Shiva the teacher: how Shaivism challenges Buddhism through the interplay of ideas and the role of women

The Hindu

18-07-2025

Most texts describe Buddhism as a reaction to Vedic ritualism, but they fail to discuss how Shaivism was a response to Buddhism.
Vedic ritualism advocated material success through the grace of divine beings. Buddhism, on the other hand, taught that an obsession with material things and cravings leads to suffering. The Buddha promoted the monastic path, which became highly popular. Shaivism, however, challenges this monastic approach. The primary story of Shiva is that of an ascetic who sits atop a stone mountain but who eventually becomes a householder, with wife and children. Buddhism was the journey of householder to hermit. Shaivism was the journey of hermit to householder.
Shiva's first wife is Sati, the daughter of a Brahmin priest. His second wife is Parvati, the daughter of a king of the mountains. This story highlights the importance of marriage, women, and household life, directly challenging the Buddha's narrative of a man who abandons his kingdom, family, wife, and son in the quest for tranquillity and wisdom.
Fighting death
Most people overlook this interplay of ideas countering each other over time. If Vedic ritual practices were challenged by the Buddha's inward-looking path, that path was, in turn, challenged by the more socially engaged approach of Shaivism. It is no coincidence that the silhouette of a stupa resembles a Shiva linga. However, there is one crucial difference. The Buddha was imagined as rising to higher levels, beyond the realm of the 33 Vedic gods, to a new heaven far above. The bump on his head was interpreted as a kind of spiritual fire rising upwards. In contrast, water is constantly poured over the Shiva linga, drawing him down to the earthly realm.
While Buddhists looked to the Buddha's realm far above or focused on inner journeys, Shaivism emphasised looking at the earth, symbolised by the river flowing down. The Buddha was initially reluctant to teach his doctrine to the world and was persuaded to do so by Indra and Brahma. Shiva, on the other hand, imparts his knowledge when questioned by Parvati.
Shiva as a teacher is visualised as Lakulisha in North India. He sits cross-legged, much like the Buddha, but holds a staff. In South India, the highly tantrik (occult) image of Lakulisha is more subdued by bhakti (affection). He is depicted as Dakshinamurthy, the sage who sits atop a mountain under a banyan tree, facing south, teaching how to transcend death, surrounded by sages.
Death is something that bothered Buddha too. It was what made him turn away from society. But guided by Shiva, sages like Agastya travel south, the land of ancestors and Yama (symbolically). They fight death by marrying and establishing a household. Agastya marries Lopamudra. He earns a living by engaging with Devas and Asuras. He thus is taught about life.
Of wisdom and desire
It is the conversation between Shiva and Shakti that contains wisdom, not just that of the Buddha alone. Ironically, it is the inclusion of women that challenges the Buddhist path, despite one of the unique features of Buddhist monasteries being the inclusion of women as nuns, alongside many female patrons. Theri-gatha is the oldest collection of poems written by Buddhist nuns, who find solace outside the household, free from gendered roles. The body is thus rejected, though gender politics never left the Buddhist monastery. The leaders were always male. Same is true of Jainism, where there are more nuns than monks, but the leader is always male.
Shiva's wisdom is made relevant by the goddess. It emerges as answers to her questions. Without a student, a teacher's knowledge is useless. She feeds him, he converses with her, and when he is absent, she wields her sickle to save the gods from demons.
That being said, while Shaivism includes the goddess, it did not grant significant status to lay women, who were confined to the household. Women become holy when they renounce home and become nuns. But men are holy both as householders and hermits.
There are challenges to this model though. It manifests in the form of goddesses like Tripurasundari, shown seated on a throne held up by male gods. She carries symbols of Kama, the god of desire. Wisdom is not the end of desire. It stems from desire itself — providing pleasure to the other, rather than receiving it for the self.
The writer is the author of 50 books on mythology, art and culture.