñcharātras. At a later stage of their history, they probably adopted a few of the *hōmas* and the *mantras* appropriate to them from the *Gṛihya-sūtras* and created for themselves some others in imitation of the *mantras* of the *Vēda*. This explains the eagerness with which these *anārya-sampradāyas* were somehow classed in the *ārya-sampradāyas*. But, their system of *dīkshā*, *Ankurārpaṇa* with which the ceremonies are begun, the philosophy of *Shaḍadhvās*¹ and many others are not found in the Vaidik religions and therefore mark off *Āgamānta* as being different in essentials from the Vaidik religion. The *Āgamānta* has freely borrowed the philosophy of the *Sāṅkhya* and the *Yōga* schools. Unlike the *Vēdāntins* the *Āgamāntins* do not shut out women, *Śūdras*, and the *Pratilōmas* from participating in religious rites and ceremonies. They freely allow women to meditate upon the *pañchākshara-mantra*, and grant *dīkshā* to *Śūdras*, who might, in their turn, give *dīkshā* to others among them. "If the *Śūdra* is a *naishṭhika* (one who passes into *sannyāsa* without undergoing the intermediate stage of *gṛihastha*) he is entitled to consecrate the *svārtha-chala-liṅgas*, offer *dīkshā* to *Śūdras*, might recite