The faces became the central elements of a comprehensive classification system. They were identified with parts of God’s body, regions of the universe, various ontological principles, organs of sense and action, and the elements. The system was used to explain how Shiva’s being is the All and how the universe is exclusively composed of aspects or manifestations of Shiva. In his fivefold nature, Shiva was shown to be identical with the 25 elements or principles assumed by the prominent Samkhya school of Indian philosophy. The special significance of the number five in Shaivism can be understood as a philosophical elaboration of the time-honoured fourfold organization of the universe. (The four quarters of the sky also play a prominent part in religious practice.) According to this conception, a fifth aspect, when added to the four, is considered the most important aspect of the group because it represents each of the four and collectively unites all of their functions in itself. The system finds its complement in the doctrine of the five sadakhyas (five items that bear the name sat, “is” or “being”) representing the five aspects of that state, which may be spoken of as the experience of “there is” (sat) and which have evolved from God’s fivefold creative energy (shakti). In these God “dwells” in his aspect called Sadashiva (“Eternal Shiva”), which is regarded sometimes as a manifestation of and sometimes as identical with the Supreme Being.
Another Shaiva doctrine posits eight “embodiments” of Shiva as the elements of nature—ether, wind, fire, water, earth—and the Sun, the Moon, and the sacrificer, or consecrated worshiper (also called atman). To each of these eight elements corresponds one of Shiva’s traditional names or aspects—to the last one, usually Pashupati. The world is a product of these eight forms, consists of them, and can exist and fulfill its task only because the eight embodiments cooperate. Because each individual is also composed of the same eight realities (e.g., the light of man’s eyes corresponds to that of the Sun), Shiva constitutes the corporeal frame and the psychical organism of every living being. The eighth constituent is the indispensable performer of the rites that sustain the gods who preside over the cosmic processes and are really Shiva’s faculties.
Many branches of Shaivism having distinctive characteristics evolved in different parts of India. According to the idealist monism of Kashmir Shaivism, an important religious-philosophical school, Shiva manifests himself through a special power as the first cause of creation, and he also manifests himself through a second power as the innumerable individual souls who, because of a veil of impurity, forget that they are the embodiment of the Highest. This veil can be torn off by intense faith and constant meditation on God, by which the soul transmutes itself into a universal soul and eventually attains liberation through a lightning-like, intuitive insight into its own nature. Hindus who adhere to this group consider their doctrine a manifestation of the highest reality, Knowing Consciousness, neither personal nor impersonal.
The Shaiva-siddhanta, a prominent school of Tamil-speaking South India, assumes three eternal principles: God (who is independent existence, unqualified intelligence, and absolute bliss), the universe, and the souls. The world, because it is created by God (efficient cause) through his conscious power (instrumental cause) and maya (material cause), is no illusion. The main purpose of its creation is the liberation of the beginningless souls, which are conceived as “cattle” (pashu) bound by the noose (pasha) of impurity (mala) or spiritual ignorance, which forces them to produce karma. Members of this school see the karma process as a benefit, however, because they believe that, as soon as the soul has sufficiently ripened and reached a state of purity enabling it to strive after the highest insight, God graciously intervenes, appearing in the shape of a fully qualified and liberated spiritual guide (guru), through whose words God permits himself to be realized by the individual soul. Tantrism Tantric traditions and Shaktism
Toward the end of the 5th century, the cult of the mother goddess assumed a significant place in Indian religious life. Shaktism, the worship of Shakti, the active power of the godhead conceived in feminine terms, should be distinguished from Tantrism, the search for spiritual power and ultimate release by means of the repetition of sacred syllables and phrases (mantras), symbolic drawings (mandalas), and other secret rites elaborated in the texts known as Tantras (“Looms”).
In many respects the Tantras are similar to the Puranas. Theoretically, the Tantras deal with (1) knowledge, or philosophy, (2) Yoga, or concentration techniques, (3) ritual, which includes the construction of icons and temples, and (4) conduct in religious worship and social practice. In general, the last two subjects are the most numerous, while Yoga tends to centre on the mystique of certain sound-symbols (mantras) that sum up esoteric doctrines. The philosophy tends to be a syncretistic mixture of Sankhya and Vedanta thought, with special and at times exclusive emphasis on the god’s power, or shakti. The Tantric texts can be divided into three classes: (1) Shaiva Agamas (traditions of the followers of Shiva), (2) Vaishnava Samhitas (“Collections of the Vaishnavas,” a name borrowed from the Vedic Samhitas), and (3) Shakta Tantras (“Looms of the Followers of the Goddess Shakti”). However, they all have the common bond of venerating the Goddess.
The surviving Hindu Tantras were written much later than many of those of Tantric Buddhism, which may have heavily influenced the Hindu texts. Although there is early evidence of Tantrism and Shaktism in other parts of India, the chief centres of both were in Bengal, Bihar, and Assam. Shaiva Agamas
Like much other Hindu sacred literature, this literature is vast and spans several centuries. It is possible here to summarize only classes of texts within the various traditions.
The sects of Agamic Shaivas (Shiva worshipers who follow their own Agama—“traditional”—texts) encompass both the Sanskritic Shaiva-siddhanta—i.e., those who accept the philosophical premises and conclusions of Shaivas in the north—and the southern Lingayats or Virashaivas (from vira, literally “hero”; a lingam is the Shiva emblem that is worshipped in lieu of images). The Shaiva-siddhanta traditionally has 28 Agamas and 150 sub-Agamas. Their principal texts are difficult to date, though most of them probably were not composed before the 8th century. Their doctrine states that Shiva is the conscious principle of the universe, while matter is unconscious. Shiva’s power, or shakti, personified as a goddess, causes bondage and release. She is also the magic Word, and thus her nature can be sought out and meditated upon in mantras.
Kashmiri Shaivism begins with the Shiva-sutra, or “Lines of Doctrine Concerning Shiva” (c. 850), as a new revelation of Shiva. The system embraces the Shivadristi (“A Vision of Shiva”) of Somananda (950), in which emphasis is placed on the continuous recognition of Shiva; the world is a manifestation of Shiva brought about by his shakti. The system is called trika (“triad”), because it recognizes the three principles of Shiva, Shakti, and the individual soul. Virashaiva texts begin at about 1150 with the Vachana (“Sayings”) of Basava. The sect is puritanical, worships Shiva exclusively, rejects the caste system in favour of its own social organization, and is highly structured, with monasteries and gurus. Vaishnava Samhitas