The Kalamukha were a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
Shaivite
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
sect of the
Deccan Plateau
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...
who were among the first professional
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s of India. Their earliest
monasteries
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
were built in
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
.
Origin and etymology
Information regarding the Kalamukha sect takes the form of inscriptions relating to temple grants and texts usually written by their opponents. They appear to have been an offshoot of the
Pashupata sect, about whom more is known. Their name was derived from ' which has multiple meanings namely, 'facing the time' or 'facing the death' or 'black-face'. Their rituals using "yantras" were more of time based so, we can safely assume the meaning would be one of the first two rather than last one. Evidence from the ''
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
'' and similar ancient texts makes it clear that they were also known by other names, such as ''Laguda'', ''Lakula'' and ''Nakula'', and associated with other words meaning ''black-faced'', such as ''Kalanana''.
The rise of the Kalamukhas to a position of influence coincided with the popularisation of the ''
agama'' texts of Shaivism, and they are shown in the ''
Tirumandiram
The ''Tirumantiram or Thirumantiram'' is a Tamil poetic work, written either in the 6th century CE or post 10th century CE by Tirumular and is the tenth of the twelve volumes of the ''Tirumurai'', the key texts of Saiva Siddhanta and the first k ...
'' as one of the six schools of thought to emerge from the ''agamas''. Theirs was not, however, a school based purely on the ''agamas'' as they also took heed of the
orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
''
Śruti
''Shruti'' ( sa, श्रुति, , ) in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism. Manusmriti states: ''Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ'' ( ...
'' and were well-versed in the
Vaisheshika
Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika ( sa, वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy (Vedic systems) from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemolog ...
and
Nyaya
(Sanskrit: न्याय, ''nyā-yá''), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment",[Dharwar
Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...]
and
Shimoga
Shimoga, officially known as Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the central part of the state of Karnataka, India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of ...
.
History
According to Ramendra Nath Nandi, the first known record of the Kalamukha sect is a grant issued by the
Rashtrakuta dynasty
Rashtrakuta (IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing their ...
in 807 CE, although he also refers to the existence of a Kalamukha monastery in Mysore in the 8th century. Among the references are a Kalamukha temple recorded in
Srinivaspur
Srinivaspur is a town located in the Kolar district of Karnataka state, India. The latitude 13.33 and longitude 78.22 are the geocoordinate of the Srinivaspur. Bengaluru is the nearby state capital for Srinivaspur town. It is located around 10 ...
in 870, another with a college at
Chitradurga
Chitradurga is a city and the headquarters of Chitradurga district, which is located on the valley of the Vedavati river in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Chitradurga is a place with historical significance which is locate ...
in 947, and a monastery and temple at
Nanjangud
Nanjangud, officially known as Nanjanagudu, is a town in the Mysuru district of Indian state of Karnataka. Nanjangud lies on the banks of the river Kapila (also called Kabini), 23 km from the city of Mysore. Nanjangud is famous for the S ...
by 977. Their major centre was at
Balligavi
Balligavi a town in Shikaripura taluk Shivamogga district of Karnataka state, India, is today known as Belagami or Balagame. Its ancient names are Baligrama, Dakshina Kedara, Valliggame and Valligrame. Dakshina Kedara means Kedarnath of the Sout ...
and other temple sites included one at
Vijayawada
Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...
. There is a gap in the recorded evidence of them for around two centuries, after which they are well documented until the
Vijayanagara era.
Ramanuja
Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
, a
Vaishnavite
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
acharya
In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a preceptor and expert instructor in matters such as religion, or any other subject. An acharya is a highly learned person with a tit ...
, may have confused the Kalamukha with the
Kapalika
The Kāpālika tradition was a Tantric, non-Puranic form of Shaivism which originated in Medieval India between the 7th and 8th century CE. The word is derived from the Sanskrit term ''kapāla'', meaning "skull", and ''kāpālika'' means t ...
s in his ''
Sri Bhasya
The Sri Bhasya is the most famous work of Sri Ramanuja, (1017–1137). It is his commentary on Sri Badarayana's Vedanta/Brahma Sutra. It was completed when he was around a hundred years old. In his commentary, Ramanuja presents the fundamental ph ...
'' work, in which he noted them as eating from a skull and keeping wine. Such practices were common for the Kapalikas but are atypical for the Kalamukhas. His writings may have been coloured by his experienced of being a member of a different school and being forced by the Kalamukhas and other Shavites to leave his native
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. There was also possibly a desire to discredit because of an element of fear or jealousy driven by the then rising popularity of the Kalamukhas. Nandi notes that:
Nonetheless, for many years scholars such as
R. G. Bhandarkar
Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar ( mr, रामकृष्ण गोपाळ भांडारकर) (6 July 1837 – 24 August 1925) was an Indian scholar, orientalist, and social reformer.
Early life
Ramakrishna Bhandarkar was b ...
believed the Kalamukhas to be a more extreme sect than the Kapalikas, despite acknowledging that Ramanuja's written accounta were confused.
David Lorenzen
David N. Lorenzen is a British–American historian, scholar of Religious studies, essayist, and emeritus professor of South Asian history at the Centre for Asian and African studies, El Colegio de México in Mexico City.
He is chiefly notable ...
believes this error lay in placing emphasis on Ramanuja's skewed written record above that placed on such
epigraphical
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
evidence from inscriptions as had been collated by the time Bhandarkar and others analysed the situation.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
{{Shaivism
Ascetics
Shaivism
Sects
Indian Hindu monks