Thanesar, the Pāśupata Order and the Skandapurāṇa

Thanesar, the Pupata Order and the Skandapurn . a * Studies in the Skandapurn . a IX The tradition of the four pupils of Lgud . i By the middle of the sixth century the city of Kanauj seems to have emerged as the capital of the rising dynasty of the Maukharis under its king navarman. 1 This town, in the Sanskrit tradition named Knyakubja/ Kanyakubja, is known from the Skandapurn . a, and from this text only, as the seat of one of the Pupata lineages. The Skandapurn . a (SP S 167.123-29) informs us that the fourth pupil of Lgud . i was a brahmacrin who came from a distinguished family in the (Land of the) Kurus. 2 He received initiation in Kanyakubja and, as implied by SP S 167.130, established the fourth lineage of Pupata teachers there. Lgud . i bestowed on him (and the other three pupils) 'His own doctrine' (and) yoga. 3 * The first version of this article was published in Journal of Indological Studies 19 (2007), 1-16

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