Who was Lakulisha?
The idol of Lakulisha on the temple wall of Jageshwar aroused my interest in knowing more about him. Literal meaning of Lakulisha is ईश (Lord) with लगुड़ (staff, mace, club or stick).
Lakulisha was a Shaivite reformist and revivalist saint who was later deified as the twenty-eighth and the last incarnation of Lord Shiva.
The birth or the divine appearance of the Lakulisha?
He was born in a Brahmin family based in Karavana located in the Vadodra district of Gujarat. His family is believed to be of the lineage of the ancient saint Atri.
There is a set of his followers who do not buy this theory of his humble birth. They believe that Lord Shiva once made a divine promise of appearing on earth along with Vishnu’s incarnation as Vasudeva.
So when Lord Vishnu took birth as Vasudeva, keeping his promise, Lord Shiva entered a dead body of a Brahman and appeared along with Vishnu; with time his fame increased and he became famous as Lakulin or Lakulisha.
Lakulisha – the Founder of Pashupata Sect of Shaivism?
Lakulisha became a wandering monk and founded Pashupata sect, the oldest sect following Shaivism, and wrote Pashupata Sutra that defines the spiritual life of the Pashupata ascetics. These sutras were expounded in the following centuries by other masters of the sect.
However, some of the scholars have doubts about Lakulisha as the founder of the sect and the author of Pashupata Sutra. They believe that Pashupata Sect was already in existence at the time of Lakulisha, though in all probability it survived and existed in semi-secrecy.
They credit Lakulisha for reuniting, restoring, reforming and rejuvenating different Shaivite Sects including Pashupata Sect.
They believe that even the Pashupata Sutra were written well before him. However, he is credited with redefining them for common man and re-enforcing it.
These Sutras are of archaic nature with no mention of its author anywhere and hence the authorship of these sutras is really debatable.
The Doctrine of Pashupata Sect
Pashupata doctrine is composed of six main principles known as कारण (cause), कार्य (work/task), कला (divisibility), विधि (method), Yoga and दुखांत (end of sufferings).
Lakulisha re-established the strict convention of Pre-Aryan Indus civilization cult and reinstated the culture of sacrifices and propounded the practices of Hathyoga and Tantricism.
Lakulisha violently opposed Vedisim, Jainism and Buddhism.
The ascetic practices followed by Pashupatas
The ascetic practices followed by Pashupatas include bathing their bodies with ashes thrice a day, meditation and chanting of Om, laughing and singing loudly in praise of Shiva, curling tongues and roaring like bulls.
Anyone devoted to Shiva can take a vow and and can become a disciple irrespective of their caste. They maintained their individuality by their dress (most of them wore black), philosophy and mode of worship.
The distortion and different interpretations of some of the ambiguous doctrines and mystical practices gave rise to different factions like Kapalikas and Kalamukhas (disciples following Tantrism).
Kapalika Sect
Kapala in the word Kapalika denotes human skull. Kapalikas believe that they should use the human skull to receive food and drink.
They follow the extreme steps of Tantrism including living in cremation ground (becoming Pariah as they come in contact with corpse), and their rituals includes offerings of blood, meat, alcohol and sexual fluids from ritual intercourse unconstrained by caste restrictions.
It is possible that these ways of worshiping and meditating and its acceptance might be the reason for erotic sculptures on the old Hindu temples.
Kalamukhas Sect
Kalamukhas practices are less extreme than that of Kapalikas. It is further divided into two orders depending on whether masculine or a feminine divine form is worshiped.
The followers of muscular divinity are referred as Sinhprasad and the followers of feminine divinity were referred to be the order of Shaktiprasad.
Some of the Pashupatas developed moderate Shaiva Siddhanta school. The teachings of this sect become central to modern Shaivism.
Influence of Lakulisha Shaivism
The influence of Lakulisha Shaivism was immense and the Shaivite doctrine propounded by him spread like wild-fire first in the North, and then to the East of India – Nepal, Orissa and Assam.
The influence of his disciples greatly increased starting fourth century onward, and Hiuen Tsang, the celebrated Chinese traveler who visited India in the seventh century, wrote in detail about the Pashupatas.
He wrote that they smeared their bodies with ash, tied their hairs in knots and went naked. They received royal patronage and had great influence in the society.
Revival of Shaivism
The spread of Shaivism revival was supported by Bharshivas (those carrying Linga on their shoulder) and Vakataka dynasty in Central and North India. It continued to maintain a significant presence in North India till eleventh century.
Towards eleventh century the cult shifted its activities to the South of India and the Shaivism spread gradually under the impetus of Shaiva mystics, the Nayanar who belonged to artisan class.
The chants of all sixty-three Nayanaras saints of Tamil Nadu are immersed in love and faith for Shiva and confidence in his grace and desire to reward his devotees. These bhakti-chants nourish popular piety even today.
The akhadas and the Yogic saints under Lakulisha Doctrine
Under Lakulisha doctrine the importance of Akhadas (the religious military) increased. Among these the order of Dashanami Nagas, that still exists, is believed to be the oldest.
Lakulisha was the inspiration behind the legendary yogic saint Gorakshanath (Gorakhnath) and Matsyendranath, from whom all modern form of Hathyoga have emerged.
Representation of Lakulisha in Sculptures and its significance
Lakulisha is often represented as naked yogi with a staff in his left hand and a citron in his right. He is either in a standing position or sitting in lotus posture, with vertical aroused linga that represents vitality and self-control.
The lotus posture signifies his elevation to the higher levels of divine spirituality and him being a celibate, the aroused linga signifies retaining the semen that goes to the head and increases his ojas.
The Disciples of Lakulisha
The disciples of this sect can still seen carrying a cudgel in their hand. They wear broad piece of cloth to cover their genitals, their upper body is covered with blankets and they sport matted hair as crown.
They smear their body thrice with ash, and eat food without enjoying and indulging in its taste. They prefer to live in forest and those who attained siddhi roam naked.
In each of his Avtars, beginning with Sveta and ending with Lakulisa, Shiva had four main disciples; the name of the disciples who followed Lakulisha are Kusika, Maitreya, Garga and Kaurusya.
Most of Shiva avtars were active in the Himalayan region, few of them were active in the Gangetic plain too, and Lakulisha was active in Gujarat.
The Nirvana of Lakulisha
It is believed that once Lakulisha achieved his life’s mission of rejuvenating Shaivism, he merged in the front part of Jyotirlingam. In Lakulisha temple in Karvan, the idol in sanctum sanctorum is the conjoint figure of Brahmeshwara and Lakulisha, confirming the popular belief.
Trivia
The Lakulisha Pasupatas were well-known in TamilNadu during Chola period and their offshoot the Kalamukhas were politically powerful in Karnataka.
The influence of Pashupatas during Chola period can be understood by the fact that around 1010, when Raja Raja built Choleeswarar – a pallipadai or a sepulchre for his grandfather Arinjaya Chola, it was administered by Pashupatas.
Read here about the Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva
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