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Aghorasivacarya and the Dvaita School of
Saivism in Chola Period PIERRE - SYLVAIN FILLIOZAT
The importance of Saivism, i.e. not only monuments, cult and bhakti but also the philosophical doctrine of Saivasiddhanta, in Tamilnadu in Coļa period, is well-established through inscriptions. Inscriptions are indeed the best documentary source and they allow us to approach the most authentic reality in the past. But there are other documents which can be taken into consideration. Our purpose here is to present two documents of a different nature and to examine their validity and interest. .
They are two short Sanskrit texts. One is aiready known and published. It is an account which Aghoraśivācārya has himself given of religious, intellectual and even familial lineage. It is a chapter of his magnum opus, Kriyākramadyotikā, and is entitled "gotrasamtatih" (55 verses). It comes at the end of the section on mahotsavavidhi. The second document is less known because to our knowledge it is available in only one unpublished manuscript preserved in Tiruvadudurai Math, a transcript of which is in the collection of the French Institute of Pondicherry. It contains a story about the same Aghoraśivācārya and establishment of a saiva matha in Cidambaram : it is entitled "Aghoraśivācāryacaritam”.
The first text contains in the beginning an exposition of the theoretical organization of Saiva lineages, what is common to all lineages in the first 23 verses and then the particular lineage of the author, Aghoraśiva, as an example of an application of the theory. To summarize briefly the theory there are four gotras and 16 gocaras or kula, 4 gotra munis and 36 bhrātys, 4 sthānas, 15 (?) mathas and four vykşas. There is a regular correspondence between one gotra, 4 kulas, 1 muni, 9 bhrātys etc.
Then Aghoraśiva gives his own lineage. The first part is mythical. It starts from supreme Siva. From Siva residing in non-agitated kundali-sakti comes the Siva-kula which is supported by Gāyatri-sakti and which descends in Durvasas. The dwelling
