Utpaladeva
Very little
is known about Utpala, the great mystic Saint of
Kashmir, except that he might have lived somewhere
in Nauhatta (Navyut) in Srinagar. From some
authors on Kashmir Shaivism and his contemporaries
we find that he was a Brahmin and lived a married
life around the middle of 900 A.D. He was the son
of Udayakar.Utpaladeva must have been a precocious
boy with a sharp intellect and a quest for
learning. This becomes evident from the fact that
he was taken as a disciple by the great
philosopher. Siddha Somananda, whose great work
Shivadrishti, the Pratyabhijnya Shastra
(Philosophy of Recognition), inspired him to write
the Ishwar Pratyabhijnya Karikas. It is stated in
the Shivadrishti that Utpala was motivated to
write the Karikas on the request of his son,
Vibhramakara. Therein he summarized the teachings
of his master and this work is spoken of as
"the reflection of wisdom taught by Somananda".
Kashmiri's Persian-knowing scholars have termed it
is Khird-e-Kamil (wisdom of the sage).
Utpaladeva
and his Pratyabhijnya Philosophy
Very little is known about Utpala, the great mystic
Saint of Kashmir, except that he might have lived
somewhere in Nauhatta (Navyut) in Srinagar. From
some authors on Kashmir Shaivism and his
contemporaries we find that he was a Brahmin and
lived a married life around the middle of 900 A.D.
He was the son of Udayakar.
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Pratyabhijna
Expounded by Utpaladeva
The
Pratyabhijna School is quite akin to the non-dual
vedantic thought of Ajatavada explained by
Gaudapada. Vasugupta was the first propounder of
Shaivism in Kashmir. He flourished in the middle
of the late Eighth Century A.D. Worship of
different deities, Yoga systems and Shaiva faith
have already been in practice here.
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