Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c15.61

v2.c15.61

From all that has been said of the various sects of Śaivas the following conclusion about Śaivaism naturally suggests itself. The prototype of all the ghōra forms of Śaivaism is the personality of Śiva himself; dancing and singing in a wild manner on the burning ground and smearing himself with the ashes of the dead and adorning himself with the skulls and bones of the dead; or going about naked in the streets of householder ṛishis and tempting their womenfolk, living in bliss also with his own consort; or performing severe austerities; wearing his hair in jaṭas; drinking and eating from human skulls; killing, maiming and otherwise destroying animal life—all these acts of Śiva were closely followed by such sects as the Kāpālas, the Kāḷāmukhas and the Vāmāchāras. These sects which considered living in close imitation of Śiva and who considered living happily with women in this life mōkshā or bliss, are perhaps really old. Their teachings afforded ease and pleasure, indulgence in flesh-food, drinking liquor and promiscuous intercourse; and at a time when, as a result of the preaching of the Buddha and Mahāvira, the Vaidikas practically gave up flesh and liquor, some of its members with a taste for lower passions not finding their surroundings congenial to their tastes might have turned renegades and joined the ranks of the Śaivas, as we hear from the Varāhapurāṇa and the Sūta-saṃhitā, and have undergone the dīkshā and other rites peculiar to Śaivaism. This state of moral depravity attended with conduct unfit for any society could not be tolerated by others and in the long run by the members of even the Śaiva