Bhavabhuti

(early 8th c. C.E.) Sanskrit dramatist and
playwright noted for his ability to
express and transmit emotions through
language. His best-known play, the
romance Malatimadhava, is famous
not only in its own right, but because the
primary villain is an evil ascetic believed
to be a member of the defunct ascetic
group known as Kapalikas. The
Kapalikas were devotees (bhakta) of
Shiva, and their reputed practices emulated Shiva in his wrathful form as
Bhairava. They wore their hair long and
matted, smeared their bodies with ash
(preferably from the cremation
ground), and carried a club and a skull
bowl (kapala). According to some
sources, they also indulged in forbidden
behavior—drinking wine, eating meat,
using cannabis and other drugs, performing human sacrifice, and orgiastic
sexuality—which caused them to be
avoided and feared. Bhavabhuti’s
description of this evil ascetic and his
disciples is one of the earliest datable
references to the Shaiva form of asceticism, and therefore important from a
historical perspective.