5.1.2 Saiva and Shakta Agamas and sects

Explained

Saiva Siddhanta, the doctrine behind the 28 Agamas.

• Three realities: Pati (Lord Siva), Pashu (the bound soul), Pasha (the bonds).
• Three bonds (malas): Anava (sense of a limited self), Karma, Maya.
• Release comes by Siva's grace through diksha (initiation): samaya, vishesha, nirvana, and acharya-abhisheka for those who become priests.
• In Tamil country the Siddhanta also draws on the hymns of the 63 Nayanars (Tirumurai; their lives in the Periya Puranam of Sekkizhar).

Panchayatana: stones and elements.

• Natural stones used: Bana linga (Narmada) for Siva, Saligrama (Gandaki) for Vishnu, Svarnamukhi stone for Ambika, Shonabhadra stone for Ganesha, Sphatika (crystal) for Surya.
• The five are also read as lords of the five elements, so the worshipper sees God in the elements within. The standard verse pairs:

Adi Saivas.

• Said to descend from five gotra-rishis linked with Siva's five faces (Kaushika, Kashyapa, Bharadvaja, Gautama, Agastya).
• Only an initiated Adi Saiva Sivacharya may touch the main linga and do the inner worship; the belief is that worship by others brings calamity. Title: Sivachariyar / Gurukkal.
• The Adi Saiva uses Sanskrit Agamic liturgy; the Veerashaiva Jangama uses his own rites and does not need a temple.

Aradhya Saivas: the four triads.

• A Saiva line strong in Andhra, close to the Veerashaivas but keeping Vedic rites. Twelve teachers are grouped in four triads:

• The Pandita trayam spread Aradhya Saivism in Andhra. Palkuriki Somanatha told Mallikarjuna Panditaradhya's life in the Panditaradhya Charitra.

Veerashaiva practice.

• Ishtalinga contrasts with the sthavara linga (fixed in a temple) and the jangama (the living, moving teacher). Veerashaivas rank the wandering devotee above the fixed temple linga.
• Jangamas are the community's gurus and priests: they give diksha and teach Siva dharma.
• Ashtavarana (eight shields): guru, linga, jangama, padodaka, prasada, vibhuti, rudraksha, mantra.
• Panchachara (five codes): Lingachara, Sadachara, Shivachara, Bhrityachara, Ganachara.
• Shatsthala (six stages): bhakta, mahesha, prasadi, pranalingi, sharana, aikya.

The five Panchacharya peethas.

Old ascetic orders.

• Ramanuja's Sri Bhashya names four Saiva schools that he criticises: Kapala (Kapalika), Kalamukha, Pashupata, Shaiva.
• Kapalika: used a human skull as a begging bowl (kapala) and carried a skull-topped staff (khatvanga); lived in cremation grounds, smeared ash, sometimes went naked, offered liquor and meat, and worshipped Bhairava; the vow was the Mahavrata. Non-Vedic and now almost extinct. Bhavabhuti's play Malatimadhava shows a Kapalika.
• Pashupata: Pati = the Lord, Pashu = the jiva held in bondage; by Pashupati's grace the jiva, freed of ignorance and karma, reaches the end of sorrow (duhkhanta). Practices: wearing ash, japa, dhyana, yoga, tapas. Lakulisha (Nakulisha), held by some Puranas to be an avatar of Siva, had four disciples: Kushika, Gargya, Kaurushya, Maitreya. Kaundinya wrote the commentary, not a disciple.
• Kalamukha: "black-faced"; seen in inscriptions from about the 8th century; grew under the Kalyani Chalukyas; its acharyas ran temples, mathas and schools, learned in the Vedas, Agamas and Nyaya; later merged into other Saiva groups.
• The Aghoris of Varanasi are seen as later heirs of the Kapalika style.

Kashmir Shaivism.

• Vasugupta received the Shiva Sutras; Somananda wrote Shivadrishti; Utpaladeva wrote the Ishvara-pratyabhijna-karika; Abhinavagupta wrote the Tantraloka; Kshemaraja wrote the Pratyabhijnahridayam.
• Pratyabhijna = "recognition": the soul recognises that it is Siva. Non-dual (Trika). Asked 2023: Pratyabhijna Shastra belongs to Kashmir Shaivism.

Shakteya worship.

• Shakti is the cause of creation, sustenance and dissolution; Brahma, Vishnu and Siva act only through her power.
• Panchamakara (the five Ms of Vamachara): madya, mamsa, matsya, mudra, maithuna; Dakshinachara (right-hand path) replaces them with symbols.
• Saptamatrikas (seven mothers, the powers of the gods): Brahmi, Maheshwari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, Chamunda.
• Navadurgas, in the order of the Devi Kavacham, one each day of Navaratri from Prathipada to Navami:

• Navaratri / Dasara is the main Shakta festival; the Devi Mahatmya tells of Mahishasura, Chanda-Munda, Shumbha-Nishumbha and Raktabija.
• Shakti Peetha story: Sati gave up her body at Daksha's yajna; as Siva wandered with it, Vishnu's Sudarshana chakra cut it, and each place where a part fell became a peetha.
• Gramadevatas are worshipped outside the Agamic system with jataras, often by non-brahmin priests.