The Early Śaiva Maṭha: Form and Function

Abstract

We should begin by determiningwhat we think amaṭha to be in the early Śaiva context. In the seventh and eighth centuries, maṭhas began to receive royal patronage. By the ninth and tenth centuries maṭhas collected taxes and agricultural profits (Sears 2014, 6). In the later period and in the south, maṭhas come to be a place for pilgrims passing through, or an institution for professional adepts, a place onemight abide in on a hereditary basis. There is a rise in endowments formaṭhas in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with the head of the maṭha perhaps being the rājaguru, the royal guru, of the dominion, hence a figure of political importance (Nandi 1987, 194–195). But the maṭha of the earlier Śaiva world is at base something simpler. It is a place for an initiate to stay in for an extended period for the purposes of study, as an āśramin. It is housing for initiated students, with a guru offering teaching. Brunner-Lachaux (1998, 380), describing the situation as given in the Somaśambhupaddhati, tells us: “Celui dont Somaśambhuparle (et qu’ il nomme āśrama en SP1, p. 316) est d’abord un lieu où vivent des initiés de différents grades, sous la conduitematérielle et spirituelle d’un guru.” This was not a shelter for itinerant ascetics, not a locus of political power, but both a residence and a school for initiates or, in Sanderson’s (1988, 681) terms, a lodge for cult lineage members. Next, let us look more closely at these maṭha residents. The residents are initiated āśramins assigned, as Brunner-Lachaux described, into four levels according to their type of initiation. The samayin has received the samaya dīkṣā, the initiation for the pledge-holder or neophyte, and is qualified to study the teachings. The putraka has received the nirvāṇa dīkṣā and will thus be liberated at the moment of death. The ācārya has received the consecration for officiants (ācārya abhiṣeka) and is qualified to teach and give dīkṣā. And the sādhaka has received the sādhaka abhiṣeka and is qualified to practice rituals in order to obtain supernatural powers. As we see stated atMohacūrottara 4.243, all these initiates, at whatever their level, are further regarded as being veritable liṅgas, “markers” or sacred images, of Śiva.They aremobile ( jaṅgama) liṅgas, as opposed to the fixed (ajaṅgamaor sthāvara) liṅgas which are images installed permanently in a temple. To establish either is an act of great piety: