but does not mention Narayana and from its general style I should
imagine the Narayaniya to be a later poem. If so, the evolution of
Bhagavata theology will be that Krishna, a great hero in a tribe
lying outside the sphere of Brahmanism, is first identified with
Vasudeva, the god of that tribe, and then both of them with Vishnu.
At this stage the Bhagavad-gita was composed. A later current of
speculation added Narayana to the already complex figure, and a
still later one, not accepted by all sects, brought the pastoral and
amorous legends of Krishna. Thus the history of the Bhagavatas
illustrates the Indian disposition to combine gods and to see in each
of them only an aspect of the one. But until a later period the types
of divinity known as Vishnu and Siva resisted combination. The
worshippers of Siva have in all periods shown less inclination than
the Vishnuites to form distinct and separate bodies and the earliest
Sivaite sect of which we know anything, the Pasupatas,[493] arose
slightly later than the Bhagavatas.
5
Patanjali the grammarian (_c._ 150 B.C.) mentions devotees of
Siva[494] and also images of Siva and Skanda. There is thus no reason
to doubt that worshippers of Siva were recognized as a sect from at
least 200 B.C. onwards. Further it seems probable that the founder or
an early teacher of the sect was an ascetic called Lakulin or
Lakulisa, the club-bearer. The Vayu Purana[495] makes Siva say that
he will enter an unowned corpse and become incarnate in this form at
Kayarohana, which has been identified with Karvan in Baroda. Now the
Vayu is believed to be the oldest of the Puranas, and it is probable
that this Lakulin whom it mentions lived before rather than after our
era and was especially connected with the Pasupata sect. This word is
derived from Pasupati, the Lord of cattle, an old title of Rudra
afterwards explained to mean the Lord of human souls. In the
Santiparvan[496] five systems of knowledge are mentioned. Sankhya,
Yoga, the Vedas, Pasupatam and Pancaratram, promulgated respectively
by Kapila, Hiranyagarbha, Apantaratamas, Siva the Lord of spirits and
son of Brahma, and "The Lord (Bhagavan) himself." The author of these
verses, who evidently supported the Pancaratra, considered that these
five names represented the chief existing or permissible varieties of
religious thought. The omission of the Vedanta is remarkable but
perhaps it is included under Veda. Hence we may conclude that when
this passage was written (that is probably before 400 A.D. and perhaps
about the beginning of our era) there were two popular religions
ranking in public esteem with the philosophic and ritual doctrines of
the Brahmans. The Mahabharata contains a hymn[497] which praises Siva
under 1008 names and is not without resemblance to the Bhagavad-gita.
It contains a larger number of strange epithets, but Siva is also
extolled as the All-God, who asks for devotion and grants grace. At
the close of the hymn Siva says that he has introduced the Pasupata
religion which partly contradicts and partly agrees with the
institutions of caste and the Asramas, but is blamed by fools.[498]
These last words hint that the Pasupatas laid themselves open to
criticism by their extravagant practices, such as strange sounds and
gestures.[499] But in such matters they were outdone by other sects
called Kapalikas or Kalamukhas. These carried skulls and ate the flesh
of corpses, and were the fore-runners of the filthy Aghoris, who were
frequent in northern India especially near Mount Abu and Girnar a
century ago and perhaps are not yet quite extinct. The biographers of
Sankara[500] represent him as contending with these demoniac fanatics
not merely with the weapons of controversy but as urging the princes
who favoured him to exterminate them.
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 Vaishnavas 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 identity 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 space, 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
Samhitas 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 Mrigendra and Paushkara.[508] The former is
cited in the Sarva-darsana-sangraha (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 Nilakantha'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 Vishnu Purana, I.
1 describes itself as equal in sanctity to the Vedas. Sankara on Brah.
Sutras, I. 3. 33 says that the Puranas 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 Brahmanda Purana.]
[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. Bana (c.
620 A.D.) mentions the recitation of the Vayu Purana. The commentary
on the Svetasvatara Upan. ascribed to Sankara quotes the Brahma P.,
Linga P. and Vishnu P. as authorities as well as Puranic texts
described as Vishnudharma 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 Purana in the sense of an ancient legend which ought to be
learnt occurs as early as the Satapatha Brahmana (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 class of Puranas 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 Vishnu
Purana. 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 Purana (I. 3. 8)
speaks of the Sattvatam Tantram, which is apparently the
Sattvata-samhita. The work edited by Schrader is described as the
_Ahirbudhnya Samhita 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. Govindacarya 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 Raghuvamsa, X. 27. Agamas are not only mentioned but said to be
extremely numerous. But in such passages 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,
Puranas, philosophical Darsanas and Epics as constituting 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 Vishnu. It is said to exist in
two recensions, prose and metrical, of which the former is perhaps the
oldest of the Vaishnava Agamas. The Vaikhanasa ritual was once
followed at Srirangam but Ramanuja substituted the Pancaratra for it.]
[Footnote 454: Avalon, _Principles of Tantra_, p. xxvii describes it
as "that development of the Vaidika Karmakanda 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
Krishna. 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. cclxxxvii. 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._ Markandeya, Vamana and Varaha. Also the Skanda
Upanishad.]
[Footnote 458: Mahabh. Vanaparvan, 11001 ff. The Bhagavata Purana,
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: Drona-p., 2862 ff. Anusasana-p., 590 ff.]
[Footnote 462: _E.g._ Anusasana P., 6806 ff.]
[Footnote 463: _E.g._ the Ahirbudhnya Samhita and Adhyatma Ramayana.]
[Footnote 464: Santipar. cccxxxvii, 12711 ff. In the Bhagavad-gita
Krishna says that he is Vasudeva of the Vrishnis, XI. 37.]
[Footnote 465: Cf. the title Bhagavata Purana.]
[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. Narayana is mentioned in
connection with a sacrifice lasting five days, XIII. 6. 1.]
[Footnote 468: The Samhitas hitherto best known to orientalists
appear to be late and spurious. The Brihadbrahma Samhita published
by the Anandasrama Press mentions Ramanuja. The work printed in the
_Bibliotheca Indica_ as Narada Pancaratra (although its proper title
apparently is Jnanamritasara) has been analyzed 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 Samhitas, 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: Vishnu is the name of God in all his aspects, but
especially God as the absolute. Vasudeva is used both of God 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 gunas but are not to be confounded with the three ordinary
gunas.]
[Footnote 476: The words seem to have been originally proper names.
See the articles in the _Petersburg Lexicon._]
[Footnote 477: Narayana like Vishnu is used to designate more than
one aspect of God. 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.]
[Footnote 479: Comment on Vedanta sutras, II. 2. 42.]
[Footnote 480: And, as Schrader observes, the evolutionary system of
the Pancaratra is practically concerned with only one force, the
Sakti, which under the name Bhuti is manifested as the Universe and as
Kriya vitalizes and governs it (p. 31).]
[Footnote 481: On Sutta-nipata, 790, 792. The doctrine of the Vyuhas
is expounded in the Mahabharata Santip. CCCXL. 36 ff., 70 ff.; CCCXLI.
26 ff.]
[Footnote 482: Lueder's List of Brahmi inscriptions, No. 6, supposed
not to be later than 200 B.C. and No. 1112 supposed to be of the first
century B.C. Sankarshana is also mentioned in the Kautiliya
Arthasastra, XIII. 3.]
[Footnote 483: Some Samhitas emphasize the distinction between the
followers of the Veda and the enlightened ones who worship the Lord.
See Schrader, _Pancaratra_, p. 97.]
[Footnote 484: Syam iti Sankalpa, Ahirbudh. Sam. II. 7. In some late
Upanishads (_e.g._ Naradaparivrajaka and Brihatsannyasa) Cakri is used
as a synonym for a Pancaratra.]
[Footnote 485: The same is true of Ramanuja, who never quotes the
Bhagavata Purana.]
[Footnote 486: See the quotations from the Sattvata Samhita in
Schrader, pp. 150-154. As in the Pancaratra there is the Para above
the four Vyuhas, so some late forms of Buddhism regard Vairocana as
the source of four Jinas.]
[Footnote 487: The Manicheans also had groups of five deities (see
Chavannes and Pelliot in _J.A._ 1913, I. pp. 333-338) but they are
just as likely to have borrowed from Buddhism as _vice versa._]
[Footnote 488: See Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 565.]
[Footnote 489: Manu, I. 10-11, identifies him with Brahma and says,
"The waters are called Narah because they are produced from Nara, and
he is called Narayana because they were his place of movement
(ayana)." The same statement occurs in the Narayaniya.]
[Footnote 490: They are said to have been the sons of Dharma (religion
or righteousness) and Ahimsa (not-injuring). This is obvious allegory
indicating that the Bhagavata religion rejected animal sacrifices. At
the beginning of the Narayaniya (Santip. cccxxxv.) it is said that
Narayana the soul of the universe took birth in a quadruple form as
the offspring of Dharma, _viz._ Nara, Narayana, Hari and Krishna.
Nara and Narayana are often identified with Arjuna and Vasudeva.
_e.g._ Udyogap. xxlx. 19.]
[Footnote 491: Mahabhar. XII.]
[Footnote 492: It is an episode in Mahabhar. VI. and in its present
form was doubtless elaborated apart from the rest. But we may surmise
that the incident of Krishna's removing Arjuna's scruples by a
discourse appeared in the early versions of the story and also that
the discourse was longer and profounder than would seem appropriate to
the European reader of a tale of battles. But as the Vedanta
philosophy and the doctrine of Krishna's godhead developed, the
discourse may have been amplified and made to include later
theological views. Garbe in his German translation attempts to
distinguish the different strata and his explanation of the
inconsistencies as due to successive redactions and additions may
contain some truth. But these inconsistencies in theology are common
to all sectarian writings and I think the main cause for them must be
sought not so much in the alteration and combination of documents, as
in a mixed and eclectic mode of thought. Even in European books of the
first rank inconsistencies are not unknown and they need not cause
surprise in works which were not written down but committed to memory.
A poet composing a long religious poem in this way and feeling, as
many Hindus feel, both that God is everything and also that he is a
very present personal help, may very well express himself differently
in different parts. On the other hand the editors of such poems are
undoubtedly tempted to insert in them later popular doctrines.]
[Footnote 493: The name appears not to be in common use now, but the
Pasupata school is reviewed in the Sarva-darsana-sangraha (_c._
1330).]
[Footnote 494: Sivabhagavata, see his comment on Panini, V. 3. 99 and
V. 2. 76. The name is remarkable and suggests that the Sivaites may
have imitated the Bhagavatas.]
[Footnote 495: I. xxiii. 209. The _Bibliotheca Ind._ edition reads
Nakuli. Aufrecht (_Bodl. MSS._) has Lakuli. The same story is found in
Linga P. chap. XXIV. Lakuli is said to have had four pupils who
founded four branches. Lakulin does not play an important part in
modern Sivaism but is mentioned in inscriptions from the tenth till
the thirteenth centuries. The Sarva-darsana-sangraha describes the
Nakulisa-Pasupata system and quotes Nakulisa who is clearly the same
as Lakulin. The figures on Kushan coins representing Siva as holding a
club may be meant for Lakulin but also may be influenced by Greek
figures of Herakles. See for Lakulin Fleet in _J.R.A.S._ 1907, pp. 419
ff. and Bhandarkar _Vaishnavism and Saivism_, pp. 115 ff. The coins
of Wema Kadphises bear the title Mahisvara, apparently meaning
worshipper of the Great Lord. Temples in south India seem to have been
named after Kayarohana in the seventh century A.D. See Gopinatha Rao,
_Hindu Iconography_, II. p. 19.]
[Footnote 496: Mahabhar. XII.]
[Footnote 497: Mahabhar. XII. 13702 ff. It is recited by Daksha when
he recognizes the might of Siva after the unfortunate incident of his
sacrifice.]
[Footnote 498: Santi-parvan, section cclxxxv especially line 10, 470
ff.]
[Footnote 499: See Sarva-darsana-sangraha, chap. VI. and the comments
of Ramanuja and Sankara on Vedanta Sutras, II. 2. 36.]
[Footnote 500: _E.g._ Sankara-dig-vijaya. The first notice of these
sects appears to be an inscription at Igatpuri in the Nasik district
of about 620 A.D. recording a grant for the worship of Kapalesvara and
the maintenance of Mahavratins (= Kapalikas) in his temple. But
doubtless the sects are much older.]
[Footnote 501: The principal are, the Pasupatas, the Saivasiddhantam
of southern India and the Sivaism of Kashmir.]
[Footnote 502: The Sarva-darsana-sangraha, chap. VII. gives a summary
of it.]
[Footnote 503: The Pasupatas seem to attach less importance to this
triad, though as they speak of Pati, Pasu and the impurities of the
soul there is not much difference. In their views of causation and
free will they differed slightly from the Saivas, since they held that
Siva is the universal and absolute cause, the actions of individuals
being effective only in so far as they are in conformity with the will
of Siva. The Saiva siddhanta however holds that Siva's will is not
irrespective of individual Karma, although his independence is not
thereby diminished. He is like a man holding a magnet and directing
the movements of needles.]
[Footnote 504: There is some difference of language and perhaps of
doctrine on this point in various Sivaite works. Both Sivaites and
Pancaratrins sometimes employ the language of the Advaita. But see
Schrader, _Int. to Pancaratra_, pp. 91 ff.]
[Footnote 505: The five Kancukas (or six including Maya) are strictly
speaking tattvas of which the Saivas enumerate 36 and are kala,
niyati, raga, vidya and kala contrasted with nityatva, vyapakatva,
purnatva, sarvajnatva, sarvakartritva which are qualities of spirit.
See Chatterji, _Kashmir Saivism_, 75 ff., 160, where he points out
that the Kancukas are essentially equivalent to Kant's "forms of
perception and conception." See too Schrader, _Int. to Pancaratra_,
64, 90, 115.]
[Footnote 506: See for names and other details Schomerus, _Der
Saiva-Siddhanta_, pp. 7, 23: also many articles in the
_Siddhanta-Dipika._]
[Footnote 507: They are taken from the Agama called Raurava. The
Sivaites of Kashmir appear to have regarded the extant Siva-sutras as
an Agama.]
[Footnote 508: The Sanskrit text and translation of the Mrigendra are
published in the _Siddhanta-Dipika_, vol. IV. 1901 ff. It is sometimes
described as an Upagama and sometimes as the Jnanapada of the Kamika
Agama.]
[Footnote 509: So Tirumular. Nilakantha in his commentary on the
Vedanta Sutras says: "I see no difference between the Veda and the
Saivagama."]
[Footnote 510: Or Srikantha. The commentary is translated in
_Siddhanta-Dipika_, vol. I. ff. In spite of sectarian views as to its
early date, it seems to be influenced by the views and language of
Ramanuja.]
CHAPTER XXVIII
SANKARA. SIVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA. KASHMIR. LINGAYATS
1
About the sixth century A.D. the decadence of Buddhism and the
invigoration of Brahmanism were both well advanced. The Mahabharata
existed as a great collection of epic and religious poetry and the
older Puranas were already composed. Even at the present day
authorities differ as to whether Siva or Vishnu commands the
allegiance of the majority and naturally it is hard to describe the
distribution of sects in earlier times. The monuments of the Guptas
(for instance the ruins at Eran) suggest that they were Vishnuites but
a little later the cult of Siva becomes more prominent. The Emperor
Harsha (612-648) and his family were eclectic, honouring Siva, the Sun
and the Buddha, but it is not recorded that they worshipped Vishnu.
Bana who lived at his court indicates[511] that Sivaism was the
predominant form of worship, but also mentions Buddhists and
Bhagavatas. Hsuean Chuang on the other hand holds him up as a devout
Buddhist. Great Sivaite shrines in different parts of India such as
the temple of Bhuvaneshwar in Orissa and the Kailas at Ellora were
probably constructed in the seventh century and it is likely that in
the defeat of Buddhism the worshippers of Siva played an active part.
This conflict is connected with the names of Kumarila Bhatta (c.
725 A.D.) and Sankara Acarya (c. 800 A.D.). It clearly represents
forces which cannot be restricted to the character of individuals or
the span of human lives. The elements which compose Hinduism had been
vigorous long before the eighth century and Buddhism, though decadent,
continued to exist in India later. But probably the careers of these
two men are the best record of the decisive turn of the tide. It is
often said that they revived Hinduism, but however much they insisted
on the authority of ancient tradition, the real result of their
labours was not to re-establish the order of things which prevailed
before the rise of Buddhism, but to give authority and solidity to the
mixture of Brahmanism, Buddhism and popular beliefs which had grown
up. Kumarila is said to have been a Brahman of Bihar who was a
Buddhist monk but became a worshipper of Siva and so zealous a
persecutor of his former faith that he persuaded a king of his time
named Sudhanvan to exterminate it from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin.
This is a monstrous exaggeration but he was doubtless a determined
enemy of the Buddhists, as can be seen from his philosophical
works.[512] He taught little about metaphysics or the nature of God,
but he insisted on the necessity and efficacy of Vedic rites.
More important both as a thinker and an organizer was Sankara. There
is some discrepancy in the traditions of his birth, but he was
probably born about 788 A.D.[513] in a family of Nambuthiri Brahmans
at Kaladi[514] in the Cochin state. Kaladi occupies a healthy position
at some height above the sea level and the neighbourhood is now used
as a sanatorium. The cocoanut trees and towered temples which mark
many south Indian landscapes are absent, and paddy fields alternate
with a jungle of flowering plants studded with clumps of bamboos. A
broad river broken by sandbanks winds through the district and near
the villages there are often beautiful avenues of great trees. Not far
distant is Trichur which possesses a Vedic college and a large temple,
forbidden to Europeans but like most edifices in Malabar modest in
architecture. This is not the land of giant gopurams and multitudinous
sculpture, but of lives dedicated to the acquisition of traditional
learning and the daily performance of complicated but inconspicuous
rites.
The accounts of Sankara's life are little but a collection of legends,
in which, however, the following facts stand out. He was the pupil of
Govinda, who was himself the pupil of Gaudapada and this connection
would be important could we be certain that this Gaudapada was the
author of the metrical treatise on philosophy bearing his name. He
wrote popular hymns as well as commentaries on the Upanishads, Vedanta
Sutras and Bhagavad-gita, thus recognizing both Vedic and post-Vedic
literature: he resided for some time on the Narbudda and at Benares,
and in the course of the journeys in which like Paul he gave vent to
his activity, he founded four maths or monasteries, at Sringeri,
Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath in the Himalaya. Near the latter he died
before he was an old man. On his deathbed he is said to have asked
forgiveness for going on pilgrimages and frequenting temples, because
by so doing he had seemed to forget that God is everywhere.
It is clear that his work both as an author and organizer was
considerable and permanent, and that much of his career was spent
outside Dravidian lands. His greatest achievement was his exposition
of the Vedanta, of which I treat elsewhere. He based his arguments
unreservedly on the Vedic texts and aimed at being merely
conservative, but those texts and even the ancient commentaries are
obscure and inconsistent, and it was reserved for his genius to
produce from them a system which in consistency, thoroughness and
profundity holds the first place in Indian philosophy. His work did
not consist, as he himself supposed, in harmonizing the Upanishads. In
this department of interpretation he is as uncritical as other
orthodox commentators, but he took the most profound thoughts of the
old literature and boldly constructed with them a great edifice of
speculation. Since his time the Vedanta has been regarded as the
principal philosophy of India--a position which it does not seem to
have held before--and his interpretation of it, though often contested
and not suited to popular religion, still commands the respect and to
some extent the adherence of most educated Hindus.
In practical religion he clearly felt, as every Indian reformer still
must feel, the want of discipline and a common standard, Though the
Buddhism of his day had ceased to satisfy the needs of India, he saw
that its strength lay in its morality, its relative freedom from
superstition and its ecclesiastical organization. Accordingly he
denounced extravagant sects[515] and forbade such practices as
branding. He also instituted an order of ascetics.[516] In doing this
he was not only trying to obtain for Hinduism the disciplinary
advantages of the Buddhist church but also to break through the rule
prescribing that a Brahman must first be a householder and only late
in life devote himself entirely to religion. This rule did the
Brahmans good service in insuring the continuity and respectability of
their class but it tended to drive enthusiasts to other creeds.
It does not seem that any sect can plausibly claim Sankara as founder
or adherent. His real religion was Vedantism and this, though not
incompatible with sectarian worship, is predisposed to be impartial.
The legend says that when summoned to his mother's deathbed, he spoke
to her first of the Vedanta philosophy. But she bade him give her some
consolation which she could understand. So he recited a hymn to Siva,
but when the attendants of that god appeared she was frightened.
Sankara then recited a hymn to Vishnu and when his gentler
messengers came to her bedside, she gave her son her blessing and
allowed them to take her willing soul.
This story implies that he was ready to sanction any form of reputable
worship with a slight bias towards Vishnuism.[517] At the present day
the Smartas, who consider themselves his followers, have a preference
for the worship of Siva. But the basis of their faith is not Sivaism
but the recognition of the great body of Indian traditions known as
Smriti. And that, next to Vedantism, was the essence of Sankara's
teaching: he wished to regard tradition as a coherent whole, based on
the eternal Veda but including authoritative Smriti to be interpreted
in the light of the Veda, and thus he hoped to correct extravagant and
partial views and to lead to those heights whence it is seen that all
is one, "without difference."
The results of Sankara's labours may still be seen in the
organization of southern Hinduism which is more complete than in the
north. It is even said that the head of the Sringeri monastery in
Mysore exercises an authority over Smarta Brahmans similar to that of
the Pope.[518] This is probably an exaggeration but his decision is
accepted as settling caste disputes, and even to-day the Sringeri
math[519] is one of the most important religious institutions in
India. The abbot, who is known as Jagadguru, is head of the Smarta
Brahmans. The present occupant is said to be thirty-third in
succession from Sankara and numbers among his predecessors
Sayanacarya, the celebrated Vedic commentator who lived in the
fourteenth century. The continued prosperity of this establishment and
of other religious corporations in the Dravidian country, whereas the
Mohammedans destroyed all monasteries whether Hindu or Buddhist in the
north, is one of the reasons for certain differences in northern and
southern Hinduism. For instance in northern India any Brahman,
whatever his avocation may be, is allowed to perform religious
ceremonies, whereas in the Deccan and south India Brahmans are divided
into Laukikas or secular and Bhikshus or religious. The latter are
householders, the name having lost its monastic sense, but they have
the exclusive right of officiating and acting as Gurus and thus form a
married clergy.
It is possible that the influence of Sankara may have had a
puritanical side which partly accounts for the degeneration of later
Indian art. His higher teaching inculcated a spiritual creed which
needed no shrines, while for those who required rites he recommended
the old Brahmanic ritual rather than the modern temple cultus. The
result of this may have been that piety and learning were diverted
from art, so that architecture and sculpture ceased to be in touch
with the best religious intelligence.
The debt of Sankara to Buddhism is an interesting question. He
indited polemics against it and contributed materially to its
downfall, but yet if the success of creeds is to be measured by the
permanence of ideas, there is some reason for thinking that the
vanquished led the conqueror captive. Sankara's approval both in
theory and in practice of the monastic life is Buddhistic rather than
Brahmanical.[520] The doctrines of Maya and the distinction between
higher and lower truth, which are of cardinal importance in his
philosophy, receive only dubious support from the Upanishads and from
Badarayana, but are practically identical with the teachings of the
Madhyamika School of Buddhism and it was towards this line of thought
rather than towards the theism of the Pasupatas or Bhagavatas that he
was drawn. The affinity was recognized in India, for Sankara and his
school were stigmatized by their opponents as Buddhists in
disguise.[521]
2
The reader will perhaps have noticed that up to the career of Sankara
we have been concerned exclusively with northern India, and even
Sankara, though a native of the south, lived much in the north and it
was the traditional sacred lore of the north which he desired to
establish as orthodoxy. Not only the older literature, Brahmanic as
well as Buddhist, but most of the Puranas ignore the great stretch of
Dravidian country which forms the southern portion of the peninsula
and if the Ramayana sings of Rama's bridge and the conquest of Lanka
this is clearly an excursion into the realms of fancy. Yet the
Dravidian districts are ample in extent, their monuments are
remarkable, their languages are cultivated, and Tamil literature
possesses considerable interest, antiquity and originality.
Unfortunately in dealing with these countries we experience in an
unusually acute form the difficulties which beset every attempt to
trace the history of ideas in India, namely, the absence of
chronology. Before 1000 A.D. materials for a connected history are
hardly accessible. There are, however, many inscriptions and a mass of
literature (itself of disputable date) containing historical
allusions, and from these may be put together not so much a skeleton
or framework as pictures of ancient life and thought which may be
arranged in a plausible order.
It may be said that where everything is so vague, it would be better
to dismiss the whole subject of southern India and its religion,
pending the acquisition of more certain information, and this is what
many writers have done. But such wide regions, so many centuries, such
important phases of literature and thought are involved, that it is
better to run the risk of presenting them in false sequence than to
ignore them. Briefly it may be regarded as certain that in the early
centuries of our era Buddhism, Jainism and Brahmanism all flourished
in Dravidian lands. The first two gradually decayed and made way for
the last, although Jainism remained powerful until the tenth century.
At a fairly early date there were influential Sivaite and Vishnuite
sects, each with a devotional literature in the vernacular. Somewhat
later this literature takes a more philosophic and ecclesiastical
tinge and both sects produce a succession of teachers. Tamil Sivaism,
though important for the south, has not spread much beyond its own
province, but the Vishnuism associated with such eminent names as
Ramanuja and Ramanand has influenced all India, and the latter teacher
is the spiritual ancestor of the Kabirpanthis, Sikhs and various
unorthodox sects. Political circumstances too tended to increase the
importance of the south in religion, for when nearly all the north was
in Moslim hands the kingdom of Vijayanagar was for more than two
centuries (_c._ 1330-1565) the bulwark of Hinduism. But in filling up
this outline the possibilities of error must be remembered. The poems
of Manikka-Vacagar have such individuality of thought and style that
one would suppose them to mark a conspicuous religious movement. Yet
some authorities refer them to the third century and others to the
eleventh, nor has any standard been formulated for distinguishing
earlier and later varieties of Tamil.
I have already mentioned the view that the worship of Siva and the
Linga is Dravidian in origin and borrowed by the Aryans. There is no
proof that this worship had its first home in the south and spread
northwards, for the Vedic and epic literature provides a sufficient
pedigree for Siva. But this deity always collected round himself
attributes and epithets which are not those of the Vedic gods but
correspond with what we know of non-Aryan Indian mythology. It is
possible that these un-Aryan cults attained in Dravidian lands fuller
and more independent development than in the countries colonized by
the Aryans, so that the portrait of Siva, especially as drawn by Tamil
writers, does retain the features of some old Dravidian deity, a deity
who dances, who sports among men and bewilders them by his puzzling
disguises and transformations.[522] But it is not proved that Siva was
the chief god of the early Tamils. An ancient poem, the Purra-Porul
Venba-Malai,[523] which contains hardly any allusions to him mentions
as the principal objects of worship the goddess Kottavai
(Victorious) and her son Muruvan. Popular legends[524] clearly
indicate a former struggle between the old religion and Hinduism
ending as usual in the recognition by the Brahmans of the ancient gods
in a slightly modified form.
We have no records whatever of the introduction of Brahmanism into
southern India but it may reasonably be supposed to have made its
appearance there several centuries before our era, though in what form
or with what strength we cannot say. Tradition credits Agastya and
Parasu-rama with having established colonies of Brahmans in the south
at undated but remote epochs. But whatever colonization occurred was
not on a large scale. An inscription found in Mysore[525] states that
Mukkanna Kadamba (who probably lived in the third century A.D.)
imported a number of Brahman families from the north, because he could
find none in the south. Though this language may be exaggerated, it is
evidence that Brahmans cannot have been numerous at that time and it
is probable that Buddhism and Jainism were better represented. Three
of Asoka's inscriptions have been found in Mysore and in his last
edict describing his missionary efforts he includes "the kings of the
Pandyas and Colas in the south" among the conquests of Buddhism.
Mahinda founded a monastery in the Tanjore district and probably
established Buddhism at various points of the Tamil country on his way
to Ceylon.[526] There is therefore no reason to be doubtful of
Buddhist activity, literary or other, if evidence for it is
forthcoming. Hsuean Chuang in 640 A.D. deplores the decay of Buddhism
and speaks of the ruins of many old monasteries.
According to Jain tradition, which some think is supported by
inscriptions at Sravana-Belgola,[527] Bhadrabahu accompanied by
Candra Gupta (identified with the Maurya king of that name) led a
migration of Jains from the north to Mysore about 300 B.C. The
authenticity of this tradition has been much criticized but it can
hardly be disputed that Jainism came to southern India about the same
time as Buddhism and had there an equally vigorous and even longer
existence.
Most Tamil scholars are agreed in referring the oldest Tamil
literature to the first three centuries of our era and I see nothing
improbable in this. We know that Asoka introduced Buddhism into south
India. About the time of the Christian era there are many indications
that it was a civilized country[528] which maintained commercial
relations with Rome and it is reasonable to suppose that it had a
literature. According to native tradition there were three successive
Sanghams, or Academies, at Madura. The two earlier appear to be
mythical, but the third has some historical basis, although it is
probable that poems belonging to several centuries have been
associated with it. Among those which have been plausibly referred to
the second century A.D. are the two narrative poems Silappadhikaram
and Manimekhalai as well as the celebrated collection of didactic
verses known as the Kural. The first two poems, especially the
Manimekhalai, are Buddhist in tone. The Kural is ethical rather than
religious, it hardly mentions the deity,[529] shows no interest in
Brahmanic philosophy or ritual and extols a householder's life above
an ascetic's. The Naladiyar is an anthology of somewhat similar Jain
poems which as a collection is said to date from the eighth century,
though verses in it may be older. This Jain and Buddhist literature
does not appear to have attained any religious importance or to have
been regarded as even quasi-canonical, but the Dravidian Hindus
produced two large collections of sacred works, one Sivaite the other
Vishnuite, which in popular esteem rival the sanctity of the Vedas.
Both consist of hymns, attributed to a succession of saints and still
sung in the temple worship, and in both sects the saints are followed
by a series of teachers and philosophers. We will take the Sivaites
first.
3
Their collection of hymns is known as Tirumurai, and was compiled by
Nambi-Andar-Nambi said to have lived under King Rajaraja (_c._ 1000
A.D.). The first portion of it, known as Devaram, contains the hymns
of Sambandha, Appar and Sundara. These persons are the most eminent of
the sixty-three saints[530] of the southern Sivaites and are credited
with many miracles. Tamil scholars[531] consider that Sambandha cannot
have lived later than the beginning of the seventh century. He was an
adversary of the Jains and Appar is said to have been persecuted by
the Buddhists. Of the other works comprised in the Tirumurai the most
important is the Tiruvacagam of Manikka-Vacagar,[532] one of the
finest devotional poems which India can show. It is not, like the
Bhagavad-gita, an exposition _by_ the deity, but an outpouring of the
soul _to_ the deity. It only incidentally explains the poet's views:
its main purpose is to tell of his emotions, experiences and
aspirations. This characteristic seems not to be personal but to mark
the whole school of Tamil Saiva writers.
This school, which is often called the Siddhanta,[533] though perhaps
that term is better restricted to later philosophical writers, is
clearly akin to the Pasupata but alike in thought, sentiment and
ritual far more refined. It is in fact one of the most powerful and
interesting forms which Hinduism has assumed and it has even attracted
the sympathetic interest of Christians. The fervour of its utterances,
the appeals to God as a loving father, seem due to the temperament of
the Tamils, since such sentiments do not find so clear an expression
in other parts of India. But still the whole system, though heated in
the furnace of Dravidian emotion, has not been recast in a new mould.
Its dogmas are those common to Sivaism in other parts and it accepts
as its ultimate authority the twenty-eight Saiva Agamas. This however
does not detract from the beauty of the special note and tone which
sound in its Tamil hymns and prayers.
Whatever the teaching of the little known Agamas may be, the
Saiva-Siddhanta is closely allied to the Yoga and theistic forms of
the Sankhya. It accepts the three ultimates, Pati the Lord, Pasu his
flock or souls, and Pasa the fetter or matter. So high is the first of
these three entities exalted, so earnestly supplicated, that he seems
to attain a position like that of Allah in Mohammedanism, as Creator
and Disposer. But in spite of occasional phrases, the view of the Yoga
that all three--God, souls and matter--are eternal is maintained.[534]
Between the world periods there are pauses of quiescence and at the
end of these Siva evolves the universe and souls. That he may act in
them he also evolves from himself his energy or Paracatti (Sk. Sakti).
But this does not prevent the god himself in a personal and often
visible form from being for his devotees the one central and living
reality. The Sakti, often called Uma, is merely Siva's reflex and
hardly an independent existence.
The remarkable feature of this religion, best seen in the Tiruvacagam,
is the personal tie which connects the soul with God. In no literature
with which I am acquainted has the individual religious life--its
struggles and dejection, its hopes and fears, its confidence and its
triumph--received a delineation more frank and more profound. Despite
the strangely exotic colouring of much in the picture, not only its
outline but its details strikingly resemble the records of devout
Christian lives in Europe. Siva is addressed not only as Lord but as
Father. He loves and desires human souls. "Hard though it is for
Brahma and Vishnu to reach thee, yet thou did'st desire me." What the
soul desires is deliverance from matter and life with Siva, and this
he grants by bestowing grace (Arul). "With mother love he came in
grace and made me his"; "O thou who art to thy true servants true";
"To thee, O Father, may I attain, may I yet dwell with thee."
Sometimes[535] the poet feels that his sins have shut him off from
communion with God. He lies "like a worm in the midst of ants, gnawed
by the senses and troubled sore" ejaculating in utter misery "Thou
hast forsaken me." But more often he seems on the point of expressing
a thought commoner in Christianity than in Indian religion, namely
that the troubles of this life are only a preparation for future
beatitude. The idea that matter and suffering are not altogether evil
is found in the later Sankhya where Prakriti (which in some respects
corresponds to Sakti) is represented as a generous female power
working in the interests of the soul.
Among the many beauties of the Tiruvacagam is one which reminds us of
the works of St. Francis and other Christian poetry, namely the love
of nature and animals, especially birds and insects. There are
constant allusions to plants and flowers; the refrain of one poem
calls on a dragon fly to sing the praises of God and another bids the
bird known as Kuyil call him to come. In another ode the poet says he
looks for the grace of God like a patient heron watching night and
day.
The first perusal of these poems impresses on the reader their
resemblance to Christian literature. They seem to be a tropical
version of Hymns Ancient and Modern and to ascribe to the deity and
his worshippers precisely those sentiments which missionaries tell us
are wanting among pagans--fatherly love, yearning devotion and the
bliss of assured salvation. It is not surprising if many have seen in
this tone the result of Christian influence. Yet I do not think that
the hypothesis is probable. For striking as is the likeness the
contrast is often equally striking. The deity described in words which
almost literally render "Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear" is also
the spouse of Uma with the white breasts and curled locks; he dances
in the halls of Tillai; and the line "Bid thou in grace my fears
begone" is followed by two others indicated by dots as being "not
translateable."[536] Nor can we say that emotional religion here uses
the language of a mythology which it has outgrown. The emotion itself
while charged with the love of god, the sense of sin and contrition,
has in it another strain which jars on Europeans. Siva sports with the
world and his worshippers treat him with an affectionate intimacy
which may be paralleled in the religion of Krishna but hardly in
Christianity.[537] Thus several hymns have reference to a game, such
as tossing about a ball (hymn vii), battledore and shuttlecock (xiv)
or some form of wrestling in which the opponents place their hands on
each other's shoulders (xv). The worshipper can even scold the deity.
"If thou forsake me, I will make people smile at thee. I shall abuse
thee sore: madman clad in elephant skin: madman that ate the poison:
madman, who chose even me as thy own."[538]
Again, though in part the tone of these poems is Christian, yet they
contain little that suggests Christian doctrine. There is nothing
about redemption or a suffering god,[539] and many ideas common to
Christianity and Hinduism--such as the incarnation,[540] the Trinity,
and the divine child and his mother--are absent. It is possible that
in some of the later works of the Sittars Christian influence[541] may
have supervened but most of this Tamil poetry is explicable as the
development of the ideas expressed in the Bhagavad-gita and the
Svetasvatara Upanishad. Chronologically Christian influence is not
impossible and there is a tradition that Manikka-Vacagar reconverted
to Hinduism some natives of Malabar who had become Christians[542] but
the uncertainty of his date makes it hard to fix his place in the
history of doctrine. Recent Hindu scholars are disposed to assign him
to the second or third century.[543] In support of this, it is
plausibly urged that he was an active adversary of the Buddhists, that
tradition is unanimous in regarding him as earlier than the writers of
the Devaram[544] who make references (not however indisputable) to his
poem, and that Perisiriyar, who commented on it, lived about 700 A.D.
I confess that the tone and sentiments of the poem seem to me what one
would expect in the eleventh rather than in the third century: it has
something of the same emotional quality as the Gita-govinda and the
Bhagavata-purana, though it differs from them in doctrine and in its
more masculine devotion. But the Dravidians are not of the same race
as the northern Hindus and since this ecstatic monotheism is clearly
characteristic of their literature, it may have made its appearance in
the south earlier than elsewhere.
The Tiruvacagam is not unorthodox but it deals direct with God and is
somewhat heedless of priests. This feature becomes more noticeable in
other authors such as Pattanattu Pillai, Kapilar and the Telugu
poet Vemana. The first named appears to have lived in the tenth
century. The other two are legendary figures to whom anthologies of
popular gnomic verses are ascribed and some of those attributed to
Kapilar are probably ancient. In all this poetry there rings out a
note of almost defiant monotheism, iconoclasm and antisacerdotalism.
It may be partly explained by the fact that in the south Brahmanism
was preceded, or at least from early times accompanied, by Buddhism
and Jainism. These creeds did not make a conquest, for the Dravidian
temperament obviously needed a god who could receive and reward
passionate devotion, but they cleared the air and spread such ideas as
the superiority of good deeds to rites and the uselessness of priests.
Even now verses expressing these thoughts are popular in the Madras
Presidency, but the sect which produced them, known as the
Sittars,[545] is entirely extinct. Caldwell attributes its literature
to the seventeenth century, but the evidence available is small and it
is clear that this theistic anti-brahmanic school had a long life. As
in other cases, the Brahmans did not suppress so much as adapt it. The
collection which goes by the name of Siva-vakyam contains poems of
different ages and styles. Some are orthodox, others have no trace of
Brahmanism except the use of Siva as the name of the deity. Yet it
would seem that the anthology as a whole has not fallen under
sacerdotal censure.[546]
The important sect of the Lingayats should perhaps be regarded as an
offshoot of this anti-brahmanic school, but before describing it, it
may be well briefly to review the history of orthodox Sivaism in the
south.
By this phrase is not meant the sect or school which had the support
of Sankara but that which developed out of the poems mentioned above
without parting company with Brahmanism. Sankara disapproved of their
doctrine that the Lord is the efficient cause of the world, nor would
the substitution of vernacular for Sanskrit literature and temple
ceremonies for Vedic sacrifices have found favour with him. But these
were evidently strong tendencies in popular religion. An important
portion of the Devaram and the Kanda Purana of Kachiyappar, a Tamil
adaptation of the Skanda Purana, were probably written between 600
and 750 A.D.[547] About 1000 A.D. the Tirumurai (including the
Devaram) was arranged as a collection in eleven parts, and about a
century later Sekkilar composed the Periya Purana, a poetical
hagiology, giving the legends of Sivaite saints and shrines. Many
important temples were dedicated to Siva during the eleventh and
twelfth centuries.
There followed a period of scholasticism in which the body of doctrine
called the Saiva Siddhanta was elaborated by four Acaryas, namely
Mey-Kanda-Devar[548] (1223), Arunandi, Marainana-Sambandhar and
Umapati (1313). It will thus be seen that the foundation of Sivaite
philosophy in Tamil is later than Ramanuja and the first Vishnuite
movements, and perhaps it was influenced by them but the methodical
exposition of the Saiva-Siddhantam[549] does not differ materially
from the more poetic utterances of the Tiruvacagam. It recognizes the
three entities, the Lord, the soul and matter as separate, but it
shows a tendency (doubtless due to the influence of the Vedanta) both
to explain away the existence of matter and to identify the soul with
the Lord more closely than its original formulae allow. Matter is
described as Maya and is potentially contained in the Lord who
manifests it in the creative process which begins each kalpa. The Lord
is also said to be one with our souls and yet other. The soul is by
nature ignorant, in bondage to the illusion of Maya and of Karma, but
by the grace of the Lord it attains to union (not identity) with him,
in which it sees that its actions are his actions.
In modern times Saiva theology is represented among Dravidians by the
works of Sivananar (1785) and his disciple Kachiyappar: also by the
poems of Rama-linga. Sivaism in Madras and other parts of southern
India is still a vigorous and progressive Church which does not
neglect European methods. Its principal organ is an interesting
magazine called Siddhanta-Dipika or the Light of Truth. In northern
India the Sivaites are less distinct as a body and have less
organization, but temples to Siva are numerous and perhaps the
majority of Brahmans and ascetics regard him as their special deity
and read Sivaite rather than Vishnuite texts. But it is probably also
true that they are not sectarian in the same sense as the worshippers
of Krishna.
It is not easy to estimate the relative numbers of Sivaites and
Vishnuites in south India, and good authorities hold opposite views.
The Sivaites are more united than the Vishnuites (whose many divisions
and conspicuous sectarian marks attract attention) and are found
chiefly among the upper classes and among ascetics, but perhaps there
is much truth in an opinion which I once heard expressed by a Tamil
Brahman, that the real division is not between the worshippers of Siva
and of Vishnu, but between Smartas, those who follow more or less
strictly the ancient ritual observances and those who seek for
salvation by devotion and in practice neglect the Sanskrit scriptures.
There is little hostility. The worship of both gods is sometimes
performed in the same building as at Chidambaram or in neighbouring
shrines, as at Srirangam. In south Kanara and Travancore it is
generally held that the two deities are of equal greatness and in many
places are found images representing them united in one figure. But
the great temples at Madura, Tinnevelly and Tanjore are all dedicated
to Siva or members of his family. If in the philosophical literature
of the Siddhanta the purity of the theism taught is noticeable, in
these buildings it is rather the rich symbolism surrounding the god
which attracts attention. In his company are worshipped Parvati,
Ganesa, Subrahmanya, the bull Nandi and minor attendants: he is
shown leaping in the ecstacy of the dance and on temple walls are
often depicted his sixty-four sports or miracles (lila). For the
imagination of the Dravidians he is a great rhythmic force, throbbing
and exulting in all the works of nature and exhibiting in kindly
playfulness a thousand antics and a thousand shapes.
4
Another school of Sivaite philosophy flourished in Kashmir[550] from
the ninth century onwards and is not yet extinct among Pandits. It
bases itself on the Agamas and includes among them the still extant
Siva-sutras said to have been discovered as revelation by Vasugupta.
He lived about 800 A.D. and abandoned Buddhism for Sivaism. The school
produced a distinguished line of literary men who flourished from the
ninth to the eleventh centuries.[551]
The most recent authorities state that the Kashmir school is one and
that there is no real opposition between the Spanda and Pratyabhijna
sections.[552] The word Spanda, equivalent to the godhead and ultimate
reality, is interesting for it means vibration accompanied by
consciousness or, so to speak, self-conscious ether. The term
Pratyabhijna or recognition is more frequent in the later writings.
Its meaning is as follows. Siva is the only reality and the soul is
Siva, but Maya[553] forces on the soul a continuous stream of
sensations. By the practice of meditation it is possible to interrupt
the stream and in those moments light illuminates the darkness of the
soul and it recognizes that it is Siva, which it had forgotten. Also
the world is wholly unreal apart from Siva. It exists by his will and
in his mind. What seems to the soul to be cognition is really
recognition, for the soul (which is identical with the divine mind but
blinded and obstructed) recognizes that which exists only in the
divine mind.
It has been held that Kashmirian Sivaism is the parent of the
Dravidian Saiva Siddhanta and spread from Kashmir southwards by way of
Kalyan in the eleventh century, and this hypothesis certainly receives
support from the mention of Kashmiri Brahmans in south Indian
inscriptions of the fourteenth century.[554] Yet I doubt if it is
necessary to assume that south Indian Sivaism was _derived_ from
Kashmir, for the worship of Siva must have been general long before
the eleventh century[555] and Kashmiri Brahmans, far from introducing
Sivaism to the south, are more likely to have gone thither because
they were sure of a good reception, whereas they were exposed to
Moslim persecution in their own country. Also the forms which Sivaism
assumed in these two outlying provinces present differences: in
Kashmir it was chiefly philosophic, in the Dravidian countries chiefly
religious. In the south it calls on God to help the sinner out of the
mire, whereas the school of Kashmir, especially in its later
developments, resembles the doctrine of Sankara, though its
terminology is its own.
Before the advent of Islam, Kashmir was a secluded but cultured land.
Its pleasant climate and beautiful scenery, said to have been praised
by Gotama himself,[556] attracted and stimulated thinkers and it had
some importance in the history of Buddhism and of the Pancaratra as
well as for Sivaism. It is connected with the Buddhist sect called
Sarvastivadins and in this case the circumstances seem clear. The sect
did not originate in Kashmir but its adherents settled there after
attending the Council of Kanishka and made it into a holy land.
Subsequently, first Vishnuism and then Sivaism[557] entered the
mountain valleys and flourished there. Kashmirian thinkers may have
left an individual impress on either system but they dealt with
questions which had already been treated of by others and their
contributions, though interesting, do not seem to have touched the
foundations of belief or to have inspired popular movements. The
essential similarity of all Sivaite schools is so great that
coincidences even in details do not prove descent or borrowing and the
special terms of Kashmirian philosophy, such as _spanda_ and
_pratyabhijna_, seem not to be used in the south.
The Siva-sutras consist of three sections, describing three methods of
attaining _svacchanda_ or independence. One (the gist of which has
been given above) displays some though not great originality: the
second is Saktist, the third follows the ordinary prescriptions of the
Yoga. All Sivaite philosophy is really based on this last and teaches
the existence of matter, souls and a deity, manifested in a series of
phases. The relations of these three ultimates are variously defined,
and they may be identified with one another, for the Sankhya-Yoga
doctrine may be combined (though not very consistently) with the
teaching of the Vedanta. In Kashmirian Sivaism Vedantist influences
seem strong and it even calls itself Advaita. It is noteworthy that
Vasugupta, who _discovered_ the Siva-sutras, also wrote a commentary
on the Bhagavad-gita.
The gist of the matter is that, since a taste for speculation is far
more prevalent in India than in Europe, there exist many systems of
popular philosophy which, being a mixture of religion and metaphysics,
involve two mental attitudes. The ordinary worshipper implores the
Lord to deliver him from the bondage of sin and matter: the
philosopher and saint wish to show that thought is one and such ideas
as sin and matter partial and illusory. The originality of the Saiva
Siddhanta lies less in its dogmas than in its devotional character: in
the feeling that the soul is immersed in darkness and struggles
upwards by the grace of the Lord, so that the whole process of Karma
and Maya is really beneficent.
5
As already mentioned Sivaism has an important though unorthodox
offshoot in the Lingayats[558] or Lingavants. It appears that they
originated at Kalyan (now in the Nizam's dominions) at the time when a
usurper named Bijjala (1156-1167) had seized the throne of the
Chalukyas. Their founder was Basava (the vernacular form of Vrishabha)
assisted by his nephew Channabasava,[559] whose exploits and miracles
are recorded in two Puranas composed in Kanarese and bearing their
respective names. According to one story Bijjala, who was a Jain,
persecuted the Lingayats and was assassinated by them. But there are
other versions and the early legends of the sect merit little
credence. The Lingayats are Puritans. They reject caste, the supremacy
of the Brahmans, sacrifices and other rites, and all the later
Brahmanic literature. In theory they reverence the Vedas but
practically the two Puranas mentioned are their sacred books.[560]
They are strict vegetarians and teetotallers: they do not insist on
child marriages nor object to the remarriage of widows. Their only
object of worship is Siva in the form of a lingam and they always
carry one suspended round the neck or arm. It is remarkable that an
exceptionally severe and puritanical sect should choose this emblem as
its object of worship, but, as already observed, the lingam is merely
a symbol of the creative force and its worship is not accomplished by
indecent rites.[561] They hold that true Lingayats are not liable to
be defiled by births or deaths, that they cannot be injured by sorcery
and that when they die their souls do not transmigrate but go straight
to Siva. No prayers for the dead are needed.
Though trustworthy details about the rise of the Lingayats are scarce,
we can trace their spiritual ancestry. They present in an organized
form the creed which inspired Pattanattu Pillai in the tenth
century. About a hundred years later came Ramanuja who founded a great
Vishnuite Church and it is not surprising if the Sivaites followed
this example, nor if the least orthodox party became the most
definitely sectarian.
The sectarian impulse which is conspicuous after the eleventh century
was perhaps stimulated by the example of Mohammedanism. There was
little direct doctrinal influence, but a religious people like the
Hindus can hardly have failed to notice the strength possessed by an
association worshipping one god of its own and united by one
discipline. Syrian Christianity also might have helped to familiarize
the Lingayats with the idea of a god not to be represented by images
or propitiated by sacrifices, but there is no proof that it was
prevalent in the part of the Deccan where they first appeared.
The Lingayats spread rapidly after Basava's death.[562] They still number
about two millions and are to be found in most Kanarese-speaking districts.
They are easily recognizable for all carry the lingam, which is commonly
enclosed in a red scarf worn round the neck or among the richer classes in
a silver-box. It is made of grey soapstone and a Lingayat must on no
account part with it for a moment. They are divided into the laity and the
Jangams or priests. Some of these marry but others are itinerant ascetics
who wander over India frequenting especially the five Simhasanas or
Lingayat sees.[563] They are treated with extreme respect by the laity and
sometimes wear fantastic costumes such as plates resembling armour or
little bells which announce their approach as they walk.
In doctrine the Lingayats remain faithful to their original tenets
and do not worship any god or goddess except Siva in the form of the
Lingam, though they show respect to Ganesa, and other deities as also
to the founder of their sect. But in social matters it is agreed by
all observers that they show a tendency to reintroduce caste and to
minimize the differences separating them from more orthodox sects.
According to Basava's teaching all members of the community both men
and women are equal. But though converts from all castes are still
accepted, it was found at the last census that well-to-do Lingayats
were anxious to be entered under the name of Virasaiva Brahmans,
Kshatriyas, etc., and did not admit that caste distinctions are
obliterated among them. Similarly though the remarriage of widows is
not forbidden there is a growing tendency to look at it askance.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 511: In various allusions to be found in the Kadambari and
Harshacarita.]
[Footnote 512: The best known of these is the Tantravarttika, a
commentary on the Purva-mimamsa.]
[Footnote 513: This is the generally accepted date and does not appear
to conflict with anything else that is at present known of Sankara. An
alternative suggestion is some date between 590 and 650 (see Telang,
_I.A._ XIII. 1884, p. 95 and Fleet, _I.A._ XVI. 1887, p. 41). But in
this case, it is very strange that I-Ching does not mention so
conspicuous an enemy of the Buddhists. It does not seem to me that the
use of Purnavarman's name by Sankara in an illustration (_Comm. on
Vedanta Sut._ II. i. 17) necessarily implies they were contemporaries,
but it does prove that he cannot have lived before Purnavarman.]
[Footnote 514: Another tradition says he was born at Chidambaram, but
the temple at Badrinath in the Himalayas said to have been founded by
him has always been served by Nambuthiri Brahmans from Malabar. In
1910 a great temple erected in his honour was consecrated at Kaladi.]
[Footnote 515: His conflicts with them are described in works called
Sankara-vijaya of which at least four are extant.]
[Footnote 516: They are called Dasanamis which merely means that each
ascetic bears one or other of ten surnames (Sarswati, Bharati, Tirtha,
etc.). See for a further account of them Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya,
_Hindu Castes and Sects_, pp. 374-379.
The order in all its branches seems to have strong pantheistic
inclinations. They mutter the formula Sivo'ham, I am Siva.]
[Footnote 517: I have been told by south Indian Pandits that they
think Sankara was bom in a Bhagavata family and that there is some
evidence his kinsmen were trustees of a temple of Krishna. The
Saktas also claim him, but the tradition that he opposed the Saktas is
strong and probable. Many hymns addressed to Vishnu, Siva and various
forms of Durga are attributed to him. I have not been able to discover
what is the external evidence for their authenticity but hymns must
have been popular in south India before the time of Sankara and it is
eminently probable that he did not neglect this important branch of
composition.]
[Footnote 518: See Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 16.]
[Footnote 519: This math has an endowment of about L5000 a year,
instituted by the kings of Vijayanagar. The Guru is treated with great
respect. His palankin is carried crossways to prevent anyone from
passing him and he wears a jewelled head-dress, not unlike a papal
tiara, and wooden shoes covered with silver. See an interesting
account of Sringeri in _J. Mythic Society_ (Bangalore), vol. VIII. pp.
18-33.
Schrader in his catalogue of the Sanskrit MSS. in the Adyar Library,
1908, notices an Upanishad called Mahamayopanishad, ascribed to
Sankara himself, which deals with the special qualities of the four
maths. Each is described as possessing one Veda, one Mahavakyam, etc.
The second part deals with the three ideal maths, Sumeru, Paramatman
and Sastrathajnana.]
[Footnote 520: There is some reason to suppose that the Math of
Sringeri was founded on the site of a Buddhist monastery. See _Journal
of Mythic Society_, Bangalore, 1916, p. 151.]
[Footnote 521: Pracchanna-bauddha. See for further details Book IV.
chap. XXI. _ad fin._]
[Footnote 522: The old folk-lore of Bengal gives a picture of Siva,
the peasant's god, which is neither Vedic nor Dravidian. See Dinesh
Chandra Sen, _Bengali Lang. and Lit._ pp. 68 ff. and 239 ff.]
[Footnote 523: _J.R.A.S._ 1899, p. 242.]
[Footnote 524: See some curious examples in Whitehead's _Village Gods
of South India._]
[Footnote 525: Rice, _Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions_, pp. 27
and 204.]
[Footnote 526: The early Brahmi inscriptions of southern India are
said to be written in a Dravidian language with an admixture not of
Sanskrit but of Pali words. See _Arch. Survey India_, 1911-12, Part I.
p. 23.]
[Footnote 527: See Rice, _Mysore and Coorg_, pp. 3-5 and Fleet's
criticisms, _I.A._. XXI. 1892, p. 287.]
[Footnote 528: The various notices in European classical authors as
well as in the Sinhalese chronicles prove this.]
[Footnote 529: Except in the first chapter.]
[Footnote 530: A complete list of them is given in Foulkes, _Catechism
of the Shaiva religion_, 1863, p. 21.]
[Footnote 531: _Tamilian Antiquary_, 3, 1909, pp. 1-65.]
[Footnote 532: Edited and translated by Pope, 1900.]
[Footnote 533: Established opinion or doctrine. Used by the Jains as a
name for their canon.]
[Footnote 534: Thus the catechism of the Saiva religion by Sabhapati
Mudaliyar (transl. Foulkes, 1863) after stating emphatically that the
world is created also says that the soul and the world are both
eternal. Also just as in the Bhagavad-gita the ideas of the Vedanta
and Sankhya are incongruously combined, so in the Tiruvacagam (_e.g._
Pope's edition, pp. 49 and 138) Siva is occasionally pantheized. He is
the body and the soul, existence and non-existence, the false and the
true, the bond and the release.]
[Footnote 535: _E.g._ Hymn vi.]
[Footnote 536: Pope's _Tiruvacagam_, p. 257.]
[Footnote 537: Yet I have read that American revivalists describe how
you play base ball (an American game) with Jesus.]
[Footnote 538: Pope's _Tiruvacagam_, p. 101.]
[Footnote 539: It does not seem to me that the legend of Siva's
drinking the hala-hala poison is really parallel to the sufferings of
the Christian redeemer. At the most it is a benevolent exploit like
many performed by Vishnu.]
[Footnote 540: Although Siva is said to have been many times incarnate
(see for instance _Catechism of the Shaiva religion_, p. 20) he seems
to have merely appeared in human form on special occasions and not to
have been like Christ or Krishna a god living as a man from birth to
death.]
[Footnote 541: The lines which seem most clearly to reflect Christian
influence are those quoted by Caldwell from the Nana nuru in the
introduction to his _Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian languages_,
p. 127, but neither the date of the work nor the original of the
quotation is given. This part of the introduction is omitted in the
third edition.]
[Footnote 542: _Tamilian Antiquary_, 4, 1909, pp. 57-82.]
[Footnote 543: _Ib._ pp. 1-57; Sesha Aiyer gives 275 A.D. as the
probable date, and 375 as the latest date.]
[Footnote 544: The Saiva catechism translated by Foulkes says (p. 27)
that Siva revealed the Tiruvacagam twice, first to Manikka-Vacagar and
later to Tiru-Kovaiyar.]
[Footnote 545: Sanskrit, _Siddha._]
[Footnote 546: Space forbids me to quote the Siva-vakyam and
Pattanattu Pillai, interesting as they are. The reader is
referred to Gover, _Folk-Songs of southern India_, 1871, a work which
is well worth reading.]
[Footnote 547: The date of the Skanda Purana creates no difficulty
for Bendall considered a MS. of it found in Nepal to be anterior to
659 A.D.]
[Footnote 548: One of his maxims was _adu, adu adal_, that is the mind
becomes that (spiritual or material) with which it identifies itself
most completely.]
[Footnote 549: It is contained in fourteen sastras, most of which are
attributed to the four teachers mentioned above.]
[Footnote 550: For the Kashmir school see Barnett in _Museon_, 1909,
pp. 271-277. _J.R.A.S._ 1910, pp. 707-747. Kashmir Sanskrit series,
particularly vol. II. entitled _Kashmir Saivism_. The Siva sutras and
the commentary Vimar'sini translated in _Indian Thought_, 1911-12.
Also Srinivasa Iyengar, _Outlines of Indian Philosophy_, pp. 168-175
and _Sarva-darsana-sangraha_, chap. VIII.]
[Footnote 551: Among them may be mentioned Kallata, author of
the _Spanda Karikas_ and Somananda of the Sivadrishti, who
both flourished about 850-900. Utpala, who composed the
Pratyabhijna-karikas, lived some fifty years later, and in the
eleventh century Abhinava Gupta and Kshemaraja composed numerous
commentaries.]
[Footnote 552: Kashmirian Saivism is often called Trika, that is
tripartite, because, like other varieties, it treats of three
ultimates _Siva_, _Sakti_, _Anu_ or _Pati_, _Pasu_, _Pasa_. But it has
a decided tendency towards monism.]
[Footnote 553: Also called the Sakti or Matrika.]
[Footnote 554: See _Epig. Carn._ VII. Sk. 114. 19, 20 and _Jour.
Mythic Society_, 1917, pp. 176, 180.]
[Footnote 555: To say nothing of Sivaite temples like the Kailas at
Ellora, the chief doctrines and even the terminology of Sivaite
philosophy are mentioned by Sankara on Ved. Sutras, II. 2. 37.]
[Footnote 556: In the Samyuktavastu, chap. XL. (transl. in _J.A._
1914, II. pp. 534, etc.) the Buddha is represented as saying that
Kashmir is the best land for meditation and leading a religious life.]
[Footnote 557: Chatterji, _Kashmir Saivism_, p. 11, thinks that
Abhinava Gupta's _Paramarthasara_, published by Barnett, was an
adaptation of older verses current in India and called the Adhara
Karikas.]
[Footnote 558: See Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of southern India_,
s.v. vol. IV. pp. 236-291 and _Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency_,
vol. XXIII. article Bijapur, pp. 219-1884.]
[Footnote 559: An inscription found at Ablur in Dharwar also mentions
Ramayya as a champion of Sivaite monotheism. He is perhaps the same as
Channabasava. The Lingayats maintain that Basava merely revived the
old true religion of Siva and founded nothing new.]
[Footnote 560: They have also a book called _Prabhuling-lila_, which
is said to teach that the deity ought to live in the believer's soul
as he lives in the lingam, and collections of early Kanarese sermons
which are said to date from the thirteenth century.]
[Footnote 561: The use of the Linga by this sect supports the view
that even in its origin the symbol is not exclusively phallic.]
[Footnote 562: Their creed is said to have been the state religion of
the Wodeyars of Mysore (1399-1600) and of the Nayaks of Keladi, Ikken
or Bednur (1550-1763).]
[Footnote 563: At Kadur, Ujjeni, Benares, Srisailam and Kedarnath in
the Himalayas. In every Lingayat village there is a monastery
affiliated to one of these five establishments. The great importance
attached to monastic institutions is perhaps due to Jain influence.]
CHAPTER XXIX
VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA
1
Though Sivaism can boast of an imposing array of temples, teachers and
scriptures in the north as well as in the south, yet Vishnuism was
equally strong and after 1000 A.D. perhaps stronger. Thus Alberuni
writing about north-western India in 1030 A.D. mentions Siva and Durga
several times incidentally but devotes separate chapters to Narayana
and Vasudeva; he quotes copiously from Vishnuite works[564] but not
from sectarian Sivaite books. He mentions that the worshippers of
Vishnu are called Bhagavatas and he frequently refers to Rama. It is
clear that in giving an account of Vishnuism he considered that he had
for all practical purposes described the religion of the parts of
India which he knew.
In their main outlines the histories of Vishnuism and Sivaism are the
same. Both faiths first assumed a definite form in northern India, but
both flourished exceedingly when transplanted to the south and
produced first a school of emotional hymn writers and then in a
maturer stage a goodly array of theologians and philosophers as well
as offshoots in the form of eccentric sects which broke loose from
Brahmanism altogether. But Vishnuism having first spread from the
north to the south returned from the south to the north in great
force, whereas the history of Sivaism shows no such reflux.[565]
Sivaism remained comparatively homogeneous, but Vishnuism gave birth
from the eleventh century onwards to a series of sects or Churches
still extant and forming exclusive though not mutually hostile
associations. The chief Churches or Sampradayas bear the names of
Sanakadi, Sri, Brahma and Rudra. The first three were founded by
Nimbaditya, Ramanuja and Madhva respectively. The Rudra-sampradaya was
rendered celebrated by Vallabha, though he was not its founder.
The belief and practice of all Vishnuite sects alike is a modified
monotheism, the worship of the Supreme Being under some such name as
Rama or Vasudeva. But the monotheism is not perfect. On the one hand
it passes into pantheism: on the other it is not completely disengaged
from mythology and in all sects the consort and attendants of the
deity receive great respect, even if this respect is theoretically
distinguished from adoration. Nearly all sects reject sacrifice _in
toto_ and make the basis of salvation emotional--namely devotion to
the deity, and as a counterpart to this the chief characteristic of
the deity is loving condescension or grace. The theological philosophy
of each sect is nearly always, whatever name it may bear, a variety of
the system known as Visishtadvaita, or qualified monism, which is not
unlike the Sankhya-Yoga.[566] For Vishnuites as for Sivaites there
exist God, the soul and matter, but most sects shrink from regarding
them as entirely separate and bridge over the differences with various
theories of emanations and successive manifestations of the deity. But
for practical religion the soul is entangled in matter and, with the
help of God, struggles towards union with him. The precise nature and
intimacy of this union has given rise to as many subtle theories and
phrases as the sacraments in Europe. Vishnuite sects in all parts of
India show a tendency to recognize vernacular works as their
scriptures, but they also attach great importance to the Upanishads,
the Bhagavad-gita, the Narayaniya and the Vedanta Sutras. Each has a
special interpretation of these last which becomes to some extent its
motto.
But these books belong to the relatively older literature. Many
Vishnuite, or rather Krishnaite, works composed from the eighth
century onwards differ from them in tone and give prominence to the
god's amorous adventures with the Gopis and (still later) to the
personality of Radha. This ecstatic and sentimental theology, though
found in all parts of India, is more prevalent in the north than in
the south. Its great text-book is the Bhagavata Purana. The same
spirit is found in Jayadeva's Gita-govinda, apparently composed in
Bengal about 1170 A.D. and reproducing in a polished form the
religious dramas or Yatras in which the life of Krishna is still
represented.
2
The sect[567] founded by Nimbarka or Nimbaditya has some connection
with this poem. Its chief doctrine is known as dvaitadvaitamata, or
dualistic non-duality, which is explained as meaning that, though the
soul and matter are distinct from God, they are yet as intimately
connected with him as waves with water or the coils of a rope with the
rope itself. This doctrine is referred to in the religious drama
called Prabodhacandrodaya, probably composed at the end of the
eleventh century. The Nimavats, as the adherents of the sect are
called, are found near Muttra and in Bengal. It is noticeable that
this sect, which had its origin in northern India, is said to have
been persecuted by the Jains[568] and to have been subsequently
revived by a teacher called Nivasa. This may explain why in the
twelfth century Vishnuism flourished in the south rather than in the
north.[569] Less is known of the Nimbarkas than of the other sects.
They worship Krishna and Radha and faith in Krishna is said to be
the only way to salvation. Krishna was the deity of the earliest
bhakti-sects. Then in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there was
a reaction in favour of Rama as a more spiritual deity, but
subsequently Vallabha and Caitanya again made the worship of Krishna
popular. Nimbarka expressed his views in a short commentary on the
Vedanta Sutras and also in ten verses containing a compendium of
doctrine.[570]
3
As among the Sivaites, so among the Vishnuites of the south, history
begins with poet-saints. They are called the twelve Arvars.[571] For
the three earliest no historical basis has been found, but the later
ones seem to be real personalities. The most revered of them is
Namm'arvar also called Sathagopa, whose images and pictures may be
seen everywhere in south India and receive the same reverence as
figures of the gods.[572] He may have lived in the seventh or eighth
century A.D.[573]
The chronology of the Arvars is exceedingly vague but if the praises
of Siva were sung by poet-saints in the seventh century, it is
probable that the Vishnu worshippers were not behindhand. Two
circumstances argue a fairly early date. First Nathamuni is said to
have arranged the hymns of the Arvars and he probably lived about
1000 A.D. Therefore the Arvars must have become classics by this
date. Secondly the Bhagavata Purana[574] says that in the Kali age
the worshippers of Narayana will be numerous in the Dravidian
country, though in other parts found only here and there, and that
those who drink the water of the Kaveri and other southern rivers will
mostly be devotees of Vasudeva. This passage must have been written
after a Vishnuite movement had begun in the Dravidian country.[575]
The hymns attributed to the Arvars are commonly known by the name of
Prabandham or Nalayiram and are accepted by the Tengalai Vishnuites as
their canonical scriptures. The whole collection contains 4000 verses
arranged in four parts[576] and an extract consisting of 602 verses
selected for use in daily worship is in part accessible.[577] This
poetry shows the same ecstatic devotion and love of nature as the
Tiruvacagam. It contemplates the worship of images and a temple ritual
consisting in awakening the god at morning and attending on him during
the day. It quotes the Upanishads and Bhagavad-gita, assumes as a
metaphysical basis a vedantized form of the Sankhya philosophy, and
also accepts the legends of the pastoral Krishna but without giving
much detail. Jains, Buddhists and Saivas are blamed and the repetition
of the name Govinda is enjoined. Though the hymns are not
anti-brahmanic they decidedly do not contemplate a life spent in
orthodox observances and their reputed authors include several Sudras,
a king and a woman.
After the poet-saints came the doctors and theologians. Accounts of
them, which seem historical in the main though full of miraculous
details, are found in the Tamil biographies[578] illustrating the
apostolic succession of teachers. It appears fairly certain that
Ramanuja, the fourth in succession, was alive in 1118: the first,
known as Nathamuni, may therefore have lived 100-150 years earlier.
None of his works are extant but he is said to have arranged the poems
of the Arvars for recitation in temple services. He went on a
pilgrimage to northern India and according to tradition was an adept
in Yoga, being one of the last to practise it in the south. Third in
succession was his grandson Yamunarcarya (known as Alavandar or
victor), who spent the first part of his life as a wealthy layman but
was converted and resided at Srirangam. Here he composed several
important works in Sanskrit including one written to establish the
orthodoxy of the Pancaratra and its ritual.[579]
4
He was succeeded by Ramanuja, a great name in Indian theology both as
the organizer of a most important sect and, if not the founder,[580]
at least the accepted exponent of the Visishtadvaita philosophy.
Ramanuja was born at Sriperum-budur[581] near Madras, where he is
still commemorated by a celebrated shrine. As a youth he studied
Sivaite philosophy at Conjeevaram but abandoned it for Vishnuism. He
appears to have been a good administrator. He made the definitive
collection of the hymns of the Arvars and is said to have founded 700
maths and 89 hereditary abbotships, for he allowed the members of his
order to marry. He visited northern India, including Kashmir if
tradition may be believed, but his chief residence was Srirangam.
Towards the end of the eleventh century however, the hostility of the
Chola King Kulottunga, who was an intolerant Sivaite, forced him to
retire to Mysore. Here he was protected by King Vittala Deva whom he
converted from Jainism and on the death of Kulottunga in 1118 he
returned to Srirangam where he ended his days. In the temple there his
tomb and a shrine where his image receives divine honours may still be
seen. His best known work[582] is the Sri Bhashya or commentary on the
Vedanta sutras.
The sect which he founded is known as the Sri Sampradaya and its
members as the Sri Vaishnavas. As among the Sivaites revelation is
often supposed to be made by Siva through Sakti, so here the Lord is
said to have revealed the truth to his consort Sri or Lakshmi, she to
a demigod called Visvaksena, and he to Namm'arvar, from whom Ramanuja
was eighth in spiritual descent. Though the members of the sect are
sometimes called Ramaites the personality of Rama plays a small part
in their faith, especially as expounded by Ramanuja. As names for the
deity he uses Narayana and Vasudeva and he quotes freely from the
Bhagavad-gita and the Vishnu Purana. Compared with the emotional
deism of Caitanya this faith seems somewhat philosophic and reticent.
Ramanuja clearly indicates its principal points in the first words of
his Sri Bhashya. "May my mind be filled with devotion towards the
highest Brahman, the abode of Lakshmi; who is luminously revealed in
the Upanishads: who in sport produces, sustains and reabsorbs the
entire universe: whose only aim is to foster the manifold classes of
beings that humbly worship him."[583] He goes on to say that his
teaching is that of the Upanishads, "which was obscured by the mutual
conflict of manifold opinions," and that he follows the commentary of
Bodhayana and other teachers who have abridged it.
That is to say, the form of Vishnuism which Ramanuja made one of the
principal religions of India claims to be the teaching of the
Upanishads, although he also affiliates himself to the Bhagavatas. He
interprets the part of the Vedanta Sutras which treats of this
sect[584] as meaning that the author states and ultimately disallows
the objections raised to their teaching and he definitely approves it.
"As it is thus settled that the highest Brahman or Narayana himself
is the promulgator of the entire Pancaratra and that this system
teaches the nature of Narayana and the proper way of worshipping him,
none can disestablish the view that in the Pancaratra all the other
doctrines are comprised."[585]
The true tradition of the Upanishads he contends has been distorted by
"manifold opinions," among which the doctrine of Sankara was no doubt
the chief. That doctrine was naturally distasteful to devotional
poets, and from the time of Nathamuni onwards a philosophic reaction
against it grew up in Srirangam. Ramanuja preaches the worship of a
loving God, though when we read that God produces and reabsorbs the
universe in sport, we find that we are farther from Christianity than
we at first supposed. There is a touch of mythology in the mention of
Lakshmi[586] but it is clear that Ramanuja himself had little liking
for mythology. He barely mentions Rama and Krishna in the Sri
Bhashya nor does he pay much attention to the consort of the deity. On
the other hand he shows no sign of rejecting the ritual and
regulations of the Brahmans. He apparently wished to prove that the
doctrine of salvation by devotion to a personal god is compatible with
a system as strictly orthodox as Sankara's own.
I shall treat elsewhere of his philosophy, known as the
Visishtadvaita or non-duality, which yet recognizes a distinction
between God and individual souls. The line of thought is old and at
all periods is clearly a compromise, unwilling to deny that God is
everything and yet dissatisfied with the idea that a personal deity
and our individual transmigrating souls are all merely illusion.
Devotional theism was growing in Ramanuja's time. He could not break
with the Upanishads and Vedantic tradition but he adapted them to the
needs of his day. He taught firstly that the material world and human
souls are not illusion but so to speak the body of God who comprises
and pervades them: secondly this God is omniscient, omnipresent,
almighty and all-merciful, and salvation (that is mukti or deliverance
from transmigration) is obtained by those souls who, assisted by his
grace, meditate on him and know him; thirdly this salvation consists
not in absorption into God but in blissful existence near him and in
participation of his glorious qualities. He further held[587] that God
exists in five modes, namely: (_a_) Para, the entire supreme spirit,
(_b_) the fourfold manifestation as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna
and Aniruddha, (_c_) incarnations such as Rama and Krishna, (_d_)
the internal controller or Antaryamin according to the text[588] "who
abiding in the soul rules the soul within," (_e_) duly consecrated
images.
The followers of Ramanuja are at present divided into two schools
known as Tengalais and Vadagalais, or southern and northern.[589] The
double residence of the founder is one reason for the division, since
both Mysore and Trichinopoly could claim to have personal knowledge of
his teaching. The really important difference seems to be that the
Tengalai or southern school is inclined to break away from Sanskrit
tradition, to ignore the Vedas in practice and to regard the Tamil
Nalayiram as an all-sufficient scripture, whereas the Vadagalais,
though not rejecting the Nalayiram, insist on the authority of the
Vedas. But both divisions are scrupulous about caste observances and
the ceremonial purity of their food. They are separated by nice
questions of doctrine, especially as to the nature of prapatti,
resignation or self-surrender to the deity, a sentiment slightly
different from bhakti which is active faith or devotion. The
northerners hold that the soul lays hold of the Lord, as the young
monkey hangs on to its mother, whereas the southerners say that the
Lord picks up the helpless and passive soul as a cat picks up a
kitten.[590] According to the northerners, the consort of Vishnu is,
like him, uncreated and equally to be worshipped as a bestower of
grace: according to the southerners she is created and, though divine,
merely a mediator or channel of the Lord's grace. Even more important
in popular esteem is the fact that the Vadagalai sectarian mark ends
between the eyebrows whereas the Tengalais prolong it to the tip of
the nose. _Odium theologicum_ is often bitterest between the sects
which are most nearly related and accordingly we find that the
Tengalais and Vadagalais frequently quarrel. They use the same temples
but in many places both claim the exclusive right to recite the hymns
of the Arvars. The chief difference in their recitation lies in the
opening verse in which each party celebrates the names of its special
teachers, and disputes as to the legality of a particular verse in a
particular shrine sometimes give rise to free fights and subsequent
lawsuits.
The two schools reckon the apostolic succession differently and appear
to have separated in the thirteenth century, in which they were
represented by Pillai Lokacarya and Vedanta Desika[591]
respectively. The Tengalai, of which the first-named teacher was the
practical founder, must be regarded as innovators, for in their use of
Tamil as the language of religion they do not follow the example of
Ramanuja. Lokacarya teaches that the grace of God is irresistible and
should be met not merely by active faith, but by self-surrender,[592]
and entire submission to the guidance of the spiritual teacher. He was
the author of eighteen works called Rahasyas or secrets[593] but
though he appears to have been the first to formulate the Tengalai
doctrines, Manavala Mahamuni (1370-1443 A.D.) is regarded by the sect
as its chief saint. His images and pictures are frequent in south
India and he wrote numerous commentaries and poems. Vedanta Desika,
the founder of the Vadagalai, was a native of Conjeevaram but spent
much of his life at Srirangam. He was a voluminous author and
composed _inter alia_ an allegorical play in ten acts, portraying the
liberation of the soul under the auspices of King Viveka
(discrimination) and Queen Sumati (Wisdom).
At the present day the two sects recognize as their respective heads
two Acaryas who are married, whereas all Smarta Acaryas are
celibates.[594] The Tengalai Acarya resides near Tinnevelly, the
Vadagalai in the district of Kurnool. They both make periodical
visitations in their districts and have considerable ecclesiastical
power. In the south Srirangam near Trichinopoly is their principal
shrine: in the north Melucote in the Seringapatam district is esteemed
very sacred.
5
It was only natural that Ramanuja's advocacy of qualified non-duality
should lead some more uncompromising spirit to affirm the doctrine of
Dvaita or duality. This step was taken by Madhva Acarya, a Kanarese
Brahman who was probably born in 1199 A.D.[595] In the previous year
the great temple of Jagannatha at Puri had been completed and the
Vishnuite movement was at its height. Madhva though educated as a
Saiva became a Vaishnava. He denied absolutely the identity of the
Supreme Being with the individual soul and held that the world is not
a modification of the Lord but that he is like a father who begets a
son. Yet in practice, rigid monotheism is not more prevalent among
Madhva's followers than in other sects. They are said to tolerate the
worship of Sivaite deities and of the lingam in their temples[596] and
their ascetics dress like Saivas.
Madhva travelled in both northern and southern India and had a
somewhat troubled life, for his doctrine, being the flat contradiction
of the Advaita, involved him in continual conflicts with the followers
of Sankara who are said to have even stolen his library. At any rate
they anathematized his teaching with a violence unusual in Indian
theology.[597] In spite of such lively controversy he found time to
write thirty-seven works, including commentaries on the Upanishads,
Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta Sutras. The obvious meaning of these texts
is not that required by his system, but they are recognized by all
Vaishnavas as the three Prasthanas or starting-points of philosophy
and he had to show that they supported his views. Hence his
interpretation often seems forced and perverse. The most extraordinary
instance of this is his explanation of the celebrated phrase in the
Chandogya Upanishad Sa atma tat tvam asi. He reads Sa atma atat tvam
asi and considers that it means "You are not that God. Why be so
conceited as to suppose that you are?"[598] Monotheistic texts have
often received a mystical and pantheistic interpretation. The Old
Testament and the Koran have been so treated by Kabbalists and Sufis.
But in Madhva's commentaries we see the opposite and probably rarer
method. Pantheistic texts are twisted until they are made to express
uncompromising monotheism.
The sect is often called Brahma-sampradaya, because it claims that its
doctrine was revealed by Brahma from whom Madhva was the sixth teacher
in spiritual descent. Its members are known as Madhvas but prefer to
call themselves Sad-Vaishnavas. Its teaching seems more rigid and
less emotional than that of other Vishnuites and is based on the
Pancabheda or five eternal distinctions between (_a_) God and the
soul, (_b_) God and matter, (_c_) the soul and matter, (_d_)
individual souls, (_e_) individual atoms of matter. God is generally
called Vishnu or Narayana rather than Vasudeva. Krishna is adored
but not in his pastoral aspect. Vishnu and his spouse Lakshmi are
real though superhuman personalities and their sons are Brahma the
creator and Vayu.[599] Peculiar to this sect is the doctrine that
except through Vayu, the son of Vishnu, salvation is impossible. Vayu
has been three times incarnate as Hanumat, the helper of Rama, as
Bhima and as Madhva himself.[600] Souls are separate, innumerable and
related to God as subjects to a king. They are of three classes: those
who are destined to eternal bliss in the presence of God: those who
revolve eternally in the maze of transmigration: and those who tending
ever downwards are doomed to eternal suffering.
This last doctrine, as well as the doctrine of salvation through Vayu,
the wind or spirit, has led many to suspect that Madhva was influenced
by Christian ideas, but it is more probable that he owed something to
Islam. Such influence would no doubt be distant and indirect, for a
Brahman would not come into contact with Moslim doctors, though it is
said that Madhva could speak Persian.[601] But some Moslim ideas such
as the absolute separation of God from the world and the
predestination of souls to eternal happiness and misery may have
entered Brahman minds. Still, nearly all Madhva's views (with the
possible exception of eternal punishment) have Indian analogies. The
Yoga teaches that there are innumerable souls distinct from one
another and from God and though salvation through the spirit sounds
Christian, yet the Upanishads constantly celebrate Vayu (wind) and
Prana (breath) as the pervading principle of the world and the home
of the self. "By the wind (Vayu) as thread, O Gautama, this world and
the other world and all creatures are bound together."[602] Thus the
idea that the wind is the universal mediator is old and it does not
seem that Madhva regarded Vayu as a redeemer or expiation for sin like
Christ.
The Madhvas are still an energetic and important sect. Their
headquarters are at Udipi in South Kanara and they also hold an annual
conference at Tirupati at which examinations in theology are held and
prizes given. At Udipi are eight maths and a very sacred temple,
dedicated by Madhva himself to Krishna. The head of each math is
charged in turn with the supervision of this temple during two years
and the change of office is celebrated by a great biennial festival in
January. The worship is more puritanical than in the temples of other
sects, dancing girls for instance not being allowed, but great
importance is attached to the practice of branding the body with the
emblems of Vishnu. The sect, like the Sri Vaishnavas, is divided
into two parties, the Vyasakutas who are conservative and use Sanskrit
scriptures,[603] and the Dasakutas who have more popular tendencies
and use sacred books written in Kanarese. Neither the Sri Vaishnavas
nor the Madhvas are numerous in northern India.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 564: Such as the Vishnu Purana, Vishnu Dharma, said to be
a section of the Garuda Purana and the Bhagavad-gita.]