Hinduism: A Short History (36 page)

Śaivism is linked up closely with
saṃnyāsa
. Śaiva scriptures devote many chapters to the description of
dtksā
and the life of a
samnydsi.
¹²⁶
Śiva is called Mahāyogi and Maheśvara, and many images show Śiva in Yoga position. As to his becoming a
samnydsi
there are several not very flattering stories, probably put into circulation by Vaiṣṇavas.

As Śiva has a
gbora
and a
saumya
aspect, so Śaiva
saṃnyāsis
are divided into
agboras
and others, who follow the more pleasant features. Many
agbori saṃnyāsis
have revolting practices, imitating Rudra, the god of death and destruction, rather than Śiva.
¹²⁷
The followers of the highest form of Śiva are the Daśanāmis, whose realization of the “nothingness” of relative existence does not lead them to identify themselves with the death aspect of reality but with pure Spirit.

As in mythology and philosophy, so also in ritual is Śaivism often inextricably connected with Śāktism: many rites practised by Śaivites and many forms of their worship contain tantric elements.

Purānic Śaivism opens the door to
mukti
to everyone who is prepared to worship Śiva: man and woman,
brahmin
and
caṇḍāla
, god and animal. But a good many Śaiva
saṃnyāsis
maintain that final liberation, especially in the form of final merging with Śiva, can be achieved only through
saṃnyāsa
in one of the Śaiva orders. Śaivites generally believe in the possibility of
Jīvan-mukti
, liberation while still in this body.

Yogis are generally Śaivas. They worship Śiva both as Mahāyogi and the Māyīn. Among the Yogis there are many subsects with numerous rites. One of the most universally practiced rites is
prāṇāyāma
. One of the larger sects, the Kanphati Yogis, have their earlobes perforated and enlarged by heavy iron rings. In many images from rather early dates Śiva displays this type of perforated and enlarged earlobes.

Mādhava describes a Raseśvara-darśana whose followers had the very peculiar habit of taking mercury in order to obtain an immortal body.
¹²⁸
The use of narcotics and stimulants is quite widespread among Śaivas even now, and many of the states of the
ugra
type of
Śaiva-sādhus
are induced by such drugs.

Between the sixth and the twelfth centuries C.E. South India, especially the land of the Tamils, became the home of a fervent Śiva
bhakti
. The collection of songs and poems called
Tirumūrai
, organized into twelve books, contains thousands of fervent invocations of Śiva. K. Zvelebil, one of the foremost experts, calls it “not only an amazing literary and musical achievement and the embodiment of the religious experience of the entire Tamil nation, but also a tremendous moving force in the lives of the people of Tamilnad.” These hymns “have played, since the very days they have been composed until the present time, an immense, indispensable and often decisive role in the religious, cultural and social life of the entire Tamil people.” Zvelebil holds that “to a great extent the contemporary Tamil culture is still based on the
bhakti
movement.”
¹²⁹
Collectively the Śaiva
bhakti
poets became known as the sixty-three Nāyanārs, beginning with Campantar (also spelled Sambandar) in the sixth century and ending with Cekillar’s twelfth-century
Periya Purāṇa
, described as “the crown of Śaivite literature.” Only a few names can be mentioned here.

Tirumūlār aimed toward reconciling the
Vedas
and the
Āgamas
. “Becoming Śiva is Vedānta Siddhānta,” he says.
¹³⁰
He considers four forms of Śaivism:
sūddha
(a combination of Śaivism and Vedānta),
asūddha
(only an application of external means without Vedānta),
mārga
(the so-called
sanmārga
consisting of
cārya, kriyā, yoga
, and
jñāna)
, and
kadumśuddha
(no external rites but only direct meditation on Śiva). When the last stage is reached, the grace of God descends upon the
sādhaka
and by that he achieves
mukti
. Tirumūlār calls this
śakti-nipāta
.

Mānikkavācakar is the author of the famous
Tiru-vācakam.
¹³¹
He suffered persecution from a non-Śaiva king and Śiva in person appeared to him as Mayin. He calls Śiva “brilliance,” “nectar,” “river of mercy,” “inner light,” Śiva is everywhere. “He also comes in the form of a
guru
to save the souls that pine to reach his state.”
¹³²
He sings: “O highest Truth, you came to the earth and revealed your feet to me and became the embodiment of grace.” A good deal of the
Tiru-vācakam
is an ardent appeal to Śiva’s grace.

Appar, who had been a Jaina and turned into an ardent foe of Jainism, became a martyr for Śiva’s sake. He conceived Śiva as being beyond the twenty-five
tattvas
. He knows three forms of Śiva: Śiva, the destroyer of the universe; Śiva Parapara
(paranjoti)
, the unity of Śiva and Śakti; and Stambha, the pillar of light and consciousness, the ultimate goal of spiritual life.
¹³³

Campantar too had been fighting vehemently against the Jainas and Bauddhas, who were still quite strong in South India.
¹³⁴
According to his teaching, Śiva, the highest god, is formless. Attainment of the state of Śiva is
mokṣa
. The soul should release itself from its
mala
. For this Śiva’s grace is necessary. The most powerful means to reach it is the
pañcākṣara
. Thus he says: “The five letters are the final
mantra
through which one must reach Śiva. Worship Śiva with all your heart and you will be saved.”

In later times, up to our own age, there have also been many Śaiva saints. Most of them were appropriated by one of the schools outlined above. However, it is one of the characteristics of many popular religious leaders (“Saints” in popular parlance) in today’s India that they overcome the barriers through which traditional
saṃprādayas
divided their followers against each other. Thus it is not uncommon to find someone from a Śaivite background also to use Vaiṣṇava, or even non-Hindu, scriptures and figures and to offer a non-sectarian teaching that knows no denominational boundaries. Thus Satya Saī Bābā, one of the best-known religious personalities in today’s India, who originally belonged to a Śaivite tradition, preaches a universal message of love and hope and dispenses his miraculous powers on behalf of anyone, regardless of sectarian affIīlātion.

CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS IN ŚAIVISM

The traditional expressions of Hinduism, including Śaivism, continue to be practiced by the vast majority of Indians today. Similarly, the theological training that is imparted to the future leaders of the various
saṃprādayas
in the traditional schools (usually attached to major temples) is that of the medieval masters. Among the numerous Hindu temples built inside and outside India in the last few decades, there are also a large number of Śaiva sanctuaries, built in the traditional style. What is new is an attempt to express Śaivism in a Western idiom, to relate it to other religions and to modern scientific ways of thinking.

Christian missionaries, intrigued by the rich literary heritage of the Tamils, began translating Śaivite religious texts into Western languages and wrote monographs on it. Two names in particular stand out: George Uglow Pope (1820–1908), who spent many years as an educator in South India and became a well-respected scholar of Tamil. He translated the Tamil classics
Tirukkural
and
Tiruvācakam
into English. The other is Hilko Wiardo Schomerus (1879–1945) who wrote a monograph on the system of Śaiva Siddhānta and translated Śaivite hymns and legends into German. These missionary scholars found a large amount of agreement between Śaiva Siddhānta and Christianity. Following these pioneers, a fair number of Western scholars have focused their research on Śaivism. Some, like Alain Daniélou or Stella Kramrisch, even took initiation from Śaivite gurus. Among the noteworthy major recent scholarly publications on Śaivism by Westerners in English are W Doniger O’Flaherty’s
Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva
and S. Kramrisch’s
In the Presence of Śiva
, a veritable encyclopedia of Śaivite mythology and theology.

Among the Hindu scholars with modern training, writing in English, a few names stand out: K. Śivaraman’s
Śaivism in Philosophical Perspective
is a most thorough insider presentation of Śaiva Siddhānta. V. A. Devasenapathi’s
Śaiva Siddhānta as Expounded in the Śivajñāna-siddhiyar and Its Six Commentaries
is an excellent source for further studies. Devasenapathi also founded and edited for many years the quarterly
Śaiva Siddhānta
, the official organ of the Śaiva Siddhānta Mahāsamajam (later called Śaiva Siddhānta Perumanran). In the 1980s a Department of Śaiva Siddhānta was established at the University of Madras, dedicated to the scholarly study of that school of thought.

A Śaiva Siddhānta mission was started around the turn of the century in the United States by Ponnambalam Ramanathan, a former Attorney General of Śri Lanka, whose message was that God could be approached through any religion. A more specific Śaiva-siddhānta mission began in Australia in the sixties and has meanwhile spread to other countries. Its most prominent representative was probably Śivaya Subramuniyaswami, who founded and for many years edited the monthly
Hinduism Today
, established the “Himalayan Academy” in Hawaii, and produced numerous popular books on Śaivism.

NOTES

1.

   S. K. Chatterji (“Race Movements and Prehistoric Culture,” in

, vol. I, pp. 164ff.) thinks that Śiva is “at least partly of Dravidian origin.” Tamil

means red – to the early Āryans the divinity was known as

“The Red one with Blue (Throat)” referring to the famous myth of Śiva drinking the poison. Śambhu, another common epithet of Śiva, he derives from Tamil

or

, meaning copper, i.e., “the red metal.”

2.

   S. K. Chatterji,

, vol. I, p. 165: “The phallic symbol of Śiva appears to be, both in its form and name, of Austric or Proto-Australoid origin. The Mon Khmer and the Kols set up right conical stones for religious purposes. These are reminiscent of the digging stick, which is used as a primitive plough. According to Jean Przyluski the words

are of Austric origin.”

3.

   A. D. Pusalker,

, vol. I, pp. 258f£: The Śibis were intimately associated with the Usinaras.

VIII, 23, 10 refers to Amitratapana, a King of the Śibis.

X, 179 has been ascribed by the

to Śibi Ausinara. The Greek authors refer to the Śibis as “Siboi.” Cf. R. C. Majumdar,

, p. 136 (Qu. Curtius Rufus), p. 174 (Diodorus Siculus): “(Alexander) ... landed his troops and led them against a people called the Siboi. These, it is said, were descended from the soldiers, who under Herakles, attacked the rock Aornus, and after falling to capture it were settled by him in this part of the country. Alexander encamped near their capital and thereupon the citizens who filled the highest offices came forth to meet him, and reminded him how they were connected by the ties of a common origin.”

4.

   Malavan, Mala Pantaran, Kadar, Chenchu and other South Indian tribes invoke their Highest God as “Parama Śiva.” Though they seem to have accepted Śaivism from the neighboring caste-Hindus they attribute certain features to Śiva, not otherwise connected with him: thus, for example, they consider Śiva to be the ancestor of the tribe, make him a forest deity, depict him as riding on horse or elephant, hunting; whosoever sees him, must die.

5.

VII, 21, 5; S. Chattopadhyaya,

, p. 162 suggests that Ahirbudhnya may be a name of Śiva.

6.

   B. K. Ghosh,

, vol. I, pp. 207ff.

7.

   R. Arbmann,

“In the oldest ritual texts care is taken not to mention directly the name of this terrible god, he is indirectly referred to as ‘this god’ or ‘the god whose name contains the word

or

. In one case

II, 3, 1) the name was purposely pronounced different as Rudriya according to

III, 3, 9ff.”

8.

   V. M. Apte, in

, vol. I, pp. 448ff.: “This Rudra is (in all probability) not merely a development of the Ṛgvedic Rudra, but an adaptation of him by amalgamation with a popular god.”

9.

VII, 42 and XI, 2.

10.

I, 7, 3, 8 and V, 3, 3, 12.

11.

   Pāṇini

II, 387; R. Agravala,

, pp. 358ff.

12.

   Ibid., p. 365.

13.

   Megasthenes was a Greek ambassador to the court of the Mauryas around 300 B.C.E. Cf.