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CHAPTER XXXVIII
SAIVA PHILOSOPHY IN SOME OF THE
IMPORTANT TEXTS
The Doctrine of the Pāśupata-sūtras. Some of the philosophical doctrines of the Pāśupata system of Saivism are discussed in the relevant sections. But the formal and ritualistic sides of the system, which have often been referred to elsewhere, as for example in the treatment of Saivism in the Sarvadarśana-samgraha, need an authoritative explanation. This is found in the Pāśupata-sūtras with the bhāsya of Kauņdinya, published in 1940 by the Oriental Manuscripts Library of the University of Travancore, Trivandrum. It is said that Siva incarnated Himself as Nakulīsa and so was the author of the Pāśupata-sūtras. The bhāsya by Kauņdinya is also an ancient one, as may be judged from the style of the writing. The editor of the Pāśupata-sūtras, A. Šāstri, thinks that Kaundinya may have lived between the fourth and sixth centuries. The Pāśupata-sūtras together with the bhāsya of Kauņdinya do not give us any philosophy of Saivism. They deal
most wholly with the rituals, or rather modes of life. It may be quite possible that such ascetic forms of life existed from early times, and that later the philosophy of Saivism was added. Though these ascetic forms of life had but little connection with the Saiva philosophy as propounded later, they have a general anthropological and religious interest, as these forms of asceticism remain connected with the life of those who believe in the Saiva philosophy. In the Sarva-darśana-samgraha of Madhava the Pāśupata system is not identified with any form of philosophy, but with different kinds of ascetic practices. When Sankara refutes the Saiva system, he does not specifically mention any philosophical doctrines of an elaborate nature. He only brands the Saivas as those who believe in God as the creator of the world (īśvara-kāraṇin). Of course, the Naiyāyika is also an īśvara-kāraṇin and he is also a Saiva by faith. The other doctrines of the Naiyāyika are largely taken from the Vaišeşika, and Sankara in his joint criticism of Nyāya and Vaiseșika had referred to them. The Naiyāyika thus shares his theistic
