The skull-bearing ascetics: an extinct Shaiva order whose vow imitated Shiva's own penance, and which survives chiefly in its opponents' caricatures.
The Kapalika order, the skull-bearers, practised an asceticism modelled on Shiva's skull vow and is extinct as a living order. No Kapalika text survives; the school is known through inscriptions, through literary portraits such as Bhavabhuti's Malatimadhava, and through the hostile caricatures of rival traditions, so its record carries that evidence limit openly.
Sources
Primary
- Reports in Bhavabhuti's Malatimadhava and in rival accounts; no Kapalika text survives.
Secondary
- David N. Lorenzen, The Kapalikas and Kalamukhas.
How this compares to Christianity
How does this branch relate to the historic Christian faith?
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- Reviewer
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What this assessment cannot settle
This assessment determines what this entity teaches and how that teaching relates to the historic Christian creeds. It does not determine whether any person is saved, whether God accepts their worship, whether they are sincere, or whether the criteria applied here are correct.
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