Cynics and Pāśupatas The Seeking of Dishonor - Daniel H. H. Ingalls

Harvard Divinity School
Cynics and Pupatas: The Seeking of Dishonor Author(s): Daniel H. H. Ingalls Source: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct., 1962), pp. 281-298 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1508725 . Accessed: 03/06/2013 06:28
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CYNICS AND PA8UPATAS:THE SEEKING OF DISHONOR

DANIEL H. H. INGALLS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
two traditions of philosophy differ more widely than those of classical Greece and India. It is only when we force our way through the logical surface to the seemingly illogical practices and goals of an earlier age that we can see similarities between the two cultures. These similarities, however, are sometimes so striking that the Indian evidence may help our understanding of Greece and the Greek our understanding of India. One gains such a reciprocal understanding, I think, from examining what I shall call the cults, meaning by this the sum of practices and goals as opposed to the philosophy, of the Greek Cynics and the Indian Pdsupatas. The sources for our knowledge of Cynicism have been gathered more than once.' In what follows I give only such facts as may be useful for comparisonwith the Indian data and in giving them I shall be brief.2 On the other hand, in dealingwith the Pdiupatas, since the pertinent sources have come to light only recently and have not hitherto been translated, I must be more prolix. Cynicism appeared in Athens about the beginning of the fourth century B.C. It is argued whether the first Cynic was Antisthenes (c. 446-366 B.C.) or Diogenes of Sinope (404-323 B.C.). While the ethical teachings of Cynicism may owe much to the former, it was certainly Diogenes who was first called Klov, the dog, from
1 References to the older literature will be found in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopiidie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft s.v. Kynismus and Diogenes von Sinope. Besides this I have used D. Dudley, A History of Cynicism. From Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D., London, I937; Farrand Sayre, The Greek Cynics, Baltimore, Md., 1948; Ragnar Hbistad, Cynic Hero and Cynic King, Uppsala, 1948. I have found Sayre especially useful although I disagree with him on some points. *References. Dio: Dionis Chrysostomi orationes, 2 vols., ed. Guy de Bud6, Bibl. Teubner., I916-I199. Diog. Ep.: Diogenis Epistolae as printed in Epistolographi Graeci ed. Rudolph Hercher, Paris, I873. D.L.: Diogenis Laertii, De Clarorum Philosophorum Vitis, ed. Ant. Westermann and J. F. Boissonade, Paris, 1862. L Luciani Samosatensis opera, ed. Karl Jacobitz, 3 vols., Bibl. Teubner., Quotations from classical authors other than the above are from sec1909-I912. ondary sources as noted ad loc.
PROBABLY no
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which the name Cynicism derives,3 and it seems to have been Diogenes who set the pattern for the costume, practices and general way of life of later Cynics. Cynicism consisted of a cult (a set of practices and goals) passed down from teacher to pupils and accompanied by a body of ethical teaching. The popular sermons of the Cynics exerted considerable influence during the Roman Empire until in the course of the fifth century A.D. Cynicism both as a cult and a philosophy decayed. The practices, whatever their origin, by which the Cynics distinguished themselves can best be regarded within the context of civilized Greek society as practices of asceticism. It is recorded of Diogenes that he would roll himself in a tub over hot sand in summer and embrace snow-coveredstatues in winter (D.L. 6.23). By such acts the Cynics hoped to harden themselves and to gain an apathy to heat and cold. The regular dress of the Cynic, the single robe, to which he added for possessions only a club and a knapsack, was public evidence of his ascetic way of life and his most popular sermons were those which urged his audience to spurnpleasures and a life of ease. But the Cynics were not the only Greeks to practice physical asceticism. Socrates had walked barefoot in the snow; the sermons of the Stoics also disparagedthe pursuit of pleasure. Where the Cynics differedfrom all the Greeks was in their mental asceticism (D.L. 6.70). The Cynic exposed himself regularly to scorn; he actively sought dishonor even at the cost of blows (Dio 8.16). His methods of exciting censure were various: the wearing of filthy garments, the use of violent and indecent language, the imitation of animals, the performancein public of acts that were ridiculous or which gave the impression of madness or which were obscene. All of this finds its exact parallel in the cult of the Pdupatas. Lucian makes a Cynic whom he is satirizing speak thus: "One must be impudent and bold and must abuse everybody, both
commoners and kings. ... Put away modesty, reason and mod-
eration and wipe all blushes from your face" (L. Vit. Auct. io).
3I agree with Sayre, p. 94, in accepting the natural derivation. Pauly-Wissowa prefers D.L.'s derivation from Kvv6oapyes, where the early Cynics are said to have gathered.
CYNICSAND PA~UPATAS
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In general the picture which Lucian gives of the Cynics is of men who were dirty, uneducated, abusive (De morte Peregr. 3, Fugitivi 4, 12 ff.). Lucian was a writer of satires, but much the same picture appears from more sympathetic authors. Diogenes Laertius tells how his namesake of Sinope praised animals for their simple wisdom (D.L. 6.22), how he tried to imitate them, eating raw meat although it gave him indigestion (D.L. 6.34), and how he made water on his tormentorsafter the fashion of a dog (D.L. 6.46), for it was especially the dog that the Cynics imitated (L. Fugitivi 16). Diogenes' favorite method of attracting attention and opprobrium,if we are to believe the anecdotes, was by performing in public those acts of nature which should remain hidden: spitting (D.L. 6.32), defecation (D.L. 6.69), and the act of sex (ibid. and Diog. Ep. 42). By means of public censure the Cynics sought to attain hardness, apathy and freedom. Antisthenes is said to have taught that dishonor (&do6la) was a good thing and much the same as pain
(D.L. 6. 11).
erty and exile as the testing ground of the true Cynic (Dio 8.16). One must grow to independenceof the opinion of men just as one grows to independence of heat and cold. Ultimately the Cynic would attain the stature of Hercules, who on earth was "the most trouble-ridden and wretched of men," but who now as a god is he "to whom men pray that they be not wretched" (Dio 8.28). This gaining of the superhumanpowers of the god through one's subjection to dishonor (Sanskrit: avamdna) was also sought by the PdSupatas. The Pdfupatas of India were worshippers of Siva as 'the Lord of Beasts' (paiu-pati). They had an organizedsystem of training and a prescribed regimen for their order. References to the cult occur first in late portions of the Mahibhirata (50o B.C.-I50 A.D.) and become frequent in the Purdnas.4 Until recently our most important source of knowledge of the P&Supatas was the chapter dealing with them in Mddhava's fourteenth century combut this is a secondary pilation, the Sarva-dariana-sam.graha,5
4The best account of the early history of the PdSupatas is now that of J. N. Banerjea in A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. II, ed. by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, Orient Longmans, i957, PP. 393 ff. 'A careful translation has been made of this chapter by Mr. Minoru Hara,
This same di8oia is listed by Dio together with pov-
284
compilation and deals with the P&Supata philosophy rather than the PdSupata cult. In 192o an accession to PdSupata sources appeared with the publication of the Ganakdriki, of unknown date, and its commentaryby Bhisarvajfia (tenth century A.D.).6 Then in 1940 came much the most important source, indeed our only real source for the cult, the Pdiupata Sfitras (P.S.), perhaps to be ascribed to Lakulisa, and the commentarythereon by Kaundinya.7 The dates of these works are uncertain, but a PdAupata inscription of A.D. 381 8 counts back eleven generations of teachers to Lakulisa, so that if this be our author he must be placed to judge from his style, somewhereabout A.D. ioo. Kaund1inya, is at least as old as the beginning of the Gupta period (fourth century A.D.). He quotes from Manu (50o B.C.-I50 A.D.) but not from the text of Manu as we now have it. A detailed study has recently been made of Pd4upataphilosophy on the basis of the new data,9but not much has been said of the cult nor have the texts themselves been translated except for extracts. The regimen of the PdSupatas prescribed that the aspirant (sddhaka) pass through five stages of life. In the first stage he was to be attached to a temple, to go naked or clad in a single cloth (P.S. I, ii) and to wear the sectarian marks (P.S. 1,6). These consisted principally in a thrice daily application to the body of ashes from a funeral pyre. The application was known as 'bathing with ashes' (bhasmand sndnam) as opposed to 'bathing after the fashion of the world' (lokatak sndnam). Every day the aspirant would honor the god Rudra (Siva) by dancing, imitating the lowing of a bull and the laughter of the god, and by prayers (P.S. 1,8).
Indo-Iranian Journal II (1958), pp. 8-32. For interpreting Mddhava's text Mr. Hara has made use of the ancient PdAupata materials which have recently been discovered. It appears from Hara's work that Mddhava relied almost entirely on the ancient sources. 6 Ganakdriki, ed. C. D. Dalal, Gaekwad Oriental Series, Baroda, 1920. 'Pabupata Sfitras with Panchirthabhishya of Kau4d1inya,ed. R. Ananthakrishna Sastri, Trivandrum Sanskrit Series No. 143, Trivandrum, 1940. 'The Mathard pillar inscription of Candragupta II, Epigraphica Indica, XXI, pp. 1-9. The data of the inscription have been discussed by Banerjea, op. cit. (see footnote 4), PP. 397-398. ' Friederich August Schultz, Die philosophisch-theologischen Lehren des Paiupata-Systems nach dem Paficdrthabhisya und der Ratnatiki, Beitriige zur Sprachund Kulturgeschichte des Orients, Heft io, Walldorf-Hessen, 1958.
CYNICS AND PAMUPATAS
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It is the second stage of the Pi8upata's life that offers striking parallels to the life of a Cynic. In the second stage the Pda'upata was to leave the temple, put off his sectarian marks and court the censure of men by various actions which were ridiculous, which gave the impression of madness or which were improper. The third, fourth and fifth stages represented a gradual progress in asceticism. The aspirant lived first in an abandoned house or and finally in God (GanakSrikd6). cave, next in a burning-ground, I translate below the sutras from P.S. III which deal with the Pdsupata's second stage of life and accompany them with an abbreviated translation of Kaundinya's commentary.10 I print the sutras in capital letters and divide Kauni1inya'scommentary into paragraphs according to its natural divisions of statement (S), question (Q) and answer (A). ThirdChapter of P.S. S. The Third Chapterbeing now in order,we shall recite it after it bears [to the foregoing]. showingthe connection to whatparticular matteris the Q. If so, then pray tell: by reference ThirdChapter connected ? [withthe foregoing] A. By reference to what remains of the prescribed regimen. A. Prior to this [Third Chapter] the injunctionwas enunciated: "After [the aspiranthas come to be] of pure mind as he practices this and that sort of conduct,he shouldperformadditionalasceticism" (cf. P.S. 11,19). Accordingly, whereasa certainstage of life, werelaid downin the sutras time,place,activity,usage,and purpose the of the sectarian enjoining wearing marks,the bathingthrice [a in the at day ashes], [dwelling a] temple,the [worshipof the god we must now enumerate a furtherstage of life, by] laughter,etc., a furthertime, place, etc. Thus, [the sutra] says: III,I. WITHOUTSECTARIANMARK, S. Here the negativeprefixa prohibits[the aspirant]fromshowing the sectarian marks. When [the aspirant]has accomplished his purmeans of those which served as his sectarian pose by objects mark,
10A complete translation of the P.S. with is in course of preparaKaulidinya tion by Mr. Minoru Hara (see footnote 5). In the present essay I indicate omissions by dots. Corruptions and words which are unintelligible or doubtful are indicated by question marks within parentheses.
Q.How?
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REVIEW
e.g., the bathing in ashes, the wearing of flowers taken from the image of God, the wearing of the single cloth [or no cloth at all], etc.; since [the aspirant's] purposes have [now] become of an opposite sort, he should [now] bathe thrice [daily] after the fashion of the world and, assuming the garb of a layman (?) as though he
had never borne the sectarian marks, he should perform his acts openly (?).11 Q. To what extent and at what time should his acts be performed? A. [The sutra] answers: 111.2. ENGAGING IN OPEN (vyakta-) ACTION (dcdrah). S. Here the word open indicates in the daytime: open, clear, public, in broad day. The prefix d- in the word dcdrah12 indicates [doing an action] to such an extent that it gives rise to dishonor (avamdna). Action here stands for snoring and such practices. The aspirant shall enact this snoring, etc. before people as a player would act upon a stage (?). Thus he "engages in open action." Q. For the aspirant who hides his sect and engages in open action what is the outcome of these acts? A. Dishonor, for the sutra says: 111,3. DISHONORED (avamatah) S. [The commentary is here corrupt, but the following seems reasonably clear.] . . . On seeing actions contrary to good conduct, knowledge and rule, people will despise him mentally (?), thinking "he is wholly depraved," and he will receive their low opinion. It has been said, A wise man should seek lack of honor like ambrosia; The good brahminshould hate honor like poison; For he who is despised lies happy, freed of all attachment. The monk should never think of the faults [or] the evil of
another.13
Q. He who is without sectarian mark must become dishonored amongst whom by his open conduct? A. [The sutra] answers: III,4. AMONGST ALL BEINGS, S. Here the word 'all beings' must be taken to mean 'all men of caste and prescribedstation of life.'
is meant. In place SThe text is corrupt. For ?aIddlramaI suspect varundgrama of avyaktdk one wants vyaktdahin view of what follows. 12Kaund1inya has a weakness for reading elaborate meanings into the use of prefixes. Occasionally d- has the meaning of extent or limit, but not in dcdra. 1" The verses bear a strong resemblance to Manu 2.162-163. They are probably corrupt. One could improve the first by reading hy avamdnam for naiva mdnam. In the second, tasya pdpam is really senseless.
CYNICS AND PASUPATAS
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Q. Why . . . ? A. Because the word 'beings' is used; the sutra does not say 'among gods, animals and barbarians.'
Q. Why?
A. Because that would be incompatible with the taking [of good karma] and the giving [of bad karma that results] from the censure of his open actions .... Q. What is to be done amongst all beings by him who is censured? A. He is to wander, for [the sutra] says: 111,5. ILL-TREATED HE SHOULD WANDER. S. . . . Ill-treatment: the application of sticks and fists, corporal ill-treatment . . . . This ill-treatment should be regarded as a coronation to a poor man. It should be [to him] as the touchstone [is] to gold or as the banner of Indra [is to Indra].4 The word caret ['he should wander'; the verb also means 'to graze'] here indicates acquisition. The sense is that he should wander under false accusations on the principle that he who is dishonored is on [the path to] acquiring merit and [performing] the religious injunction. Q. Of him who wanders dishonoredand ill-treated is there simply an alleviation of his suffering or is there a purification [iuddhi, i.e., complete elimination] also? A. There is purificationalso, for [the sutra] says: 111,6. [HE THUS BECOMES] FREED OF EVIL S. .... Evil is of two sorts as it is characterizedby pleasure or pain. The first is such as frenzy, drunkenness, folly, sleep, laziness, konatd,15 the embracing [of women], persistent lying, over-eating, etc.; the second is such as headache, toothache, eyeache, etc. These evils, which properly belong to the soul, are manifested in the body and its faculties just as images are reflected in a mirror. All these evils are removed from him. Q. Does the cause of the purification, that is, the removal of his evils, consist solely in these two means: dishonor, which is mental, and ill-treatment, which is physical? Or is there a verbal means as well? A. There is, for [the sutra] says: III,7. BECAUSE OF THE SLANDER OF OTHERS.
ca: I am unsure of the meaning. 15The dictionaries know a kaunya: 'paralysis of the hand.' The noun in this list corresponds to the adjective vdyuruddha on p. 81, line 7, literally 'hampered by [the humour] wind.' Vdyugrasta means epileptic, crazy, and I imagine a similar sense is intended here. Why paralysis or epilepsy should be considered pleasurable I cannot say.
14 Indrakilavac
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Slander: striking him with such harsh words as "He has given S.... up his sectarian mark, he is an outcaste, he is mad, he is in a daze, he is a fool, he is asleep, he is epileptic,16he is a lecher, his acts are improper, his words are improper." The word 'slander' is in the ablative of cause; [hence, one becomes freed of evils because of the slander of others]. Therefore one should bring upon oneself dishonor [ill-treatment and slander] by causing others to apply it to oneself. Otherwise [such acts as are here enjoined] would result simply in bondage.17 Q. ... And how are these evils, which manifest themselves in one's body and faculties, destroyed by the dishonor, [ill-treatment and slander] which arise from others? A. The answeris given, for the sutra says: 111,8. HE GIVES HIS BAD KARMA TO THEM S. Here bad karma (pdpa) is synonymous with demerit (adharma). . . . Here the word pdpa is used. And why pdpa? It is called pdpa because it purifies (pdvaka), because it causes one to fall (pdtaka), and because it binds (read pdiaka). It purifies one with headache, toothache, eyeache, etc., it causes one to fall into hell, etc., and it binds one with undesirable matter, namely the body and faculties. Hence it is called pdpa because it purifies, causes one to fall and binds. Between pdpa (bad karma) and pdpman (evil, ills) there is a relation of cause and effect as between seed and sprout. Evils grow from the seed, bad karma. Such is the sense. 'To them' is dative of donation. To those who apply to him dishonor, etc., to them he gives, donates, transfers [his bad karma]. Such is the sense. Q. By means of dishonor, etc. does he obtain only purification,or does he obtain increase (vrddhi) also? A. He obtains increasealso, for [the sutra] says: III,9. AND HE TAKES THEIR GOOD KARMA FROM THEM. III,io. BECAUSE OF THIS (tasmdt) S. Here the word 'because of this' is a pronoun referring to such means as dishonor,etc.
Q. How?
A. Because it is by dishonor,etc. that one purified,i.e., one's evils and

"1Vdyuruddha: see footnote 15.
on the next sutra, bad karma (pdpa) is "1As will be seen from the comment both a purifier (pdvaka) and a bondage (pdda). If one commits evil without suffering dishonor, ill-treatment and slander, the evil serves simply to bind one to the world of transmigration. By means of dishonor, etc., however, it becomes a means of purification.
289 CYNICS AND PAMUPATAS the seeds of one's evils are destroyed, and that one is strengthened, viz., through one's taking on of good karma; because it is by this also that one gains the definitive, absolute presence of God, which in turn causes one to obtain Is such a superhumanbody, senses, and objects of sense as belong to God . . . ; therefore the sutra says 'because of this.' III,II. HE SHOULD GO ABOUT LIKE AN OUTCASTE (preta); S. Preta is here used in the sense of a man, not in the sense of a ghost. He should appear as though mad, like a pauper,'9 his body covered with filth, letting his beard, nails and hair grow long, without any bodily care. Hereby he becomes cut off from the respectable castes and conditions of men and gives rise to disgust... III,12. AT TIMES HE SHOULD SNORE, S. Now, after he has gained knowledge, has sloughed off his impurities and has received permission [from his teacher], he should go forth from the presence of his teacher and, entering a village (?) or a city where there is a concourse of people, neither too close to them nor too far away but in such a place as he may not obstruct them and yet will fall within their sight, at the same time avoiding the path of elephants, horses, carts and pedestrians, he should sit down and enact the symptoms of sleep such as nodding his head and yawning. And right there while not sleeping he should pretend to go to sleep. Then he should make the air of his breathing reverberate in his throat. Then the common people will say in their hearts or out loud, "This fellow has fallen asleep," and will mistreat him. By this false accusation whatever good karma they possess passes to him and whatever bad karma he has goes to them. Such is the act called snoring . . . . 111,13. OR HE SHOULD TREMBLE, S. Here tremblingimplies thought and will.
Q. How so?
A. It is only after thought, will and effort that the limbs of the body are to be agitated.20 The common people who see him will think, "This fellow is an epileptic," and will mistreat him. By this false accusation their merit comes to him and his bad karma goes to them. Such is the act called trembling . . . .
Read prdpikd? purupendtimala. the o As much as to say that the trembling should be intentional. This is sequence: thought (lit., knowledge), will, effort, act. accepted Vaieesika
'" Read
18
290
III,14. OR HE SHOULD LIMP, S. Limping indicates a deformationof the leg. When he limps people will say, "His faculty of walking is impaired; every impurity is given free rein in his body." For it is said: Poverty and excess of disease, Idiocy, ugliness and falling-sickness Also birth in an outcaste family: (bhraim.atd), These are evidence of evil deeds done in the past. They will speak [thus] and will mistreat him. By this false accusation their merit comes to him and his bad karma goes to them. Such is the act called limping. .... Q. Is there any means [of provoking censure] by acts performed with regard to women? A. There is, for [the sutra] says: III,15. OR HE SHOULD PLAY THE LECHER. S. ... He should take up his stand by a group of women neither too close nor too far away but so that he falls within their sight. Turning his attention to one of them that is young and pretty he should stare at her and act as though he were setting his desire upon
her and honoring her. When . . . she looks at him, he should act
out the symptoms of love such as straightening his hair, etc. Then every one, women, men and eunuchs will say, "This is no man of chastity; this is a lecher." By this false accusation their merit comes to him and his bad karmagoes to them. .... III,16. HE SHOULD ACT IMPROPERLY (apitatkurydt); [The term apitatkurydt, which appears elsewhere as avitatkurydt, is peculiar to the Pdgupatas.21 The commentator limits the impropriety perhaps more than was originally intended.] S. ... The action here refers to what is decent and is only a laughing matter. That is, he should take or hold or touch such objects as would not incur the breaking of his vows and that are actually pure,22viz., sticks, clods, etc. Then people will say, "He is acting improperly; he is not aware of the difference between pure and impure, between what one should do and what one should not do." By this false accusation he receives merit and gives demerit and so becomes purified ... III,17. HE SHOULD SPEAK IMPROPERLY (apitadbhdset),23
S. .
.
. This refers to speaking nonsense or repeating oneself or
21Cf. Minoru Hara, op. cit. (cf. footnote 5), pp. 27-29. n Read uciri2pa. * This term also is peculiar to the PiAupatas.
CYNICSAND PAGUPATAS 291 speakingunclearly. Then people will say, "He speaksimproperly; he is not awareof the difference betweenwhat shouldbe said and what shouldnot be said." By this false accusation he receivesmerit andgivesdemerit andso becomes purified..... TO BE ILL-TREATED; III,i8. SOTHATHE MAYCOME III,19. FOR A WISE MAN, BEING ILL-TREATED,ACCOMPLISHESTHEREBY ALL ASCETICISM.
One may now compare the Sanskrit and the Greek data. The P&fupataaspirant in his second stage of progress and the Cynic in his regular mode of life lived in the world, wandering from place to place and engaging in a number of acts calculated to shock the public. One is struck by the fact that the recorded actions of the Cynics are more shocking than those of the PgAupatas. Onanism in public is a surer method of winning censure than is pretending to fall asleep in the market place. But the Sanskrit evidence strongly suggests that serious breaches of decency had come in the course of Pdgupatahistory to be modified. Thus, one suspects that the sutras concerning lechery, improper action and improper speech once referred to actions less innocent than those specified by the commentator Kaun;dinya. How would the public have accused the Pdiupata of touching impure things and of speaking impurely if the PiAupata had actually limited himself to what was pure as Kaund1inya requires? The same modification occurred eventually among the Cynics also. In Saint Augustine's time the Cynics no longer gave their sexual exhibitions in public and the good saint wondered whether even in the past they had perhaps only pretended to do such acts.24 The purpose which Pd4upatas and Cynics ascribed to these actions show both similaritiesand differences,of which the former, I would say, predominate. The Pdsupatas sought for purification and increase (Juddhi and vrddhi): purification from the evil karma of the past and an accession of good karma, one might almost call it strength, for the future. This increase they believed to be necessary for the building of a superhuman body,
4 De Civ. Dei 14.2o, quoted by Sayre, p. 25.
292
which would eventually equate them with the object of their worship, Siva. It is worth noting that the Pibupatas distinguished their religion from that of other Indian cults by their peculiar understandingof the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal was freedom (moksa), which they understood to mean not only freedom from suffering, but freedom to act without any let. The latter implied omnipotence, the being beyond the power of all others and the having of all others within one's power (P.S. I, 27-28), i.e., the nature of Rudra-Siva himself. All the PdSupata texts preserved to us emphasize this positive aspect, as they call it, of in the ultimate goal of freedom. The Sarva-darsana-sam.graha that remarks its the sentence of the opening chapter on Pdaupatas it is chiefly in respect to this aspect of moksa that the Pd4upatas differedfrom others. To all of this one may find parallels in the traditions of the Cynics. Pseudo-Diogenes urges one to be strong through poverty
and dishonor (Ep. Diog. 31.4) What he meant by dishonor
(d8o0ia) is precisely what the PiSupatas mean by avamdna. And elsewhere we find the Cynics urging their followers to unsocial actions in order to gain strength (L. Vit. Auct. io; Dio 8.20; 9.12) just as the Pdaupatas sought to gain increase (v.rddhi) from similar acts. In this way the Cynics hoped to free themselves. Diogenes is reported to have said, "From the time that Antisthenes set me free I have not been a slave" (Sayre, p. 7, quoting Epictetus). The author of a letter ascribed to Crates writes, "We live in perfect peace, having been made free from every evil by the Sinopean Diogenes" (Sayre ibid., quoting Crat. Ep. 7). The terms free and freedom are as characteristic of the Cynics as of the Pd4upatas. The terms, of course, are not unusual in religious literature, but what the Cynics understood
by
EXEv6EpO`,
I think was very like what the Pdiupatas under-
stood by mukta: not only freedom from sufferingbut freedom to unlimited power, whether Herculean or Saiva makes little difference. The Cynics by undergoing the hardship of dishonor hoped to equate themselves with the object of their worship, the hero, or in their particular cult one might better say the god, Hercules; cf. D.L. 6.71. Hercules was regarded as the first teacher, the archegete, of the Cynic tradition (L. Conviv. 16;
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cf., also Vit. Auct. 8 and reff. quoted by Sayre, p. 89) and the whole costume and practice of the Cynics were interpreted as symbolical and imitative of the founder. "Regard your cloak as the lion skin, your staff as the club, your knapsack as the earth and sea wherewith to nourish yourself; for thus will the fortitude of Hercules stand by you, which is above all turns of fortune" (Diog. Ep. 26). The parallel between Hercules and the P&vupatateacher Lakuliha, the 'Lord of the Club,' is remarkable. In two points one may notice a difference of intention between PaSupatas and Cynics. The Pdaupata Sfitra lays stress on the transfer of sin and merit. The belief that one might transfer one's bad karma to another and receive his good karma in return is fairly common in Sanskrit literature outside the PdAupata tradition. Manu uses the belief in order to intimidate wrongdoers who could not be easily caught and punished by worldly means. One must not bathe in another man's tank without permission or one will carry off all his bad karma and leave one's One must not let a guest depart unfed or good (Manu 4.201). the guest will carry off one's good karma and leave his bad The idea occurs frequently in the stories of the (Manu 3.100oo). came even to be applied in the formulation of and MahabhArata oaths, e.g., "If I do you any wrong, then may my good deeds from birth be yours." 25 Such notions were naturally perpetuated in India because of the general belief in karma as an invisibly efficacious force. One is not surprised to miss them in the accounts of the Cynics. On the other hand, one finds in the writings of the Cynics the claim that the philosopher who subjects himself to the public censure is thereby benefitting the public. He is really shaming them more than they shame him. He is showing them the truth and thus effects an ethical cure of those whom he visits much as a physician effects a physical cure (Dio 8.5-8; Diog. Ep. io). This claim is missing from the PdAupatatradition. Public benefaction, while it was certainly practiced by the Hindus, was given by them a lower status than by the Greeks. Most Hindus of the
'The Paficatantra in the Recension . . . of . . . Pflr&abhadra, ed. Joh. Hertel, Harvard Oriental Series ii, 1908, p. 235, lines 21-22.
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first millennium A.D. would have reproached the P&Supatas for the I but would have found fault harming few, think, public, with them for not benefitting the public. Hindu saints in general have limited their benefactions to the circle of their pupils. I shall not compare the P&Supataand Cynical philosophies, for it seems to me that in both traditions philosophy was something secondary in point of time and can furnish us no evidence concerningthe origins of the two cults. As regards the Pdaupatas I think there can be no question of the correctness of this view. F. A. Schulz 26 finds that philosophy was a relatively late accretion to the PdAupataand observes quite rightly that what passes for P&Supata philosophy is essentially an adaptation of and goals Yoga and Vaibesika notions to the religious practices Sim.khyaof the cult. As regards the Cynics Ragnar H6istad has argued against Dillon and Sayre for the essentiality of the ethical element in Cynicism.27 But the very excellence of HOiistad's work seems to me to defeat his argument. All the elements of Cynical philosophy fit neatly into the pattern of Greek intellectual history, nor could one ask for a clearer demonstrationof this than H6istad's learned collection of quotations. But the practices of the Cynics, their doggishness and their sexual exhibitionism fit into nothing. The practices and the philosophy, then, must be of distinct origin, no matter how happy one may judge the later marriage of the two to have been. I can see no reason to reject the statements of the ancients that doggishness was brought to Athens from the Black Sea by Diogenes of Sinope. In seeking a source for these cults let us turn to India. One may begin by pointing out that the seeking of dishonor was only one of the peculiar practices of the PiSupatas. In the aspirant's first stage of training, when he was to be attached to a temple and to wear the sectarian marks, he followed a set of practices that were equally strange. Every day he would worship his god by "laughter, song, dance, bellowing, mental and verbal prayer and offerings" (P.S. 1,8). In doing this he was acting out a that of the aspirant and that of the god himself. The double r61le, aspirant was a beast (pa'u), the god was the Lord of Beasts
26
Op. cit. (cf. footnote 9), page 6. 7 Cf. footnote i.
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(pasupati). The beast bellows, the divine herdsman laughs the the wild laugh that accompanies his dances of creation at.tahdsa, and destruction. A goodly portion of the methods for seeking dishonor are reducible to an original intention of imitating the beast. The remaindermay perhaps be reduced to action originally showing the performerto have been inspirited by the god. The aspirant hoped to transform himself first into the Lord's beast and finally into the Lord of Beasts himself. Such was surely the guiding intent of his regimen. Sanskrit literature outside the Pasupata tradition furnishes us with brief references to a number of beast-vows: the bull-vow (govrata), the cock-vow, the sparrow-vow.28The oldest reference to the bull-vow shows that this was a regimen to be followed for a brief period of time during which the enactor imitated the actions of a bull. The Jaiminiya Brahmana specifies that the enactor of the bull-vow should have sexual congress in defiance of all human laws, that is, indiscriminatelywith forbidden members of his family as well as with others. In later times the govrata was purified. In Raghuvamia (5th century A.D.) Canto II, we find King Dilipa following a govrata by imitating exactly the movements of a released cow for one month: whenever the cow walked he walked, when she lay down he lay down, when she drank he drank, etc. One infers that the cock-vow and the sparrow-vowinvolved similar imitations of animals followed over a prescribed length of time. The fact that these vows bear the names of animals noted for their sexuality: the bull, the cock, the sparrow, suggests that the vows were intended to secure magical ends by sexual means. Here, I think, lies the origin of the P&iupata's'playing the lecher,' 'acting improperly,''speaking improperly.' On the other hand, one suspects that the simulation of epilepsy by the P&Supatas,the trembling and sudden falling down, was once taken as evidence that the god was moving within his votary. The interpretationof epilepsy as evidence of possession is worldwide. The shaman both in Asia and America has been generally expected to show its symptoms.29
8See Ingalls, JAOS
77 (1957), P. 223. 'Cf. Mircea Eliade, Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'Extase,
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One may seek to apply the Indian evidence to Greece. It is certain that the practices and goals of the Cynics show numerous similarities to those of the Pd4upatas. While it seems possible to me that the two cults over the course of the centuries from time to time discovered each other,"3I doubt that the evidence permits one to speak of a genetic relation. If Cynicism was borrowed as a cult from India or if the Pd4upata was borrowed as a cult from Greece one would expect more evidence of its foreign background within each cult.31 It seems to me best to regard the two cults as parallel. If one grants this, one will grant it to be likely that Cynicism sprang from an origin similar to the origin of the to my way of thinking, were shamans P~iupata. The PdAupatas, or if you wish, they were a cult whose shamanismwas manques, modified by the mores of a civilized society. I would say just
Payot, Paris, 1951, p. 209 et passim; Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture, Houghton Mifflin, Cambridge, Mass., 1934, PP. 42-43. S Onesicratus, a Cynic and disciple of Diogenes, accompanied Alexander to India and wrote an account of that expedition. In his account, now lost, Onesicratus claimed to have talked to Indian wise men. These facts are adduced by Sayre, p. 42. One may add that what Onesicratus heard from the wise men, as it is transmitted to us by Strabo, sounds as much like PdAupata doctrine as Cynic. Hitherto it has generally been supposed that the gymnosophists encountered by Alexander were Jains, simply because one sect of the Jains is known to have gone naked. It is more likely, though, if we are to put any credence in the Greek accounts of what the gymnosophists said, that they were 8aiva. The Pdiupatas during the first stage of their life might go naked (P.S. I, I1). The Greeks themselves occasionally connected the Cynics with India. Lucian, writing of the death of Peregrinus, speaks of that Cynic's suicide by fire as a Brahmin custom (L. De morte Peregr. 25, 39). He was reminded, of course, of the suicide of the Indian Kalanos (ibid. 25; cf. Arrian 7.3.2 ff.), but the particular fact of Peregrinus' looking to the south just before entering the flames must have been borrowed directly from India, as C. R. Lanman long ago noted (F. G. Allinson, Lucian: Selected Writings, Boston, [I9o5], p. 200). There exists a stronger possibility that the PdSupatas were influenced by the Cynics. One cannot avoid the suspicion that the name Lakuli'a is derived both semantically and phonetically from the patron saint of Cynicism. Lakulila (varr. lakule'a, nakuliga), which is used as an epithet of Siva and as the name of that incarnation of Siva who was the archegete of the PaAupatas, means literally 'lord (na) of the club (lakula).' But the Greek word 'HpaKXi~, if it lost its first syllable in order to help out a folk etymology, could quite well become RILakuli/esa in Sanskrit by phonetic equivalence. I know of no occurrence of Lakulisa or its variants which need be put earlier than the time of Christ. 31 Thus, I cannot agree with Sayre, who on much slimmer evidence of similarity than has been adduced above attempts to derive Cynicism from India. Sayre makes much of the fact that Sinope was on the trade route from India to Greece. I admit that Indian sadhus might have come to Sinope, but I find the step from possibility to probability here a long one.
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the same of the Cynics. Indeed, the elements of beast-imitation and sexuality are stronger in the Cynic tradition than in our extant records of the Pdiupatas. The Cynic cult was brought into Greece from the Black Sea and it is presumably there that one should seek for the shamanistic origins of Cynicism. Since the term shamanism covers a wide field of phenomena it may be well to say what I envisage more particularly here by the term. I imagine both the Cynic and the Pds4upata cults to have derived from sects of men who performedbeast-vows. Now, among uncivilized peoples over a wide area of the world, especially in Asia and North America, beast-imitations are undertaken by shamans, professional magicians who prove themselves usually by the symptoms of their power rather than by an hereditary position.32 Their beast-vows serve as initiations, as methods of securing special powers, as preparations for the curing of sickness. The Cynic's notion of himself as a physician of men is quite in keeping with a shamanistic origin. It is the white side of shamanism, one might say, whereas the dishonest transfer of hidden forces by the PiSupata might be called the black side. When the shamanistic practices of Cynics and Pafupatas were introduced into the civilized parts of Greece and India the very acts which had brought honor to the magician of an uncivilized society now brought dishonor. Dishonor, yes; but one must qualify the term, for both Cynic and PaSupatagained a notoriety that they clearly enjoyed. How much of the enjoyment was that of the uncivilized magician happy at the recognition of his inhumanity and how much was that of the civilized exhibitionist would be hard to say. The dishonor, at any rate, differed from that of ordinarymen. At the same time, the old practices were modified or took on meanings in conformity with the civilized environment. In India, although the old intent was kept fairly clearly in mind, the prac2Among certain very primitive peoples beast-rituals, such as the Australian intichiuma, are undertaken by an hereditary section, a totem group, of the tribe and it may be that the intention of those rituals was to produce more animals of the sort imitated; cf. Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, Third ed., Part I, The Magic Art, Vol. I, pp. 85 ff. From these the beast-vows of the shamans differ by the nature of the performers (virtuosi as opposed to hereditary totem members), by the effect of the act (productive of shock and wonder) and by the purpose.
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tices were rapidly renderedless shocking to the public. In Greece the element of shock was long preserved, but the original purpose was obscured by the ethics which the Cynics adopted from Antisthenes and continued to borrow from the Stoics. The Cynics of the Roman Empire have some curiously moderntraits. One seems to have read of them recently in Celine or in Henry Miller. It is only when we speculate on the origins of Cynicism that the Indian parallels become instructive. They seem to point backward to a cult that was very unmodern indeed.

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Cynics and Pāśupatas The Seeking of Dishonor - Daniel H. H. Ingalls

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Harvard Divinity School

CYNICS AND PA8UPATAS:THE SEEKING OF DISHONOR

This same di8oia is listed by Dio together with pov-

CYNICS AND PAMUPATAS

CYNICS AND PASUPATAS

HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

A. Because it is by dishonor,etc. that one purified,i.e., one's evils and

HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

. This refers to speaking nonsense or repeating oneself or

I think was very like what the Pdiupatas under-

CYNICS AND PAMUPATAS

HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

Op. cit. (cf. footnote 9), page 6. 7 Cf. footnote i.

CYNICS AND PASUPATAS

HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

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