query about RbhugItA and zivarahasya

[Dominic Goodall]

Nobody else seems to have replied to these intriguing questions, so  
here's a first attempt.

There seem to be at least two versions of the .Rbhugiitaa.  One of  
them takes up the larger part of the 6th a.m"sa of the "Sivarahasya   
(this 6th a.m"sa consists of 50 chapters in the Tanjore edition).  
Another version, in just 4 chapters, can be downloaded from, for  
instance, http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_giitaa/ribhugita.html
The edition or source used for this e-text appears not to be  
mentioned.  I would guess that this short version has been redacted  
from the longer one, but perhaps others know differently ?

As for whether the "Sivarahasya is closer to the "Saivasiddhaanta or  
the Trika, it does not seem to me to be particularly close to either.  
I should mention straight away that I have read very little indeed of  
this immense text, but in what I have seen, there is nothing  
distinctive of either of those currents of "Saivism--- nothing, that  
is to say, that is not also found elsewhere. There is plenty of  
emphasis on certain widespread features of "saiva piety: the  
pa~ncaak.saramantra, rudraak.sas, "saiva pilgrimage sites,  
"sivapuujaamahiman, etc. There is also Vedaantic influence.  Chapter  
26 of a.m"sa 6, for example, opens with .Rbhu proclaiming:

vak.sye saccitparaananda.m svabhaava.m sarvadaa sukham|
sarvavedapuraa.naanaa.m saaraat saaratara.m svayam||
na bheda.m ca dvaya.m dvandva.m na bheda.m bhedavarjitam|
idam eva para.m brahma j~naanaa"srayam anaamayam||

V. Swaminatha Atreya, the editor of a.m"sas 4--6 in the Sarasvati  
Mahal Library Series (no.175), has this to say in his English  
introduction (p.15):
"Though the supremacy of Lord Siva is the main theme of Sri  
Sivarahasya and that is not in any way diminished here --- the theory  
profounded in .Rbhugita is pure monism as defined and defined by  
Sankara.  Hence this differs in many aspects from "SIVAADVAITA and  
"SAIVASIDDHAANTA."



Dominic Goodall
Pondicherry Centre,
Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient ("French School of Asian Studies"),
16 & 19, Dumas Street,
Pondicherry 605001,
INDIA



On 18 Jun 2007, at 12:16, Alberto Pelissero wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
> a student of mine would like to know if there is some relationship  
> between
> the RbhugItA and the zivarahasya, and more particularly:
> is the zivarahasya derived (or pretended to be derived) from some  
> purANa?
> is the zivarahasya more akin to zaivasiddhAnta or to trika?
> is the RbhugItA contained (or pretended to be contained) into the
> zivarahasya?
> is the RbhugItA ascribed to someone or not?
> Thank You in advance,
> Alberto Pelissero
> Dept. of Oriental studies
> University of Torino