Bhava is the Sanskrit word for "being." The deity Shiva's epithet.
Sanskrit poet and playwright Bhavabhuti (early 8th century C.E.) is known for his ability to convey and communicate emotions via words.
- His most renowned drama, the romance Malatimadhava, is notable not just for its own sake, but also because the main villain is a wicked ascetic who is thought to be a member of the extinct ascetic order known as the Kapalikas.
The Kapalikas were Shiva worshippers (bhakta), and their renowned rituals emulated Shiva in his wrathful avatar as Bhairava.
- They had long, matted hair, spread ash on their bodies (ideally from a cremation site), and carried a club and a skull bowl (kapala).
- They also engaged in prohibited conduct, such as drinking wine, eating meat, using cannabis and other narcotics, performing human sacrifice, and orgiastic intercourse, according to certain accounts, which led them to be shunned and dreaded.
- From a historical standpoint, Bhavabhuti's depiction of this wicked ascetic and his followers is one of the first datable allusions to the Shaiva style of asceticism.
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