Background on shaiva streams

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<<Shrikula itself belongs to the Shaiva Tantram derived from the old

Kula system which belongs to the Bhairava stream. Trika may actually

be closest to the old Kula system from which these Vidyas came. In

fact Anandabhairava is the Bhairava in this Shrikula system. Those who

known this bhairava mantra will know its long history. There are other

Shaiva streams like Siddhanta which were extremely powerful (I am not

familiar with their Sadhana aspects). The original formalizers of

these systems came from a Smarta background (actually not just men

also women) but they adopted these systems completely and became

sectarian.>>

 

Many are probably familiar but in case somebody feels they are

missing something when they see the words bhairava stream and

siddhAnta stream above, here is some background.

 

The shaiva tantra-s are divided into 5 streams corresponding to the 5

faces of shiva.

 

They are as below:

1)bhUta tantra-s - sadyojAta mukha

They deal with driving away evil spirits. The five faced khaDga-

rAvaNa rudra is popular in this stream and maybe chanDeshvara(based

on some statements from the text IshAna-shiva paddhati) too.

2)gAruDa tantra-s - tatpuruSha mukha

Deals with removing posions, garuDa, nIlakanTha etc

3)bhairava tantra-s - aghora mukha

True to its name

4)vAma tantra-s - vAmadeva mukha

tumburu rudra/shiva is dealt with in some texts

5)siddhAnta tantra-s i.e. the 28 popular shaivAgama-s along with the

accessory texts - IshAna mukha of shiva

The contents of these are popular

 

In the above passage these bhairava tantra-s along with its many

accessory texts are what meant by the bhairava stream. Likewise

shaiva siddhAnta stream.

 

Please see below for a full list. A write up by a good acquaintance

of mine:

--

 

urdhvasrotas- siddhAnta tantras

shivAgamas:

1) kAmika 2) yogaja 3) chintya 4) kAraNa 5) ajita 6) dIpta 7) sUkShma

8) sahasraka 9) amshumAn and 10) suprabheda.

rudrAgmas:

11) vijaya 12) nihshvAsa 13) svAyambhuva 14) anala 15) vIrabhadra 16)

raurava 17) makuTa 18) vimala 19) chandraGNYAna 20) mukhabimba 21)

udgita 22) lalita 23) siddha 24) santAna 25) nArasiMha 26)

pArameshvara 27) kiraNa 28) vAtUla

Some auxilliary texts: 1) mata~Nga pArameshvara 2) mR^igendra 3)

parAkhya 4) upasvAyambhuva 5) aindram 6) mahAghoraM

 

purvasrotas- gAruDa tantras

1) haram 2) hu~NkAraM 3) bindusAraM 4) kalAmR^itaM 5) devatrAsaM 6)

sutrAsaM 7) shabaraM 8) kAlashabaraM 9) pakShiRajaM 10) shikhAyogaM

11) shikhAsAraM 12) shikhAmR^itaM 13) pa~nchabhUtaM 14) vibhAgaM 15)

shulyabhedavinirNayaM 16) kAlaShThaM 17) kAlA~NgaM 18) kAlakUTaM 19)

paTadrumaM 20) kambhojaM 21) kambalaM 22) kuMkumaM 23) kALakuNdaM 24)

kaTAhakaM 25) suvarNanekhaM 26) sugrIvaM 27) totalaM 28) totalottaraM

 

paschimasrotas- bhUtatantras

1) hAlAhalam 2) hayagrIvaM 3) karakoTaM 4) kaTa~NkakaM 5) karoTaM 6)

maNDamAnaM 7) ka~NkoTaM 8) khadgarAvaNaM 9) chANDAsidhAraM 10)

hu~NkAraM 11) hAhAkAraM 12) shivAravaM 13) ghorATTahAsaM 14)

uchChiShTaM 15) ghurghuraM 16) duShTatrAsakaM 17) vimalaM 18) vikaTaM

19) mahotkaTaM 20) yamaghaNTaM

 

uttarasrotas- vAma tantras

1) nayam 2) nayottaraM 3) mUkaM 4) mohanaM 5) mohanAMR^itaM 6)

karapUjAvidhAnaM 7) vINAshikhA 8) jayaM 9) vijayaM 10) ajitaM 11)

aparAjitaM 12) siddhanityodayaM 13) jyeShThaM 14) chintAmaNimahodayaM

15) kuhakaM 16) kAmadenukadambakaM 17) AnandaM 18) rudraM 19) bhadraM

20) kiMkaraM 21) anantavijayaM 22) bhoktaM 23) daurvAsaM 24) bIjabheda

 

dakShiNAsrotas- bhairava tantras

1) svachChandabhairava 2) chaNDabhairava 3) krodhabhairava 4)

unmattabhairava 5) asitA~Ngabhairava 6) rurubhairava 7) kapAlIshaM 8)

samuchchayaM 9) ghoraM 10) ghoShaNaM 11) ghoram-2 12) nishAsa~ncharaM

13) durmukhaM 14) bhImA~NgaM 15) DAmararAvaM 16) bhImaM 17)

vetAlamardanaM 18) uchChuShmaM 19) vAmaM 20) kapAlaM 21) bhairavaM

22) puShpaM 23) advayaM 24) trishirobhairavaM 25) ekapAdaM 26)

siddhayogeshvaraM 27) pa~nchAmR^itaM 28) prapa~nchaM 29)

yoginIjAlashambaraM 30) vishvavikaNThaM 31) jha~NkAraM 32)

tilakodyAnabhairava