8 ABHINAVAGUPTA
His students were numerous, and a few school works, such
as the Sentences of Hermann (Epitome theologiae Christianae)
or the considerable exposition of Pauline writings (Commen-
taria Cantabrigiensis), rely heavily on Abelard’s teaching.
Several well-known masters also turned to Abelard as a sig-
nificant thinker. Perhaps the most important of these is Peter
Lombard, whose Book of Sentences, modeled on Abelard’s Sic
et non, contains many of Abelard’s opinions and became the
primary text for training theologians during the next four
hundred years. However, the most lasting influence Peter
held was with the community of the Paraclete. Until its dis-
solution during the French Revolution (1792), the monas-
tery held its own as the special foundation of Héloïse and
Master Peter, preserving Abelardian manuscripts and con-
serving the finer points of his teachings.
The literary legacy of Abelard records the genius of a
probing, mature, and experienced teacher. He expounded
texts vigorously and forged seminal ideas for the develop-
ment of Christian thought. He opposed Augustinian views
on several counts, denying for example that the guilt of
Adam was transmitted to humanity. Abelard created a more
precise language to describe the interior character of sin and
moral culpability and considered consent as the single factor
that could render human behavior sinful. He also believed
that the redemption theories that expressed the notion of a
price or ransom imposed on God were unacceptable. Instead,
Abelard held that Christ’s redemptive work as the incarnate
Word, in life as in death, was the supreme expression and
fulfillment of God’s creative love. Finally, Abelard’s ap-
proach to theology was part of a new mode of thought that
brought questions, debate, and systematization to the fore as
the science of sacred doctrine. Abelard did this with bravado,
drawing upon the best in these procedures, creating a few
himself, and integrating both method and doctrine through
the filter of his penetrating intelligence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the nineteenth century, scholarly research on the twelfth centu-
ry as a locus for monastic reform and the rise of the schools
fostered a renaissance in Abelardian studies. The nineteenth-
century editions of Abelard’s theological writings remain in-
valuable: volume 178 of the Patrologia Latina, edited by J.-P.
Migne (Paris, 1885), and Petri Abaelardi opera, 2 vols., ed-
ited by Victor Cousin (Paris, 1849–1859). More recent criti-
cal editions and major studies of Abelard’s works are listed
below, in chronological order.
Texts and Studies
Buytaert, Eligius M., ed. Petri Abelardi opera theologica. 2 vols. In
Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, vols. 11 and
12. Turnhout, 1969. Includes a comprehensive bibliography
up to 1967.
Jolivet, Jean. Arts du langage et théologie chez Abélard. Études de
philosophie mediévale, no. 57. Paris, 1969.
Luscombe, David E. The School of Peter Abelard. Cambridge
Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, n.s. no. 14. Cam-
bridge, 1969.
Luscombe, David E. Peter Abelard. The Historical Association,
General Series, no. 95. London, 1979. Includes an excellent
updated bibliography, a list of English translations of Abe-
lard’s works, a summary of the best scholarly articles, and a
critique of the most significant studies on Abelard.
Peppermüller, Rolf. Abaelards Auslegung des Römerbriefes. Beiträge
zur Geschichte der Philosophie und der Theologie des Mitte-
lalters, n.s. no. 10. Münster, 1972.
Weingart, Richard E. The Logic of Divine Love: A Critical Analysis
of the Soteriology of Peter Abailard. Oxford, 1970.
Essay Collections
Peter Abelard. Edited by Eligius M. Buytaert. Proceedings of the
International Conference, Louvain, 10–12 May 1971.
Mediaevalia Lovanensia, series I, studia II. Louvain, 1974.
Pierre Abélard, Pierre le Vénérable: Les courants philosophiques, lit-
téraires et artistiques en occident au milieu du douzième siècle.
Abbaye de Cluny, 2–9 July 1972. Colloques internationaux
du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, no. 546.
Paris, 1975.
Petrus Abaelardus (1079–1142): Person, Werk und Wirkung. Pro-
ceedings of the International Colloquium, Trier, 17–19
April 1979. Edited by Rudolph Thomas, David E. Luscom-
be, et al. Trier theologische Studien, no. 18. Trier, Germany,
1981.
EILEEN F. KEARNEY (1987)
ABHINAVAGUPTA (fl. c. 975–1025 CE), Kashmirian
Śaiva theologian. Descended from Atrigupta, a brahman
scholar brought to Kashmir from the Doab by King
Lalitāditya (c. 724–760 CE), Abhinavagupta was the son,
conceived in Kaula ritual, of Vimalā and Narasim: hagupta.
He lost his mother in early childhood—a circumstance that
he saw as the start of his spiritual progress—and was trained
by his learned Śaiva father in grammar, logic and hermeneu-
tics. Later, when immersed in the study of the poetic arts,
he became intoxicated with devotion to Śiva, and, giving up
all thoughts of marriage and family, pursued the life of a stu-
dent in the homes of numerous exponents of the various
Śaiva traditions and their opponents.
Abhinavagupta’s major works fall into four groups,
treating the Trika, the Krama, the Pratyabhijñā, and aesthet-
ics. In the field of the Trika his main effort went into the
exegesis of the Mālinı̄vijayottara Tantra, which he saw not
only as the fundamental scripture of the Trika but also as the
essence of the entire Śaiva revelation in all its branches. In
the Mālinı̄vijayavārttika he elaborated this claim, arguing for
a “supreme nondualism” (paramādvayavāda) that attributed
to the Absolute as autonomous consciousness the power to
contain both plurality and unity as the modes of its self-
representation, and thereby demonstrated that the Trika, as
the embodiment in revelation of this Absolute, transcends
and contains the dichotomy between the orthodox (dualist)
and heterodox (nondualist) directions in Saivism then con-
fronting each other.
The monumental Tantrāloka, composed later, ex-
pounded all aspects of the Trika, theoretical, yogic, and ritu-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION

al, while seeking to integrate within the catholic authority of
the Mālinı̄vijayottara Tantra later, more heterodox develop-
ments, particularly the Krama-based cult of Kālı̄. Between
these two works he composed the Parātrim: śikāvivaran: a, in
which he focused on the elite Kaula practices of the Trika.
The Krama, strongly present in the Trika of Tantrāloka, was
the object of independent study in his commentary on the
Kramastotra (Krama Hymn) of the lineage of
Jñānanetranātha. This either has not survived or has not yet
come to light. Of Abhinavagupta’s work on the Krama we
have only his short Kramastotra and a quotation from an un-
named work in which he follows the Krama worship of the
Devı̄pañcaśataka.
In the philosophical tradition of the Pratyabhijñā we
have two masterly commentaries, the Īśvarapratyab-
hijñāvimarśini on the Pratyabhijñākārikā of his teacher’s
teacher Utpaladeva, and the Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivr: ti-
vimarśinı̄ on that author’s lost auto-commentary on the
same. Through the profound philosophical scholarship of
these works the nondualistic tradition was fully equipped to
justify its rejection of the dualism of the Śaiva Siddhānta, the
illusionism of the Vedānta, and the lack of the concept of
transcendental synthesis in the nondualistic idealism of the
Yogācāra Buddhists, while seeing these positions as approxi-
mations to its own.
In the field of aesthetics Abhinavagupta achieved pan-
Indian recognition for his commentaries on the Dhvanyāloka
of Ānandavardhana, fortifying the latter’s doctrine of the pri-
macy of suggestion (dhvani) in poetry, and on the
Bharatanāt:yaśāstra. This second commentary, the Abhina-
vabhāratı̄, exhibits vast learning in the arts of drama, dance,
and music, and is justly famous for its subtle theory on the
nature of aesthetic experience as a distinct mode of cognition
between worldly, appetitive awareness and the blissful interi-
ority of enlightened consciousness. The study of aesthetics
was traditional among the Śaivas of Kashmir, reflecting the
importance of dance and music in their liturgies and the aes-
theticism of the Kaula mystical cults, which saw enlighten-
ment not in withdrawal from extroverted cognition but in
its contemplation as the spontaneous radiance of the self.
Abhinavagupta profoundly influenced the subsequent
history of Śaivism in Kashmir, both directly and indirectly,
through the simpler and more formulaic works of popular-
ization produced by his pupil Ks: emarāja. The nondualistic
doctrine which they expounded permanently colonized the
cult of Svacchandabhairava, which was the basic Śaivism of
the valley of Kashmir, and later it formed the basis of the
Kashmirian cult of the goddess Tripurasundarı̄. This influ-
ence was not confined to Kashmir: Abhinavagupta’s lineage
established this tradition in Tamil Nadu, particularly at the
great Śaiva center of Cidambaram, propagating the belief
that Abhinavagupta was no mortal but an incarnation of Śiva
himself. Many Sanskrit works by Tamils on the Trika,
Krama, Pratyabhijñā, and Śrı̄vidyā (e.g. Kr: s: n: adāsa’s
Śivasūtravārttika and Parātrim: śikālaghuvr: ttivimarśinı̄, the
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION
ABLUTIONS 9
anonymous Īśvarapratyabhijñāvimarśinı̄vyākhyā, Maheś-
varānanda’s Mahārthamañjarı̄parimala, Tejānandanātha’s
Ānandakalpalatikā, Śivānanda’s Nityās: od: aśikārn: avar: ju-
vimarśini, Amr: tānanda’s Yoginı̄hr: -dayadı̄pikā, and Śrı̄ni-
vāsa’s Tripurārahasyajñānakhan: d: avyākhyā) maintained this
tradition from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. Out-
side the Tantric Śaiva milieu the works of Abhinavagupta
and Ks: emarāja provided the metaphysical infrastructure of
the Ahirbudhnya Sam: hitā and Laks: mı̄ Tantra of the
Pañcarātra Vais: n: navas and inspired the Śaiva Vedānta of
Śrı̄kan: t: ha, devotee of Śiva at Cidambaram.
SEE ALSO Śaivism, articles on Krama Śaivism, Pratyabhijñā,
Śaivism in Kashmir, Trika Śaivism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gnoli, Raniero, ed. The Aesthetic Experience according to Ab-
hinavagupta. 2d rev. ed. Varanasi, 1968.
Pandey, Kanti Chandra. Abhinavagupta: An Historical and Philo-
sophical Study. 2d ed., rev. & enl. Varanasi, 1963.
New Sources
Isaeva, N. V. From Early Vedanta to Kashmir Shaivism: Gaudapa-
da, Bhartrhari, and Abhinavagupta. Albany, 1995.
Muller-Ortega, Paul Eduardo. The Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula
Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-dual Shaivism of
Kashmir. Albany, 1989.
ALEXIS SANDERSON (1987)
Revised Bibliography
ABLUTIONS are ceremonial washings of the human
body or particular parts of it; of objects that come into close
contact with the human body, such as cooking utensils or
food; and sometimes of such special religious items as statues
of deities or saints. Ablutions can be performed through
washing with water, through immersion, or through sprin-
kling. And, instead of pure water, water mixed with salt, cow
dung, sand, or urine can be used. Ablutions are symbolic ac-
tions meant not to create physical cleanness but to remove
ritual uncleanness or pollution. Therefore, they should be in-
terpreted not as forms of magical belief, manifestations of
primitive hygiene, or expressions of savage psychology but
above all as ritual acts performed to create order and abolish
disorder in social reality.
Ablutions and related symbolic behaviors are carried out
in societies that are characterized by well-defined and clearly
marked distinctions between the phases of human life, rang-
ing from birth through puberty and marriage to death. Ablu-
tions are performed as well in relation to the different social
roles of the sexes and to the various roles that a person can
play in society. Carried out at transitional stages, ablutions
are ritual and symbolic actions designed to avert the dangers
inherent in those particular stages, where social forms are
fluid. Ablutions mark transitions from one phase to another
or from one area of society to another. They therefore be-
long, at least in part, to the category of rites of passage.