dualism of purity and impurity at a ritual level. Abhinavagupta distinguished
between two ritual systems, the normative rite of the Trika householder (the
tantra-prakriya ̄) and the optional esoteric rites which flaunted vedic purity rules
(thekula-prakriya ̄). The former was enjoined on the Trika initiate and involved
the worship and internalization of a ritual diagram in the form of a trident
(tris ́u ̄la ̄bja-man.d.ala) whose prongs were identified with the three goddesses stem-
ming from pure consciousness of the fourth goddess Ka ̄lasam.kars.inı ̄ (Sanderson
1988). This normative Trika rite followed the pattern of Saiddha ̄ntika daily
worship. But for the suitable person (adhika ̄rin) the supererogatory rite of the
kula-prakriya ̄was possible in order to achieve gradual perfection (siddhikrama)
which would otherwise take thousands of years with floods of mantras (TA
29.1–3). This rite involved making offerings of meat, wine and sex (TA
29.97–8), ritually anathema to the orthoprax brahmin, with a partner or “mes-
senger” (du ̄tı ̄) who was regarded as the sa ̄dhaka’s “door” (dva ̄ra) to realizing the
wonder (camatka ̄ra) of pure consciousness (TA 29.115b–117; Silburn 1988:
219; Flood 2002: 281–301). The sa ̄dhaka and his ritual partner thereby reca-
pitulated the union (ya ̄mala) of S ́iva and his female power or S ́akti and the plea-
sure of their union reflected the universal joy (jagada ̄nanda) of liberation. The
deities in these esoteric levels of the Trika and Krama demanded to be appeased
by impure substances, such as offerings which included drops of the five sub-
stances, urine, semen, menstrual blood, faeces, and phlegm, along with other
substances polluting to the brahmin such as garlic and onions (Sanderson 1995:
82). The Trika goddesses were so powerful that they must be placated with offer-
ings of blood and alcohol, only after which could ordinary offerings of flowers
and incense be made (TA 26.51c–53b from Sanderson 1995: 81). The secret
Kula rites were available only to the Trika initiate who would also maintain
outward, vedic responsibilities. Thus Abhinavagupta could say that the Trika ini-
tiate should be internally a Kaula (i.e. a practitioner of the secret rite), externally
a S ́aiva and vedic in his social practice (TAV 3: 27, 277–8 from Sanderson 1985:
205).
The Trika was very successful in Kashmir and its theologians succeeded in
making their interpretation of the scriptures predominant. With Moslem inva-
sion in the eleventh century the tradition became greatly eroded, but there is still
a S ́aiva householder tradition in Kashmir (Madan 1987) and until recently a
living representative of the Recognition school in Swami Lakshman Joo. But
while the Trika and Krama schools were important within ascetic and intellec-
tual circles, the majority of S ́aivas followed less demanding forms of religion in
the popular cults of S ́iva.
Popular S ́aivism
Alongside the Trika was the popular worship of S ́iva in the Kashmir valley as
Svacchandabhairava. His cult, expressed in the Svacchandabhairava Tantra, has
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