________________
xxxv] History and Literature of Vira-saivism 51 Sūta-samhitā was probably a work of the sixth century A.D., while Mādhava's work was of the fourteenth century. Nevertheless, it seems that the Pāśupatas were earlier than the Lākulas. Neither Sankara nor Vācaspati speaks of the Lākulīsas as being the same as the Pāśupatas. But some time before the fourteenth century the Lākulīsas and Pāśupatas had coalesced and later on they remained as one system, as we find them regarded as one by Appaya Dikșita of the sixteenth century in his commentary, Vedānta-kalpataruparimala on Brahma-sūtra 11. 2. 37. But there can be but little doubt that the Lākulas had their own Agamas long before the sixth century A.D., which is probably the date of Sūta-samhitā. We find references to the Bhairavas, and the name Bhairava is given to Siva as the presiding male god wherever there is the Sakti deity representing the limbs of Sakti, the consort of Siva and the daughter of Dakşa. But we have not been able to secure any Āgamas containing an account of the philosophical doctrine of this creed of Bhairavism, though we have found ritualistic references to Bhairava. The Sūta-samhitā also refers to the Agamic rșis such as Sveta, etc.; each of these twenty-eight ?șis had four disciples, thus making the number one hundred and twelve. They are also referred to in the Sūta-samhitā (Book iv, ch. xxi,verses 2–3), where they are described as smearing their bodies with ashes and wearing the necklaces of rudrākṣa. We have noticed before that Siva-mahāpurāņa also refers to them. The existence of so many Saiva saints at such an early date naturally implies the great antiquity of Saivism. These Saiva saints seem to have been loyal to the Varņāśrama dharma or duties of caste and the stages of life.
A later Agama probably of the thirteenth century called the Vira-saivāgama speaks of the four schools of thought, Saiva, Pāśupata, Vāma and Kula. Saiva is again divided into Saumya and Raudra. The Saumya is of five kinds including demonology and magic as antidote to poison. The Saiva school is called Dakşiņa, and the cult of Sakti is called Vāma. The two can be mixed together as Vāma and Dakşiņa, and regarded as one school. The Siddhānta śāstra is called pure Saiva belonging only to Siva. There is, however, another sect, or rather three schools of a sect, called Daksina, Kālamukha and Mahāvrata'. Bhandarkar has suggested that the Kāla-mukhas and the Mahāvratadhārins are
1 See Rāmānuja's bhāşya (Śrī-bhāşya), 11. 2. 37.
4-2
