of a young brahmin that had been cast into a cremation ground and reanimated
it as Lakulı ̄s ́a, the “Lord of the staff,” who then gave out the teachings contained
in the text to his four disciples.
These teachings present the Pa ̄s ́upata as an ascetic somewhat on the edges of
orthoprax society, even though such an ascetic had to be a brahmin male who
should not speak with low castes nor with women (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄1.13). But whereas
an ordinary, vedic brahmin would pursue the social norms of adherence to
duties regarding caste and stage of life (varn.a ̄s ́ramadharma), the Pa ̄s ́upata had
transcended these responsibilities to a higher or perfected (siddha) fifth stage
beyond the vedic fourth stage of renunciation. To achieve this perfection the
ascetic undertook a vow or observance (vrata)in three developmental stages.
Firstly the Pa ̄s ́upata should live within the environs of a S ́aiva temple, bear the
mark (lin.ga) of a Pa ̄s ́upata ascetic, namely the ashes in which he bathes thrice
daily, and worship S ́iva with song, dance, laughter and mantra repetition. Living
on alms, the aspirant (sa ̄dhaka) undertakes the development of virtues such as
not stealing, celibacy, and not harming creatures by straining water, and so on
(Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄1.2–11 and commentary). He thereby gradually purifies himself and
enters the second stage of his practice in which he discards external signs of his
observance, leaves the temple, and undertakes various forms of antisocial
behavior. These include pretending to be asleep in public places, making his
limbs tremble as though he were paralyzed, limping, acting as if mad, and
making lewd gestures to young women (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄3.12–17). Such practices, the
text claims, are doors to the acquisition of merit, for in behaving in this way the
ascetic will attract verbal and physical abuse whereby his sin (pa ̄pa) will be passed
over to his abusers and their merit (sukr.ta) passed over to him (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄3.8–9). In
the third stage of the practice the sa ̄dhaka withdraws from the public eye to a
deserted house or cave, lives off alms, and devotes himself to meditation upon
the five sacred mantras of S ́iva along with the syllable om.(Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄5.21–4).
Through this he unites his soul with S ́iva and gains uninterrupted union for a
period of six months (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄5.9–12). Finally the ascetic withdraws to become
a resident in a cremation ground (s ́mas ́a ̄na-va ̄sı ̄), where he lives on whatever is
available (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄5.30–2), and dies reaching union with S ́iva (rudrasa ̄yujya) and
the end of sorrow through his grace (Pa ̄s ́ Su ̄5.33, 40).
There were more extreme forms of Pa ̄s ́upata religion. The La ̄kula ascetic
imitated the terrible form of his god Rudra, carrying a cranium begging bowl, a
skull-topped staff, a garland of human bones, ash covered, with matted hair or
shaved head (Sanderson 1988b: 665–6). This kind of S ́aiva had taken the “great
vow” (maha ̄vrata) or penance for killing a Brahmin in the Dharma S ́a ̄stras,
namely living beyond the pale of vedic society and carrying the skull of his
victim for 12 years (Manu11.73). This practice is reinforced by a myth in which
S ́iva as the terrible Bhairava decapitates Brahma ̄’s fifth head with his left-hand
thumb, because Brahma ̄ had attempted incest with his daughter. The skull sticks
to Bhairava’s hand and he wanders as the beggar Bhiks.a ̄t.ana until he reaches
Banaras where the skull falls at Kapa ̄lamocana, a site of pilgrimage (tı ̄rtha) (Eck
1984: 119). The La ̄kula sect gave rise to a further subsect, the Ka ̄la ̄mukhas, who
the s ́aiva traditions 207