Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis aims at gaining a deeper understanding of the relation between yoga and death in the early Śaiva tradition of the Pāśupatas, based on two Pāśupata texts: the Pāśupatasūtra and the...Show moreThis thesis aims at gaining a deeper understanding of the relation between yoga and death in the early Śaiva tradition of the Pāśupatas, based on two Pāśupata texts: the Pāśupatasūtra and the Skandapurāṇa. The thesis presents an analysis and interpretation of textual passages that treat the last moment of the life of a Pāśupata ascetic in order to find out whether or not his death can be interpreted as a form of ‘self-induced yogic death’. The inquiries start with introducing the philosophical and religious environment wherein the Pāśupatasūtra and the Skandapurāṇa were written. After that, the relation between yoga and death in upaniṣadic and epic sources is treated, thereby referring to early manifestations of utkrānti (rising upwards, ‘yogic suicide’). The pivot of this thesis is a translation, analysis and discussion of fragments of the Pāśupatasūtra and the Skandapurāṇa. With regards to both texts I discuss the possibility of interpreting the death of a Pāśupata as a self-induced yogic death. This is followed by a conclusion. Following the analysis of the primary sources, it will become clear that yoga and death stood in a much closer relation than one might expect; this thesis claims that the death of a Pāśupata can be interpreted as an early form of self-induced yogic death.Show less
