Kapalin

(“skull-bearer”) The name for any
ascetic bearing a human skull, either as
a begging bowl or as a piece of ascetic
paraphernalia. Such ascetics are devotees (bhakta) of the god Shiva in his terrible form. Their use of the skull is a
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Kapalin
symbol that, like Shiva, they have
transcended all earthly concerns of
purity, impurity (ashaucha), and
conventional standards of what is and is
not appropriate.