Kashmir Shaivism (Trika, Pratyabhijna)

What Kashmir Shaivism is

“Kashmir Shaivism” is a modern name given to tell it apart from other forms of Shaivism. According to J. C. Chatterji (1914), its texts call it the Trika shasana, Trika shastra or simply Trika, and as philosophy it is an idealistic monism, which sets it apart in principle from the “Shaiva darshana” (Shaiva Siddhanta) of Madhava’s Sarvadarshanasangraha; there it is described under the name “Pratyabhijna darshana”.

The name Trika means “a group of three”. According to K. C. Pandey two reasons are given: of the Agamas of this school three, the Siddha, the Namaka and the Malini, are held the most authoritative; and it speaks of three triads: Shiva, Shakti and their union; Shiva, Shakti and nara (the soul); and the three goddesses Para, Apara and Parapara.

History in brief

According to Chatterji the Trika appeared in Kashmir at the beginning of the 9th century, or perhaps towards the end of the 8th. Tradition holds Shiva himself to be the author of the Shiva Sutras, which were revealed to Vasugupta. In the story told in Kshemaraja’s Shivasutra-vimarshini, Shiva told Vasugupta, who lived below Mount Mahadeva, in a dream that the sutras were written on a rock that would turn over at his touch; Chatterji writes that the rock is still pointed out under the name “Shankarpal” (Sanskrit Shankaropala), though no writing can be seen on it. In Kallata’s Spanda-vritti, which Chatterji takes to be the oldest form of the story, Shiva simply taught Vasugupta the sutras in a dream.

According to Bhandarkar, Vasugupta’s disciple Kallata lived in the reign of King Avantivarman, which places Vasugupta at the beginning of the 9th century. The founder of the Pratyabhijna shastra was Somananda, whose work is the Shivadrishti; his disciple Utpaladeva’s Ishvara-pratyabhijna-karika (190 verses, according to Chatterji) summed up his thought and in time became the better known text.

Abhinavagupta is held to be the tradition’s greatest teacher. According to Pandey his dated works fall between the Saptarshi years 4066 and 4090, that is 990–91 to 1014–15 CE; the Tantraloka, Tantrasara, Paratrishika-vivarana and Ishvara-pratyabhijna-vimarshini are his chief works, and his commentary on the Natyashastra is also famous. Pandey records a tradition current in Kashmir, for which he found no written source, that Abhinavagupta walked with his disciples into the Bhairava cave near Magam and was not seen again. His disciple Kshemaraja wrote the Pratyabhijnahridayam and the Vimarshini on the Shiva Sutras. In the 20th century Swami Lakshman Joo revived both the study and the practice of the tradition (Wikipedia).

Beliefs and practice

Bhandarkar sets out the view of the Spanda shastra thus: God needs neither a prompting cause (such as karma) nor a material cause (such as pradhana or maya) to create the world; by his will alone he makes it appear in himself as if distinct from himself, as a town appears in a mirror, and like the mirror he is untouched by it. The soul is the supreme soul, but does not see this because of three impurities: anava (taking oneself as limited), mayiya (living in a body made by maya) and karma (born of action). When in meditation the vision of the highest breaks in, which is called Bhairava, the impurities vanish and the soul is free.

In the Pratyabhijna view the path is “recognition”. Bhandarkar gives a simile from its texts: a maiden falls in love with a youth on hearing of his virtues, but when she is brought before him she takes him for an ordinary man; the moment she is told that he is the one, she is filled with joy. So the soul, though it is Shiva, does not know that bliss until, through the guru’s teaching, it recognises Shiva in itself.

The Shiva Sutras are in three sections (unmeshas) that give three means (upaya) to liberation: the shambhavopaya (22 sutras), the shaktopaya (10) and the anavopaya (45), 77 sutras in all. Bhandarkar quotes Madhava’s view that these two schools do not insist on outer disciplines such as breath control in the way other Shaiva schools do.

Main places

The tradition belongs to the Kashmir valley. According to Wikipedia, Vasugupta lived near Mount Mahadeva in the valley of the Harwan stream behind the Shalimar garden of Srinagar; according to Chatterji the Shankarpal rock is still pointed out in the valley. Pandey writes that the Bhairava cave is about five miles from Magam, midway between Srinagar and Gulmarg, and that he went into the cave himself. Today its texts are read worldwide in translations and in scholarly study.

Where the sources differ

• How the Shiva Sutras came: according to Kshemaraja, Shiva spoke in a dream and the sutras were found written on a rock; according to Kallata, Shiva taught them in the dream itself; Bhandarkar gives a third version in which a siddha revealed them. Chatterji takes the rock story to be a later development.
• The Spanda-karika: Kshemaraja ascribes them to Vasugupta; according to Chatterji and Bhandarkar they were most likely composed by Kallata, who wrote down for his pupils what he had learned from his guru. Bhandarkar gives 51 verses, Chatterji 52.
• Abhinavagupta’s dates: from his dated works Pandey gives a working life of 990–91 to 1014–15 CE, Bhandarkar 993–1015; Wikipedia gives his life as c. 950–1016.
• Somananda’s date: Bhandarkar places him in the first quarter of the 10th century; Wikipedia gives 875–925.
• Kashmir had more than the Trika: according to Wikipedia, Narayanakantha and Ramakantha of Kashmir were leading commentators of the dualist Shaiva Siddhanta in the 10th century, so the name “Kashmir Shaivism” is usually used for the non-dual Trika alone.

Frequently asked questions