Saurapurana and the early development of the Śaiva religion and philosophy
Date : 18/05/2024
The Saurapurāṇa
The Śaiva religio-philosophical system from ancient times has been spreading the highest and unflinching devotion to Śiva, the supreme God. Various acts of devotion such as worship of Śiva (mostly in the Liṅga), meditation, repetition of mantra-s (japa), expounding the scriptures, service in the Śiva-temple along with serving the devotees of Śiva are some of the basic and fundamental practices that are found common in different sub-schools of Śaivism. These practices can roughly be grouped under caryā, kriyā, yoga and vidyā sections.
Caryā is the regular practice of serving in the temple as well as working for the welfare of the society in any manner possible. Kriyā is the regular practice of rituals prescribed in the scriptures; Yoga is practice of self control, prāṇāyāma, meditation on Śiva while Jñāna is the reading the scriptures and learning the philosophical doctrines of Śaivism.
The Veda-s comprising the doctrinal sections, namely, the Upaniṣad-s, the Āgama-s that were revealed by Śiva to the gods and sages and the Purāṇa-s all explain these principles in varying proportions in their own way.
Of these scriptures, the Veda-s have been much explored by some scholars without an objective way resulting in strange and unfounded conclusions. The other class of scriptures, the Purāṇa-s, are a huge body of literature that has recorded the religious practices, various legends and doctrines with all their details. They have been exerting great influence on the society by moulding the religious conducts of the followers of Śaivism from very ancient times.
Generally by the word purāṇa, the Great ones (mahāpurāṇa) are referred which are traditionally considered to be eighteen. There are varying lists of Purāṇa-s, some overlapping, in almost all the purāṇa-s. In fact, Purāṇa-s as a class of literature are mentioned in such texts as the Chāndogyopaniṣad. In the same way there are also eighteen Upapurāṇa-s—the secondary Purāṇa-s. These are again grouped into Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava Upapurāṇa-s according to their contents.
In the present paper I make an attempt to introduce the Saurapurāṇa (also called Ādityapurāṇa)—an Upapurāṇa to the interested readers. The presentation is to highlight some salient features of the text and make known its contents and therefore, not exhaustive.
Saurapurāṇa
This text is in the form of an interlocution between Manu and Sūrya. It is divided into 69 adhyāya-s. The beginning section treats the all-pervasive nature of Śiva. It says Śiva pervades the entire universe as its inner self. He is the only inner self and there is none else. That is, nobody else has the supreme power to pervade everything.
The supreme greatness of Śiva
Though unique, Śiva exists as everything and He is always accompanied by Umā, His supreme Śakti.He is the only creator and from Him come out Brahmā, Viṣṇu and other gods. In fact, the purāṇa states that all these gods are mere play-toys (krīḍanaka) for Śiva. Śiva is always accompanied by His supreme Śakti called Umā, Girijā, etc. Interestingly the Saurapurāṇa states that māyā is the supreme power and therefore Śakti and māyā are the same and Śiva is of the form of māyā.The entire universe is created by Śiva and it exists in Him and during final deluge it abides in Him. There is no other supreme god than Mahādeva. The text very beautifully declares this view using interesting similies: Just as there are no hairs on the body of the tortoise, no horns in the hare’s head and no sky-flower so also there is none greater or superior to Śiva.
The beginning parts of the Saurapurāṇa are fully interspersed with the views of some of the greatest Śaiva Upaniṣad-s such as the Śvetāśvatara, Kaivalya, etc. The well-known section of the Chāndogyopaniṣad, known as the antaryāmi-brāhmaṇa is very eloquently used with many phrases taken from that section.The Atharvaśiras and the Atharvaśikhā Upaniṣad-s have also exerted great influence in the formation of the Śaiva viewpoints and in the declaration of the supreme greatness of Śiva over all other gods. These passages are the hymns addressed by the Veda-s to Śiva.
Efficacy of Śivabhakti
Śiva is realized only through intense devotion (bhakti) accompanied by knowledge (jñāna). The text waxes eloquently on the greatness and efficacy of śivabhakti, its essential role in securing dharma, artha, etc.[6] The Saurapurāṇa firmly says that to try to be happy without the intense devotion to Śiva is like trying to get milk from the protuberance in the neck of a goat.
Śivadharma
The Sun God describes clearly the intricacies of śivadharma; it is the greatest of all the means to attain Śiva. It is different from the mere following of rites and performing the Vedic sacrifices. It is entirely established on bhakti and does not require any external means.[8] The text goes to the extent of saying that even if a sinner committing many offences remembers Śiva with devotion, he is saved.
The 42nd adhyāya describes the procedure of Śiva worship. The entire rite almost resembles that explained in the Śaiva Āgamas ad other ritual manuals (paddhati). The 44th adhyāya deals in detail with various devotional acts and services that one can perform inside the temple of Śiva. We also get the corresponding fruit for each of the services done inside the temple.
To give a brief list of various services:
1.One may construct a temple for Śiva in clay.
2.One may construct temple in the shape called Kailāsa or Meru or Mandara or Mahendragiri. He who does in this way reaches the abode of Śiva by the wish fulfilling divine aeroplane (vimāna).
3.Even if one restores a dilapidated maṇḍapa or a vimāna or the main sanctum or the temple tower (gopura) he gets unlimited fruits.
4.Even if one performs all these or any one of these acts for the sake of his livelihood (vttyartham) he will definitely go to the heavens along with his relatives.
5.If one is not able to do all these and only cleans the temple precincts with a soft broom, etc. all his wishes will surely be fulfilled. He gets the fruits equivalent to the performance of the great cāndrāyaṇa vrata.
Acts of extreme devotion
1.Finally he who resides in the śaiva holy place (śivakṣetra) without moving elsewhere till death by chopping off his legs definitely becomes united with Śiva.
2.He who dies in a Śaiva holy place without food gets united with Śiva (śivasāyujya).
3.He who offers his own body as an oblation in the fire kindled before Śiva after worshipping Him attains to the state of Śiva.
The 52nd adhyāya of the Saurapurāṇa deals in detail with different sins and the expiatory rites to get rid of them. Sins are generally divided into two kinds, visible (prakaṭa) and secret (rahasya). The divine marriage of Śiva with Goddess Gaurī, the birth of Kumāra are very elaborately described from the 53rd to 61st adhyāya-s.
Greatness of a śivabhakta
The 64th adhyāya again extols the greatness of devotion to Śiva and the devotees of Śiva. Śivabhakti is so great that a person with the highest devotion to Śiva is not affected by the greatest sins (mahāpātaka). One gets the fruit of the Vedic sacrifice—Atirātra by just seeing a śivabhakta or by merely speaking with him.The Saurapurāṇa goes to the extent of saying that one should not look into the class of a śivabhakta—whether he is a Brahmin or a Kṣatriya or a Śūdra or the lowest one. He should be respected in any situation. One should not question his conduct or birth. The devotee of Śiva who has the three-line horizontal mark with the holy ash (tripuṇḍra) on his forehead should be worshipped. The text declares that Yama is the controller for all creatures except for the śivabhakta-s. That means the devotees of Śiva are only under the protection of Śiva and no other lesser god can exercise their power over them. Saint Tirunāvukkaracar in one of his Tēvāram songs boldly declares the same view that he and the devotees of Śiva are the servants of none but Śiva and they dare even Yama, the god of death. Tirunāvukkaracar proclaims that because of this there is no fear or misery for them and they live in happiness forever. The 65th adhyāya deals with the greatness and the supreme efficacy of the pañcākṣaramantra and the fruits obtained by offering various flowers, fruits, and other substances to Śiva by reciting this mantra. Many verses are very much similar to the 5th adhyāya of the text of the Śivadharma mentioned earlier. From all these it is very much evident that Śivadharma has exerted greatest influence in the formation of the some important sections of the Saurapurāṇa.
This brief summary of the Saurapurāṇa is only an introduction to the many interesting and valuable subjects expounded in these Upapurāṇa texts.
These type of texts are the store house of invaluable cultural viewpoints and they should be studied and explored more for gaining a true picture of the early development of the Śaiva religion and philosophy and their influence in the minds of Śaiva-s.
[1] Saurapurāṇa, 2: 2b, 3b.
[2] Ibid. 2:23
[3] Ibid. 2: 17b-18b.
[4] ibid. 2: 35
[5] Vv. 2: 43-50.
[6] The other ancient text, Śivadharma (which is still unpublished), also has a few very interesting passages defining bhakti towards Śiva: (1: 27-29). These passages of the Śivadharma are exactly found in the Saurapurāṇa also in the 11th adhyāya vv . 16b-19.
From these one can easily understand that intense bhakti was given utmost importance in the Śaiva religion also.
[7] Saurapurāṇa 2:36.
[8] 3: 7b-8a.
[9] In the Tēvāram songs of Appar we come across the same view: even if one lives a wretched life subsisting on cow’s meat but fully devoted to Śiva, then, he himself is a god that one reveres: Tēvāram, 6: 95: 10.
[10] 44: 15b-16a)
[11] 44: 13b-14a)
[12] 64: 40b-41a.
[13] 64: 42
[14] Tēvāram, VI. 98: 1.
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