While The Gods Play

MANY OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE ANCIENT PRE-ARYAN culture that only survived in oral tradition or in Dravidian texts, now lost, were recovered, reconstructed, transcribed, and translated into various popular languages, but particularly into Sanskrit, which had become the universal language of the culture. It was then that numerous historical, philosophical, and scientific works appeared, mingled with legends, popular beliefs, and myths. Some versions of the Purânä(s) in the Tamil language are older than the Sanskrit versions.

Using this restored material as a point of departure, Shaiva monks and some traditional scholars have been able to reconstruct part of what survived of the ancient pre-Aryan heritage, rediscovering the bases of a wisdom, a way of living, and a path of knowledge originating in a golden age of humanity that had been for a long time safeguarded in an occult tradition.

This return to ancient knowledge and wisdom, advocated by Lakulishä, is considered by followers of Shaivism to be the last effort to check the evolution of a humanity racing toward destruction. Therefore, it was from the beginning of our era onward that the fundamental texts of pre-Aryan philosophical and religious tradition were reconstituted and translated into a fairly crude Sanskrit, with the aim of establishing a set of sacred texts to set up officially against the Vedä(s), which had themselves been recently transcribed.

The most important of these texts are called the Âgamä(s) (traditions) and Tanträ(s) (rules and rites). To these must be added the Purânä(s) (ancient chronicles), which deal with mythology and history, and philosophical and technical works about cosmology (Sâmkhyä), Yogä, linguistics (Vyâkaranä), astronomy (Jyotishä), medicine (Ayurvedä), mathematics (Ganitä), and so on—a vast literature, which, despite having been transcribed in a relatively recent era, nevertheless has sources in distant antiquity. Their rediscovery provoked a phenomenal revival of cultural, philosophical, religious, and artistic activity.

Almost all of what has come down to us of the religious and philosophical thought of India, including the texts and commentaries of the Vedä(s), Brahmä Sûträ(s), and Upanishades), as well as those of Buddhism and Jaïnism, was only transcribed during the great age of liberalism and civilization which characterize the Shaiva revival.

The Hindu religion, as it is practiced today, is tantric in character, based almost exclusively on the Âgamä(s). Virtually nothing remains of the Vedic religion. The same applies to the Tibetan religion, itself also entirely tantric.1 Hindu philosophy is wrongly considered to be of Vedic origin. Through contrivances of exegesis, attempts were made to link concepts originating from an older and more developed culture to Vedic texts.

If we wish to understand Indian thought, we must return to its sources, that is, to the great civilization that preceded the arrival of the Aryans, which has continued to the present time and of which the Shaiva religion, the cosmological theory called Sâmkhyä, the practices of Yogä, as well as the bases of what we consider to be the Hindu philosophy, are part.

Although the Âgamä and the Purânä texts that have come down to us are relatively late writings, we find their mark in all the philosophical and religious conceptions of the Aryans from the Atharvä Vedä onward. The disdain shown toward these texts by most of the modern Orientalists, who wanted to relate everything back to the Vedä(s) (as, moreover, the Western world does to the Greeks), has led them to make monumental errors in dating and describing the evolution of religious and philosophical concepts. Many passages of the best-known texts of philosophical and religious brahmanic literature written in the Sanskrit language are derived from the Âgamä(s). This is the case with, for example, the Bhagavat Gîtâ, of which over half the verses are borrowed from the Parameshvarä Âgamä and three of which passages are quotations from the Shvetâshvatarä Upanishad, which is itself based on the Âgamä(s).2

Sakhare also points out that already during the age of Vedic domination, five authors, considered to be Shaiva saints, called Arrivars, had compiled (in all likelihood in ancient Dravidian script) some elements of the pre-Aryan tradition in twenty-eight works, of which the subsequent Âgamä(s) are translations into fairly coarse Sanskrit. The four Brahmans mentioned in the Chhândogyä Upanishad turn to one of these Arrivars for teachings.

The Âgamä(s), taken together, constitute an independent literature that has no relation to the Vedä(s). The originals, in ancient Dravidian, are lost today. Some elements of doctrine and vocabulary have been inserted into subsequent versions to establish apparent similarities with the Vedic religion. In any case, the differences between the Vedä(s) and Âgamä(s) were recognized from then on, since the ritual practices of the Âgamä(s) are in conflict with Vedic rites, although, in the course of the centuries, a certain amalgamation has been achieved.3

In the everyday practice of current Hinduism, the Brahmans use the Vedic rite or the Tantric rite, established in the Âgamä(s), depending on the circumstances.

There are twenty-eight Shaiva Âgamä(s) and numerous secondary Âgamä(s) (Upâgamä). Thus, the Kamikägama is followed by three Upâgamä(s) called Uttarä, Bhairavottarä, and Narashimhä. The Yogâgamä is supplemented by five Upagâmä(s), called Vinashirottarä, Târaka, Sâmkhyä, Shânti, and Âtmayogä.

The Âgamä(s) (traditions) and the Tanträ(s) (rules and rites) are part of a single system. In general, the texts that give preeminence to the cult of Shiva are called Âgamä(s) (Kâmikâgama, Sukshmâgamä, etc.), and those dealing with the cult of the goddess, Shaktism, are called Tanträ(s) (Shakti Tanträ, Mahânirvâna Tanträ, etc.). Those who venerate the conscious principle of the world in a masculine form are Shaivas. Those who venerate the divine power in a feminine form are Shaktä(s).4

The Tanträ(s) are classed in four groups: Shaïvä, Pâshupatä, Saumyä, and Lagudä, corresponding to four Shaïvä sects called Shaïvä, Pâshupatä, Kâpâlikä, and Kâlâmukhä.

Already the Mahâbhâratä, which recounts the struggles that brought the Aryan invaders into conflict with the native populations of the second millennium, but which was only written down in its present form at the time of the Shaïvä revival, lists the great philosophical and religious traditions of India in the age of its compilation. These are the Sâmkhyä, Yogä, Pâñcharâträ, Vedä, and pâshupatä. We can see that the Vedic tradition does not occupy a predominant position: the other traditions are connected with Shaivism. This enumeration does not include sects considered to be atheistic, such as the Materialism of Chârvâkä and Jaïnism. The numerous sects stemming from Shaivism are, in principle, included among the pâshupatä.

Few texts in ancient Dravidian languages still exist. The most important are the works of a sort of club of Tamil poets called the Sangam. These texts are neither philosophical nor religious but contain allusions to Shaiva mythology. The literature of the Sangam is divided into two periods: Puram (ancient) and Aham (more recent). In the Puram, we find references to the destruction of the three cities, the blue neck of Shivä, his third eye, and the crescent of the moon adorning the god's brow.

Later, four of the Nâyanâr (Shaiva saints) of the Middle Ages—Tirumular (c. 400–600), Sambandar, Appar (c. 650), and Sundarar (c. 800)—left works in the Tamil language, which are accepted as authoritative, on Shaivism, its principles and practices. The most important is the Tirumandiram of Tirumular, which is the foundation on which the philosophical system called Shaïvä-Siddhantä developed.5

The antiquity of the reconstructed texts of the Purânä(s), Tanträ(s), and Âgamä(s) has been disputed by the advocates of the Aryan origins of the civilization. However, the recent discoveries of Sumerian or Cretan parallels confirm their authenticity. Recent works have even made possible the identification of plans of Sumerian temples with those, described in the Âgamä(s), which serve as a basis for the construction of Shaïvä temples.6 A careful study of the texts of the Purânä(s) reveals important elements. From it we discover that at the time certain events occurred, the sages who meditated by the Ganges, at sunrise, saw the daystar substituted for Sirius in the constellation of the Hunter (Mrigavâchä) about 5500 B.C., or Orion in the constellation of the Antelope (Mrigä) (c. 4500), and then the Twins (between 4500 and 3400), or Aldebran (Rohini) in the constellation of the Bull (c. 4000). In other cases, it was the Pleiades (Krittikä) (c. 2500)7—following the precession of the equinoxes, a cycle of 26,000 years. These observations give us a clue that enables us to date the development of the great protohistoric civilization of India.

Hindu Decadence

THE Shaiva euphoria provoked by Lakulishä was to last for almost a millennium; then its expansion was crushed. India was once again in a period of conflict caused by invasions, first by the Huns, then of Islamized Arabs.

The Aryan Brahmans, who for centuries had represented the dominant intellectual class, tried gradually to take over, to their advantage, the philosophical and scientific conceptions inherited from Shaivism, while at the same time conflicting with them on religious grounds. With skillful exegesis, they tried to connect its ideas to a would-be Vedic tradition. As a consequence, from the sixth century onward, we see famous Brahmans present a modified version of the Sâmkhyä, the Vaisheshikä, and other philosophical systems inherited from Shaivism. Continuing the Jaïno-Buddhist moralistic and antiritualistic line, they were to create a philosophical and religious movement with monistic tendencies, which claimed to be connected to the original Vedism, but was profoundly influenced by Buddhism and Islam. Shankarâchâryä, Râmânuja, and Mâdhavä were to reinterpret the ancient texts. It is to them that we owe the great commentaries on the Vedä(s), Brähmanä(s) and Upanishad(s). However, they fought among themselves. Mâdhavä, the latest of this line of new philosophers, said of Sankarâchâryä that he was "a deceitful demon who had perverted the teaching of the Brahmä Sûträ to lead souls astray."

In parallel with what happened in the West with Mithraism or the teaching of Simon the Magician, the disciple of John the Baptist and the rival of Jesus, the Aryan scholars tried to obliterate the traces of the teaching of Lakulishä and to minimize the significance of the recovered texts. In this, they have been followed by modern Indologists, whether Indian or foreign.

The majority of Âgamä and Tanträ texts have still not been published, and only fragments have been translated. This vast amount of knowledge, which reflects the oldest traditions of India, remains systematically ignored. It is often through the writings of his opponents that we have some elementary knowledge about the teachings of Lakulishä.

From the age of Sankarâchâryä onward, a new religion, called Vaishnavism, developed in India, modeled principally on jaïnism and linked to the cult of Vishnu. This devotional, sentimental, and puritanical religion suited an age troubled by the collapsing values brought about by Islamic invasions. "In many parts of India the Vaisnavas replaced the jains in popularity and influence and in the process absorbed many jain beliefs and practices, including hostility to the excesses of Tantric Shaivism."8 What is today accepted to be the basic essentials of the philosophical, religious and moral ideas of India, in particular the Vedantä, and the theory of Karmä and reincarnation, therefore stems from a philosophical trend that, in the West, corresponds to the period following the fall of the Roman Empire and is situated between the eighth and twelfth centuries, inspired by jaïnism, Buddhism, then Islamic and Christian influences. This new Hinduism has only a very theoretical link with the Vedism to which it claims to be related. Vaishnavism was subsequently, in the British period, profoundly influenced by Christianity, Protestantism in particular. New reformist movements attempting to present Hinduism in a form suited to Western prejudices, such as the Brahmosamaj of Râjâ Ram Mohan Roy and Devendranath Tagore (father of the poet), the Aryasamaj of Dayânandä Saravati, as well as doctrines expounded by Vivekânandä, Aurobindo, Tilak, and others, by claiming to return to the purity of a mythical Vedism, has merely succeeded in carrying on the negativist concepts of jaïno-Buddhism, whose popular form was from then on linked to Vaishnavism, which had become the religion of the merchant class and of the new political power, Gandhi in particular. It is these ideas that so-called gurus teach today in the name of Hinduism, in ashrams where the tradition of Arihat is perpetuated.

The most obvious example of Jain influence on later Vaisnava attitudes is found in the philosophy of M. K. Gandhi. Although some of Gandhiji's ideas were inspired in part by European precedents, others—such as his faith in Ahimsa, asceticism, cleanliness and vegetarianism—owe more to his Gujarati Vaisnava background. From quite early times, Gujarat has been a center of Jain influence, and all these beliefs derive their original impetus more from Jainism than Hinduism.9

In India, as elsewhere, we can see social and economic preoccupations and puritanism take the place, in official religion, of the pursuit of communication with celestial powers through rites and mystical experience. A morality of toil, abstinence, productiveness, and civic conformity tends to become a substitute for a morality of love, ecstasy, happiness, and freedom.

A predominance of moralistic ideas marks the decline of a humanity given over to materialism and leads to dispair, isolation, poverty, and drugs, for those who do not have the strength to stand up against it. Throughout the history of the Kali Yuga, we witness this conflict between mystical, erotic, intense, creative, orgiastic, ecological Dionysianism, protector of nature and the animals, and urban, exploitative, restrictive, puritanical moralism. The great ages of artistic creativity and mystical exaltation are related to the predominance of Shaiva or Dionysian tendencies. Economic progress, social order, detrimental power of states and tyrants are Vaishnava-Apollonian in character.

The West

AT the same time that Lakulishä caused the Shaiva revival, we see similar movements born in many other parts of the globe. In the West, Mithraism developed, and in the Middle East, Simon the Magician and Isha (Jesus) appeared, whose unconventional and liberating message approached that of Shaivism. Jesus opposed the mercenary mentality and the caste of Pharisee priests, and chased the merchants from the temple. He despised material possessions. He rejected puritanism and defended the prostitute and the adulteress. He never condemned physical love and was probably not unaware of its Platonic form (see Mark 15:51). He surrounded himself with the common people. He evoked, in the Last Supper, the rites of sacrifice and the consumption of the victim. His transfiguration and the transubstantiation of the Virgin are Shaiva concepts. He was born in a cowshed, like Gosâlä, near the ox, the sacred animal, and the ass, the impure animal. We know little of his teaching, which, soon after his disappearance, was distorted by the anti-Christ, Paul of Tarsus, who was to misrepresent his message, creating the exact opposite of it, and to give birth to a puritanical and tyrannical state religion, conflicting with the Gnostics of earliest times, in order to gradually seize political power. The Dionysian heritage was for a long time maintained in esoteric Christian sects as well as in Judaism and Islam in the occult traditions of Kabbala and Sufism, but has gradually deteriorated until it is no more than an intellectual game.

India Today

VIEWED from the outside, at the top of the social and cultural hierarchy of present-day India, we find the Aryan Brahmans, some of them great scholars, but many of them civil servants or political figures, and some artists. Then come the princely families and warriors serving in the army and in various occupations, except for craft and commerce. Real power belongs to the powerful caste of merchants, manufacturers, and shopkeepers, which constitutes the middle class of modern India. Two intermediate classes, foreign in origin, consider themselves to be superior to the rest of the population: these are the Muslims on the one hand and Europeans and Christians on the other. The pre-Aryans, who constitute the vast majority of the population, are considered by these various invaders as "natives" (in the colonialist sense of the word), good as a rule for manual, craft, or industrial work and for farm labor. In reality, they form a parallel civilization, albeit unofficial, in which the dynasties of priests, princes, and merchants are maintained. Princes often falsified their genealogy in order to claim Aryan origins, but they do not marry outside their clan. Guilds of architects, sculptors, painters, and musicians are part of the artisan castes. It is from among these allegedly inferior groups that most of the initiates to the monastic orders, who hand down the occult tradition of the ancient knowledge, are recruited. Sometimes they absorb members of other origins.

This world of ascetics, the Sadhu, the Sannyâsî, actually plays a major but secret role in contemporary Hinduism, where—although more often than not, caste Hindus feign ignorance of it—the tradition of Shaivism and Tantrism occupies a much more important place than the Vedic tradition in the religious practices of Indians of all castes.