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Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c7: Part II. Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems

Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c7

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Contents

Part II. Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems

I. Introductory. Formation of the Conception of Rudra-Śiva

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§ 77. Some of the phenomena of external nature are pleasing, vivifying and benignant; others are terrible, dispiriting and destructive. In the dawn the old Āryas found the lovely goddess Uṣas, pursued by her lover Sūrya, or the Sur (RV. I, 115, 2). In the rising sun they found Mitra, a friendly god, who roused them from sleep and set them to do the work of the day (RV. III, 59, 1; VII, 36, 2). And in the sun, who visibly at rising stretched forth his rays as if they were his arms, filling the heaven and the earth, vivifying the world at the end of the night and placing it in the course assigned to it by him, they found Savitṛ (RV. IV, 53, 3). The dreadful and destructive phenomena are usually the storms that uproot trees and even demolish houses, accompanied by the thunderbolt which strikes down men and beasts dead in a moment; and the epidemics that rage and carry off numbers of men. In these the old Āryas saw Rudra, who went about howling with the stormy winds (Maruts), who were his sons (Rudriyas). But human beings do not believe in a purely malignant power reigning in the universe. The dreadful phenomena are attributed to the wrath of a god, which, however, can be appeased by prayer, praise and offerings. Then the god becomes Śiva, or the benignant. This appears to be the natural process by which a belief in such a god as Rudra-Śiva became established in India in ancient times. We will now trace the development of the idea of this god until he became the supreme creator, ruler, and pervader of the universe, a knowledge of whom contributed to eternal bliss.

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§ 78. Rudra is represented as discharging brilliant shafts which run about the heaven and the earth (RV. VII, 46, 3) and as possessing weapons which slay cows and men (RV. I, 114, 10). Here the destructive agency of lightning seems to have been clearly in view. He is prayed to by the singers to keep these away from them and to protect the two-footed and four-footed beings belonging to them (RV. I, 114, 1). When, in consequence of the prayers or in the natural course of things, the cattle go unharmed, Rudra is represented to be Paśupa, or protector of the cattle (RV. I, 114, 9). Rudra is prayed to not to afflict children with disease (RV. VII, 46, 2) and to keep all

II. The Development of the Idea of Rudra-Śiva

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in the village free from illness (RV. I, 114, 1). Rudra was thus believed to cause diseases, and when men recovered from them or were altogether free from them, that also was attributed to the agency of Rudra; and he is consequently spoken of as possessing healing remedies (RV. I, 43, 4) and as the best physician of physicians (RV. II, 33, 4) and as possessed of a thousand medicines (RV. VII, 46, 3). The singers also pray for the acquisition of those pure and salutary remedies belonging to the Maruts and Rudra, which father Manu desired (RV. II, 33, 13). The general character of the prayers addressed to Rudra is well brought out in the following: "Oh Rudra, do not, out of thy anger, injure our children and descendants, our people, our cattle, our houses, and do not kill our men. We invoke thee always with offerings" (RV. I, 114, 8). By his power he perceives all earthly beings and by his universal sovereignty he perceives divine beings (RV. VII, 46, 2). Here even in the Ṛgveda, Rudra is raised to supreme power.

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§ 79. The character of Rudra appears in a much more developed form in the Śatarudriya (TS. IV, 5, 1; VS. chapter 16). His benignant form (śivā tanuḥ) is distinguished from its opposite, the malignant. He is called Giriśa and Giritra, "lying on a mountain", probably because the thunderbolt that he hurls, springs from a cloud, which is often compared to a mountain and in which he was believed to dwell. The cowherds and the female bearers of water see him as he creeps along with his blue neck and red complexion, that is, these simple folk working in the open field see a black cloud tinged red by the soft glow of the lightning. Representing, as Rudra does, the darker powers of nature, he may be expected to dwell away from the habitations of men, and therefore he is called the lord of the paths, of the forests and of those who roam in them, of thieves and highway robbers who frequent and move about in lonely places to prevent being detected, and also of outcasts who live away from the usual dwellings of men.

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In his character as a healer he appears here as the lord of medicinal herbs and is called a heavenly physician. Being the lord of the open fields or plains, he is the lord of cattle (paśūnāṁ patiḥ) which roam in them. The name Paśupati became in later times a special appellation of this God. In this manner the range of Rudra became so wide that he came to be called the "lord of the quarters". He is called Kapardin, or the wearer of matted hair, which epithet is probably due to his being regarded as identical with Agni, or fire, the fumes of which look like matted hair. The names Śarva (arrow-wielder), and Bhava also, occur, and when his wrathful nature is thoroughly appeased, he becomes Śambhu or benignant, Śaṁkara or beneficent, and Śiva or auspicious, which names occur at the end of the Śatarudriya. He is also represented as wearing a hide (kṛttiṁ vasānaḥ). How the epithet arose it is difficult to say. But, being represented as roaming in forests and other lonely places, the idea of investing him with the skinclothing of the savage tribes may have suggested itself to a poet. The Niṣādas, a forest tribe, are compared to Rudras, which fact lends support to this view.

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The name Rudra has been generalised and many Rudras are spoken of, and a wish is expressed that they may be far away from the singer. Here the signification of the common name appears to be an evil spirit. In another place also the name is generalised, but the signification is much better. The Rudras are called Gaṇas or tribes, and Gaṇapatis or leaders of tribes, workmen, potters, cart-makers, carpenters, and Niṣādas or men of the forest-tribes. Thus these followers of handicraft and also the forest-tribe of Niṣādas are brought into close connection with Rudra; probably they were his worshippers, or their own peculiar gods were identified with the Āryan Rudra. This last supposition appears very probable, since the groups of beings, whose Pati, or lord, he is represented to have been, dwelt in or frequented open fields, forests and waste lands, remote from the habitations of civilised men.

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§ 80. In AV. the conception of Rudra is further developed, and he is elevated to a higher platform. Several other names, by which he was known in later times, are also given, but the bearers of these are spoken of and addressed as separate gods. Bhava and Śarva are treated as two distinct deities and spoken of as ruling (īśāthe) over two-footed and four-footed beings (IV, 28, 1). They are styled the swiftest of all archers, and to them belongs what is near as well as remote. They are called thousand-eyed. Their range is far and wide (3). Their stroke can not be avoided by any man or god (5). They are invoked to launch their thunderbolt against the Yātudhāna, or evil spirit (6). They are implored to deliver the singers from calamity (7). Śarva is called the archer, and Bhava the king (rājan), and obeisance is made to them, and they are desired to remove their deadly poisons to other places (VI, 93, 2). Obeisance is made to Rudra who is in Agni, who is in the waters, who has entered into the herbs and plants, and who has formed all these beings (VII, 87, 1). This verse occurs in AU. (VI) and also in ŚU. (II, 17), where, however, it appears in a somewhat altered form, the word Deva being used instead of Rudra. In describing a particular ox Mahādeva is spoken of as his two arms (IX, 7, 7). Bhava and Śarva are invoked to launch the lightning against the doer of wickedness (X, 1, 23). They are called Bhūtapati (the lord of spirits) and Paśupati (the lord of beasts) (XI, 2, 1). They are reverenced as being in their domains in the sky and in the middle regions (XI, 2, 4). Five distinct species of animals, kine, horses, men, goats, and sheep, are marked off as belonging to Paśupati (XI, 2, 9). To Ugra, the fierce, belong the four intermediate quarters, the sky, the earth, and the wide atmosphere, and that which has spirit and breathes on the earth (XI, 2, 10). Bhava sees everything on earth. Nothing is far or near to him. He destroys things in the farther ocean, being himself in the preceding ocean (XI, 2, 25). Rudra is implored not to bring on consumption, poison, and celestial fire (XI, 2, 26). Bhava is the lord (īśa) of the heavens, the earth, and fills the whole atmosphere (XI, 2, 27). Bhava is addressed as king (rājan) (XI, 2, 28). A wish is expressed that the arrows of Bhava, Śarva, and Rudra, who is Paśupati (the lord of beasts), may be always propitious (sadāśiva) (XI, 6, 9). Savitṛ is called Aryaman, Varuṇa, Rudra, and Mahādeva (XIII, 4, 4). All the stars and the moon are under Rudra's control (XIII, 4, 28). The gods made Bhava the archer, the protector of the Vrātyas, or outcasts, in the intermediate space of the eastern region, Śarva of the southern region, Paśupati of the western region, Ugra of the northern region, Rudra of the lower region, Mahādeva of the upper region, and Iśāna of all the intermediate regions (XV, 5, 1—7).

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§ 81. In ŚB. (VI, 1, 3, 7) and KB. (6, 1, 9), Rudra is mentioned as the son of Uṣas; and, after he was born, Prajāpati gave him, as he grew up, eight names, seven of which are the same as those given above from the AV. and the eighth is Aśani, or the thunderbolt. It would be seen that the AV. regards the seven as different though allied gods, though once Rudra is identified with Paśupati. As in the case of the sun-god the several ways of looking at him gave rise to the conception of several sun-deities such as Savitṛ, Sūrya, Mitra, Pūṣan, etc., so the same terrible and destructive agency in nature, with its benignant and gracious counterpart, looked at from different points of view, gave rise to the belief in the seven different gods mentioned in the AV. They are all regarded as the names of one god in the ŚB. and KB., and an eighth name is introduced. Of these eight names, four, Rudra, Śarva, Ugra and Aśani, are indicative of the destructive energy, and the other four, viz. Bhava, Paśupati, Mahādeva or Mahān devaḥ, and Iśāna, of its benignant counterpart. It will have been observed that the AV. brings in a new element, that of poisons which the terrific god was believed to send forth and of his shafts being unfailing and unavoidable by gods and men. On the other, or the benignant side, Bhava is represented to be a shining king (rājan). Rudra is the lord of all creatures. His range is far and wide. He controls the stars and the moon. He reigns in the sky and the middle regions. He is in fire and water, in plants and herbs, and in all beings; and he is the protector of Vrātyas in all quarters; and he is pre-eminently the ruler (Iśāna). Thus the terrible and the destructive God became, when he was propitiated by men in a variety of ways, a benignant God and attained to the whole majesty of the godhead by the time of the YV. and AV., and it is on this majestic form of the god that the theosophic speculations of ŚU., which we will notice further on, are based.

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§ 82. But the darker side of the nature of this god was never forgotten. A sacrifice called Śūlagava is mentioned in most of the Gṛhyasūtras. A bull is sacrificed to Rudra to appease him (AG. IV, 9). The rite should be performed beyond the limits of a village, and its remains should not be brought into it, which rule sufficiently indicates the inauspicious character of the rite. The Vapā, or omentum, should be sacrificed to Rudra by uttering twelve names, seven of which are the same as the first three in the first group given above and the four in the second group. Aśani is omitted, and we have the following five additional names, Hara, Mṛḍa, Śiva, Bhīma, and Śaṃkara. Or the Vapā may be thrown into the fire by uttering six specific names only or the single name Rudra. This Śūlagava sacrifice should be performed in a cow-shed when a cattle disease has to be averted. In

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PG. (III, 8) the names uttered in throwing the oblations are the same eight as those in the two groups above with the addition of Agni. There are also oblations to the wives, Indrāṇī, Rudrāṇī, Śarvāṇī, and Bhavānī. HG. (II, 3, 8) has the same deities as the eight above-mentioned, Bhīma being substituted for Aśani; and oblations are given to the wife of each by repeating the formula "bhavasya devasya patnyai svāhā" (to the wife of God Bhava) etc. and not by uttering their proper names.

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Directions are given in PG. (III, 15) to render obeisance to Rudra and pray for safe conduct when traversing a path, coming to a place where four roads meet, crossing a river, getting into a ferry-boat, entering a forest, ascending a mountain, passing by a cemetery or by a cow-shed and such other places. Similarly HG. (I, 5, 16) directs that a traveller should adore Rudra by repeating the specific formula given by him, when he comes to the crossing of four roads or to a heap of cattle-dung, when serpents creep, and when he is overtaken by tornado or is entering a river or comes to a variegated scene, sacrificial site or an old large tree.

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It will thus be seen that, in the time of the Gṛhyasūtras, Rudra was still a terrible god, who had to be appeased. He was the god that held sway over regions away from home, over fields, wildernesses, cemeteries, mountains, old trees and rivers. Whenever a man came to anything which inspired awe and terror, Rudra was the god thought of and prayed to to protect. Herein lies the reason which rendered him in later times the omnipresent supreme lord of the universe to the exclusion of all other Vedic gods except Viṣṇu. Many are the occasions in the life of man, which excite fear; there are epidemics and other diseases, poisons, serpents, storms, thunderbolts and wild and awful scenes, and consequently the god who brings on these occasions and protects when appeased will be thought of oftener than other gods. The lovableness of the works of God, his greatness and majesty and his mysterious nature are also matters which strike the mind of man; and these appear to have operated in bringing Viṣṇu into prominence. What contributed to the formation of Vaiṣṇavism were the appearances and occurrences which excited love, admiration and a spirit of worship; while in Rudra-Śaivism the sentiment of fear is at the bottom, howsoever concealed it may have become in certain developments of it, and this sentiment it is that has worked itself out in the formation of various Rudra-Śaiva systems of later times. In the monotheistic religions of other countries the same god is feared and loved; in India the god that is loved is Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa-Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa, while the god that is feared is Rudra-Śiva.

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§ 83. Before we proceed to the consideration of the Rudra-Śiva sects, we must devote some time to the consideration of a religio-philosophic treatise which represents the farthest point in the development of the idea of Rudra-Śiva as a god worshipped by the Indian Āryas generally. This is the Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad. It does not appear

III. Śvetāśvatara and Atharvaśiras Upaniṣads

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to be composed in a sectarian spirit. The elevated notions about the nature of God and his relations to man and the world, which had been reached in the time of the early Upaniṣads, have been disentangled from their connection with the impersonal Brahman and transferred to the God who had at the time when the Upaniṣads were written, acquired a living and active personality in the minds of the people. This god was Rudra-Śiva, who, as we have seen, had by the time of AV. attained to the dignity of the supreme god. After the preliminaries, the doctrinal points that occur in the first chapter are these: that there are three unborn elements in the world; of these the all-knowing and the ignorant, the ruler and the ruled, are two, and there is a third which has in itself materials of enjoyment and suffering (9). Brahman is of three kinds, viz. the sufferer or enjoyer, what is enjoyed or suffered, and the dispenser or mover. There is nothing further to be known (12). Pradhāna is changeable, the immortal is unchangeable; Hara, the one lord, rules over the changeable and the soul. By meditating on him, by devoting oneself to him, by realising him, the whole ignorance is dispelled (10). By making one's body the lower block of wood, the syllable "Oṃ" the upper, and by the act of meditation, which is (like) the rubbing of the two blocks against each other, one should perceive the hidden god (14). One finds that soul in oneself who seeks him by means of truth and exertion, as oil in seeds, butter in curds, or water in a spring (15).

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The three elements mentioned in 9 and 12 are adopted by Rāmānuja in his system, and these texts are quoted by writers of that school. What is set forth in the tenth is similar to that which occurs in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of chap. 15 of the BhG.

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In the second chapter there is first of all a short mention of the Yoga processes, which lead to the perception of the supreme soul and the purity of the self. When by the purified nature of the individual self, as by a lamp, is known the nature of Brahman, or the god who is unborn, unchangeable, pure in every way, one is free from all bondage (15). The chapter closes with the verse which we have noticed as occurring in the AV.

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In the third chapter we have in the beginning a stanza which sets forth that those become immortal who know him who, possessing a net, rules by his ruling powers, rules over all the worlds by his ruling powers, who alone is the cause of production and growth (1). There is only one Rudra — and they do not recognise another — who rules these worlds by his ruling powers, who is the inmost soul of all men, who contracts everything on the final day, and, creating all beings, protects them (2). He has his eyes everywhere, his face everywhere, as in RV. X, 81, 3 (3). May Rudra, the cause of the production and growth of the gods, the lord of the universe, the great prophet, and who formerly created Hiraṇyagarbha, endow us with a holy will (4). Then follow two verses from the Śatarudriya, praying Rudra to look at the singer with his gracious countenance and not to do harm to men, etc. (5, 6). Knowing the lord (Iśa), who is the highest Brahman and the greatest of all, who dwells in the inside of all beings whatever their form, and who encompasses the whole universe, men become immortal (7). Then follow similar verses expressive of the attributes of the supreme God and prescribing a knowledge of him as the door to immortality. As formerly remarked, a verse and a half in this chapter occurs word for word in the thirteenth chap. of the BhG. It also deserves remark that the proper names of the supreme being that occur are Iśāna, Iśa, and Śiva; and the epithet Bhagavat, that is used also, deserves notice (11, 12, 15, 17, 20). In verse 20, which occurs also in the MU., there is Iśam for Ātmanaḥ which is indicative of the peculiarity of this Upaniṣad which we have noticed. There are two verses from the Puruṣasūkta (RV. X, 90).

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The fourth chapter opens with the expression of the desire that he who, himself being without form, creates many forms with a certain purpose, in whom in the end as well as in the beginning the universe exists, may endow the adorers with a holy will. Then follows the identification of this supreme soul with fire, sun, wind, moon and a variety of other objects (2—4). We have then the metaphor of one male goat lying down with the female goat and another male goat abandoning her after enjoyment, which represents the soul in the worldly and the delivered conditions (5). We have next the verse about two birds, the friends and companions of each other, resting on the same tree, one eating the fruit of that tree and the other simply looking on without eating, which occurs in the RV. (I, 164, 20) and in the MU. (III, 1, 1). The next verse about the weak soul being deluded and in grief and being delivered from his sorrows when he sees the other soul, who is the ruler (Iśa), occurs in the MU. also (III, 1, 2) but not in the RV. After two verses there is another, in which Māyā is called Prakṛti, and he who uses this Māyā is called Maheśvara (10). Maheśvara is a name of Śiva. Having known the boon-giver, Iśāna, who presides over every productive organ and in whom and from whom are all things, one attains eternal peace or serenity (11). Then there is a repetition here of a verse in the previous chapter (III, 4) with an unimportant difference of reading (12). Then occurs the second part of the verse in RV., which represents Hiraṇyagarbha to be the lord of two-footed and four-footed animals (X, 121, 3), the first part of the latter being paraphrased here (13). This verse was probably suggested by the occurrence of the name of Hiraṇyagarbha in the previous verse. Having known Śiva (the auspicious), who is minuter than the minute, the creator of the universe, of many forms, and who alone encompasses the universe in this medley of the world, one attains eternal peace (14). That same lord of the universe concealed in all objects is the protector of the world in time. Devoting themselves to him and knowing him thus, the Brahmarṣis and the deities cut away the nooses of death (15). Knowing Śiva, concealed in all beings, who is as subtle as the essence of milk other than the butter, knowing the god who alone encompasses the universe, one is free from all nooses (16). This god — this great soul — whose work is the universe always dwells in the hearts of men. He is determined by the heart, the intelligence, and internal consciousness; those who know this become immortal (17). When there was simple darkness and no day or light, no entity or nonentity, Śiva alone existed. He was the one unchangeable thing, and he was the bright light of the sun, and from him sprang all intelligence (18). Here appears an idea similar to that expressed in RV. X, 129. No one can seize him above, transversely or in the middle. There is not another like him. Great is his glory (19). His form is invisible. Nobody sees him with the eye. Those who see him, dwelling in the heart, by the heart and the internal consciousness, become immortal (20). This verse is the same as in KU. (VI. 9), excepting in the third line, which there is the same as the third line of v. 17 above. The chapter ends with two verses containing a prayer to Rudra to protect, the latter of which is the same as RV. I, 114, 8.

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In the first verse of the fifth chapter are mentioned two indestructible beings, Brahman and the other, who are endless, in whom there lie, unobserved, knowledge and ignorance. Ignorance is destructible, knowledge is indestructible; and there is another who rules over knowledge and ignorance (1). In the next verse is mentioned the birth of Kapila and his being fed with knowledge by him who presides over every productive energy (2). Giving various forms to each group (lit. net), the god resolves everything into the original principle. Creating again the lords of beings, he, the great soul, the ruler, wields sovereignty over all (3). As the sun illuminates all quarters, upper and lower and transversal, so also the god, the Bhagavat, presides over the natures of all productive energies (4). The original cause of the world makes natural powers develop and brings to a mature condition those who are capable of development. He presides over this universe and puts into operation all the qualities (5). That is concealed in Upaniṣads, which contain the secret of the Vedas. That origin of Brahman, Brahmadeva knows. All the ancient gods and Ṛṣis, who knew that, being absorbed in it, became immortal (6). The Upaniṣad then proceeds to mention the individual soul, the lord of the vital airs, who performs actions and enjoys or suffers their fruit, possesses three qualities and follows three ways and goes through a succession of births in consequence of his actions (7). He is as big as the thumb, bright like the sun, is conscious of himself and wills, is as minute as the hundredth part of the hundredth part of the point of a hair and is endless. In himself he is not a female nor a male nor sexless. This depends on the body assumed by him (8, 9, 10). He assumes many gross and subtle forms in accordance with his qualities and the qualities of his actions and of the self. But he who effects their union, is another (12). Then follows a verse similar to IV, 14 and the latter part of 16 (13). In the last verse Śiva, the God, the creator and destroyer, is said to be knowable by Bhāva (faith, love, or the pure heart) (14).

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The sixth chapter appears to be a sort of resumé of what precedes. Among other things it is stated that he who promotes virtue and dispells sin, should be known as existing in oneself (6); that the one God is concealed in all beings, is all-pervading, the internal soul of all beings, presiding over all actions, the support of all beings, the witness of all, the life-giver, absolute and without qualities (11); and that, knowing the cause which is to be understood by means of the Sāṁkhya and the Yoga, a man is free from all nooses (13). After this follows a verse to the effect: "nor the sun nor the moon nor the stars nor lightning illuminate him (i. e. make him known); when he shines, everything shines after him, and by his light all this is rendered visible, or is illuminated" (14). This verse occurs in KU. (V. 15) and in MU. (II, 2, 10). The work ends with an expression of the author's self-surrender to the god, who shines forth in one's own intelligence, who first created Brahmadeva, and who sent forth the Vedas — the god who has no parts, who does not suffer change, who is all peace, has no defects and is unpolluted, the bridge for crossing over to immortality, and who is like fire that has burnt fuel (18, 19).

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§ 84. From this short summary it will be seen that this Upaniṣad contains verses from the Saṁhitās of the RV. and YV. and others, which must have been in a floating condition and were appropriated by the Muṇḍaka and Kaṭha Upaniṣads as well as by this; and a great many others, which have not been traced elsewhere, are original. All these contain truths about the nature of God, the individual soul and the inanimate world and the relations between them. The way to redemption is meditation on the supreme soul, which way is characteristic of the Upaniṣad doctrine in general. Certain Yoga processes are prescribed to render this meditation effective, and the final result is a perception of the supreme soul as existing everywhere, and this perception constitutes eternal bliss. This treatise contains the theism of the Upaniṣad period in its most mature form with a God distinctly personal at the centre. The attributes of the supreme soul are often given in very general terms, and he is referred to by the non-sectarian general name Deva, but as often that Deva is identified with Rudra, Śiva, Īśāna and Maheśvara, and his powers are spoken of as Īśanīs; but there is no indication whatever that these names have been given for the purpose of raising Rudra-Śiva to the supreme godhead to the exclusion of another god. Names indicative of Rudra-Śiva appear to have been used, since he was invested with a personality perceived and acknowledged by all. This Upaniṣad, therefore, is not a sectarian treatise like others promulgated in later times, and is often quoted by Śaṁkarācārya, Rāmānuja and other writers of the different schools, and not by those of one school only. It must have been composed before the BhG. since the latter contains, as already stated, a verse and a half from it, and the nature of the religio-philosophic speculations contained in it, though essentially Upaniṣadic, make a nearer approach to the later Bhakti school than those of any of the older treatises of the class. The description of the godhead and of the final pure serenity are instinct with the glow of love and admiration and the treatise ends with an expression of self-surrender to the god, who makes himself manifest in one's own intelligence. The Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad, therefore, stands at the door of the Bhakti school, and pours its loving adoration on Rudra-Śiva instead of on Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa as the BhG. did in later times when the Bhakti doctrine was in full swing. Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa had a historic basis; and the circumstances which led to his being invested with the supreme godhead, occurred in later times, while in the age, in which the Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad was composed, Rudra-Śiva was alone in the field as the supreme god, and the germs of Bhakti, or love, which manifested themselves at the time, were directed towards him; but when Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa also came into the field, he appealed more to the hearts of men as the god who had come to dwell amongst them; consequently the germs of Bhakti speedily developed, and he became the object of the heightened feelings in preference to the other.

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§ 85. Up to the time at which we have arrived we meet with no mention of the wife of Rudra or Śiva, but in the Kena-Upaniṣad, which is certainly one of the earlier Upaniṣads, the name of Umā occurs. She is called Haimavatī, or the daughter of Himavat, but she is not mentioned in the KnU. as the wife of Rudra or Śiva, though in later times she was known to be so. The story is:— Brahman conquered the enemies of the gods for them, but the gods took credit to themselves for the victory and were proud of their achievements. Agni, Vāyu and Indra were sitting together, engaged in joyous conversation, when there appeared at some distance a spirit. Agni first went out to see what it was. The spirit asked him the nature and extent of his power and laid down a blade of grass, which it asked him to burn away. Agni was not able to do this and returned baffled. Then went Vāyu, who also was not able to blow away the blade of grass; afterwards went Indra, and at his approach the spirit disappeared. Indra was disappointed, but he saw a beautiful woman of the name of Umā-Haimavatī and asked her who the spirit was. She said it was Brahman. The story represents that condition of things, in which the old Vedic gods had lost their power or hold over men, and Brahman had come into prominence as the supreme spirit. Since it was Umā that disclosed the nature of the spirit, it may be understood that the Brahman mentioned was Rudra-Śiva and Umā was his wife. It would thus appear that she had come to be so regarded some time before the Upaniṣad was composed.

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§ 86. The Atharvaśiras is another Upaniṣad appertaining to Rudra. It is a much later work as is shown even by the very variant texts before me, commented on by Nārāyaṇa and Śaṃkarānanda. The gods, it is said, went to heaven and asked Rudra who he was. He said that he alone was, is, or will be, and nothing else. He is in all the quarters, he is Gāyatrī, man, woman, etc., and thus a number of things are mentioned with which he is identical. Then Rudra was invisible to them, and they raised their arms and praised him saying: "He who is Rudra, is Bhagavat, and who also is Brahmadeva, a bow to him". In the similar sentences that follow, instead of Brahmadeva we have Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, Umā, Skanda, Vināyaka, etc. The sun and the constellation are also included. Then Oṃkāra is mentioned, to which many epithets and epithets of epithets expressive of divine attributes are given, and lastly it is called the one Rudra, who is Iśāna, Bhagavat, Maheśvara and Mahādeva. Then follow the etymologies of the epithets or names. The only Rudra he is called, because he alone creates and absorbs everything. He is called Iśāna,

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because he rules by the powers called the Īśanīs. Then follow four or five verses from ŚU. with different readings in some cases. The substance of what follows is thus given by Śaṃkarānanda. For the knowledge of Rudra one should use moderate food, devote himself to reading (Śravaṇa), thinking (Manana), etc., become a Paramahaṃsa, or a single-minded devotee, and spend his time thus. One should undertake the Pāśupata vow (Vrata), which is of the following nature. Greed and anger should be given up. Forgiveness should be realised. The muttering of Oṃ should be practised, and meditation resulting in Avagati, or perception, should be resorted to. The text, of which this is the explanation, may be generally rendered thus: — “In the inside of the heart exists the subtle body, in which there are anger, greed and forgiveness. Destroying greed, which is at the bottom of human motives, and concentrating the mind on Rudra, who is one and eternal, one should be moderate in eating and drinking”. Then follows a precept to besmear the body with ashes by repeating the words: “The ash is fire, the ash is water, the ash is earth, everything is ash, the ether is ash, the mind, the eyes and other senses are ash.” This is the Pāśupata vow (Vrata), enjoined for the removal of the noose with which the Paśu, or the individual soul, is tied.”

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Here the besmearing of the body with ashes after repeating a formula, or Mantra, is prescribed as a vow for the devotees of Paśupati, or Rudra-Śiva, calculated to effect a deliverance from the trammels of life. The expression “Paśupāśavimokṣaṇa“, which means the loosening of the noose tied round the necks of beings, is a characteristic of the Pāśupata sect. This Upaniṣad therefore belongs to that sect. Before, however, we pass on to the consideration of this sect, we must cast a glance at the position which Rudra-Śiva holds in the Mahābhārata.

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§ 87. At the beginning of the Bhīṣmaparvan Kṛṣṇa advises Arjuna to make an obeisance to Durgā before the commencement of the battle and pray for success. Arjuna does so after repeating a hymn in honour of Durgā, containing the names of Umā, mother of Skanda, Kātyāyanī, Karālī, and a number of others. In the Vanaparvan Arjuna is represented to have gone to the Himālaya and practised austerities there. Some time after, Śiva appears dressed like a Kirāta, and a severe fight ensues between them. Arjuna is overpowered in the end and lies on the ground exhausted. He then praises Śiva, and, having made an altar of earth, puts flowers on it in the name of Śaṃkara. These, however, appear as placed on the head of the Kirāta, whereupon Arjuna makes him out as Śiva the object of his adoration, and surrenders himself to him. Śiva becomes pleased and offers him whatever he wishes. Arjuna asks for the weapon presided over by Paśupati (Pāśupatāstra), which possesses the power of destroying all formidable enemies (chaps. 38—40). In the Droṇaparvan again (chaps. 80, 81) the attainment of the Pāśupatāstra, which appears to be of another kind, consisting of a bow and arrow, by Arjuna, is mentioned.

IV. Rudra-Śiva in the Mahābhārata and Liṅga Worship

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Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa are spoken of as having gone to the Himālaya in a vision and seen Śaṃkara at his dwelling. They bow their heads before him, sing a hymn in his praise, in which they call him the unborn, the creator of the universe, the unchangeable and utter the names which we have given as occurring in earlier works, and thus propitiating him ask for the Pāśupata weapon. They are directed to a lake where the Astra had been thrown. There they saw two venomous serpents, which, however, assumed at the time the forms of a bow and an arrow, and these Arjuna took away. In the Sauptikaparvan (chap. 7) Aśvatthāman is mentioned to have propitiated Śaṃkara and obtained a sword from him. Śiva himself enters into his body, and Aśvatthāman carries havoc and destruction with the terrible sword in the camp of the Pāṇḍus, killing all their progeny, and even Dhṛṣṭadyumna, who had cut off the head of his father Droṇa. Yudhiṣṭhira asks Kṛṣṇa how he was able to effect all this. Kṛṣṇa says that he did it through the power of Śaṃkara and relates another story about him. Brahmadeva once told Śaṃkara not to create. Whereupon Śaṃkara concealed himself under water for a long time. When, therefore, there was no creation for such a long period, Brahmadeva created another Prajāpati, who brought into existence a large number of beings. These beings, being afflicted with hunger, went to Prajāpati to devour him.

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He, being afraid, went to Hiraṇyagarbha, who created two kinds of food for those beings and then they were quieted. After some time Mahādeva rose out of the water, and seeing that new beings had been created and were in a flourishing condition, he cut off his organ of generation as no more necessary, and it stuck into the ground. He then went away to perform austerities at the foot of the Muñjavat mountain. There is a similar story about Mahādeva's having ceased to create and become a Yogin in the Vāyu-Purāṇa (chap. 10). Brahmadeva told Nīlalohita (Mahādeva) to create, and bringing to mind his wife Satī, he created thousands of beings exactly like himself, who were immortal. Thereupon he stopped and rendered himself incapable of procreation. He then resorted to all those processes of the Yoga which in the Purāṇa is called the Pāśupata-Yoga. In the Sauptikaparvan Kṛṣṇa continues the story of Mahādeva and tells Yudhiṣṭhira that when the gods created the rite of sacrifice and assigned no oblation to Rudra, he was full of wrath and destroyed the sacrifice; whereupon they assigned him a portion and the god was pleased. In the Anuśāsanaparvan (chap. 14) Kṛṣṇa is introduced as recounting the glories of Mahādeva. He says, Jāmbavatī, one of his wives, expressed a desire for as good a son as Rukmiṇī, his chief consort, had. To procure such a son he had recourse to Mahādeva, through whose favour only his wishes could be fulfilled. He then went to the Himālaya, on which Śiva lived.

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On the way he saw the hermitage of Upamanyu. Upamanyu enters into a long discourse on the beneficent deeds of Mahādeva. A list is given of persons, including many Daityas, who obtained their desired objects, such as sons, weapons, powers, etc., through the favour of Mahādeva, whom they had propitiated by rigid austere practices and other ways. One of these was Śākalya, to whom was granted the boon that he would be an author and would obtain immortal glory and his son would be the composer of Sūtras. The persons alluded to here must be the compiler of the RVS. and the author of the Pada text. Upamanyu began to practise austerities to propitiate Śiva at the instance of his mother, who, in describing the god’s power and beneficence, spoke of him as dancing nakedly and of his having the quarters for his clothing (Digvāsas). In the course of his austerities, Mahādeva, to test Upamanyu’s devotion, appears before him in the form of Indra and offers him many magnificent boons, which Upamanyu refuses and declares that he would have boons from Śaṃkara alone, and that he would become a worm or a butterfly at the command of Śaṃkara, but did not desire even the sovereignty of the three worlds given by Indra. In the course of his narrative Upamanyu says that Mahādeva was the only god, whose organ of generation (Liṅga) is worshipped by men. He and Umā were the real creators of animals, as these bear the marks of the two, and not the discus or the conch-shell or marks of any other god.

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Eventually Śiva and Umā appeared before Upamanyu, seated on a strong towering ox, attended on the one side by Brahmadeva seated on the swan, his vehicle, and on the other by Nārāyaṇa on Garuḍa with the conch-shell, lotus, etc., and conferred on him all the blessings he desired. At his instance Kṛṣṇa also entered on a long course of austerities, at the end of which Mahādeva with Umā appeared before him in the same manner as they did to Upamanyu. The god conferred eight boons upon him, and his consort eight more; besides she promised him sixteen thousand wives, and altogether the number of boons he obtained was twenty-four inclusive of the birth of such a son as he wanted.

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§ 88.

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The characteristics of Śiva, or Mahādeva, as brought out by these accounts appear to be these. He was a powerful, wrathful and impetuous god, but generous and bountiful, and spared nothing when he was propitiated. Whenever a man conceived a desire for anything, he was the god to be appealed to for its fulfilment. He lived on the Himālaya with his wife Umā, Pārvatī, or Durgā, who had a number of other names such as Kālī, Karālī, etc., and was attended by a number of beings called his Gaṇas, or hosts. His vehicle was an ox. He had, of course, all the attributes of the supreme godhead. He is represented as having betaken himself to the processes of Yoga, or contemplation, when he had ceased to be creative. It will be seen that the object of worship in Śaivism is the Liṅga, or phallus. We have found no trace of this characteristic in the earlier literature, so far as we have examined it¹), and the first time we meet with it is in this passage from the Anuśāsanaparvan. We have had occasion in a previous section to remark that Rudra-Śiva had a close connection with stragglers in the forest, with Vrātyas, or those who were not included in the Āryan community, and with the wild tribe of the Niṣādas, and also observed that the gods of these last were amalgamated with Rudra. Rudra’s partiality for serpents and his being the lord of spirits, or Bhūtas, were probably due to the influence of the serpent-worship and the devilry of the savage tribes.

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There are two places in the RV., in one of which Indra is prayed to not to allow those whose god is Śiśna to disturb the rites of the singers (VII, 21, 5); and in another he is represented to have conquered the riches of a city after killing those whose god is Śiśna. Here evidently those whose god was Śiśna, or phallus, are meant as the enemies of the Vedic Āryas, who disturbed their holy rites. Notwithstanding all that is said about the matter, my own belief is that the persons here referred to were really some tribe of the aborigines of the country, who worshipped the phallus. Just then as the Rudra-Śiva cult borrowed several elements from the dwellers in forests and stragglers in places out of the way, so it may have borrowed this element of phallic worship from the barbarian tribes with whom the Āryas came in contact. This element, however, does not appear to have come in all at once, especially among the learned classes, whose beliefs are represented in the literature which we have examined. The Liṅga worship had, it appears, not come into use at the time of Patañjali, for the instance he gives under P. V, 3, 99 is that of an image or likeness (pratīkṛti) of Śiva as an object of worship, and not of any emblem of that god. It seems to have been unknown even in the time of Wema-Kadphises, for on the reverse of his coins there is a human figure of Śiva with a trident in the hand; and there is also an emblem, but it is Nandin, or the bull, and not a Liṅga, or phallus.

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But this element must have crept in early enough among ordinary people who were in closer communication with the uncivilised tribes, and gradually made its way to the higher clasess, of whose creed it subsequently became an article. And it is this final stage of its adoption by the higher classes that is represented in Upamanyu's discourse in the Mahābhārata. From all that we have brought forward from the post-Saṃhitā literature it will appear that Rudra-Śiva was a deity whose worship was common to all the Āryas, and who was not at first a sectarian god. As above remarked, he was in charge of the field before the Vaiṣṇava or Vāsudevic deities came in to contest his supremacy. The Gṛhyasūtras, which, as we have seen, give directions as to the adoration of Rudra under various circumstances, can not be considered as belonging to any Śaiva sect. In the time of Patañjali, images of Śiva, Skanda and Viśākha, made sometimes of precious metals, were kept for common worship by certain religious persons who derived an income from them ¹). The images of Śiva here alluded to cannot have been meant for the use of a particular sect.

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¹ I do not, however, deny the possibility that when the ŚU. in IV, 11 speaks of the god Īśāna as presiding over every Yoni and in V, 2 of the lord as presiding over all forms and Yonis, an allusion to the physical fact of the Liṅga and Yoni connected together may have been meant as typifying the philosophical doctrine of gods presiding over every creative cause.

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¹ See his comment on P. V, 3, 99.

V. Origin and Diffusion of the Śaiva Sects and the Several Classes of Śiva Worshippers

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§ 89.

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A Śaiva sect is, however, mentioned even by Patañjali. The members of it were known as Śivabhāgavatas, or devotees of Śiva, the Bhagavat. Śiva, we have seen, is called Bhagavat in AU. A Śivabhāgavata carried in his hand an iron lance as an emblem of the deity he worshipped (under P. V, 2, 76).

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In the Nārāyaṇīya section of MBh., the Pāśupata is mentioned as one of five schools of religious doctrines (Śāntiparvan, chap. 349, v. 64). Śiva-Śrīkaṇṭha, the consort of Umā, the lord of spirits and the son of Brahmadeva, is represented to have revealed the tenets of that school (verse 67). Whether this statement is to be understood in the sense that its founder was a human being afterwards recognised as an incarnation of Śiva, or whether it is a mere general statement like that contained in the BU. (II, 4, 10) that the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, etc. are the breath of this great being, meaning nothing more historically than that the system gradually came into existence without any special individual being concerned with it, is a question somewhat difficult to answer definitely; but there is evidence in the Purāṇas and inscriptions of the existence of a belief in favour of the first supposition. The Vāyu-Purāṇa (chap. 23) and the Liṅga-Purāṇa (chap. 24) represent Maheśvara to have told Brahmadeva that when, at the time of Kṛṣṇa-Dvaipāyana during the twenty-eighth repetition of the Yugas, Vāsudeva, the best of Yadus, would be born of Vasudeva, he would incarnate himself as a Brahmacārin by the name of Lakulin after entering a dead body thrown into a cemetery; the place where this would occur, would be called Kāyāvatāra or Kāyāvarohaṇa, and he would have four pupils of the names of Kuśika, Garga, Mitra and Kauruṣya. These Pāśupatas, with their bodies sprinkled with ashes, resorting to the Yoga of Maheśvara, would in the end go to the world of Rudra. Now in an inscription in the temple of Nātha near that of Ekaliṅgji, 14 miles to the north of Udaipur, Rājputāna, it is stated that Śiva became incarnate as a man with a club (lakula) in his hand in the country of Bhṛgukaccha, being propitiated by Bhṛgu. Sages, Kuśika and others, conversant with the Pāśupata Yoga and using ashes and wearing bark-dress and matted hair, are mentioned. There is another inscription, usually called the Cintra Praśasti, which states that Śiva became incarnate in the form of Bhaṭṭāraka Śrī-Lakuliśa and dwelt at Kārohaṇa in the Lāṭa country. There appeared in bodily form four pupils of his of the names of Kuśika, Gārgya, Kauruṣa and Maitreya for the strict performance of the Pāśupata vows, and they became the originators of four branches. The date of the first inscription is Vikrama 1028, or 971 A. D., and the second was composed between A. D. 1274 and 1296. In another inscription dated 943 A. D. found at Hemāvatī in the Sira Tāluka, Mysore, Lakulīśa is represented to have been born again as Muninātha Chilluka to preserve the memory of his name and doctrines¹).

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¹ See Jour. B. B. R. A. S. Vol. XXII, pp. 151—153.

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Mādhava calls the Pāśupata system that he explains in his Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha, Nakulīśa-Pāśupata, and quotes a few words from what appears to be a work attributed to him. From all this it appears that there lived a certain person of the name of Lakulin (the holder of a lakuṭa, or laguḍa, or lakula, i. e. a club) who founded a Pāśupata system. Four schools sprang out of it, and their reputed founders, whether historical or legendary, were considered his pupils. Lakulin is the same as Nakulin, and the fact that his rise has been represented by the Purāṇas to be contemporaneous with Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa points to the inference that traditionally the system was intended to take the same place in the Rudra-Śiva cult that the Pāñcarātra did in the Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa cult. We may, therefore, place the rise of the Pāśupata school mentioned in the Nārāyaṇīya about a century after that of the Pāñcarātra system, i. e. about the second century B. C.

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§ 90. Before we proceed further we will notice the extent of the diffusion of the creed. At the end of the commentary on the Vaiśeṣika-sūtras, the author Praśastapāda makes his obeisance to Kaṇāda, the author of the Sūtras, and characterises him as having composed the Vaiśeṣikaśāstra after propitiating Maheśvara by the greatness of his Yoga (meditation or concentration) and Ācāra (practice). These two ways are common to both the Pāśupata and Śaiva systems, as will be seen hereafter, and Kaṇāda, therefore, may have been a follower of the Pāśupata or Śaiva system. Bhāradvāja, the author of the Uddyota, or a gloss on Vātsyāyana's Nyāyabhāṣya, is called Pāśupatācārya, or a teacher belonging to the Pāśupata school, at the end of his work. Wema-Kadphises, a powerful prince of the Kuṣana race, who ruled over a large part of northern and northwestern India about the middle of the third century A. D., styles himself on the reverse of his coins a devotee of Maheśvara, or a member of the Māheśvara sect, and an image of Nandin and another of Śiva with a trident in his hand occur on the obverse. Varāhamihira in the latter part of the sixth century lays down the rule that the priests to be employed for the installation of an image of Śambhu should be Brāhmaṇas besmearing their bodies with ashes. By these he means members of a Śaiva sect, since, in the case of other gods, the names mentioned are those of the sects founded in the names of those gods.

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Haribhadra, an old Jaina author, speaks in his Ṣaḍdarśana-samuccaya of the schools of Gotama and Kaṇāda as professing the Śaiva faith. But his commentator Guṇaratna, who flourished in the latter part of the fourteenth century ¹), calls the Vaiśeṣikas Pāśupatas and the other school Śaivas. This last must be a mistake, since Bhāradvāja of the Nyāya school is specifically spoken of as a Pāśupatācārya, as we have seen. The Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsiang in the middle of the seventh century mentions the Pāśupatas twelve times in his book. In some places he says that there were temples of Maheśvara at which the Pāśupatas worshipped; in one or two temples, he says that they resided. And at Benares he found about ten thousand sectaries who honoured Maheśvara, besmeared their bodies with ashes, went naked and tied their hair in knots. These and those who lived in temples must have been like the Bairāgis, or ascetics, of modern times, who had given up the world; but probably the others mentioned by him were the followers of the Pāśupata faith who lived the ordinary life of householders. In the copper-plate charter of Nāgavardhana, nephew of Pulakeśin II of Mahārāṣṭra, who ascended the throne in 610 A. D.

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