The Journal of Hindu Studies Advance Access published June 27, 2015

The Journal of Hindu Studies 2015;1–22 doi:10.1093/jhs/hiv022

Cakra System and Tantric Ritual in Varaśaivism

Eva-Maria Glasbrenner*
University of Passau
*Corresponding author: glasbrenner@manya-institut.de

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

Abstract: The tantric aspect of Varaśaivism is unknown not only in Western
Indological and religious studies discourses: Also the inter-intrareligious dis-
course of present day forms of South Indian Varaśaivism ignores this dimen-
sion. The Śiv@nubhavas+tra of M@yideva, a text from the fifteenth century that
has until now not yet been translated into any Western language, places tantric
ritual at the centre of religious self-realisation as an instrument of liberation.
The system of cakras is here connected with the specifically Varaśaiva Xabsthala
doctrine, and further correlations with various elements in the world of sen-
suous experience are indicated through an intricate system of correspondences.
Thus, a complex set of instructions is given for the transformation of the
individual, in which he overcomes duality and experiences unity with Śiva
(śivaikya). M@yideva’s scholastic text thus not only reveals basic aspects of
Varaśaiva esoteric thought but could also contribute significantly to tantric
research and to the dating of other Śaiva tantric texts.

Varaśaivism, also known as Liṅg@yatism or Śara>ism, in its present form goes back
to the twelfth century. At that time, Basava (ca. 1131–67), minister of king Bijja0a of
Kaly@>a, lived in the present day state of Karn@baka in south India. Basava
(or Basava>>a, or BasavOśvara, as he is also known) was not only a minister, but
also a Śaivite mystic who revived an already existing religion and transformed it
into a new, powerful, morally, and socially engaged spiritual movement.1 In spite
of strong opposition within his social environment, he could gather many people
around him, and he fought against caste discrimination, dependence on the brah-
min class, and the notion that one should seek God (Śiva)2 outside oneself in a
lifeless statue in a temple. Thus, these advocates of an introspective religiosity in
a society that was to be freed of the caste system and of gender discrimination3
called themselves Varaśaivas, the heroic followers of Śiva. Also the designation
Śara>a (Skt. ‘place of refuge’, an often used abbreviation of Śivaśara>a) was
common: Those who seek refuge in Śiva. Basava created a centre for the meetings
of the Śara>as in Kaly@>a, the Śiv@nubh@vama>bapa (‘hall for the experience of
Śiva’); in this hall for the mystic experience of Śiva many philosophical

ß The Author 2015. Oxford University Press and The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. All rights reserved.
For permissions, please email journals.permissions@oup.com
2 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

discussions, religious discourses, common prayers, and meditations have presum-

ably taken place.
The essence of Basava’s doctrine can be summarised by referring to the goal: To
attain śivaikya by means of the opening of inner intuitional power.4 Śivaikya here
means the experience of the unity with Śiva, which has actually always existed but
of which one has not been aware. When one understands oneself to be aṅga, a part
of creation, as ‘soul’, and Śiva as liṅga, as creator, as ‘God’, then the highest mys-
tical experience consists in the unifying, in one’s own consciousness, of both these
aspects of what ultimately is one primeval cosmic substance5: liṅg@ṅgaikya, the

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

unity (aikya) of liṅga and aṅga. Liṅga is Śiva as God, aṅga is the individual, the
Śara>a. In the inner experience, anubh@va, the feeling of being one with Śiva
(which is the central aspect of the Varaśaiva weltanschauung), the previously
perceived duality is dissolved and changes into a gripping and all-comprehensive
awareness of the oneness of reality. In this unity, creator and creation are one in
principle and essence with regard to their substance – not merely as contents of
consciousness of the experiencer. They are two aspects of a single cosmic energy
that appears as coarse (sth+la) and subtle (s+kXma) matter, causal (k@ra>a) energy,
or pure potentiality (ś+nyat@) in different aggregational states.

The stages of development

Basava’s path to this experience of unity with God Śiva in the all-inclusive energy
śiva is bhakti, the power of surrender.6 Through introspection, through the devel-
opment of the inner sense organs (the inner eye, inner ear, the inner senses of
taste, smell and touch, and the psycho-mental organ of intuition, bh@va), the
aspirant slowly learns to perceive a higher level of reality: The unity of all with
all, the unfolding of one Śaivite energy in many forms of being, the substantial
unity of the psycho-somatic self with the cosmic energy, and the symbolically
parallel unity of the highest consciousness and the coarsest matter in this
human entity that consists of soul and body.
This experience, so Basava taught, does not happen all of a sudden, but can be
reached only through a long process of maturing of the individual. This maturing
process basically comprises six stages or states of development (sthala). As a con-
cept, these sthalas explain the structure and dynamism of the universe; apart from
this, they give the bhakta, the śara>a, a means of orientation in that they indicate
his present state of development in the cosmic order.
In the Śiv@nubhavas+tra or Anubhavas+tra (AbhS) of M@yideva7 (first half of the
fifteenth century), one finds a metaphysical construction of the universe that is
based on the Xabsthala system, a system of six stages which is characteristic for the
Varaśaiva worldview. The six basic sthalas, which give the system its name, are
called bhaktasthala, m@heśasthala, pras@disthala, pr@>aliṅgasthala, śara>asthala, and
aikyasthala. They hereby establish a philosophical perspective described by paral-
lelly placed groups of sthalas as categories of the subtly material part of the
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 3

incarnated being. Other texts, such as the fourteenth-century Siddh@ntaśikh@ma>i,

provide still more detailed subcategories or sub-sthalas of the six basic sthalas.
The Anubhavas+tra of M@yideva describes or implies the following version of the
system of six stages:

1. The totality of the universe consists of śiva and ś+nyat@. This means that
the universe creates itself out of the sum of all actual (śiva) and potential
(ś+nyat@) being in general. Potential being is all that which could be: Which
could assume form and quality as a result of the movement of Śaivite

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

energy. Because it does not exist, or no longer exists, or does not exist
from a certain point of view, it is called ś+nyat@, ‘the void’. Ś+nyat@ in this
context does not mean ‘nothing’ in the sense of empty space, of unfillable
space, of non-being, of inability to be, or of an unimaginable non- or
transontological order that is beyond all description, precisely because
all that is imaginable or describable automatically exists at least as
thought; it is, positively speaking, the potentiality of not actualised cre-
ation. In this context it is śiva is what is, and ś+nyat@ is what could be.
Space, time, and form come into being out of ś+nyat@, and the same are
dissolved in ś+nyat@ when the substance of which they consist is com-
pletely still: Energy (śakti). ś+nyat@ is, in other words, energy that is stand-
ing absolutely still and, therefore, is not distinguishable or cognisable,
neither for itself, nor for others. That which exists manifests itself only
through cognisability and finally through cognition, hence the neither
cognisable nor perceived still energy is called ś+nyat@.8 Essentially, śiva is
ś+nyat@. The difference of śiva and ś+nyat@ is not one of essence, but of
description according to its grade of activity.
2. If one observes all that is not ś+nyat@, that is, all that is actual (śiva),
Varaśaiva metaphysics teaches that this space that contains ether, time,
form, and being consists of two components: Śiva (‘the auspicious’) and
Śakti (‘energy’). Śiva here is (almost) unmoving cosmic matter, while Śakti is
kinetic energy that makes the primeval cosmic matter material through its
vibrating quality (spandana). This primeval matter or primeval substance,
which is the basis of all that is existent and cognisable, can occur in various
aggregational states, in agreement with the intensity of its vibration and
the form it thereby assumes: The extremely finely vibrating causal (k@ra>a
or atis+kXma), the subtly material (s+kXma), and the grossly material (sth+la).
3. Śiva and Śakti differentiate themselves in two sthalas: liṅga (‘sign’) and aṅga
(‘member’), as well as śakti (‘energy’) and bhakti (‘devotion’). Liṅga stands
for the personified god Śiva, aṅga for the human soul, śakti is creative
energy (pravPtti), bhakti is submission that strives towards merging and
involution (nivPtti).9 In view of the limit on the size of this essay, and
because a categorical survey will suffice for an understanding of the sub-
ject, only the names of the sthalas will be mentioned here, without
4 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

descriptions of their distinctive characteristics. Liṅga and aṅga divide

themselves in three sub-sthalas each: iXbaliṅga, pr@>aliṅga and bh@valiṅga,
and ty@g@ṅga, bhog@ṅga and yog@ṅga. These sthalas again are divided into
two more sthalas each: iXbaliṅga in @c@raliṅga and guruliṅga; pr@>aliṅga in
śivaliṅga and caraliṅga; bh@valiṅga in pras@daliṅga and mah@liṅga; ty@gaṅga in
bhakta and m@heśa; bhog@ṅga in pras@din, and pr@>aliṅgin; yog@ṅga in śara>a
and aikya. Thus sets of six sthalas arise, which give the Xabsthala system its
name. On the side of Śakti, the śakti and bhakti sthalas are divided into six
each, which correspond to the above-mentioned sthalas on the side of the

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

Śivasthala: śakti in kriy@śakti, jñ@naśakti, icch@śakti, @diśakti, par@śakti, and
cicchakti; and bhakti in sadbhakti, naiXbikabhakti, avadh@nabhakti, anubhavab-
hakti, @nandabhakti, and samarasabhakti.

Here it may help to imagine the manifest cosmos (śiva) graphically, as an ellipse
surrounded by merely potential being (ś+nyat@). The sthalas that are given in the
Anubhavas+tra can be entered here as tree diagrams: The śivasthala is situated in
the upper half and unfolds downwards, the śaktisthala in the lower half, unfolding
upwards. The four sets of six sub-sthalas meet along a horizontal axis. If one also
imagines a vertical axis, as in a Cartesian system of coordinates, then a division of
the cosmos in four quarters results. The four quarters are characterised by four
different basic qualities. The first quarter, in the upper right portion of the dia-
gram, fundamentally tends to be still and extremely subtly material (atis+kXma),
but limited with regard to consciousness; the second quarter, in the upper left
portion, is still, is very subtly material and unlimited with regard to consciousness.
The third quarter, below and to the left, has motion and is evolving, is expanding
and material, and is limited in space and time; the fourth quarter, below and to the
right, has motion and is material, is limited in space and time, but involves
retreating. The upper half of the cosmic ellipse has the tendency to be motionless
and still, while the lower half has the tendency to be mobile, the more so with
increasing distance from the horizontal axis. The left side is directed outwards and
forwards and represents macrocosmic unfolding, the right side is directed inwards
and backwards and represents the inner microcosm of the individual. Phenomena
are more manifold, varied, complex, concrete, and impure; the more they are
positioned near the middle of the ellipse, and more towards the outside of the
ellipse, the more unified, more distinct, and finer they are (as pure energy or
consciousness). The transitions are to be considered fluid. The sthalas are like
categorical states or stations or (if one takes the historical or biographical point
of view of an individual) stages which in the cosmic process can be occupied by
anything existent, and by man in particular. Here one must remember that,
according to the Śaivite view, the cosmos is in constant motion, and that
extremely subtle matter condenses and hardens through evolution (pravPtti),
and that, conversely, gross matter develops back to finer, purer spirit (nivPtti).
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 5

If one imagines the elliptic graph three-dimensionally, as a cosmic egg, it will be

clear that the corresponding sthalas join. The sets of six form quartets, for
example, @c@raliṅgasthala / kriy@śaktisthala / bhaktasthala / sadbhaktisthala on
what, from a human point of view, could be considered the lowest stage of devel-
opment on the postulated path towards liberation, whose goal is the realisation of
the final group of sthalas, mah@liṅgasthala / cicchaktisthala / aikyasthala / samarasab-
haktisthala. Man, by whom and for whom these texts and metaphysical models
have been created, is in himself a microcosm of this order, in whose perpetual
change the sthalas are mere reference points of possible states of being. According

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

to this world view, man could, in a sense, be considered a symbol of the cosmic
order, since he contains and realises in himself all possible cosmic states of being.
The mechanisms of transformation, which are typical of tantric traditions, are
based on this micro- and macro-cosmic parallelism.
Man contains in himself the materially evolving principle śakti, insofar as he
strives, physically and materially as well as immaterially, towards development. He
‘embodies’, carries in his body (which, Śaivitely speaking, is highly mobile pri-
meval substance) extremely subtle material and still primeval substance, which are
termed psyche and ‘soul’ (@tman, jav@tman). Thus, man is a little Śakti by way of his
individual body, but also a little Śiva by way of his individual soul and psychic
being. Liberation from worldly existence, which is considered to be full of suffer-
ing, is attained through the union of Śiva and Śakti, that is, through the inversion
of the process of creation, in which actual being has been created out of the
nothingness of potentiality. The inversion takes place through retraction or invo-
lution (nivPtti), that is, the withdrawal of mobile energy, from activity in the world,
from participation in all that is external (where one’s own body already is con-
sidered external). This withdrawal culminates in the experience of unity of the
aikyasthala, the state of union. This nivPtti movement occurs primarily in that part
of the individual that corresponds to the first quadrant, namely the ‘soul’ compo-
nent of the individual. Hence also the sthalas bhakta, m@heśa etc. are emphasised in
literature and philosophy, since they are relevant from the perspective of the
incarnate, not liberated, dissatisfied individual. This means, concretely, that in
one’s confused and dissociated situation, characterised by ignorance and imper-
fection, one can and should develop into a harmonious individual by means of
certain measures: An individual that, shortly before dissolving into nothingness, is
permeated by a feeling of harmony (samarasabhakti), perceives himself as one
(aikya), understands his natural identity with the Śiva principle (liṅg@ṅgaikya)
and possesses the power of consciousness (cicchakti). Liberation ultimately signifies
the renouncing of faulty partial identification (e.g., with only the body), a funda-
mental shift in the perception of the ego (śivo ‘ham) and the microcosmic unifica-
tion of the śiva and śakti principles in the subtly and most subtly material parts of
momentary existence. This unification is a subtly material, substantial process,
which is initiated by knowledge of the nature of cosmic connections, and which is
described as joyous (@nanda).
6 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

However, this process is not sudden, but a slow transformation (pari>@ma), a

s@dhan@, which utilises this sthala model and connects the six (resp. twenty-four)
sthalas that are of interest for the not yet liberated individual with six cakras. At
the end of this process there comes about also the rejection of the body (as highly
densified śakti substance, that still must pass through a long process of refine-
ment), but this does not entail suicide or any depreciation of the body. Not only
because everything physical is essentially not different from the spirit (it is merely
a different aggregation state due to the degree of its mobility and the ensuing
materialisation), but because the body, just as everything material, is a necessary

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

instrument and object of self-experience and self-knowledge of the most subtly
material self (@tman). Only in combination with what is physical, material, and
objective can a subject come into being that is unaware of this state of affairs, that
increasingly understands itself as subject, that acquires consciousness as a subject
and an individual, and that finally, in an increasing refinement of perception of
itself and of the world, experiences harmony and bliss before it surrenders itself
and merges into a non-individual, unlimited state of being. This state of liberation
is characterised by the disappearance of the subject–object experience and by the
stillest mode of being, at the edge of space and time, where a complete involution
in absolute stillness (ś+nyat@) or a renewed evolution with increasing movement
(spandana) can occur.10
To my knowledge, this system of six stages (Xabsthala) is unique and character-
istic of Varaśaiva philosophy, although it shares many basic metaphysical prin-
ciples with other schools of Śaiva thought (e.g., the spandana principle of K@śmara
Śaivism). Because Varaśaivism (unlike, for example, the Advaitaved@nta of Śaṅkara)
accepts the plurality of the phenomenal world and does not accept m@y@ as
an insubstantial illusion but, nevertheless, accepts a single cosmic energy or pri-
meval substance (śiva) in various manifestations, it is philosophically classified as
śaktiviśiXb@dvaita. This indicates a monism, or rather non-duality, qualified by
energy (śakti).
One of Basava’s achievements was to give an introspective, esoteric turn to the
Śaivite religion that was practiced in his environment. The goal was to attain a
socially non-discriminatory and spiritually rich life instead of a socially and ritu-
ally dependent existence. Basava denounced exoteric religious practices such as
temple worship (p+j@), and he inspired his followers to use a personal iXbaliṅga, a
miniature śivaliṅga that contains a part of one’s own soul after the religious ini-
tiation by one’s teacher (dakX@guru) and thus symbolises śivaikya, the mystical unity
with Śiva.
Basava’s Varaśaiva movement became very popular and today represents the
largest religious community in Karn@baka. Basava and many other Varaśaiva poets
have left a large variety of so-called vacanas (‘statements’ or ‘sayings’), short poems
in medieval Kannana, as a testimony to their devotion and to their many attempts
at transforming the minds of their listeners or readers by the use of various
metaphors. But also works in Sanskrit, such as the Siddh@ntaśikh@ma>i and the
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 7

Anubhavas+tra, describe the world view of the Varaśaivas in detail and describe
the concept of bhakti as the force that leads to the desired experience of unity
with Śiva.
Not much secondary literature about Varaśaiva philosophy and literature exists,
neither in the Western nor in the Indian academic discourse; most of such books
were published more than thirty years ago.11 In these few, but to some extent very
well-researched works, Varaśaivism is often described as a mystical bhakti religion.
None of the works that have come to my attention hesitates to call the vacanak@ras,
the poets of the vacanas, mystics.12 For instance, Thipperudra Swamy in his fun-

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

damental work The Veeraśaiva Saints – A Study speaks about ‘The Śara>as’ Mystic
Way’13 and defines ‘anubh@va14 as equivalent to mysticism’.15 This does not come as
a surprise, insofar as nowadays hardly any definition of ‘mystic’ or ‘mysticism’
would not include this highly esoteric, introverted concept of religious experience,
based on an individual, mental process of transformation.

Varaśaivism and tantra

On the other hand, it is astonishing that nearly all the writings on the subject
known to me are silent about the tantric aspects, both positively as well as nega-
tively.16 Even the terms are missing: When there is mention of ‘tantra’ or ‘tantric’
in any chapter at all, then this happens only in a subsidiary context, where
another school of thought is mentioned. This is astonishing, insofar as one
would not assume that these authors, who otherwise work so thoroughly, would
not have recognised tantric references or themes. When these authors, in rare
cases, mention concepts such as piṅgal@ or suXumn@, they omit pointing out the
tantric context – and these are concepts that are surely incomprehensible for one
who is unfamiliar with Śaivite tantric philosophy. Tantric terminology is found
both in scholastic works on Varaśaiva philosophy in Sanskrit (the Anubhavas+tra of
M@yideva, or the Śivatattvaratn@kara) as well as in vacanas (e.g., those of the poet
Tr>bada SiddhaliṅgOśvara in the fifteenth century).
An example of this tendency is the essay Basava and Gorakhn@th by Hiranmaya.17
Here the yogic aspects of the philosophy of GorakXan@tha are described in tantric
vocabulary,18 but without any indication that exactly the same ideas are found also
in Varaśaiva texts. Hiranmaya compares the concept of yoga of the N@tha school
with the idea of the unifying of Śiva and Śakti in Varaśaivism and reaches the
conclusion that both these mystical schools basically seek the same goal,
namely, the unification of the individual soul with Śiva, and that GorakXan@tha
and Basava as religious leaders were similar in their preference for monotheism,
the rejection of ritualism, and their opposition to the caste system and to gender
discrimination.19 Furthermore, the author simply summarises (in more than one
respect dubiously): ‘In Varaśaivism the stress is on the attainment of Bhakti
whereas N@tha Samprad@ya attaches greater importance to the physical achieve-
ments.’20 In a sweeping generalisation Hiranmaya equates the teachings of Basavas
8 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

with ‘the’ views of Varaśaivism, although in one short sentence he acknowledges

that the ‘philosophical theories of Varaśaivism have been propounded on the basis
of Śiv@gamas and other works’;21 in other words, he must have been well
acquainted with the permeation of Varaśaiva philosophy with tantric ideas.
I noticed this deliberate omitting of the tantric aspects also during my field
work in Karn@baka in the years 2003–06, while I was doing research on the concept
of mystic experience (anubh@va) in Varaśaivism. This topic, that is so central to
Varaśaiva religious practice when it is taken seriously as a religious practice and
spiritual s@dhan@, is not only omitted in secondary literature to such an extent that

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

it must remain hidden from both religious laypersons as well as interested out-
siders; also living representatives of the religious community not only fail to
mention this highly interesting concept, but actually deny its existence when
asked about it and try to change the topic of discussion. Even when I had unex-
pectedly come across the topic by translating the final chapter of the
Anubhavas+tra and wished to discuss my questions and hypotheses with represen-
tatives of the learned clergy, all of them spoke with me in great detail about all
other questions of metaphysics, ethics, and religious practice; but they tried to
avoid the matter of tantra. Only one very modest scholar, who is known for his
great learning and who is claimed by some to be a mystic himself, Immani
Śivabasava Sv@miga0u, the swami of Ku:d+ru Mabha in Mysore, and only after
I had been acquainted with him for four years, and after many hours of discus-
sions, after which he was finally convinced that I had dealt intensively with the
central ideas of Varaśaiva thought, admitted that there is a Varaśaiva tantra, which
he and a few other, unnamed yogins practice – not without refusing me further
concrete information, as these would be ‘too dangerous’ for me as a non-initiate.
Why is this so? My thesis is the following: It may be assumed that Śaivite tantra,
with the goal of supreme knowledge through the unification of the two poles Śiva
and Śakti, consciousness and power, existed long before Basava, in different forms
as small schools or traditions. But tantra had always been a religious practice for
only a few select individuals. Furthermore, Śaivism or the various forms of Śaivite
religious activity in Basava’s time had stagnated and become, for the majority of
believers, a purely external ritualism, in which inner participation played a minor,
or at least not conscious, role. Participation in religious rituals, or their perform-
ance, apparently was strictly bound to caste identity and gender. Basava’s goal
and achievement was to make the central ideas of his religious tradition (namely,
the identity of soul and Śiva, and the essential possibility of knowing this and of
achieving liberation, which are contained in the soteriological concept of Śaivism)
accessible to large numbers of people. For this purpose he brought about a sys-
tematisation of already existing thoughts and practices, inspired by his teacher
Allama Prabhu.22 Basava rendered temple ritual and the dependence on priests
obsolete by the implementation of liṅgadakX@ and of the iXbaliṅga as a point of
religious identification and an object of communication with the universal envir-
onment and the higher self – for everyone, irrespective of gender and caste.
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 9

To make the internalisation of religious practice simple and clear for as many
people as possible, he reduced the tantric practice to its first step: Developing faith
and devotion. Hence bhakti is emphasised. Basava is known for describing man in
his vacanas most of all on the stage of the bhakta, unlike, for instance, his teacher
Allama, who especially made the last stages, particularly aikya, his preferred
theme.23
Bhakti and tantra are not at all opposed to each other. On the contrary: bhakti as
trusting devotion is the first step on a long way of tantric s@dhan@; and as the
principle of nivPtti (which is how the concept of bhakti is understood in Varaśaiva

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

philosophy), it is the accompanying strength of the s@dhaka, the religious aspirant.
Nevertheless, today (still, or again?), on a popular level, tantra and bhakti are felt
to be in opposition to each other. Indian authors and religious spokespersons, in
particular those who live, publish, and are discussed in Karn@baka, evidently must
respect the limits of what is socially and religiously correct; tantra is popularly
considered magical, mysterious, is associated with witchcraft, with obscurity, with
attitudes and practices that transgress social norms that also involve death and
sex. What Varaśaiva tantra actually means, and what the religious practice of a
Varaśaiva yogin really is like, is not important here. The mere mention of the word
‘tantra’ and tantric terminology suffice in India to make a religion or its adherents
appear socially unacceptable and dangerous. In Western non-academic discourse,
‘tantra’ has been misrepresented and equated with delightful methods of sexual
intercourse, and the reimportation of the concept of tantra in this sense in modern
urban India has only further contributed to this unfavourable reputation.
While the attitudes of the vacanak@ras to the tantric cult vary (Basava rejects it,24
whereas SiddhaliṅgOśvara describes the sthalas in great detail using tantric ter-
minology25), the Anubhavas+tra of M@yideva gives detailed instructions for tantric
s@dhan@. The text is from the first half of the fifteenth century, and in eight
chapters it describes the Xabsthala system, as explained above. The three final
chapters (six to eight) deal with the systematic coordination of sthalas and sense
organs, and thus they provide a systematic course in śivaikya, the experience of the
uniting of self and Śiva.

S@dhana
For each of the six sthalas (bhakta, m@heśa, pras@din, pr@>aliṅgin, śara>a, and aikya)
the s@dhaka, who is on the way towards śivayoga (uniting with Śiva), must mentally
connect certain sthalas with certain sense organs, which in turn are connected
with certain cakras, energetic centres, and bajamantras, and elements and forms in
which Śiva appears. Here the number six is important: There are six sthalas, six
syllables of the Śaiva mah@mantra (o: na ma$ śi v@ ya), six elements, etc. The idea of
sacrifice is central: In thought, the aspirant operates on the level of the subtle
body (s+kXmasarara) with his inner sense organs.
10 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

The complex s@dhan@ is carried out as follows:

In a sort of mental sacrifice (arpa>a) the s@dhaka uses in a certain sthala a certain
hand (hasta) to offer an imagined suitable object to a so-called mouth (mukha).
Hasta is a mental functional organ, mukha is an inner sense organ. Hasta belongs to
the category of aṅga, and it is the means by which the object is offered. Mukha,
although it is an aṅga organ, on the other hand, belongs to the liṅga category and
represents the recipient. The seventh chapter of the Anubhavas+tra describes this
process in detail. For instance, Anubhavas+tra verse 7.29 reads:26

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

@c@re divyaliṅge nirupamanijabhaktasthal@ṅgaikyabh@ji
ghr@>@sye cittahastena ca ghanasukhahetau kriy@śaktiyukte j
ghr@tavya: dravyam apy arpa>aviXayavidh@nopadiXba: samarpya
pr@yas sadbhaktip+r>as svayam ayam iha gandhapras@da: bhajet jj

‘He who is full of good bhakti offers, in the mouth of ‘smell’, with the hand ‘mind’,
also a substance that is to be smelled according to the rules of offering to the
divine @c@raliṅga, that is the cause of great happiness and possesses the energy to
act and enjoys the incomparable union of its own bhaktasthala and aṅga; and he
himself here enjoys the blessing of scent.’
This verse describes the connection that is to be created within the first quartet
of sthalas for a Varaśaiva tantric s@dhan@. In the mind, in the not grossly material
sphere, the aspirant imagines a connection of the said sthalas, all of which are
given functions in a symbolic ritual of sacrifice in agreement with their meanings;
furthermore, they are ‘tantrically’ interwoven with syllables, elements, and cakras.
The s@dhaka begins with bhakti, devotion, which he must make his own and must
let sprout up in himself. This succeeds with the help of existing, good bhakti power.
With this, the s@dhaka finds himself in the bhakta state. He becomes active by
means of the energy of action (kriy@śakti), with which the sacrifice of the first
stage is carried out. Here too, the (sacrificing) action is foremost, because in
comparison to the following actions (recognising, wishing, etc.) it is the most
grossly material and the most outwardly directed form of energy. The correspond-
ing śivaliṅga is the @c@raliṅga, since the first step is taken with the correct, dis-
ciplined conduct. The first group of four sthalas is associated with the
m+l@dh@racakra,27 and the s@dhaka is to imagine it at the bottom of the spinal
column. The associated bajamantra is ‘na’ (i.e., the first syllable of the mantra
nama$ śiv@ya o:), and the associated element is earth (bh+mi). The earth is asso-
ciated with the nose, presumably because it typically is a carrier of smell. The
sacrificed, fragrant object is sandalwood,28 and the blessing (pras@da) that is
received is gandha, the fragrance. Citta, here obviously a cognitive faculty of the
subtle body or s+kXmaśarara (in contrast to buddhi, aha:k@ra, manas, jñ@na, and
bh@va, in ascending order), acts as an instrument of the sense organ. The asso-
ciated form of Śiva is Sadyoj@ta, the ‘just born’. These associations go back to
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 11

pur@>ic models, without however (in any case in the Anubhavas+tra) playing a
meaningful role.
In analogy to this, a group of four sthalas, bajamantras, a form of Śiva, an instru-
ment (hasta), a receiving organ (mukha), and a blessing (pras@da) are associated
with each other with regard to five more cakras. Thus the second lowest cakra
(sv@dhiXbh@na) has as its group of sthalas @c@raliṅga, m@heśa, naiXbikabhakti, and
kriy@śakti, ‘ma’ as its bajamantra, is associated with `śvara, has water (jala) as its
element, is sacrificed by means of the tongue (jihv@) to the intellect (buddhi), and
brings forth the blessing of taste (rasa). The third cakra (ma>ip+ra) is associated

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

with the group of sthalas śivaliṅga, pras@din, avadh@nabhakti, and icch@śakti; the
bajamantra is ‘śi’, the form of Śiva is Aghora, and the element is fire (anala). The
instrument of the identity-creating faculty (aha:k@ra) is offered to the eye (cakXus)
and brings the blessing of form (r+pa). The heart cakra (an@hata) with the group of
sthalas caraliṅga, pr@>aliṅgin, anubhavabhakti, and @diśakti is associated with the
syllable ‘v@’ or ‘va’, the aspect of Śiva is Aiśvara, the element is the wind (anila).
With the instrument of the mind (manas), skin (tvac) is sacrificed, and the blessing
that is gained is touch (sparśa). The fifth and second last cakra (viśuddhi) is con-
nected with the group of sthalas pras@daliṅga, śara>a, @nandabhakti, and par@śakti.
The bajamantra is ‘ya’, the aspect of Śiva is `ś@na. By means of the instrument of
knowledge (jñ@na), a sacrifice is made to the ear (śrotra), the blessing is sound
(śabda), carried by the element of ether (vyoman). The last and uppermost cakra,
@jñ@cakra, has ‘o:’ as its bajamantra. The group of sthalas is the one that represents
the united cosmic components in the individual and, thereby, liberation in the
experience of Śiva: mah@liṅga, aikya, samarasabhakti, and cicchakti. The element is
the self (@tm@). By means of the instrument of feeling (bh@va), a sacrifice is made to
the heart (hPdaya); the blessing is transformation (pari>@ma).
Interestingly, those elements, that are indispensable for the tantric process, are
not at all mentioned in the Anubhavas+tra: The energy channels (n@na) then con-
nect the cakras along the meru, the spinal column. The suXumn@ as middle channel,
and an@ and piṅgal@ as channels along the middle one that cross each other, form
an essential part of the ku>nalina concept, the subtle energetic process that is quite
well known in these elementary terms from tantric literature. Even the ku>nalina
concept itself is missing, the coiled, sleeping snake energy that rests in the
m+l@dh@racakra until the s@dhaka awakens it through his mystic practice, after
which it rises through the brahman@na inside the suXumn@ and energises the various
cakras. If one does not presuppose this basic understanding, the outline given in
the Anubhavas+tra remains incomplete and does not answer one of the most im-
portant questions, namely, how the various levels are connected and why there
should be a transformation and a comprehensive experience of unity in Śiva.
A well-known Śaivite tantric text, the Sabcakranir+pa>a,29 describes the ku>nalina
system. This text is dated 1577 and is _approximately 150 years later than the
Anubhavas+tra of M@yideva. Assuming that the Sabcakranir+pa>a is not the first
text that developed the ku>nalina system (there_ is evidence for this already in
12 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

the Kubjik@mata-tantra, ca. tenth century), and on the basis of the fact that Basava
and other contemporary vacanak@ras use of the terms an@ and piṅgal@, one may
assume that M@yideva, with his interest for the Xabsthala system as well as for
tantric ritual, must have known these concepts and their importance for a full
understanding of the system. When one compares the cakra system of the
Sabcakranir+pa>a of Sv@ma P+r>@nanda and the model of the Anubhavas+tra, one
_
finds sufficient similarities to classify the Anubhavas+tra as a tantric text.
The most important and striking similarity is that both accept six cakras, and
that they bear the same names: Starting from below, m+l@dh@ra, sv@dhiXbh@na,

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

ma>ip+ra, an@hata, viśuddha, @jñ@. The Sabcakranir+pa>a mentions an additional sev-
enth cakra (verse 40 speaks of a padma: _ daśaśatadala: p+r>acandr@tiśubhram, a
lotus with 1000 petals, shining more brightly than the full moon). This cakra,
which is not mentioned in the Anubhavas+tra, is however known (at least) in the
current oral Varaśaiva tantric tradition as the sahasr@ra, the term which also
Woodroffe uses in his commentary and which he knows from commentaries.30
Also, the connections between the cakras and the elements are the same, associat-
ing the cakras with earth, water, fire, wind, ether, and self. The associations of
cakras and bajamantras is a systematic parallel, though the bajamantras that are
mentioned in the Sabcakranir+pa>a, whose sounds or vibrations are supposed to
represent the cakras_ and the other associated components, are la:, va:, ra:, ya:,
ha:, and o:, while the Anubhavas+tra, as already mentioned, gives the syllables na,
ma($), śi, va or v@, ya, o:. This listing (or, presumably, replacing of syllables, which
carry a meaning when they are pronounced in this order, although one is unfamil-
iar with the hidden thoughts behind the tantric vocabulary), appears to be an
adaptation that offers, from a scholastic Varaśaiva point of view, several advan-
tages: The universally known and accepted Śaivite mah@mantra is incorporated in
the system, and other associations can be ignored, namely, such associations that
are more complex and that possibly are clear only to yogins who are far more
advanced, and that are simultaneously connected with rich, older, pur@>ic mater-
ial that hardly is relevant for the new religiosity, which is oriented towards direct
personal experience.
Thus, two Śaivite and basically esoteric traditions, both of which see liberation
in the realisation in knowledge of the identity of self and Śiva through the merging
of the two components Śiva and Śakti in the human microcosm, are brought to-
gether, at least formally, in the scholastic attempt at dividing the cosmos and the
mental ritual of s@dhan@ in groups of six31 and describing them.
The Sabcakranir+pa>a describes the cakras as lotus flowers, which is completely
missing_ in the Anubhavas+tra and presumably must be added in thought as a
matter of course. My informants for tantric practice in contemporary
Varaśaivism spoke of the cakras as lotus flowers, and said that Śivaliṅgas are to
be visualised in them.32 The associations of certain cakras with the syllables of the
Sanskrit alphabet is unknown.
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 13

The Anubhavas+tra lists as mukhas those organs which in Śaivite tantra are
known as the (five) jñ@nendriyas (nose, tongue, eye, skin, ear) and are associated
in identical manner with the cakras.33 The corresponding karmendriyas (foot, hand,
anus, penis, mouth) are missing. The corresponding tanm@tras (subtle elements),
however, reappear correctly listed as pras@das: gandha, rasa, r+pa, sparśa, and śabda.
Since the system of sixes in Xabsthala thought requires an additional category that
does not exist in older Śaivite texts, three elements are added for the @jñ@cakra, the
@tman level: bh@va as hasta-mental faculty, hPdaya as mukha-organ, and pari>@ma as
pras@da-tanm@tra. bh@va (‘feeling’) is especially astonishing here, as it is understood

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

to be the finest mental organ, or faculty of the mind, not something like contents
or object of the mind. This set of three, for the highest or @jñ@ level, is typical for
the bhakti culture of Varaśaivism: The highest and most important organ is the
heart, in which śivaikya is experienced by means of the faculty of feeling, and the
result (pras@da) is transformation, the union of liṅga and aṅga, of Śiva and Śakti.
Bh@va, knowing by feeling, ranks higher than jñ@na etc.,34 and I am not aware of
the existence of this organ in any other tradition.
This emphasis on knowing by feeling (which is to be understood as an extremely
subtle material perception, and should not be confused with emotions or with the
presence of emotions), and the consequent emphasis on the heart, are clarified in a
further important distinction between Varaśaiva and other Śaivite concepts: The
Sabcakranir+pa>a describes the movement of the activated ku>nalina energy, to put
_ in a simplified manner, as a moving up and piercing of the cakra flowers in the
it
inner channel suXumn@. When the ku>nalinaśakti has passed over the @jñ@cakra into
the 1000-petalled cakra, it unites with Paramaśiva, who has his seat in this cakra,
and the s@dhaka, who concentrates his mind on this merging, experiences the unity
of Śiva and Śakti, the identity of jav@tma and param@tm@ (śiva) (his own jav@tma, and
of all, verse 42/43, sv@tmajñ@na, the knowledge of the self, when paramaśiva is
seen). Then the ku>nalina is to be sent back down into the m+l@dh@racakra.35 The
mastery of the yogin lies in bringing about this ascending and descending of the
ku>nalina, to practice it consciously and, finally, to maintain the unification in the
uppermost cakra as long as possible.
A different conception of the movement of ku>nalina was explained to me by
M@te Mah@dOvi, a mystic and the head of a Varaśaiva denomination. According to
her, a s@dhaka’s effort consists in awakening the ku>nalinaśakti in the
m+l@dh@racakra and having it ascend slowly through practice. Śiva, whose seat is
in the sahasr@racakra, meets the practitioner, or rather his ascending śakti, due to
his blessing aspect, and both meet and unite in the heart cakra (an@hata). From
there, both rise together, and in the case of a yogin having consciously decided to
die, they leave the body via the sahasr@ra, the śikh@ that is situated behind it, and
the paścimacakra, that is situated at the back of the head.
Now the question arises: Why does M@yideva not use important tantric terms?
Did he want to save esoteric knowledge against misuse by unintitiated readers, by
leaving out indispensable information? Or did he not know the complete system
14 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

and did he merely quote other texts, without realising the entire interconnected-
ness? Or could the fact, that precisely the most interesting and most complex
passages concerning tantric ritual in the Anubhavas+tra are composed in a different
metre lead to the conclusion that M@yideva did not compose these verses himself,
and that we are dealing here with later interpolations?
Without knowledge of other Śaivite tantric texts, the system which M@yideva
describes is hardly understandable. Must one assume that the tantric vocabulary
and repertoire of concepts, that are not explicitly introduced, are part of a com-
monly presumed knowledge, which the potential reader (at that time) possessed?

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

Just as other basic concepts (for instance, the doctrine of three corresponding
bodily levels, which is necessary for a comprehensive understanding: sth+la,
s+kXma, and k@ra>a) are hinted at, but not explained? M@yideva claims that one
attains liṅg@ṅgaikya when one follows the described s@dhan@, but he does not
explain why. Only by analogy to other texts can it be concluded that it is the
ku>nalinaśakti that is activated through the right arpa>a and awakens the higher
cakras by its ascension. I have not yet found this missing link in any Varaśaiva text,
but my understanding has been confirmed by two contemporary practising
Varaśaiva math@dhipatis (heads of monasteries), who indeed utilise ku>nalina
energy in their meditative practice to experience śivaikya.36

Conclusion
To summarise, it can be concluded that there is a de facto unexamined, highly
interesting, highly developed tantric tradition of a specifically Varaśaiva kind that
goes back to at least the fifteenth century (M@yideva, Siddhaliṅga Śivayogi). This
tantric system resembles other Śaivite tantric systems that are better known, but
it contains additional specific elements that are typical for Varaśaiva thought and
that are based on the Xabsthala doctrine, such as the sacrificial dynamics of hasta-
mukha-arpa>a and their association with various liṅga- and aṅgasthalas. Whereas
the designations of the cakras are identical, the bajamantras, which are not readily
understandable for one who is not initiated as a yogin, are replaced by the syl-
lables of the Śaivite mah@mantra nama$ śiv@ya o:. Thus, the tantric system that is
presented in the Anubhavas+tra (in a not very complex and differentiated manner,
in comparison to the Sabcakranir+pa>a, which was composed 150 years later),
_
appears to be a Varaśaiva adaptation of a highly developed Śaivite tantric
system that was practised by yogins at that time and was recorded in texts by
learned tantrics. The evident simplification and the omission of further corres-
ponding details (such as the strings of syllables of the alphabet that are involved in
meditation, and associations with gods that are known from the rich pur@>ic
mythology) cannot be a sign of ignorance, but rather a deliberate concentration
on essential mental meditative processes in agreement with Varaśaiva philosophy,
which emphasises devotional surrender (bhakti) and feeling (bh@va) as means of
knowledge. Due to the concept of grace (pras@da), which is not unknown in older
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 15

Śaivite traditions either (and with which Varaśaiva thinkers surely were familiar),
as is exemplified, for instance, in the notion of aru0, which constantly recurs in the
Tiruv@cakam of the Tami4 author M@>ikkav@cakar, the required amount of individ-
ual effort on the part of the practising yogin is reduced, and as a possible conse-
quence there was a shift of accent in the systematisation of the s@dhan@. The
s@dhan@ need no longer be described so intricately or with such exact details of
what is to visualised, since the Varaśaiva yogin, on the one hand, is not (or no
longer) entirely dependent on himself and his physical and mental experiences,
which he seeks to attain under the guidance of his guru, but may count on ‘help

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

from above’ from the sahasr@racakra; and on the other hand, in Varaśaivism gen-
erally the older textual traditions are neglected in favour of living language and
living experience of the living individual.37 The observing academician should not
judge these different types of s@dhan@ as easier or more difficult, but simply sup-
pose that in one system, which Woodroffe calls laya-yoga, a probably identical,
joyful, highest experience of the union of the two complementary forces Śiva and
Śakti is achieved by an intricate system of corresponding components, which must
be visualised, activated and deactivated in a particular manner, and that soma-
topsychical exercises are of the greatest importance. On the other hand, in
Varaśaiva tantra, the dynamic aspect, the mental connection of the two cosmic
components Śiva and Śakti, categorised in sthalas, in their movement and meeting
in the symbolic sacrifice, that operates on the subtle (s+kXma) level, is valued as a
s@dhan@ technique.
The question why modern research into Varaśaivism since its beginnings has not
dealt with this tantric tradition, as well as the question why the Varaśaiva com-
munity and its learned representatives conceal it, must remain open. More re-
search into Varaśaiva philosophy will hopefully lead to more evidence of its tantric
tradition and also shed more light on the intellectual history of the Śara>as and on
the development, the mutual influences, and the dating of other Śaivite tantric
texts.

References

Primary sources
Basava. ‘Basavannanavara Vachanasamputa. Complete Vachanas of Shree Basavanna’. In
M. M. Kalburgi (ed.) 2001 (1992) Samagra Vacanas@hityada Janapriya ?vPtti, Vol. 1.
Bangalore: Kannada Pusthaka Pradhikara.
Liṅga-Pur@>a. J. L. Shastri (ed.) 1997 (1973). Board of Scholars (tr.). Part I. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass.
M@yideva. Anubhavas+tra. H. P. Malledevaru (ed.) 1983. University of Mysore, Oriental
Research Institute (ORI) Series 137. Mysore: Oriental Research Institute.
P+r>@nanda. The Serpent Power. Being the Sab-cakra-nir+pa>a and P@duk@-Pañcaka. Two Works
on Laya-Yoga. J. Woodroffe (ed.) 2001 _ (1928). Translated from the Sanskrit, with
Introduction and Commentary. Madras: Ganesh and Company.
16 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

Sankeerna Vachanasamputa 6. Complete Vachanas of 5 Vachanakaras of Post Basaveshvara Period.

In S. Shivanna (ed.) 2001 (1992) Samagra Vacanas@hityada Janapriya ?vPtti, Vol. 11.
Bangalore: Kannada Pusthaka Pradhikara.

Secondary sources
Basu, M. 1986. Fundamentals of the philosophy of Tantras. Calcutta: Mira Basu Publishers.
Chekki, D. A. 1997. Religion and social system of the Varaśaiva community. Westport (USA):
Greenwood Press.
Hiranmaya 2003 (1967). Basava and Gorakhn@th. In Wodeyar S. S. et al. (eds.)

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

Śra BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume.
Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 309–23.
Hiremath, R. C. 2003 (1967). Śra BasavOśvara: A biography. In Wodeyar S. S. et al. (eds.)
Śra BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume.
Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 3–30.
Kalagate, B. M. 2003 (1967). Basava’s immortal message. In Wodeyar S. S. et al. (eds.)
Śra BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume.
Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 163–8.
Krishna Rao, M. V. 2003 (1967). Śara>as and Harid@sas. In Wodeyar S. S. et al. (eds.) Śra
BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume.
Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 287–97.
Malledevaru, H. P. 1973. Essentials of Varaśaivism. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
Mariappa Bhat, M. 2003 (1967). Basava and Tiruva00uvar. In Wodeyar S. S. et al. (eds.) Śra
BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume.
Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 217–23.
Michael, R. B. 1992. The origins of Varaśaiva sects. A typological analysis of ritual and associ-
ational patterns in the Ś+nyasa:p@dane. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Nandimath, S. C. 19792 (1942). A Handbook of Varaśaivism. With a Foreword by R. D. Ranade.
R. N. Nandi (ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Ramanujan, A. K. 1973. Speaking of Śiva. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Thipperudra Swamy, H. 1968. The Varaśaiva Saints. A Study. Translated into English by S. M.
Angadi. Mysore: Jagadguru Shri Shivaratreeshwara Granthamale/Rao and Raghavan.
Wadiyar, J. 2003 (1967). Śra BasavOśvara: A mystic. In Wodeyar S. S. et al. (eds.) Śra
BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth Centenary Commemoration Volume.
Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture, pp. 33–42.
Wodeyar, S. S. et al. (eds.) 2003 (1967). Śra BasavOśvara. A Commemoration Volume. Eighth
Centenary Commemoration Volume. Bangalore: Directorate of Kannada & Culture.
Zvelebil, K. V. 1984. The lord of the meeting rivers: Devotional poems of Basava>>a. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass.

Notes
1 This rather recent European term ‘spiritual’ here is intended to indicate the intro-
spective orientation of the Varaśaivas.
2 The Sanskrit term ‘Śiva’ has multiple meanings and designates different functions in
the Śiva cosmology. The two concepts of Śiva as God and consciousness, in contra-
distinction to the creative energy śakti on the one hand and śiva as cosmic principle
(which includes ‘Śiva’ as well as ‘Śakti’) on the other, which in literature are distin-
guished only through context, will here be indicated by means of capitalisation.
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 17

Śakti here is the personified form of this energy. To my knowledge, terms such as
śiva, śakti, and yoga, which occur often in Varaśaiva terminology with multiple, in
part categorically different meanings, are not differentiated either in primary lit-
erature in Indian languages or in secondary literature.
3 Above all, the equal treatment of women in the religious order of the world and of
society is meant here. In contrast to many other world views that were current in
India at that time as well as today, it is believed in Varaśaivism that both male and
female bodies house a soul (aṅga or java) that is capable of mystical knowledge. Men
are neither theoretically more suitable for the religious path, nor do they have an
easier or broader access to religious practices or religious knowledge, while women

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

play an equally prominent role as producers of authoritative religious literature
(e.g., Akka Mah@dOvi, like Basava a mystic of the twelfth century). Also the theor-
etical conception of cosmic principles as ‘male’ Śiva and ‘female’ Śakti and their
further subdivisions, as well as the parallel micro-(aṅga) and macro-(liṅga) cosmic
principles of soul and God support the notion of different forms of existence that,
however, are of equal worth, of one primeval entity (śiva).
4 ‘Intelligence alone is not sufficient for the reception of divine knowledge. The
higher faculty of intuition which interpenetrates will and feeling and intellect,
and which permeates the whole field of conciousness is desired, or it connotes
the absence of contradiction, between divine knowledge and devotion and between
the metaphysician and the saint, and indicates the certain road to self-fulfilment by
absorption in divinity.’ (Krishna Rao 2003, p.287)
5 The distinctions between substance, power, matter, mind, consciousness etc., as
these are traditionally made in European philosophical terminology, do not neces-
sarily apply to the terminology of Indian thought in the same way. Since I cannot
avoid using these terms, it should be pointed out here that the relevant Śaivite
metaphysics does not assume any ultimate ontological distinction between sub-
stance, mind, matter, and power. Everything is energy: the void is unmoved
energy, mind is energy in subtle motion, matter is coarse, condensed energy, sub-
stance is energy that can be perceived by the sense organs, and power is a quality of
a basic substance whose activity or non-activity, energeticness or substantiveness,
is determined by the activity of its inherent possibility of movement.
6 bhakti here means the energy that, striving towards involution, returns to its still,
original form. This concept of bhakti differs from the one that is commonly known
in Western discourse when, for instance, there is mention of ‘bhakti religions’ and/
or of (usually) unreflected surrender to a (creator) god, to whom the individual is
ultimately subordinate.
7 Malledevaru (1983), Anubhavas+tra of Śra M@yideva. The Anubhavas+tra is an import-
ant text still today, which is discussed in contemporary Varaśaiva philosophical and
religious discourse.
8 The term ‘void’ seems meaningful, as it cannot be known either by itself or by
another. Still ś+nyat@ exists insofar as out of it, through movement, what is real is
brought forth. Along with this usage of the term ś+nyat@ (‘void’) the metaphysical
dogma arose that Śiva is ś+nyat@, that (god) Śiva as source of everything is the void
or nothing. This is due to the idea that Śiva is everything, that everything consists
of śiva-substance: both what is as what can be. Strictly speaking, one may be dealing
18 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

with any of the six following śiva concepts: śiva as cosmos, consisting of what is
actual (śiva) and what is potential (ś+nyat@); śiva as the void or nothing, that is,
ś+nyat@, being that has not become actual and cognisable; śiva as what is actual, that
is, cognisable being in causal, subtly material, or coarsely material form; śiva in
the sphere of what is actual, but only in the stillest form of manifestation (as cit
‘consciousness’) in contrast to the moving energy Śakti; Śiva as pur@>ic god, perso-
nified form of the above-mentioned ‘Śiva in the sphere of what is actual, in the
stillest form of manifestation;’ and finally the (possibly) historical Śiva, who as a
mystic or s@dhu gave the prior form of this system of thought his name and has
become historically so important that his school(s) have continued to exist in vari-

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

ous forms till today and a rich mythology has been woven around him. Apart from
that, the term śiva can also appear as ‘what is beneficial’, which is a description of
the śiva-principle that is recipient-oriented, and thus a euphemistic appellation of
the pur@>ic god, who is usually described as destructive.
The equation of Śiva and nothing (in the Varaśaiva context: in Kannana, bayalu)
becomes clear in Tami4, the neighbouring language of a traditionally Śaivism-
dominated region: there is no Dravidian word for ‘zero’. Instead, the Sanskrit
word cu@@am (ś+nya) is used, or (interestingly, from a philosophical point of
view) p+jyam (Sanskrit for ‘that which is to be worshipped’). That which is to
be worshipped (notably in the neuter gender, and not, for instance, p+jyar, as one
would expect in the case of a person) is Śiva – equated with ś+nyat@ ‘the void’ or ś+nya
‘zero’.
9 The typically Western distinction between a thing or a force (in the case of śakti)
and a process (pravPtti oder nivPtti) that proceeds from the activity of this thing or
force, is not made here (śakti$ pravPttir @khy@t@ nivPttir bhaktir arit@, ORI 2.27). This
concept is immanent to the system, since a certain thing is in a certain manner
because it has this form and these qualities because of a certain vibrational quality
of the primeval energy; it has a certain effect precisely because it vibrates in that
manner. Effect is inherent in the form of an appearance (kart@ k@rayit@ caiva k@ra>a:
k@ryam eva ca j sarvam @tmatay@ bh@ti pras@d@t p@rameśvar@t jj ORI 8.34). If its struc-
ture or aggregational state had been different, form (r+pa), name (n@man) and effect
would have been different.
10 All these clarifying remarks about the system of six sthalas are not literally men-
tioned in the Anubhavas+tra; but they follow logically when one tries to understand
the underlying metaphysical concept, and they were confirmed in numerous dis-
cussions which I had with representatives of the Varaśaiva clergy.
11 Thipperudra Swamy (1968), Malledevaru (1973), Ramanujan (1973), Nandimath
(1979 (1942)), Zvelebil (1984), Michael (1992), Chekki (1997), and Wodeyar (2003
(1967))
12 For instance, the essay Śra BasavOśvara: A Mystic, Wadiyar (2003, pp.33–42);
‘BasavOśvara was undoubtedley a great mystic saint’, Kalagate (2003, p.168); ‘Śra
BasavOśvara, the greatest mystic-reformer-teacher of Karn@baka’, Mariappa Bhat
(2003, p.218); ‘Śara>a mysticism’ and ‘the mystic literature of the Śara>as’ in the
introduction by S. S. Malwad in Thipperudra Swamy (1968, pp.14–15); ‘the Śara>as’
mystic path’, Thipperudra Swamy (1968, p.246).
13 Thipperudra Swamy (1968, p.215).
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 19

14 Whereas in Sanskrit the terms anubhava and anubh@va are used indiscriminately for
‘experience’, the Kannana language and (at least contemporary) Varaśaivism distin-
guish between anubhava as everyday experience and anubh@va as mystical
experience.
15 Thipperudra Swamy (1968, p.217).
16 An exception is Fundamentals of the Philosophy of Tantras by Manoranjan Basu (1986),
who in one passage of this 667-page work lists the Varaśaivas among tantric Śaiva
Groups and in doing so points out the supposedly only marginal difference between
their teachings: ‘The T@ntrika culture, though essentially one and indivisible, has
different sects within it such as, Śaava, Ś@kta, G@>apatya. . .etc. and each sect has

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

particular religious practices of its own according to its particular object of wor-
ship. There are minor differences amongst purely Śaava and Śaava-Ś@kta mixed up
sects such as Siddh@nta Śaava, Vara Śaava, or Jangama Śaava, Ra+dra, P@śupata,
K@p@lika or Soma, V@m@, and Bhaarava.’ [all diacritics: sic!] Basu (1986, pp.51f.).
Later, there follows a more elaborate but in places dubious treatment of
Varaśaiva philosophy (pp.205–11), where Basu quotes the Anubhavas+tra for explain-
ing the sthala system relatively often. Although he not only gives the name of the
text but also must have read it, the tantric aspects are not mentioned at all.
17 Hiranmaya (2003, pp.309–23).
18 Hiranmaya (2003, esp. pp.315f.)
19 Hiranmaya (2003, p.323).
20 Hiranmaya (2003, p.316).
21 Hiranmaya (2003, p.313).
22 Basava’s nephew Cennabasava or Cannabasava is considered the great systematiser:
‘It was CannabasavOśvara who systematized the metaphysics of the Varaśaiva
system. The Sabsthala, which is the cardinal principle of Varaśaiva philosophy,
was organised_ and systematized at the great Mah@mane. CannabasavOśvara was,
therefore, called ‘Sabsthala Cakravarti’ – the Sovereign of Sabsthala philosophy.’
_
(Hiremath 2003, p.28) _
23 This is impression given by the vacana literature that has been preserved.
24 Basava’s vacana No. 800 is as follows:

guru trrida li:gavu manasthalav@giralu,

pavanabhOdadinda aridehene:dane, ade drrha!
in@ piṅga0@ suXumn@n@0avinidu aridehene:dane
k+nalasa:gamadOva m+gakoyyade m@bane?
Quoted after the edition by M. M. Kalburgi (2001, p.205).
‘The guru has shown the liṅga, and the liṅga has become a state of mind:
When one says, I have understood through the distinction of winds, then that
is fraud!
When one says, I would have understood, united with the channels In@,
Piṅga0@ and SuXumn@,
Will K+nalasa:gamadOva remain quiet, without cutting off the nose [of him
who tries to be a Śara>a]?’
20 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

25 SiddhaliṅgOśvara’s (also named Siddhaliṅga Śivayogi, Tr>bada Sv@mi) vacana No.

200:

r:k@rave śiva, yak@rave sad@śiva,

vak@rave aśvara, śik@rave mahOśvara,
ma$k@rave aśvara, nak@rave aś@na.
a XanakXarave Xanvidhama:tram+rtiy@gi opputtippudayya.
matte - nak@rave m+rtibrahma, ma$k@rave pi:nabrahma,
śik@rave kal@brahma, v@k@rave @na:dabrahma,
yak@rave vijñ@nabrahma, r:k@rave parabrahma,

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

a XanakXarave Xanvidhabrahmave:du hO0alpabbittu nrna.
matte - nak@rave kriy@śakti, mak@rave jñ@naśakti,
śik@rave icch@śakti, v@k@rave @diśakti,
yak@rave paraśakti, r:k@rave cicchakti,
i:tivu ma:traśaktisvar+pe:darivudu nrna.
matte - nak@rave karmas@d@khya, ma$k@rave kartPs@d@khya,
śik@rave m+rtis@d@khya, v@k@rave am+rtis@d@khya;
yak@rave śivas@d@khya, r:k@rave mah@s@d@khya nrna.
matte - nak@rave patavar>a, ma$k@rave nalavara,
śik@rave ku:kumavara, v@k@rave śvetavar>a,
yak@rave sphayikavar>a, r:k@rave jyrtirmayasvar+pu nrna.
i:tivu ma:tram+rtiya var>abhOdave:darivudayya.
matte - nak@rave sadyrj@tama:tram+rti.
ma$k@rave v@madOvama:tram+rti.
śik@rave aghrrama:tram+rti.
v@k@rave tatpurufflama:tram+rti.
yak@rave aś@nyama:tram+rti.
r:k@rave mah@ma:tram+rti.
i:tivu ma:tram+rtiya
vadanabhOdave:darividu nrna.
matte - nak@rave sattu, ma$k@rave cittu,
śik@rave @na:da, v@k@rave nitya,
yak@rave parip+r>a,
r:k@rave nira:janasvar+pave:darivudayya.
matte - nak@rave @c@rali:ga, ma$k@rave guruli:ga,
śik@rave śivali:ga, v@k@rave ja:gamali:ga,
yak@rave pras@dali:ga, r:k@rave mah@li:ga,
i:tivu XanakXara ma:trali:gave:darivudayya.
i:tivu li:gaXanakXarave:du hO0alpabbavu k@>a,
mah@li:gaguru śivasiddhOśvara prabhuvO.
Quoted after the edition by Shivanna (2001, p.96).

26 Here I follow the ORI version, with orthographic improvements.

27 See verse 6.44 (ORI): m+l@dh@re nak@r@khy@.
28 See verse 7.19 (ORI): candan@dimayo gandha$.
 Eva-Maria Glasbrenner 21

29 The Sabcakranir+pa>a (‘Explanation of the six [most important] cakras’) was written
by a _tantric named P+r>@nanda Sv@ma, and is the sixth chapter of an apparently
unpublished work titled Śratattvacint@ma>a by the same author. An elaborate com-
mentary titled K@lacara>a exists. I have used the text in the edition of Woodroffe
2001. The Śratattvacint@ma>a was written in 1577. (Woodroffe 2001, p. xii)
30 For instance, Woodroffe quotes a certain Śaṅkara: ‘According to Śa8kara, by
“other things” are meant the Sahasr@ra, etc.’ (Woodroffe 2001, p.319, note 2)
31 In this attempt, the number six fulfils the function of a kind of proof that the
proposed system is ‘true’, because everything corresponds to the six basic sthalas.
In many categories, however, this division is not convincing. First of all because

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

there is no metaphysical, but at best a practical psychological reason to use six, and
precisely these six sthalas as the starting point for the s@dhan@ structure. If one
considers the handling of the sthalas as concretely described in the Anubhavas+tra,
then a reference to the related groups of four, or the related 6 x 4, that is, 24 sthalas
would not be less justified. The division of the mah@mantra looks artificial, because it
actually consists of only five syllables and the introductory o: is added at the end,
the visarga in the sv@dhiXbh@nacakra is elided (a vibrant bajamantra could not end in
$), and finally because it remains unclear whether the syllable of the an@hatacakra
should be va (in analogy to all the other syllables) or v@ (to preserve the meaning-
fulness of the syllable). The pur@>ic manifestations of the liṅga that are mentioned
in the Anubhavas+tra (e.g., as described in the Liṅgapur@>a: Sadyoj@ta chapter 11,
V@madeva chapter 12, TatpuruXa chapter 13, Aghora chapter 14/15, `ś@na chapter 16)
are five and are associated with the first five cakras, and the @jñ@cakra remains
without correspondence.
32 I do not know whether lotus flowers with differing numbers of petals and of dif-
ferent colours, and yantras and Śaktis with different names (m@ki>a, R@ki>a, etc.) are
visualised in contemporary Varaśaiva tantric practice. I have neither read nor heard
about this, but it has not been explicitly denied either. The problem in field work on
such a topic is that a non-initiate is not, or only insufficiently and vaguely, granted
access to information.
33 See the table in Woodroffe 2001, p. 125
34 The Varaśaiva understanding of the mental faculties citta, buddhi, aha:k@ra, manas
and jñ@na clearly differs from that of other philosophical schools, though the ter-
minology is the same.
35 The ascent of the ku>nalina corresponds to a nivPtti process, since the (unconsciously
sleeping) Śakti, at a distance from Paramaśiva, after its awakening first must acti-
vate the individual cakras and then dissolve them. The life force is thus pulled from
the various spheres of the yogin and collected in the highest cakra. The separation
of Śiva and Śakti in the conscious return to the lower cakras is an evolutionary
process (pravPtti), comparable to a microcosmic process of creation, which again
materialises the s@dhaka, with the m+l@dh@racakra, the cakra that is the heaviest and
that binds to the earth (both in a material sense as well as in the sense of sa:s@ra)
most strongly, at the end of this process. Cf. the elaborations in Woodroffe (2001,
pp.242–6).
36 In lengthy interviews with M@te Mah@dOvi (Viswakalyana Mission, Basava Mantapa,
Bangalore) and Immani Śivabasava Sv@miga0u (Ku:d+ru Mabha, Mysore), during my
22 Tantric Aspect of Varaśaivism

fieldwork in Karn@baka concerning the concept of mystic experience in Varaśaivism,

between 2002 and 2006, my assumptions were confirmed. Especially, M@te Mah@dOvi
mentioned to me the existence of three further cakras above the @jñ@cakra
(sahasr@ra, śikh@ and paścima), that are not mentioned in the Anubhavas+tra, and
she based her perception of their existence on her own mystical experience, not
without mentioning that these cakras are nothing specific for Liṅgayatism but are
‘common to all yogic systems’.
37 This attitude can range from the acceptance of older texts, such as philosophically
reinterpreted post-Vedic texts and at least nominally accepted (mainly Śaivite)
pur@>ic literature, to the concrete rejection of religious (esp. Sanskrit) literature

Downloaded from http://jhs.oxfordjournals.org/ at North Dakota State University on July 1, 2015

with the exception of vacana literature.