Good morning:
On Mar 18, 2005, at 8:19 AM, Peter Sutphen wrote:
> Would it be accurate to say that the pre-Aryan culture
> was a Shiva-Shakti spirituality?
Yes it most certainly would be. But there is also a great
diversity--it's not all Shiva-Shakti, but other deities as well--or in
some case Shakti-Shiva. Danielou claims that the Shaivite doctrines
were codified around 6000 BC.
> Is Kashmirian
> Shaivism the only extant link to this ancient culture
> today?
No, not at all. There are several extant traditions. Some forms of
Shaivism evolved into other systems, e.g. aspects of Kashmir Shaivism
(the Kapalika tradition) was almost entirely absorbed into what is now
know as the Vajrayana ("Tibetan Buddhism"). Sri Vidya, Sw.
Brahmananda's path, is thriving and still revealing new teachings.
Shaiva-siddhanta is still extant and has a large Tamil, pre-Sanskrit
Shaivite literature. Some of the Shaivite agamas are still in existence
(some were lost). Even the original Shaivite text which the
Bhagavad-gita came from is still extant (The "gita" is a actually a
later Vaishnite rewrite which replaces Shiva with Krishna). The
traditions of the 84 Siddhas are extant as are Tamil "Siddhar"
traditions. The Akharas are still extant. There are numerous Nath
lineages.
There's quite a lot out there. Some of it is entirely oral, some of it
is written down.
Best,
-S.
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