Khaṭvāṅga

A khaṭvāṅga ( sa, खट्वाङ्ग) is a long, studded club originally created as a weapon. It was adopted as a traditional religious symbol in Indian religions such as Tantric traditions like Shaivism and Vajrayana Buddhism. The khatvāṅga was adopted by some lineages of historical tantra though it preceded such traditions as of an original tribal shaman shaft.

Hinduism

In Hinduism, Shiva-Rudra carried the khatvāṅga as a staff weapon and are thus referred to as ''khatvāṅgī''s. Author Robert Beer says, "In Hinduism the khatvanga is an emblem or weapon of Shiva, and is variously described as a skull - topped club, a skull - mounted trident, or a trident - staff on which three skulls are impaled".

Author A. V. Narasimha Murthy says, "In classical literature the weapon Khatvanga is mentioned in works like Mālatīmādhava of Bhavabhuti and Śiva Stutī of Narayana Panditacharya".

Fabrication

Originally, the khatvāṅga was made of bones, especially, the long bones of forearm or the leg of human beings or animals. Later, wood and metal were used. The khatvāṅga is a long club with skulls engraved on the body. A khatvāṅga represents the vajra.

Vajrayana Buddhism

Author Robert Beer states that "The form of the Buddhist ''khaṭvāṅga'' derived from the emblematic staff of the early Indian Shaivite ''yogis'', known as ''kapalikas'' or "skull-bearers". The ''kapalikas'' were originally miscreants who had been sentenced to a twelve-year term of penance for the crime of inadvertently killing a Brahmin. The penitent was prescribed to dwell in a forest hut, at a desolate crossroads, in a charnel ground, or under a tree; to live by begging; to practice austerities; and to wear a loin-cloth of hemp, dog, or donkey-skin. They also had to carry the emblems of a human skull as an alms-bowl, and the skull of the Brahmin they had slain mounted upon a wooden staff as a banner. These Hindu ''kapalika'' ascetics soon evolved into an extreme outcaste sect of the " left-hand" Tantric path (Sanskrit: Vāmamārga) of ''shakti'' or goddess worship. The early Buddhist tantric ''yogins'' and ''yoginis'' adopted the same goddess or ''dakini'' attributes of the ''kapalikas''. These attributes consisted of; bone ornaments, an animal skin loincloth, marks of human ash, a skull-cup, ''damaru'', flaying knife, thighbone trumpet, and the skull-topped Tantric staff or ''khaṭvāṅga''".

Robert Beer relates how the symbolism of the khatvāṅga in Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly the Nyingma school founded by Padmasambhava, was a direct borrowing from the Shaiva Kapalikas, who frequented places of austerity such as charnel grounds and crossroads as a form of "left-handed path" (vamachara) sādhanā. In the Buddhist lore, it is also a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and endemic to his iconographic representation and depicted as an accoutrement of his divine consorts, Mandarava and Yeshe Tsogyal. In the twilight language, it represents Yab-Yum. The weapon's three severed heads denotes moksha from the three worlds (Trailokya); it has a rainbow sash representing the Five Pure Lights of the mahābhūta.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatvanga
Weapons in Hindu mythology
Buddhist ritual implements
Weapons in Buddhist mythology