Pashupata Shaivism
Pashupata Shaivism is the oldest of the major Shaivite Hindu schools. The mainstream which follows Vedic Pasupata penance are 'Maha Pasupatas' and the schism of 'Lakula Pasupata' of Lakulisa.
There is a debate about pioneership of this schism and the Goan school of Nakulish darshan believes that Nakulish was pioneer and Lakulish and Patanjalinath were his disciples while Gujrat school believes that Nakulish and Lakulish are one. Sarwdarshansangrah written by Madhavachary mentions it as "Nakulish Darshan" not as "Lakulish Darshan". Both sub schools are still active in their own areas. The philosophy of the Pashupata sect was systematized by also called Nakulīśa) in the 2nd century A.D.
The main texts of the school are ' with Kauṇḍinya's ', and ' with Bhāsarvajña's '. Both texts were discovered only in the twentieth century. Prior to that, the major source of information on this sect was a chapter devoted to it in 's .
Date
The date of foundation of the school is uncertain. However, the Pashupatas may have existed from the 1st century CE. Gavin Flood dates them to around the 2nd century CE. They are also referred to in the epic Mahabharata which is thought to have reached a final form by the 4th century CE. The Pashupata movement was influential in South India in the period between the 7th and 14th century.One of the last surviving influential Vedic Pasupata maths was the Eka Veerambal math which existed upto the late eighteenth century adminstering the Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval temple near Trichy and the Ramanathaswamy Temple temple It is survived by its Sadyojata offshoot Pasur Math which is one of the caste kula-guru maths of the Kongu Vellalar caste and of the Arur Nadars of Virudhunagar
Overview
Pashupata Shaivism was a devotional and ascetic movement. Pashu in Pashupati refers to the effect, the word designates that which is dependent on something ulterior. Whereas, Pati means the cause, the word designates the Lord, who is the cause of the universe, the pati, or the ruler. To free themselves from worldly fetters Pashupatas are instructed to do a pashupata vrata. Atharvasiras Upanishsad describes the pashupata vrata as that which consists of besmearing one's own body with ashes and at the same time muttering mantra — "Agni is ashes, Vayu is ashes, Sky is ashes, all this is ashes, the mind, these eyes are ashes."Haradattacharya, in Gaṇakārikā, explains that a spiritual teacher is one who knows the eight pentads and the three functions. The eight pentads of Acquisition, Impurity, Expedient, Locality, Perseverance, Purification, Initiation and Powers are —
| Acquisition | knowledge | penance | permanence of the body | constancy | purity |
| Impurity | false conception | demerit | attachment | interestedness | falling |
| Expedient | use of habitation | pious muttering | meditation | constant recollection of Rudra | apprehension |
| Locality | spiritual teachers | a cavern | a special place | the burning ground | Rudra |
| Perseverance | the differenced | the undifferenced | muttering | acceptance | devotion |
| Purification | loss of ignorance | loss of demerit | loss of attachment | loss of interestedness | loss of falling |
| Initiations | the material | proper time | the rite | the image | the spiritual guide |
| Powers | devotion to the spiritual guide | clearness of intellect | conquest of pleasure and pain | merit | carefulness |
The three functions correspond to the means of earning daily food — mendicancy, living upon alms, and living upon what chance supplies.
Philosophy
Pashupatas disapprove of the Vaishnava theology, known for its doctrine servitude of souls to the Supreme Being, on the grounds that dependence upon anything cannot be the means of cessation of pain and other desired ends. They recognize that those depending upon another and longing for independence will not be emancipated because they still depend upon something other than themselves. According to Pashupatas, spirits possess the attributes of the Supreme Deity when they become liberated from the 'germ of every pain'. In this system the cessation of pain is of two kinds, impersonal and personal. Impersonal consists of the absolute cessation of all pains, whereas the personal consists of development of visual and active powers like swiftness of thought, assuming forms at will etc. The Lord is held to be the possessor of infinite, visual, and active powers.Pañchārtha bhāshyadipikā divides the created world into the insentient and the sentient. The insentient is unconscious and thus dependent on the conscious. The insentient is further divided into effects and causes. The effects are of ten kinds, the earth, four elements and their qualities, colour etc.. The causes are of thirteen kinds, the five organs of cognition, the five organs of action, the three internal organs, intellect, the ego principle and the cognising principle. These insentient causes are held responsible for the illusive identification of Self with non-Self. The sentient spirit, which is subject to transmigration is of two kinds, the appetent and nonappetent. The appetent is the spirit associated with an organism and sense organs, whereas the non-appetent is the spirit without them.
Union in the Pashupata system is a conjunction of the soul with God through the intellect. It is achieved in two ways, action and cessation of action. Union through action consists of pious muttering, meditation etc. and union through cessation of action occurs through consciousness.