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Kapalika

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For the 2013 Malayalam film, seeKapalika (film).For the 1973 Malayalam film, seeKaapalika.
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The Kāpālika tradition and its offshoots inShaivism


TheKāpālikatradition was aTantric,non-Puranicform ofShaivismwhich originated inMedieval Indiabetween the 4th and 8th century CE.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]The word is derived from the Sanskrit termkapāla,meaning "skull", andkāpālikacan be translated as the "skull-men" or "skull-bearers".[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

History

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Main article:Shaivism
InVajrayanaBuddhism,the symbol of the skull-topped trident (khaṭvāṅga) is said to be inspired by its association with the Kāpālikas.[8]Pictured here is an ivorykhaṭvāṅga,15th century Chinese art,Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Kāpālikas were an extinct sect of Shaivite ascetics devoted to theHindu godShivadating back to the 4th century CE, which traditionally carried a skull-topped trident (khaṭvāṅga) and an emptyhuman skullas a begging bowl.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]Other attributes associated with Kāpālikas were that they revered the fierceBhairavaform of Shiva by emulating his behavior and characteristics,[1][2][3][4][5][6]smeared their body with ashes from thecremation grounds,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]wore their hair long andmatted,[2][3][4][5][6][7]and engaged in transgressive rituals such as sexual intercourse withlower-classwomen,human sacrifices,consumption ofmeatandalcoholic beverages,and offerings involving orgiastic sexuality and sexual fluids.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

According to David Lorenzen, there is a paucity of primary sources on the Kāpālikas, and historical information about them is available from fictional works and other traditions who disparage them.[2][3][5]VariousIndian textsclaim that the Kāpālikas drank liquor freely, both for ritual and as a matter of habit.[2]The Chinese pilgrim to India in the 7th century CE,Hsuan Tsang,in his memoir on what is nowNorthwestern Pakistan,wrote aboutBuddhistsliving with naked ascetics who covered themselves with ashes and wore bone wreathes on their heads, but Hsuan Tsang does not call themKāpālikasor any particular name. Historians ofIndian religionsand scholars ofHindu studieshave interpreted these ascetics variously as Kāpālikas,JainDigambara monks,andPashupatas.[2]

In his masterpieceYoga: Immortality and Freedom(1958), the Romanianhistorian of religionandUniversity of ChicagoprofessorMircea Eliaderemarks that the "Aghorīsare only the successors to a much older and widespread ascetic order, the Kāpālikas, or "wearers of skulls". "[5]The Kāpālikas were more of a monastic order, states Lorenzen, and not a sect with a textual doctrine.[2]The Kāpālika tradition gave rise to theKulamārga,a subsect of Tantric Shaivism which preserves some of the distinctive features of the Kāpālika tradition.[9]Some of the Kāpālika Shaiva practices are found inVajrayana Buddhism,[5]and scholars disagree on who influenced whom.[10]Today, the Kāpālika tradition survives within its Shaivite offshoots: theAghoriorder,Kaula,andTrikatraditions.[3][5]

Literature

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Mark S. G. Dyczkowskiholds theGaha Sattasai,aPrakrit poemwritten byHāla(3rd to 4th century CE), to be one of the first extant literary references to an early Indian Kāpālika ascetic:

One of the earliest references to a Kāpālika is found in Hāla's Prakrit poem, theGāthāsaptaśati(third to fifth century A.D.) in a verse in which the poet describes a young female Kāpālikā who besmears herself with ashes from thefuneral pyreof her lover. Varāhamihira (c. 500-575) refers more than once to the Kāpālikas thus clearly establishing their existence in the sixth century. Indeed, from this time onwards references to Kāpālika ascetics become fairly commonplace inSanskrit...[11]

Tantric goddessBhairaviand her consortShivadepicted as Kāpālika ascetics, sitting in acharnel ground.Painting by Payāg from a 17th-century manuscript (c. 1630–1635),Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York City.

The Act III ofPrabodha Chandrodaya,aSanskritandMaharashtri Prakritplaywritten byKirttivarman's contemporary Shri Krishna Mishra (11th to 12th century), introduces a male Kāpālika ascetic and his consort,[5]a female Kāpālini,[5]disrupting a dispute on the "true religion" between amendicantBuddhistwanderer and aJainDigambara monk.[5][12]The latter ones, convinced by the Kāpālika couple to give up their vows tocelibacyandrenunciationby drinkingred wineand indulging in sensual pleasure withwomen,end up rejecting their former religions and convert toShaivismafter having embraced the Kāpālika's faith inShivaBhairavaas the Supreme God and his wifeParvati.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdefTörzsök, Judit (2020). "Why Are the Skull-Bearers (Kāpālikas) Called Soma?". In Goodall, Dominic; Hatley, Shaman; Isaacson, Harunaga; Raman, Srilata (eds.).Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions: Essays in Honour of Alexis G.J.S. Sanderson.Gonda Indological Studies. Vol. 22.LeidenandBoston:Brill Publishers.pp. 33–46.doi:10.1163/9789004432802_004.ISBN978-90-04-43280-2.ISSN1382-3442.
  2. ^abcdefghijkLorenzen, David N. (2020) [1972]."Chapter I: Four Śaivite Sects".The Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas: Two Lost Śaivite Sects.Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies (1st ed.).BerkeleyandLos Angeles:University of California Press.pp. XI–XIII, 1–16.doi:10.1525/9780520324947-003.ISBN9780520324947.OCLC1224279234.
  3. ^abcdefghiBarrett, Ronald L. (2008)."Introduction".Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in Northern India(1st ed.).Berkeley,Los Angeles,andLondon:University of California Press.pp. 1–28.ISBN9780520941014.LCCN2007007627.
  4. ^abcdefgUrban, Hugh B.(2007) [2003]."India's Darkest Heart: Tantra in the Literary Imagination".Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion(1st ed.).BerkeleyandDelhi:University of California Press/Motilal Banarsidass.pp. 106–133.doi:10.1525/california/9780520230620.003.0004.ISBN9780520236561.JSTOR10.1525/j.ctt1pp4mm.9.
  5. ^abcdefghijklmnEliade, Mircea(1969) [1958]."Chapter VIII: Yoga and Aboriginal India — Aghorīs, Kāpālikas".Yoga: Immortality and Freedom.Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology.Vol. LVI.Bucharest,Chicago,andPrinceton:Princeton University Press/University of Bucharest/University of Chicago Press.pp. 296–298.ISBN9780691142036.
  6. ^abcdefgJames G. Lochtefeld (2001).The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 1.The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 349.ISBN978-0-8239-3179-8.
  7. ^abcdefGavin Flood (2008).The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism.John Wiley & Sons. pp. 212–213.ISBN978-0-470-99868-7.
  8. ^Beer, Robert (2003).The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist symbols.Serindia Publications. p. 102.ISBN1-932476-03-2.Retrieved3 February2010.
  9. ^Sanderson, Alexis."The Śaiva Literature."Archived4 March 2016 at theWayback MachineJournal of Indological Studies (Kyoto), Nos. 24 & 25 (2012–2013), 2014, pp.4-5, 11, 57.
  10. ^Ronald Davidson (2002),Indian Esoteric Buddhism,Columbia University Press. pages 202-218
  11. ^Dyczkowski, Mark S. G.(1988).The Canon of the Śaivāgama and the Kubjikā: Tantras of the Western Kaula Tradition.SUNY Press.ISBN978-0-88706-494-4.
  12. ^abTaylor, J. (2023) [1872]."Act III".Prabodha Chandrodaya, or Rise of the Moon of Intellect(Reprint ed.).Frankfurt:Outlook Verlag. pp. 47–57.ISBN9783368149635.

Further reading

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