Aghorasiva.pdf

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trq€l qT a*fartqq DR.S. S. JAITIAKI FELICITATION VOLUME

THE KUPPUSWAMISASTRIRESEARCI{TNSTITUTE MADRAS-600 004

AGHORASIVA'S BACKGROUND Rrcneno H. Davrs The twelfth-century dcd.rya Aghoraliva, to whose study Dr. S' s. Janakibas madeconsiderable scholarrycontributionsover rhe past ten years,wascertainlyoneof the most importantof all saiva Siddhanta authorswho wrote in Sanskrit. His vast Kriyakramadyotika,thepaddhati hc completedin I I 56 A. D., has been probably the most authoritative prescriptive guideto ritual practicein the saivacommunityof Tamilnadu over the 800 and more yearssinceit was composed. The philosophical commentarieshe rvrote on such works as Bhojadeva,s T-attvaprakasa, Rimakantha's Nadakarika,Srika4tha'sRatnatraya,and the threeworks of Sadyojyoti, Tattvasamgraha,Tattvatrayanirnaya, and,Bhogakarika, give the fullest philosophicalsratementof the saiva Siddhantaviewpointpiior to the time of the four santana-gurus, andmay haveprovided an impoitant sourceof the Tamil compos.itions of Meykantdr and his followers in the following cen1ury.1 In his works,Aghora6ivaportrayshimself as an ardent champion of the dualistviews of Saiva Siddhanta. For instance, he explains his reasonsfor composing his commentary on the Tattyapraka!;ain this way:

I undertake this commentary bccause this text has elsewherebeen commentedupon by others who are filled with the tainted ideas

of non-dualism (Advaita) and who lack the true knowledgeof Siddhanta.2

l. wayne Surdam'sdissertationprovidesthe most useful summaryof what is so far known of Aghoradiva,and I have reliedon it in a numberof pfu"", io this essay. see wayne Surdam, "south Indian saiva Rires or lniiiation," (unpub. Ph. D. dissertation,University of California, Berkeley, l9g4), pp xvi-xxi. For a list of Aghoradiva's known works, see V. Ragtravan, Aiei CatalogusCatalogorum,Vol. I (Universityof Madras, l96g), pp. l3.e. Studies on the relationshipbetweenthe worksof Aghoradiva and the Saiva Siddhanta authorsof the thirteenthand fourteenthcenturieswriting Tamil in areyet to be undertaken. H6lbne Brunner sets out a few philosophical distinctions in "lmportancede la ritt6rature agamique pour l'6tude des religions vivants de l' [nde," IndoI ogi ca Taurinensi a 3-4 ( Ig 75-76), pp. I 07_24, 2. TottvaprakitSva ltti, \. I

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As wayne surdam pointsout, Aghora6ivaseldomrefersto literature other than Agamasand relatedworks in his commentaries. In his commentariesAghora5ivacaryasupports his interpretations almost exclusivelyfrom the agamic literature and rarely, if ever, citespassages from upanigadic, purdl,ic,or classicalphilosophical material. He seemsto have envisionedhis position as that of atr dgamic Saiva purist who had the responsibilityto correct rhe misinterpretationsof the agamic material by advaitins, vaidikas, and other non-Siddhantins.s Purist that he was, AghoraSivaappearsto have beena highly influential preceptorduringhis own lifetime, for he refersto himself as an .'instructor of two lakhs of pupils" ( lak;advayadhyapaka ) at the conclusionoI his Tattvaprakaiavrtti ,4 In this essay,I want to look more closely at the intellectualback_ groundof Aghorafiva, in the light of the persistentview that Saiva Siddhantais solely a Tamilian school of Hindu philosophy. I The importanceof SaivaSiddhantatheologyin Tamilnadu over the past centuriesand its absencefrom other parts of South Asia have led many historiansof religionsto characteriseSaivaSiddhdntaas exclusively Tamil in origin. This notion goesback at least to one of the pioneersof Tamil studies,the missionaryG. U. Pope, who wrote in his study and translationof Ma+ikkavacakar'sTiruvacakam; The Saiva siddhantais the most elaborate,influentialand undoubtedly the most valuableof all the religionsof India. It is peculiarly the SouthernIndian and Tamil religion and must be studied by every one who hopesto understandand influencethe great South Indian peoples.s The same assumption reappears, with a slight disclaimer, in M. Dhavamony'srecentsummary accountof ',Saiva siddhdnta',jn the Encyclopediaof reli gion. Surdam,"South IndianSaivaRites,,'p. xx. Tattvaprakd tav! t ti , after v. 76: ... qlo elqaqreqrcs - 4fceq'hfsrerqi4fEzf,qdrilrqrrrrnslfirqln: wr.or r 5. G. U Pope (tr ) The Tiruvd,cagamor .sacred (Jfterances, of the Tamil Poet, Saint, and SageMapikrca-vdcagar(Clarendonpress, Oxford. 1900;,p lxxiv

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R. H. DAVIS : AGHORASIVA,SBACKGROUND

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systemof Saiva thought' Saivasiddhantais an inrporiantmedieval written in The term technicallyrefersto a setof Saivatheologies SanskritandTamirinSoulhlndia,althoughthisclassificationneed a rigid one6 not be considered of Saiva Siddhantawith a particular I wish to questionthis identification think Aghora' regionanJ predontinantlywirh oneregionallanguage'and I for doingso' Sivaoffersthe followingusefulperspective lived in Tamilnadu'for he refersto It is certainrhat AghoraSiva himselfinoneoIhisworksas,,aguruwhoornamentstheColas',7'Hewasa by of the Kauqdi!1yaclan, initiated into the priesthood Saivabrahmana with Cidamone Dhyana6ivaof Kaffcipuram. A legendlinks AghoraSiva sageDurvasasappeared baram. Accordingto this account,the legendary on (acarya' in cidamharamand performedhis consecrati beforeAghoraSiva wilh homage bhigekQlhere. AghoraSivaopens his Tattvasarngrahalika .'Lord of Space,Lord of the Assembly" (abhrasabhapati), ,o iiuu'as An titles for Siva Nataraja as r'|anifest ar Cidambaram'8 ;;;;;t "AghoraSivacdrya Malha" at the westernborder of Cidambaramwas by one foundedby the masterhimself and now is presidedover sup-posedty of'his dercendents.t Thus it appears likely that AghoraSiva associated hinrseltwith this most significantSouthIndian Saivasite' At flrst glance,then, what we know of AghoraSivaseemsto reaffirm with Tamilnadu.Here, afler all, we the connectionol Saiva Siddhzrnta who, find an eminent Saiva Siddhanta author of the twelfth century teachin althoughhe d;d not write in the Tamil language,did live and Tamitnadu, and continuesto exert his influenceon ritual practitioners alnrostexclusivelyinTamilnadu.Whenwebegintolookmorecloselyinto however, we discoverthat his intellectual outlook is not his background, a t a l l l i m i t e dt o t h i sr e g i o n . " s a i v i s m : S a i v a s i d d h a n t a "i n M i r c e a E l i a d e ( e d ' ) ' 6. M. Dhavamony, oJ'Retigion(NewYork, 1987)'Vol' l3' p' ll' Encyclopedia 7. Tattvatratanir 4ayav7tti, v. 32 8 . I n t r o d u cito n . v . l . gTheCidambaramlegendisfoundintheTami|introduc|iontoKriydktamab y S u r d a m-'" S o u t h I n d i a n d y o t i k a( C i d a m b a r a m1,9 2 7 )p, p . I | - 2 - a n d r e p o r t e d y a l h a ,s e eJ ' M ' S o m a s u n d a r a m ' S i i v a R i i : s , " p . x v i i i . O n t h e A g h o r a 6 i v a c a rM Environs(AnnamalaiUniversily,1957)'p' l5E' The (Jniversity's

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At the conclusion of his M,thotsavavidhi, the final portion of the Kriydkramadyotika, trgl167afiva locaies himself in a lineage of twelve Saiva Siddhantateachersreachingback to the sageDurvesas. Among his predecessors, we see Uttunga6iva,a Guj arati living at Kalyananagari,and also Brahma6ivafrom Gujarat; two teaeherswho servedas royal preceptors in Vara{'asi, P&rla6iva and Vidyanta5iva; Sarvatma6ivika who was "received hospitably and remainedin great Puri, " in the Northern Konkan region near ths present site of Bombay; and Srika+tha6iva who was a "bull among the Bengalis." Aghora6iva'sown preceptorDhyanaSiva also haileCfron the Bengalregion, apparentlybefcre coming sourh to Tamilnadu. There are several others in the list who did live in the Cola country, but the overriding indication is that Aghora6iva olaced himself within a pan-InCiannetwork of Saiva Siddhanta preceptors.l0 As a commentator as well, Aghora6iva shows considerablegeographicalbreadth. Most famous of his commentariesis his t,rtti on the Tattvaprakafu. This work is ascribed to Bhojadeva, most likely the famous Paramlra king of the eleventh century, who ruled in the Dhira region (Malwa, in Madhya Pradeshstate). According to Aghora(iva, this Bhojadeva had for his guru, Uttufrga3iva'syoungerbrotber.ll In addition, Aghora6iva commented on works by Sadyojyoti, Srikantha, Naraya'lakarrtha,and RamakarithaII. All of these Saiva Siddhanta authors, with t h e p o s s r b l ee x c e p t i o no f S a d y o j y o t i ,l i v e d a n d t a u g h t i n i ( a s h m i r ,a t t h e opposite end of the subcontinentfrom Tamilnadu. "Kashmiri Saivism," they W h e n h i s t o r i a n so f r e l i g i o n s p e a k o f generallyrefer to the monist philosophical schools that grew up in the 10. Mahotsavavidhi(South Indian Archaka Association, Madras, 1974), pp. ^tl i

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l l . P i e r r e - S y l v a i nF i l l i o z a td i s p u t e st h i s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n ,a r g u i n g t l . r a t a n o t h e r King Bhoja the Fratihdra Mihira Bhoja rulingin Kanl'akubja in the ninth century-may have been the author of this work See Filliozat, "Le Tattvap r a k a 6 ad u R o i B h o j a e t l e s c o m n r e n t a i r i eds' A g h o r a 6 i v z r c e r e t de Srikurnara," ya w o r k a t t r i b u t e dt o J o u r n a l A s i a t i q u e 2 5 9( 1 9 71 ) , 2 4 7 - 4 8 . A n o t h e r S i d d h e n t a tshojadevais the Siddhdntasdrdpadddot i, a ritual digest transcribedin 1067 (i.e.. s h o r t l y a f t e r t h e r e i g no f B h o j a o f D h a r a , w h o r u l e df r o m i 0 0 5 t o a b o u t 1 0 5 4 ) Soe Haraprasad Shastri, A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit ],[anuscripls in rhe Govcrnment Collection under the care of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Asiatic S o c i e t yo f B e n g a l C , a l c u t t a ,1 9 2 5 ) , V o l . 3 , p 5 2 . O n U t r u f r g a 6 i v aa n d B h o j a deva, see K. C. Pandey, An Outline of History of Saiva Phitosophy (.Delhi. 1986),pp. 23-4; and Malxotsavavidhi,p.425.

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the Pratyabhijla, Spanda' oorrh-westparts of the subcootinent,such as Abhinavaguptnand and Trika schools, and to the renowned authors gave Agama-based Ksemarnjaof the tenth and eleventh centuries' who Saivanon-dualismitsfullesttheologicalarticulation.Buttherewereother the SaivaSiddhanta. In Saivaschoolsin Kashmir at the time, including and Ksemapointsout' during Abhinavagupta's fact, as AlexisSanderson "it was the Saiva Siddhantathat was the dominant Saiva raja;stime, cameto be called d*trio" (jnana) in Kashmir," not the groups that later " K a s h m i r iS a i v i s m . ' ' 1 2 prevalentin It is not known just when saiva siddhantabecame the philosophical Kashmir, but rhe mosi important author in laying foundationforKashrnirisaivaSiddhantawasundoubtedlySacyojyoti' to imagineone of who may or may not haveresidedthere' It is tempting guru rJgrajyoti-being brought to Sadyojyoti's forebears-perhapshis centuryKashmiri Kashmirfrom the Gangeticplain, much as the eighth Atrigupta'Abhiimperialruler Lalitadityabroughtthe esteemedscholar naVagupta,sancestor'fromKanyakubjatoKashnrirafterhismilitary for this. what forui into the Doab. But t know of no deflniteevidence the Saivadualist is ".rtain is that, by the beginningof the tenth century' viewsofSadyojyoti(aswellaslhoseofothersiddhantaauthorsBrhaspati were welland sankara Nandana, whose works are no longer available) knowninKashmir,andthatmonistauthorslikeSomananda(inhis to Sivadrsli) and Abhinavaguptaspent considerableeffort in attempting refute their Positions'r3 ThedualisticsaivatheologysketchedoutintheworksofSadyojyoti wasfurtherdevelopedandelaboratedbythe..Kal}tha',-lineageof I, Vidyakaqtha' KashmiriSiddhantins. The lineageincludesRdmakarrtha (The Saivabhasa4a Srikatlha, Narayanakantha,and RamakapthalI'1a paddhati authots' mentions two more Kaqthas in its list of eighteen Vibhntikarr{haand Nilakaaiha, but nothing more than names are known "saivism: Saivismin Kashmir," in M' EIiade (ed')' l2 Alexis S tnd:rsrn, of Religion,Vol. 13,p. l6' For a fuller descriptionof Kashmiri Encyclopedia Saiuuschoolslittoughweakon dualistorders),seealsoMark S' G Dyczkowski' The Doctrineof Vibration (Albanv, l9'37)' pp. l-l I ' 13. N. R. Bhatr listsSadyojyoti'sknownworksin Mataigapd.ramedvardgama (Pondichery, l97i), pp xi xii' lVidyapadat, of this lineage,seePandey,Outline,pp' l5-25; and 14. For a full description N. R Bhatt, pp. viii-xiv

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of them.ls) Of these authors, Narayalaka,.tha lived most likely in the tenth century, sincehe quotes rhe ninth century author Utpaladeva and is iil turn quoted by the eleventhcentury writer Ksemaraja.l6 The most prolific of rhe Kantha rineagewas RamakanthaII, the son and discipleo1 Ndrayanakantha, living probably in the early elevenlhcentury. Rama_ kar,tha Il made clear his intellectual debt to Sadyojyoti, not only by commenting on three or four of the master's works, but also in this explicit acknowledgement. Of all teachers,I especiallypraise Sadyojyoti and Brhaspati, who have illuminated the Siddhantapath to perfection(siddhabh:wata1.tr After the literary effiorescenceof RamakarrthaI[, we hear no more of Kantha authors writing in I(ashmir. It is not at all clear vihat caused the suddenobscuration ol saiva siddhanta in Kashmir at this momentBut it appears that the lamp of Saiva jii. rna as rhe Kalthas had illuminated it was transmitted down to South India primarily through the mediation of Aghora6iva. while there is no evidence ro supporr the suppositionthat AghoraSivatravelled to the north to study with Ramakantha I[, he certainiy did declare his respect for the Kashmiri teacher (while punning on his name). Following faithfully the footsteps of that str ong-voiced, (mahakattlha) lion (katlthtrara) RSmaka4tha, J do not fear the trumpetings of thoserutting elephants,the sophists(letarkika).tg Accordinglyhe occupiedhimself particrrlarlywith explicating the works of Sadyojyoti and thoseof the Kashmiri Kantha Siddhantins. 15. FI6lbne Bruansr-I-acrraux (tr.), sonai ambhupartdhati(premiere partie), P o n d i c h e r y 1, q 6 3 ,p . x x i i . 16. N. R. Bhatt. p. xii ; I16line Brunner- Lachaux(rr.), Mrgentlragama: Section des rites et sectiotrdu comportente,rt (pondichery, l9g5), p. xxii. 17. i.lat a'igaparame{r ar aganat,f tti, vidyapii.tla, ch. l, introductory v.2:

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R. H. DAVIS : AGHORASM'S

BACKGROUND

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II I t I

Aghora5iva In the Cidambaram legend, as I have mentioned' ln the Mahotsava' receiveshis priestly consecrationfrom Durvdsashimself' varytia' and goes on vidhi, Aghoiasivatites Durvasas as the founder of his "I worship the sage Durvasas' the Areat teacher of the ,o ,uiur.-hi*: gurus in that good abode of livajfi,1na,from whom a.ore th' lineage ol as progenitor of Saiva Amarda."le The fundamental role of Durvlsas Saiva authors as well' even leachingsamong humans is recognizedby other For instance, Abhinavathose not of the Saiva Sicldhanta persuasion. division of Saivism gupta tells us that Durvasaswas responsiblefor the into three ontologicaltendencies: (Siva) instructed the sage. Durvasas, to revive the Saivagamic into teaching. The sage accordingly divided all the Saivdgamas or monismthree classesaccordinglyas they taught monism' dualism mind-born cum-dualism, imparted their knowledge ro his three charged sons,Tryambaka, Amardaka, and Srinatharespectively'and the each one of them separately with the mission of spreading exisknowledgeof thc resfective Agamas' Thus there came into of the tence three Saiva Tantric Schools, each known by the name first earlhiy progenitor.2o and the Here again the name Amardaka servesas a link betweenDurvasas d u a l i sitc t r a d i t i o ni n S a i v i s m . or Aghora(iva was apparently affiliated with the monastic network Pr'tyat'ciltasantxuccaya ' fineageknown as Amarcla or Amardaka' In the Trilocana(iva traceshis own lineage stattirrg with Durvasaswho, he says, of preceptors establishedlhe guruvawlaat Amardaka, thror:gh a number inclu