Reading section 21

The most remarkable feature of this literature is its elaborate doctrine of evolution and emanation from the Deity, the world process being conceived in the usual Hindu fashion as an alternation of production and destruction. A distinction is drawn between pure and gross creation. What we commonly call the Universe is bounded by the shell of the cosmic egg and there are innumerable such eggs, each with its own heavens and its own tutelary deities such as Brahma and Siva who are sharply distinguished from Vishnu. But beyond this multitude of worlds are more mysterious and spiritual spheres, the highest heaven or Vaikuntha wherein dwells God in his highest form (Para) with his Saktis,[472] certain archangels and liberated souls. Evolution commences when at the end of the cosmic night the Sakti of Vishnu[473] is differentiated from her Lord and assumes the two forms of Force and Matter.[474] He as differentiated from her is Vasudeva a personal deity with six attributes[475] and is the first emanation, or Vyuha, of the ineffable godhead. From him proceeds Sankarshana, from Sankarshana Pradyumna, and from Pradyumna Aniruddha. These three Vyuhas take part in creation but also correspond to or preside over certain aspects of human personality, namely Sankarshana to the soul that animates all beings, Pradyumna to intelligence and Aniruddha to individuality. Strange to say these seem to be the names of distinguished personages in the Sattvata or Vrishni clan.[476] Mere deification occurs in many countries but the transformation of heroes into metaphysical or psychological terms could hardly have happened outside India. Next to the Vyuhas come twelve sub-Vyuhas, among whom is Narayana,[477] and thirty-nine Avataras. All these beings are outside the cosmic eggs and our gross creation. As a prelude to this last there takes place the evolution of the aggregates or sources from which individual souls and matter are drawn, of space and of time, and finally of the elements, the process as described seeming to follow an older form of the Sankhya philosophy than that known to us. The task of human souls is to attain liberation, but though the language of the Samhitas is not entirely consistent, the older view is that they become like to God, not that they are absorbed in him.[478]

Thus it is not incorrect to say that the Bhagavata religion is monotheistic and recognizes a creator of souls. Indeed Sankara[479] condemns it on the very ground that it makes individual souls originate from Vasudeva, in which case since they have an origin they must also have an end. But Ramanuja in replying to this criticism seems to depart from the older view, for he says that the Supreme Being voluntarily abides in four forms which include the soul, mind and the principle of individuality. This, if not Pantheism, is very different from European monotheism.[480]

The history of these Bhagavatas, Pancaratras or worshippers of Vishnu must have begun several centuries before our era, for there are allusions to them in Panini and the Niddesa.[481] The names of Vasudeva and Sankarshana occur in old inscriptions[482] and the Greek Heliodoros calls himself a Bhagavata on the column found at Besnagar and supposed to date from the first part of the second century B.C.

The Pancaratra was not Brahmanic in origin[483] and the form of the Sankhya philosophy from which it borrowed was also un-Brahmanic. It seems to have grown up in north-western India in the centuries when Iranian influence was strong and may owe to Zoroastrianism the doctrine of the Vyuhas which finds a parallel in the relation of Ahura Mazda to Spenta Mainyu, his Holy Spirit, and in the Fravashis. It is also remarkable that God is credited with six attributes comparable with the six Amesha Spentas. In other ways the Pancaratra seems to have some connection with late Buddhism. Though it lays little stress on the worship of goddesses, yet all the Vyuhas and Avataras are provided with Saktis, like the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of tantric Buddhism, and in the period of quiescence which follows on the dissolution of the Universe Vishnu is described under the name of Sunya or the void. It attaches great importance to the _Cakra_, the wheel or discus which denotes Vishnu's will to be,[484] to evolve and maintain the universe, and it may have contributed some ideas to the very late form of Buddhism called Kalacakra. This very word is used in the Ahirbudhnya Samhita as the name of one of the many wheels engaged in the work of evolution.

Though the Pancaratra is connected with Krishna in its origin, it gives no prominence to devotion to him under that name as do modern sects and it knows nothing of the pastoral Krishna.[485] It recommends the worship of the four Vyuhas[486] presiding over the four quarters in much the same way that late Buddhism adores the four Jinas depicted in somewhat similar forms. Similarly the Sivaites say that Siva has five faces, namely Isana or Sadasiva (the highest, undifferentiated form of the deity) at the top and below Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha, and Sadyojata, presiding respectively over the north, south, east and west. It is thus clear that in the early centuries of our era (or perhaps even before it) there was a tendency in Vishnuism, Sivaism and Mahayanist Buddhism alike to represent the ineffable godhead as manifested in four aspects somewhat more intelligible to human minds and producing in their turn many inferior manifestations. Possibly the theory originated among the Vishnuites,[487] but as often happened in India it was adopted by their opponents. None of these theories are of much importance as living beliefs at the present day but their influence can be seen in iconography.

As a sect the Pancaratras seem to have been a subdivision of the Bhagavatas and probably at the present day many Vishnuites would accept the second name but not the first. The Pancaratra is studied at only a few places in southern India but its doctrines permeate the popular work called Bhaktamala and in view of the express approbation of Ramanuja and other authorities it can hardly be repudiated by the Sri-Vaishnavas. Bhagavata is sometimes used in the south as a name for Smartas who practise Vedic rites and worship both Siva and Vishnu.[488]

4

In these early times there were strenuous theological struggles now forgotten, though they have left their traces in the legends which tell how the title of Krishna and others to divine honours was challenged. Amalgamation was the usual method of conciliation. Several gods grew sufficiently important to become in the eyes of their worshippers the supreme spirit and at least four were united in the deity of the Bhagavatas, namely, Vasudeva, Krishna, Vishnu and Narayana. Of the first three I have spoken already. Narayana never became like Vishnu and Krishna a great mythological figure, but in the late Vedic period he is a personification of the primaeval waters from which all things sprang or of the spirit which moved in them.[489] From this he easily became the supreme spirit who animates all the universe and the name was probably acceptable to those who desired a purer and simpler worship because it was connected with comparatively few legends. But there is some confusion in its use, for it is applied not only to the supreme being but to a double incarnation of him called Nara-Narayana, and images of the pair may still be seen in Vishnuite temples. They are said to have revealed the true doctrine to Narada and are invoked at the beginning of each book of the Mahabharata.[490] One of the main theses of the Narayaniya[491] is the identity of Narayana and Vasudeva, the former being a Brahmanic, the latter a non-Brahmanic name for the Deity.

The celebrated Bhagavad-gita[492] which is still held in such respect that, like the New Testament or Koran, it is used in law courts for the administration of oaths, is an early scripture of the Bhagavata sect. In it the doctrines of Krishna's divinity, the power of faith and the efficacy of grace are fully established. It is declared to be too hard for flesh and blood to find by meditation their way to the eternal imperceptible spirit, whereas Krishna comes straightway to those who make him their sole desire. "Set thy heart on me, become my devotee, sacrifice to me and worship thou me. Then shalt thou come to me. Truly I declare to thee thou art dear to me. Leave all (other) religious duties and come to me as thy sole refuge. I will deliver thee from thy sins. Sorrow not." But the evolution of Sankarshana, etc., is not mentioned. The poem has perhaps been re-edited and interpolated several times but the strata can hardly be distinguished, for the whole work, if not exactly paradoxical, is eclectic and continually argues that what is apparently highest is not best for a particular person. The Hindus generally regard the contemplative life as the highest, but the Bhagavad-gita is insistent in enjoining unselfish action: it admits that the supreme reality cannot be grasped by the mind or expressed in speech, but it recommends the worship of a personal deity. Even the older parts of the poem appear to be considerably later than Buddhism. But its mythology, if not Vedic, is also hardly Puranic and it knows nothing of the legends about the pastoral Krishna. It presupposes the Sankhya and Yoga, though in what stage of development it is hard to say, and in many respects its style resembles the later Upanishads. I should suppose that it assumed its present form about the time of the Christian era, rather before than after, and I do not think it owes anything to direct Christian influence. In its original form it may have been considerably older.

The Bhagavad-gita identifies Krishna with Vasudeva and with Vishnu but does not mention Narayana and from its general style I should imagine the Narayaniya to be a later poem. If so, the evolution of Bhagavata theology will be that Krishna, a great hero in a tribe lying outside the sphere of Brahmanism, is first identified with Vasudeva, the god of that tribe, and then both of them with Vishnu. At this stage the Bhagavad-gita was composed. A later current of speculation added Narayana to the already complex figure, and a still later one, not accepted by all sects, brought the pastoral and amorous legends of Krishna. Thus the history of the Bhagavatas illustrates the Indian disposition to combine gods and to see in each of them only an aspect of the one. But until a later period the types of divinity known as Vishnu and Siva resisted combination. The worshippers of Siva have in all periods shown less inclination than the Vishnuites to form distinct and separate bodies and the earliest Sivaite sect of which we know anything, the Pasupatas,[493] arose slightly later than the Bhagavatas.

5

Patanjali the grammarian (_c._ 150 B.C.) mentions devotees of Siva[494] and also images of Siva and Skanda. There is thus no reason to doubt that worshippers of Siva were recognized as a sect from at least 200 B.C. onwards. Further it seems probable that the founder or an early teacher of the sect was an ascetic called Lakulin or Lakulisa, the club-bearer. The Vayu Purana[495] makes Siva say that he will enter an unowned corpse and become incarnate in this form at Kayarohana, which has been identified with Karvan in Baroda. Now the Vayu is believed to be the oldest of the Puranas, and it is probable that this Lakulin whom it mentions lived before rather than after our era and was especially connected with the Pasupata sect. This word is derived from Pasupati, the Lord of cattle, an old title of Rudra afterwards explained to mean the Lord of human souls. In the Santiparvan[496] five systems of knowledge are mentioned. Sankhya, Yoga, the Vedas, Pasupatam and Pancaratram, promulgated respectively by Kapila, Hiranyagarbha, Apantaratamas, Siva the Lord of spirits and son of Brahma, and "The Lord (Bhagavan) himself." The author of these verses, who evidently supported the Pancaratra, considered that these five names represented the chief existing or permissible varieties of religious thought. The omission of the Vedanta is remarkable but perhaps it is included under Veda. Hence we may conclude that when this passage was written (that is probably before 400 A.D. and perhaps about the beginning of our era) there were two popular religions ranking in public esteem with the philosophic and ritual doctrines of the Brahmans. The Mahabharata contains a hymn[497] which praises Siva under 1008 names and is not without resemblance to the Bhagavad-gita. It contains a larger number of strange epithets, but Siva is also extolled as the All-God, who asks for devotion and grants grace. At the close of the hymn Siva says that he has introduced the Pasupata religion which partly contradicts and partly agrees with the institutions of caste and the Asramas, but is blamed by fools.[498]

These last words hint that the Pasupatas laid themselves open to criticism by their extravagant practices, such as strange sounds and gestures.[499] But in such matters they were outdone by other sects called Kapalikas or Kalamukhas. These carried skulls and ate the flesh of corpses, and were the fore-runners of the filthy Aghoris, who were frequent in northern India especially near Mount Abu and Girnar a century ago and perhaps are not yet quite extinct. The biographers of Sankara[500] represent him as contending with these demoniac fanatics not merely with the weapons of controversy but as urging the princes who favoured him to exterminate them.

Hindu authorities treat the Pasupatas as distinct from the Saivas, or Sivaites, and the distinction was kept up in Camboja in the fourteenth century. The Saivas appear to be simply worshippers of Siva, who practice a sane ritual. In different parts of India they have peculiarities of their own but whereas the Vaishnavas have split up into many sects each revering its own founder and his teaching, the Saivas, if not a united body, present few well-marked divisions. Such as exist I shall notice below in their geographical or historical connection.[501] Most of them accept a system of theology or philosophy[502] which starts with three principles, all without beginning or end. These are Pati or the Lord, that is Siva: Pasu, or the individual soul: Pasa or the fetter, that is matter or Karma.[503] The task of the soul is to get free of its fetters and attain to the state of Siva. But this final deliverance is not quite the same as the identity with Brahman taught by the Vedanta: the soul becomes a Siva, equal to the deity in power and knowledge but still dependent on him rather than identical with him.[504]

Peculiar to Saiva theology is the doctrine of the five kancukas[505] or envelopes which limit the soul. Spirit in itself is free: it is timeless and knows no restrictions of space, enjoyment, knowledge and power. But when spirit is contracted to individual experience, it can apprehend the universe only as a series of changes in time and place: its enjoyment, knowledge and power are cramped and curtailed by the limits of personality. The terminology of the Saivas is original but the theory appears to be an elaboration of the Pancaratra thesis that the soul is surrounded by the sheath of Maya.

The early literature of the worshippers of Siva (corresponding to the Samhitas of the Pancaratras) appears to have consisted of twenty-eight works composed in Sanskrit and called Agamas.[506] There is fairly good evidence for their antiquity. Tirumular, one of the earliest Tamil poets who is believed to have lived in the first centuries of our era, speaks of them with enthusiasm and the Buddhist Sanskrit works called Agamas (corresponding to the Pali Nikayas) cannot be later than that period. It is highly probable that the same word was in use among both Hindus and Buddhists at the same time. And since the Mahabharata mentions the Pasupatam, there is no difficulty in supposing that expositions of Sivaite doctrine were current in the first century A.D. or even B.C. But unless more texts of the Agamas come to light the question of their age has little practical importance, for it is said by native scholars that of the twenty-eight primary books there survive only fragments of twenty, which treat of ritual, besides the verses which form the text expounded at length in the Sivananabotham.[507] There are also said to be 120 Upagamas of which only two or three have been preserved entire. Of these two have been printed in part, the Mrigendra and Paushkara.[508] The former is cited in the Sarva-darsana-sangraha (about 1330) but does not show any signs of great antiquity. It is thus clear that the Agamas are not much studied by modern Sivaites but it is unhesitatingly stated that they are a revelation direct from Siva and equal to the Veda[509] and this affirmation is important, even though the texts so praised are little known, for it testifies to the general feeling that there are other revelations than the Veda. But the Vedas, and the Vedanta Sutras are not ignored. The latter are read in the light of Nilakantha's[510] commentary which is considered by south Indian Pandits to be prior to Sankara.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 440: An attempt was made to adapt the Veda to modern ideas by composing new Upanishads. The inspiration of such works is not denied but they have not the same influence as the literature mentioned below.]

[Footnote 441: Sri Bhashya, II. 2. 43. So too the Vishnu Purana, I. 1 describes itself as equal in sanctity to the Vedas. Sankara on Brah. Sutras, I. 3. 33 says that the Puranas are authoritative.]

[Footnote 442: See Grierson in _Ind. Ant._ 1908, p. 251 and p. 373.]

[Footnote 443: _E.g._ the Sanatsujatiya and Anugita (both in _S.B.E._ VIII.). See Deussen, _Vier philosophische Texte des Mahabharatam._]

[Footnote 444: Forming part of the Brahmanda Purana.]

[Footnote 445: See for a summary of them Winternitz, _Gesch. Ind. Lit._ I. pp. 450-483. For the dates see Pargiter Dynasties of the Kali age. He holds that the historical portions of the older Puranas were compiled in Prakrit about 250 A.D. and re-edited in Sanskrit about 350. See also Vincent Smith, _Early History_, p. 21 and, against Pargiter, Keith in _J.R.A.S._ 1914, p. 1021. Alberuni (who wrote in 1030) mentions eighteen Puranas and gives two lists of them. Bana (c. 620 A.D.) mentions the recitation of the Vayu Purana. The commentary on the Svetasvatara Upan. ascribed to Sankara quotes the Brahma P., Linga P. and Vishnu P. as authorities as well as Puranic texts described as Vishnudharma and Sivadharmottara. But the authorship of this commentary is doubtful. The Puranic literature as we know it probably began with the Gupta dynasty or a century before it, but the word Purana in the sense of an ancient legend which ought to be learnt occurs as early as the Satapatha Brahmana (XI. 5. 6. 8) and even in A.V. XI. 7. 24.]

[Footnote 446: See Dinesh Chandra Sen, _Hist. Bengali Language and Lit._ pp. 220-225.]

[Footnote 447: Pargiter, _l.c._ pp. xvii, xxviii. It does not belong to the latest class of Puranas for it seems to contemplate the performance of Smarta rites not temple ceremonial, but it is not quoted by Ramanuja (twelfth century) though he cites the Vishnu Purana. Probably he disapproved of it.]

[Footnote 448: It was made as late as 1803 by Lallu Ji Lal, but is a rendering into Hindi of a version in the Braj dialect, probably made in the sixteenth century.]

[Footnote 449: Another Vishnuite work is cited indifferently as Padma-tantra or Padma-samhita, and the Bhagavata Purana (I. 3. 8) speaks of the Sattvatam Tantram, which is apparently the Sattvata-samhita. The work edited by Schrader is described as the _Ahirbudhnya Samhita of the Pancaratra Agama._]

[Footnote 450: See for some notices of these works A. Avalon's various publications about Tantra. Srinivasa Iyengar, _Outlines of Indian Philosophy_, 118-191. Govindacarya Svami on the Vaishnava Samhitas, _J.R.A.S._ 1911, pp. 935 ff. Schomerus, _Caiva-Siddhanta_, pp. 7 ff. and Schrader's _Introduction to the Pancaratra_. Whereas these works claim to be independent of the Veda, the Sectarian Upanishads (see vol. I. p. 76) are an attempt to connect post-Vedic sects with the Veda.]

[Footnote 451: Jnana, Yoga, Carya, Kriya. The same names are used of Buddhist Tantras, except that Anuttara replaces Jnana.]

[Footnote 452: See Schrader, _Introd. to the Pancaratra_, p. 98. In the Raghuvamsa, X. 27. Agamas are not only mentioned but said to be extremely numerous. But in such passages it is hard to say whether Agama means the books now so-called or merely tradition. Alberuni seems not to have known of this literature and a Tantra for him is merely a minor treatise on astronomy. He evidently regards the Vedas, Puranas, philosophical Darsanas and Epics as constituting the religious literature of India.]

[Footnote 453: Rajagopala Chariar (_Vaishnavite Reformers_, p. 4) says that in Vishnu temples two rituals are used called Pancaratra and Vaikhanasa. The latter is apparently consistent with Smarta usage whereas the Pancaratra is not. From Gopinatha Rao's _Elements of Hindu Iconography_, pp. 56, 77, 78 it appears that there is a Vaikhanasagama parallel to the Pancaratragama. It is frequently quoted by this author, though as yet unpublished. It seems to be the ritual of those Bhagavatas who worship both Siva and Vishnu. It is said to exist in two recensions, prose and metrical, of which the former is perhaps the oldest of the Vaishnava Agamas. The Vaikhanasa ritual was once followed at Srirangam but Ramanuja substituted the Pancaratra for it.]

[Footnote 454: Avalon, _Principles of Tantra_, p. xxvii describes it as "that development of the Vaidika Karmakanda which under the name of the Tantra Shastra is the scripture of the Kali age." This seems to me a correct statement of the tantric theory.]

[Footnote 455: Thus the Gautamiya Tantra which is held in high estimation by Vishnuite householders in Bengal, though not by ascetics, is a complete application of Sakta worship to the cult of Krishna. The Varahi Tantra is also Vishnuite. See Raj. Mitra, _Sanskrit MSS. of Bikaner_, p. 583 and _Notices of Sk. MSS_. III. (1876), p. 99, and I. cclxxxvii. See too the usages of the Nambuthiri Brahmans as described in _Cochin Tribes and Castes_, II. pp. 229-233. In many ways the Nambuthiris preserve the ancient Vedic practices.]

[Footnote 456: See Grierson's articles Gleanings from the Bhaktamala in _J.R.A.S._ 1909-1910.]

[Footnote 457: _E.g._ Markandeya, Vamana and Varaha. Also the Skanda Upanishad.]

[Footnote 458: Mahabh. Vanaparvan, 11001 ff. The Bhagavata Purana, Book IV. sec. 2-7 emphasizes more clearly the objections of the Rishis to Siva as an enemy of Vedic sacrifices and a patron of unhallowed rites.]

[Footnote 459: Mahabh. XII. sec. 283. In the same way the worship of Dionysus was once a novelty in Greece and not countenanced by the more conservative and respectable party. See Eur. Bacchae, 45. The Varaha-Purana relates that the Sivaite scriptures were revealed for the benefit of certain Brahmans whose sins had rendered them incapable of performing Vedic rites. There is probably some truth in this legend in so far as it means that Brahmans who were excommunicated for some fault were disposed to become the ministers of non-Vedic cults.]

[Footnote 460: Mahabh. II. secs. 16, 22 ff.]

[Footnote 461: Drona-p., 2862 ff. Anusasana-p., 590 ff.]

[Footnote 462: _E.g._ Anusasana P., 6806 ff.]

[Footnote 463: _E.g._ the Ahirbudhnya Samhita and Adhyatma Ramayana.]

[Footnote 464: Santipar. cccxxxvii, 12711 ff. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that he is Vasudeva of the Vrishnis, XI. 37.]

[Footnote 465: Cf. the title Bhagavata Purana.]

[Footnote 466: Ekayana is mentioned several times in the Chandogya Up. (VII. 1, 2 and afterwards) as a branch of religious or literary knowledge and in connection with Narada. But it is not represented as the highest or satisfying knowledge.]

[Footnote 467: Even in the Satapatha Br. Narayana is mentioned in connection with a sacrifice lasting five days, XIII. 6. 1.]