Religious-philosophical texts in the tradition of medieval Hinduism. Overthrow of Kalavada in the literature of militant Sivaism in XII cent.

Abstract

The paper presents an attempt to examine some problems related to the general trends of development of the Indian Cultural Text. The basic concept of the universal interdependency and intercommunication required from the Indian authors of the Middle Age (especially — from the authors of the Politological and Philosophical treatises of any description) a detailed critical analyses of the works of their predecessors. Many cultural items are known to us only from such a critical description and could be reconstructed on the basis of it. The present paper is just an attempt to collect the information concerning the philosophical school of the so-called “Kālavādins” (“Chronosophists”) on the basis of the critical material in the Viraśaiva (Militant Sivaism) canon (XII–XIII cent.). The textual material of the paper is practically unknown in the Indological literature.

Keywords:

Militant Sivaism, Palkuriki Somanatha’s (1190–1266) works, agiographical treatises, “Kālavāda” (chronosophy doctrine)