________________
RELIGION
291
Śaivism
Saivism was the most flourishing religion of the time. Immense contemporary poetic literature and archaeological remains reveal a new activity and vigour under the Saivite pantheon during the 7th and 8th centuries. I Worship of Lord Siva had become a general feature of the life of the Indians (even though not related to any particular sect )2 and Saivism in itself developed various sects and subsects due to the different attributes of Siva. Four main schools of Saivism, viz. Śaiva, Pasupata, Kārukasiddhāntin and Kāpālika, have been mentioned by Vācaspati, the commentator of Sarkara. 8 Rāmānuja in a later period describes the four sects of Saivism, although the Kārukasiddhantin is called by the name of Kālāmuha.* Distinction among these sects was based upon their way of worship or conception of Siva. While the former two may be said to have constituted the Savism proper, the latter two were the extremists who "represented the grosser forms of Saivism or rather Tántricism.»5 Of the various classes of the Saivitic ascetics mentioned in the NC. the Sarakkhas or Bhautas and Pandaramgas must have belonged to the former group, while the Ka palikas and the Haddasarakkhas (Skt. Asthi sarajaskas ) are to be identified with the latter group.
Saivities And Pasupatas-Rudra, the ancient deity of the Rgvedic pantheon, had by now given place to more popular names and conceptions like that of Siva, Pasupati? or Mahadeva.8 Although the Rudragshas or the temples of Rudra have
1. Ghatege, A. M., Classical Age, p. 409. 2. Bhandarkar, R. G., Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor Religious Systems,
pp. 168–69. 3. Ibid., p. 172. 4. Ibid. 5. Handiqui, K. K., Yašastilaka and Indian Culture, p. 334. 6. NO. 1, p. 10. 7. NO. 1, p. 105. 8. NO. 1, pp. 146–47.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
