Pashupata

Pashupata refers to an ancient Shaiva sect or movement dedicated to the worship of Shiva under the epithet Pashupati, the lord of beasts. The term also denotes the doctrinal and institutional framework associated with this tradition, which flourished in the Indian subcontinent from late antiquity into the medieval period.

Origins and development: The Pashupata tradition is generally regarded as one of the earliest organized Shaiva currents. Traditional accounts attribute its organization or reform to Lakulisha, who is commonly dated to the early centuries of the common era (often placed in the 2nd–4th century CE). Modern scholarship situates the roots of the movement in earlier or contemporaneous strands of Shaivism and treats Lakulisha as a key transmitter or organizer rather than a single founder. The earliest textual references to Pashupatas appear in late ancient and early medieval Sanskrit and Prakrit sources, where they are described as a distinct ascetic community with its own rules and practices.

Beliefs and practices: Pashupatas emphasize Shaiva devotion through the image and name of Pashupati, and teach a path of renunciation, discipline, and personal transformation. Central ideas include the identification of the individual with the divine and the importance of tapas (austerities) and moral conduct as means to liberation. Initiation through a guru and the maintenance of founding lineages are characteristic features. Practices often involve ascetic life, wandering or forest-dwelling tendencies, and the transmission of mantras and ritual methods that accompany their devotional program.

Texts and influence: The core doctrinal corpus is associated with the Pashupata Sutras, a concise text or collection of aphorisms dated broadly from late antiquity to early medieval times. The tradition influenced later Shaiva literature, temple cults, and certain tantric currents, contributing concepts and terminology that persisted in Indian religious thought. Over time, Pashupata groups were absorbed into broader Shaivism, with only fragments surviving as distinct communities in later periods.