Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume II Part 20

Hindu authorities treat the Pasupatas as distinct from the Saivas, or Sivaites, and the distinction was kept up in Camboja in the fourteenth century. The Saivas appear to be simply worshippers of Siva, who practice a sane ritual. In different parts of India they have peculiarities of their own but whereas the Vaishn?avas have split up into many sects each revering its own founder and his teaching, the Saivas, if not a united body, present few well-marked divisions. Such as exist I shall notice below in their geographical or historical connection.[501] Most of them accept a system of theology or philosophy[502] which starts with three principles, all without beginning or end. These are Pati or the Lord, that is Siva: Pasu, or the individual soul: Pasa or the fetter, that is matter or Karma.[503]

The task of the soul is to get free of its fetters and attain to the state of Siva. But this final deliverance is not quite the same as the ident.i.ty with Brahman taught by the Vedanta: the soul becomes a Siva, equal to the deity in power and knowledge but still dependent on him rather than identical with him.[504]

Peculiar to Saiva theology is the doctrine of the five kancukas[505]

or envelopes which limit the soul. Spirit in itself is free: it is timeless and knows no restrictions of s.p.a.ce, enjoyment, knowledge and power. But when spirit is contracted to individual experience, it can apprehend the universe only as a series of changes in time and place: its enjoyment, knowledge and power are cramped and curtailed by the limits of personality. The terminology of the Saivas is original but the theory appears to be an elaboration of the Pancaratra thesis that the soul is surrounded by the sheath of Maya.

The early literature of the worshippers of Siva (corresponding to the Sam?hitas of the Pancaratras) appears to have consisted of twenty-eight works composed in Sanskrit and called agamas.[506] There is fairly good evidence for their antiquity. Tirumular, one of the earliest Tamil poets who is believed to have lived in the first centuries of our era, speaks of them with enthusiasm and the Buddhist Sanskrit works called agamas (corresponding to the Pali Nikayas) cannot be later than that period. It is highly probable that the same word was in use among both Hindus and Buddhists at the same time. And since the Mahabharata mentions the Pasupatam, there is no difficulty in supposing that expositions of Sivaite doctrine were current in the first century A.D. or even B.C. But unless more texts of the agamas come to light the question of their age has little practical importance, for it is said by native scholars that of the twenty-eight primary books there survive only fragments of twenty, which treat of ritual, besides the verses which form the text expounded at length in the Sivananabotham.[507] There are also said to be 120 Upagamas of which only two or three have been preserved entire. Of these two have been printed in part, the Mr?igendra and Paushkara.[508] The former is cited in the Sarva-darsana-san?graha (about 1330) but does not show any signs of great antiquity. It is thus clear that the agamas are not much studied by modern Sivaites but it is unhesitatingly stated that they are a revelation direct from Siva and equal to the Veda[509] and this affirmation is important, even though the texts so praised are little known, for it testifies to the general feeling that there are other revelations than the Veda. But the Vedas, and the Vedanta Sutras are not ignored. The latter are read in the light of Nilakant?h?a's[510]

commentary which is considered by south Indian Pandits to be prior to Sankara.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 440: An attempt was made to adapt the Veda to modern ideas by composing new Upanishads. The inspiration of such works is not denied but they have not the same influence as the literature mentioned below.]

[Footnote 441: Sri Bhashya, II. 2. 43. So too the Vishn?u Puran?a, I.

1 describes itself as equal in sanct.i.ty to the Vedas. Sankara on Brah.

Sutras, I. 3. 33 says that the Puran?as are authoritative.]

[Footnote 442: See Grierson in _Ind. Ant._ 1908, p. 251 and p. 373.]

[Footnote 443: _E.g._ the Sanatsujatiya and Anugita (both in _S.B.E._ VIII.). See Deussen, _Vier philosophische Texte des Mahabharatam._]

[Footnote 444: Forming part of the Brahman?d?a Puran?a.]

[Footnote 445: See for a summary of them Winternitz, _Gesch. Ind.

Lit._ I. pp. 450-483. For the dates see Pargiter Dynasties of the Kali age. He holds that the historical portions of the older Puranas were compiled in Prakrit about 250 A.D. and re-edited in Sanskrit about 350. See also Vincent Smith, _Early History_, p. 21 and, against Pargiter, Keith in _J.R.A.S._ 1914, p. 1021. Alberuni (who wrote in 1030) mentions eighteen Puranas and gives two lists of them. Ban?a (c.

620 A.D.) mentions the recitation of the Vayu Puran?a. The commentary on the Svetasvatara Upan. ascribed to San?kara quotes the Brahma P., Linga P. and Vishn?u P. as authorities as well as Puranic texts described as Vishn?udharma and Sivadharmottara. But the authorship of this commentary is doubtful. The Puranic literature as we know it probably began with the Gupta dynasty or a century before it, but the word Puran?a in the sense of an ancient legend which ought to be learnt occurs as early as the Satapatha Brahman?a (XI. 5. 6. 8) and even in A.V. XI. 7. 24.]

[Footnote 446: See Dinesh Chandra Sen, _Hist. Bengali Language and Lit._ pp. 220-225.]

[Footnote 447: Pargiter, _l.c._ pp. xvii, xxviii. It does not belong to the latest cla.s.s of Puran?as for it seems to contemplate the performance of Smarta rites not temple ceremonial, but it is not quoted by Ramanuja (twelfth century) though he cites the Vishn?u Puran?a. Probably he disapproved of it.]

[Footnote 448: It was made as late as 1803 by Lallu Ji Lal, but is a rendering into Hindi of a version in the Braj dialect, probably made in the sixteenth century.]

[Footnote 449: Another Vishnuite work is cited indifferently as Padma-tantra or Padma-samhita, and the Bhagavata Puran?a (I. 3. 8) speaks of the Sattvatam Tantram, which is apparently the Sattvata-sam?hita. The work edited by Schrader is described as the _Ahirbudhnya Sam?hita of the Pancaratra agama._]

[Footnote 450: See for some notices of these works A. Avalon's various publications about Tantra. Srinivasa Iyengar, _Outlines of Indian Philosophy_, 118-191. Govndacarya Svami on the Vaishnava Samhitas, _J.R.A.S._ 1911, pp. 935 ff. Schomerus, _caiva-Siddhanta_, pp. 7 ff.

and Schrader's _Introduction to the Pancaratra_. Whereas these works claim to be independent of the Veda, the Sectarian Upanishads (see vol. I. p. 76) are an attempt to connect post-Vedic sects with the Veda.]

[Footnote 451: Jnana, Yoga, Carya, Kriya. The same names are used of Buddhist Tantras, except that Anuttara replaces Jnana.]

[Footnote 452: See Schrader, _Introd. to the Pancaratra_, p. 98. In the Raghuvam?sa, X. 27. agamas are not only mentioned but said to be extremely numerous. But in such pa.s.sages it is hard to say whether agama means the books now so-called or merely tradition. Alberuni seems not to have known of this literature and a Tantra for him is merely a minor treatise on astronomy. He evidently regards the Vedas, Puran?as, philosophical Darsanas and Epics as const.i.tuting the religious literature of India.]

[Footnote 453: Rajagopala Chariar (_Vaishnavite Reformers_, p. 4) says that in Vishnu temples two rituals are used called Pancaratra and Vaikhanasa. The latter is apparently consistent with Smarta usage whereas the Pancaratra is not. From Gopinatha Rao's _Elements of Hindu Iconography_, pp. 56, 77, 78 it appears that there is a Vaikhanasagama parallel to the Pancaratragama. It is frequently quoted by this author, though as yet unpublished. It seems to be the ritual of those Bhagavatas who worship both Siva and Vishn?u. It is said to exist in two recensions, prose and metrical, of which the former is perhaps the oldest of the Vaishn?ava agamas. The Vaikhanasa ritual was once followed at Srirangam but Ramanuja subst.i.tuted the Pancaratra for it.]

[Footnote 454: Avalon, _Principles of Tantra_, p. xxvii describes it as "that development of the Vaidika Karmakan?d?a which under the name of the Tantra Shastra is the scripture of the Kali age." This seems to me a correct statement of the tantric theory.]

[Footnote 455: Thus the Gautamiya Tantra which is held in high estimation by Vishnuite householders in Bengal, though not by ascetics, is a complete application of Sakta worship to the cult of Kr?ishn?a. The Varahi Tantra is also Vishnuite. See Raj. Mitra, _Sanskrit MSS. of Bikaner_, p. 583 and _Notices of Sk. MSS_. III.

(1876), p. 99, and I. cclx.x.xvii. See too the usages of the Nambuthiri Brahmans as described in _Cochin Tribes and Castes_, II. pp. 229-233.

In many ways the Nambuthiris preserve the ancient Vedic practices.]

[Footnote 456: See Grierson's articles Gleanings from the Bhaktamala in _J.R.A.S._ 1909-1910.]

[Footnote 457: _E.g._ Markan?d?eya, Vamana and Varaha. Also the Skanda Upanishad.]

[Footnote 458: Mahabh. Vanaparvan, 11001 ff. The Bhagavata Puran?a, Book IV. sec. 2-7 emphasizes more clearly the objections of the Rishis to Siva as an enemy of Vedic sacrifices and a patron of unhallowed rites.]

[Footnote 459: Mahabh. XII. sec. 283. In the same way the worship of Dionysus was once a novelty in Greece and not countenanced by the more conservative and respectable party. See Eur. Bacchae, 45. The Varaha-Purana relates that the Sivaite scriptures were revealed for the benefit of certain Brahmans whose sins had rendered them incapable of performing Vedic rites. There is probably some truth in this legend in so far as it means that Brahmans who were excommunicated for some fault were disposed to become the ministers of non-Vedic cults.]

[Footnote 460: Mahabh. II. secs. 16, 22 ff.]

[Footnote 461: Dron?a-p., 2862 ff. a.n.u.sasana-p., 590 ff.]

[Footnote 462: _E.g._ a.n.u.sasana P., 6806 ff.]

[Footnote 463: _E.g._ the Ahirbudhnya Sam?hita and Adhyatma Ramayan?a.]

[Footnote 464: Santipar. cccx.x.xvii, 12711 ff. In the Bhagavad-gita Kr?ishn?a says that he is Vasudeva of the Vr?ishn?is, XI. 37.]

[Footnote 465: Cf. the t.i.tle Bhagavata Puran?a.]

[Footnote 466: Ekayana is mentioned several times in the Chandogya Up.

(VII. 1, 2 and afterwards) as a branch of religious or literary knowledge and in connection with Narada. But it is not represented as the highest or satisfying knowledge.]

[Footnote 467: Even in the Satapatha Br. Narayan?a is mentioned in connection with a sacrifice lasting five days, XIII. 6. 1.]

[Footnote 468: The Sam?hitas. .h.i.therto best known to orientalists appear to be late and spurious. The Br?ihadbrahma Sam?hita published by the Anandasrama Press mentions Ramanuja. The work printed in the _Bibliotheca Indica_ as Narada Pancaratra (although its proper t.i.tle apparently is Jnanamritasara) has been a.n.a.lyzed by Roussel in _Melanges Harlez_ and is apparently a late liturgical compilation of little originality. Schrader's work was published by the Adyar Library in Madras, 1916. Apparently the two forms Pancaratra and Pancaratra are both found, but that with the long vowel is the more usual.

Govindacarya's article in _J.R.A.S._ 1911, p. 951 may also be consulted.]

[Footnote 469: The oldest are apparently the Paushkara, Varaha, Brahma, Sattvata, Jaya and Ahirbudhnya Sam?hitas, all quoted as authoritative by either Ramanuja or Vedanta Desika.]

[Footnote 470: It is quoted as equal to the Vedas by Yamunacarya, so it must then have been in existence some centuries.]

[Footnote 471: The story of Svetadvipa or White Island in the Santi-parvan of the Mahabharata states definitely that Narada received the Pancaratra there.]

[Footnote 472: There is much diversity of statement as to whether there are one or many Saktis.]

[Footnote 473: Vishn?u is the name of G.o.d in all his aspects, but especially G.o.d as the absolute. Vasudeva is used both of G.o.d as the absolute and also as the first emanation (Vyuha).]

[Footnote 474: Kriyasakti and Bhutisakti.]

[Footnote 475: Jnana, aisvarya, sakti, bala, virya, tejas. These are called gun?as but are not to be confounded with the three ordinary gun?as.]

[Footnote 476: The words seem to have been originally proper names.

See the articles in the _Petersburg Lexicon._]

[Footnote 477: Narayan?a like Vishn?u is used to designate more than one aspect of G.o.d. Sometimes it denotes the Absolute.]

[Footnote 478: The above brief sketch is based on Schrader's _Int. to the Pancaratra_ where the reader can find full details.]