A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c20.29

c20.29

To return to the history of Śaivism; we must note that by the side of the pure school of bhakti represented by the three saints of Dēvāram and Māṇikka-vāśagar, there existed other types of worshippers of Śiva whose tenets and practices are gruesome and repellent to modern taste. Such were the Pāśupatas, Kāpālikas, Kālāmukhas, and others whose presence in considerable numbers in centres like Kāñchi, Tiruvorriyūr, Melpāḍi and Koḍumbāḷūr is attested by inscriptions and literature from the seventh century onwards. Smearing the body with ashes from a burning ghat, eating food in a skull, and keeping a pot of wine, were some of the common practices of the Kālāmukhas; and some of these sects, if not all, were addicted to the worship of the female principle, which often degenerated into licentious orgies. The practice of the devotee offering his own head as a sacrifice to the goddess is shown in the sculpture and literature of the age of the Pallavas and Cholas.