The KÃÂpÃÂlika (Sanskrit : à ¤Âà ¤¾à ¤ªà ¤¾à ¤²à ¤¿à ¤Â) tradition was a Tantric, non-Puranic form of Shaivism which originated in medieval India between the 4th and 8th century CE. The word is derived from the Sanskrit term kapÃÂla, meaning "skull", and kÃÂpÃÂlika can be translated as the "skull-men" or "skull-bearers".
The KÃÂpÃÂlikas were an extinct sect of Shaivite ascetics devoted to the Hindu god Shiva dating back to the 4th century CE, which traditionally carried a skull-topped trident (khaá¹ÂvÃÂá¹ ga) and an empty human skull as a begging bowl. Other attributes associated with KÃÂpÃÂlikas were that they revered the fierce Bhairava form of Shiva by emulating his appearance, behavior, dress, and characteristics, smeared their body with ashes from the cremation grounds, wore their hair long and matted, and engaged in transgressive rituals such as sexual intercourse with lower-class women, human sacrifices, consumption of meat and alcoholic beverages, and offerings involving orgiastic sexuality and sexual fluids.
According to David Lorenzen, there is a paucity of primary sources on the KÃÂpÃÂlikas, and historical information about them is available from fictional works and other traditions who disparage them. Various Indian texts claim that the KÃÂpÃÂlikas drank liquor freely, both for ritual and as a matter of habit. In the 7th century CE, the Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar Hsüan Tsang wrote about the KÃÂpÃÂlikas twice in the travelogue of his journey to the Indian subcontinent (629âÂÂ645 CE): in his first biographical account, he reportedly met Indian Buddhists living with naked ascetics who covered themselves with ashes and wore bone wreathes on their heads, but Hsüan Tsang does not call them KÃÂpÃÂlikas or any particular name. Historians of Indian religions and scholars of Hindu studies have interpreted these ascetics variously as KÃÂpÃÂlikas, Jain Digambara monks, or Shaivite PÃÂshupatÃÂs. In the same memoir, Hsüan Tsang retells of a doctrinal conflict between the medieval King à ÂëlÃÂditya I ( CE), a follower of MahÃÂyÃÂna Buddhism and devotee to the NÃÂlandàmonastery, and a group of HënayÃÂna Buddhist monks; the latter group are mocking him and the MahÃÂyÃÂna Vehicle as heretical by comparing them to the KÃÂpÃÂlikas: <blockquote>The Buddhist priests of this country all study the HënayÃÂna and do not have faith in the MahÃÂyÃÂna. They consider that it is [a doctrine only] of the "sky-flower" heretics, not the word of the Buddha. When they saw the King after his arrival, making fun of him, they said: "We have heard that the King has made by the side of the NÃÂlandàMonastery a vihÃÂra covered with brass plates, an extremely imposing and admirable work. Why did you not construct it in the monastery of the KÃÂpÃÂlika heretics or in some other [place like that]?" The King answered: "Why such words?" In reply, they said: "Because the Monastery of NÃÂlandàwith its "sky-flower" heretics is not different from those KÃÂpÃÂlikas".</blockquote>
In his work Yoga: Immortality and Freedom (1958), the Romanian historian of religion and University of Chicago professor Mircea Eliade remarks that the "Aghorës are only the successors to a much older and widespread ascetic order, the KÃÂpÃÂlikas, or "wearers of skulls"." The KÃÂpÃÂlikas were more of a monastic order, states Lorenzen, and not a sect with a textual doctrine. The KÃÂpÃÂlika tradition gave rise to the KulamÃÂrga, a subsect of Tantric Shaivism which preserves some of the distinctive features of the KÃÂpÃÂlika tradition. Several of the KÃÂpÃÂlika practices and symbols are found in VajrayÃÂna Buddhism, and scholars disagree over which tradition influenced the other. Today, the KÃÂpÃÂlika tradition survives within its Shaivite offshoots: the Aghorë order, KaulÃÂ, and Trika traditions. In medieval India, at least 24 sites of Shaivite pilgrimage venues for the KÃÂpÃÂlikas were listed in the Hindu Tantras: among these, MahÃÂkÃÂlapëá¹Âha in Avanti (modern-day Ujjain) was a known KÃÂpÃÂlika stronghold, followed by the towns of VÃÂrÃÂá¹Âasë, TripurÃÂ, Khajuraho, Buvaneshvara, and Shrëparvata.
Mark S. G. Dyczkowski holds the Gaha Sattasai, a Prakrit poem written by HÃÂla (3rd to 4th century CE), to be one of the first extant literary references to an early Indian KÃÂpÃÂlika ascetic: <blockquote>One of the earliest references to a KÃÂpÃÂlika is found in HÃÂla's Prakrit poem, the GÃÂthÃÂsaptaà Âati (third to fifth century A.D.) in a verse in which the poet describes a young female KÃÂpÃÂlikàwho besmears herself with ashes from the funeral pyre of her lover. VarÃÂhamihira () refers more than once to the KÃÂpÃÂlikas thus clearly establishing their existence in the sixth century. Indeed, from this time onwards references to KÃÂpÃÂlika ascetics become fairly commonplace in Sanskrit ...</blockquote> The Act III of Prabodha Chandrodaya, a Sanskrit and Maharashtri Prakrit play written by Kirttivarman's contemporary Shri Krishna Mishra (11th to 12th century), introduces a male KÃÂpÃÂlika ascetic and his consort, a female KÃÂpÃÂlini, disrupting a dispute on the "true religion" between a mendicant Buddhist wanderer and a Jain Digambara monk. The latter ones, convinced by the KÃÂpÃÂlika couple to give up their vows to celibacy and renunciation by drinking red wine and indulging in sensual pleasure with women, end up rejecting their former religions and convert to Shaivism after having embraced the KÃÂpÃÂlika's faith in Shiva Bhairava as the Supreme God and his wife Parvati.