Brief Note on Hindu Shaivism (Saivism)

Shaivism and Shaivas

Shaivism or Saivism in Hindu Religion is associsted with Lord Shiva. The followers of Hindu Shaivism is referred to as Shaivas or Saivas. Lord Shiva is the supreme god and is prevalent widely through out India.

Hindu Saivism in India is possibly a legacy of the non-Aryan religious belief of the pre-historic period. Even in Indus-Valley region excavations have revealed some images of deities which resemble Siva and phallus or Siva-linga. In fact the cult of Shiva is the fusion of the characters of many deities – specially the Vedic God Rudra.

According to the Rig Veda Rudra is the God of destruction and storm while the Yayur Veda made a synthesis of his destructive and benevolent character. Later on, in Svetasvatara Upanishada Siva or Rudra has been made the Mahadeva (Supreme God). Though Siva as a God was gaining importance gradually yet the cult of Shiva as the Supreme God or even the philosophy of Shaivism became popular only after the early Christian era.

In fact, there are two mono-theistic religions-

• the Vaishnavism and
• the Shaivism.

Both the religious postulate Bhakti. In Siva we find the synthesis of Rig Vedic Rudra and the non-Aryan God of fertility. He is thus the embodiment of two contradictory aspects. In one, he is the father of all gods, the symbol of morality, in the other he is the destroyer (Mahakala).

The Shaivas worshipped from the beginning the images of Shiva in human and his phallic emblem side by side. But gradually the phallic from (Linga) replaced the worship of the images of Siva. The early phallic emblems of Shiva were more realistic in appearance. But probably due to opposition of the orthodox section the form of phallus underwent changes and lost its original realism. The phallic emblems to Siva were worshipped during the early Harappa civilisation period.

It was due to Lakulin or Nakulin, a legendary as Well as historical personage, the Siva worshipping religious sect was founded. He was the first great teacher of Saivism. Both the Nathadwar inscription of Udaipur and another inscription of 13th century A.D. have given us his reference. Lakulin or Nakulin was a man of 2nd century B.C. though the Mathura inscription of Chandragupta II proved that he was a man of 2nd century A. D. However, Nakulin founded the Pasupata or Mahesvara sect. According to this creed to make life free from the bonds Shiva has directed five paths—

• effect (Karya),
• cause (Karma),
• path (Yoga),
• rule (Vidhi) and
• end of sorrows and sufferings (Dukkhanta).

Later on four separate Saiva sects emerged out of this Pasupata or Mahesvara sect. They are­ :

• Saiva,
• Pasupata,
• Kapalika and
• Kalamukha.

In the fourth century B.C. Megasthenes, the famous Greek traveler came to India. According to him the Indians worshipped Dionysus who is identified with Siva. Later on Patanjali, during the 2nd century B. C. referred to the image of Siva and about his worship. The Maurya rulers used to sell the image of Siva. The successor of Asoka, the Great Jalauka was himself a Saivas.

Even in the Christian era, some of the Kushana kings were also Saivas. In the two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata we find the legends about Siva and his wife Durga and his sons and daughters-Kartika, Ganesha, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Possibly by that time the Siva cult became popular.

There were some orthodox Brahmins also who opposed the spread of Siva cult but their opposition was eventually washed out. The legend about king Daksha, an anti-Saiva ruler speaks of that opposition. Many of the Gupta kings were Saivas. The Guptas were not sectarians and under their rule Saivism had flourished along with other forms of Hinduism. Kumar Gupta, the Gupta ruler between 415 to 455A.D. seems to favor the Skanda-cult in spite of his Vaishnavism as is evident by his peacock coins and by the name Skandha he gave to his son.

Kalidasa, the greatest Sanskrit poet and play Wright, was a devotee of Siva.His great epic ‘Kumara-sambhava’ has immortalized the Paranika episode of the birth of Skanda (Kartikaya). Bharavi a poet of sixth century A.D. wrote a Mahakabya ‘Kiratarjuna’ to describe Sivas fight with Arjuna. Both Vayu and Matsyapuranas, which are devoted to Siva, are the creation of the Gupta age. The Guptas had built many temples and images of Siva.

Not only the Guptas, even some foreign rulers also worshipped Siva. Like some of the early Kushana kings, the Huna King Mihirakula was also a great devotee of Siva. In Bengal King Sasanka himself and some members of the Pushpabhuti dynasty of Kanauj and the Maitraka dynasty Vallabhi were the devotees of Shiva.

In the Deccan as well the Brihatpvalayanas, the Anandas, the Vishnukundins, many of the Vakataka. Salankayana, Kademba and Western Ganga rulers used to worship Siva. In South India, however, Saivism became a great rival of both Jainism and Buddhism. The Great upsurge in favor of Shaivism was mainly due to the enormous devotional poetry that flowed from the lips of leading Saiva saints who lived in this age. Many of the sixty-three nayanmars or adiyars (Canonical saints of Saivism) flourished during this period.”