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Śaivism in the Gupta-Vākāṭaka Age*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

PETER BISSCHOP
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Abstract

One of the features of the Gupta-Vākāṭaka age is thegrowth of Śaivism. In this article some of theepigraphical evidence for this process is assembledand discussed. While the direct evidence for theadoption of Śiva worship among the Guptas is limitedto ministers of the Gupta court, it is clear thatthe Vākāṭaka kings were predominantly Māheśvaras.New fragmentary wall inscriptions uncovered fromMansar, the site of Pravarasena II's palace, hint ata possible connection with the teachings of theŚvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad. Twopost-Gupta inscriptions from the area aroundMandasor are discussed in the light of a tendencytowards religious hierarchisation, an attitude whichcame to be increasingly characteristic of earlymedieval Śaivism. In the second part attention isdrawn to the variety of Pāśupata and Māheśvaraworship in the Gupta-Vākāṭaka age, as well as to thetrifold organisation of the Pāśupata movement. Thearticle ends with a note on the interaction withnon-Śaiva traditions, in particular Buddhism, andits possible impact upon the formation of thePāśupata movement.

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Type
Research Article
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 477 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2010

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Footnotes

*

This article is an extended version of a paperI gave at the Symposium ‘The Gupta-Vākāṭaka Age’,British Museum, London, June 29–30, 2009. I wouldlike to thank the organisers, Hans Bakker andMichael Willis, for inviting me to give apresentation on the present subject. This is thefirst publication to appear in the context of theresearch project ‘Early Śaiva Mythology: A studyof the formative period of an integrated religiousvision’, a collaboration between Peter Bisschopand Harunaga Isaacson, kindly funded by a threeyear grant of the Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil (AHRC) and the DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). I am grateful toHans Bakker, Harunaga Isaacson and Michael Willisfor their critical comments on an earlierdraft.

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