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{{More citations needed|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Hindu
| image = Khatvangam.jpg
| caption = Khatvanga
| name = Khatvanga
| Sanskrit_transliteration = {{IAST| Khaṭvāṅga}}
| Devanagari = {{lang|sa|खट्वाङ्ग}}
}}

A '''khaṭvāṅga''' ({{lang-sa|खट्वाङ्ग}}) is a long, studded club originally created as a weapon. It was adopted as a traditional religious symbol in [[Indian religions]] such as [[Tantra|Tantric traditions]] like [[Shaivism]] and [[Vajrayana|Vajrayana Buddhism]]. The khatvāṅga was adopted by some lineages of historical [[tantra]] though it preceded such traditions as of an original tribal shaman shaft.

==Hinduism==
In [[Hinduism]], [[Shiva]]-[[Rudra]] carried the khatvāṅga as a staff weapon and are thus referred to as ''khatvāṅgī''s. Author Robert Beer says, "In Hinduism the khatvanga is an emblem or weapon of Shiva, and is variously described as a skull - topped club, a skull - mounted trident, or a trident - staff on which three skulls are impaled".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IvrAAAAMAAJ|page=250|author=Robert Beer|publisher=Serindia Publications|year=1999|isbn = 9780906026489}}</ref>

Author A. V. Narasimha Murthy says, "In classical literature the weapon Khatvanga is mentioned in works like Mālatīmādhava of [[Bhavabhuti]] and [[Shiva Stuti|Śiva Stutī]] of [[Narayana Panditacharya]]".<ref>{{cite book|title=Hemakuta: Recent Researches in Archaeology and Museology : Shri C.T.M. Kotraiah Felicitation Volume, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQVuAAAAMAAJ|author=A. V. Narasimha Murthy|publisher=Bharatiya Kala Prakashan|year=2001|page=160|isbn = 9788186050484}}</ref>

==Fabrication==
Originally, the khatvāṅga was made of bones, especially, the long bones of forearm or the leg of human beings or animals. Later, wood and metal were used. The khatvāṅga is a long club with skulls engraved on the body. A khatvāṅga represents the [[vajra]].

==Vajrayana Buddhism==
[[File:MET DP318675.jpg|thumb|270px|right|In [[Vajrayana]] [[Buddhism]], the symbol of the skull-topped trident (''khaṭvāṅga'') is said to be inspired by its association with the [[Kapalika|Kāpālikas]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Beer, Robert|date=2003|title=The handbook of Tibetan Buddhist symbols''|publisher=Serindia Publications|isbn=1-932476-03-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3804Ud9-4IC&q=shaivite+charnel+ground&pg=PA102|page=102|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref> Pictured here is an ivory ''khaṭvāṅga'', 15th century Chinese art, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]

Author Robert Beer states that "The form of the Buddhist ''khaṭvāṅga'' derived from the emblematic staff of the early Indian [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] ''[[yogi]]s'', known as ''[[kapalika]]s'' or "skull-bearers". The ''kapalikas'' were originally miscreants who had been sentenced to a twelve-year term of penance for the crime of inadvertently killing a [[Brahmin]]. The penitent was prescribed to dwell in a forest hut, at a desolate crossroads, in a [[Shmashana|charnel ground]], or under a tree; to live by begging; to practice austerities; and to wear a loin-cloth of hemp, dog, or donkey-skin. They also had to carry the emblems of a [[human skull]] as an alms-bowl, and the skull of the Brahmin they had slain mounted upon a wooden staff as a banner. These Hindu ''kapalika'' ascetics soon evolved into an extreme outcaste sect of the "[[Vamachara|left-hand]]" [[Tantra|Tantric path]] (Sanskrit: Vāmamārga) of ''[[Shaktism|shakti]]'' or goddess worship. The early Buddhist tantric ''yogins'' and ''[[yogini]]s'' adopted the same goddess or ''dakini'' attributes of the ''kapalikas''. These attributes consisted of; bone ornaments, an animal skin loincloth, marks of human ash, a skull-cup, ''damaru'', flaying knife, thighbone trumpet, and the skull-topped Tantric staff or ''khaṭvāṅga''".<ref name="auto">{{cite book|author=Beer, Robert|date=2003|title=The handbook of Tibetan Buddhist symbols''|publisher=Serindia Publications|isbn=1-932476-03-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3804Ud9-4IC&q=shaivite+charnel+ground&pg=PA102|page=102|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref>

Robert Beer relates how the symbolism of the khatvāṅga in Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly the [[Nyingma]] school founded by [[Padmasambhava]], was a direct borrowing from the Shaiva [[Kapalika]]s, who frequented places of austerity such as [[charnel ground]]s and [[Crossroads (mythology)|crossroads]] as a form of "left-handed path" ([[vamachara]]) [[sādhanā]].<ref name="auto"/> In the Buddhist lore, it is also a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and endemic to his iconographic representation and depicted as an accoutrement of his divine consorts, [[Mandarava]] and [[Yeshe Tsogyal]]. In the [[twilight language]], it represents [[Yab-Yum]]. The weapon's three severed heads denotes [[moksha]] from the three worlds ([[Trailokya]]); it has a rainbow sash representing the [[Five Pure Lights]] of the [[mahābhūta]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatvanga}}
[[Category:Weapons in Hindu mythology]]
[[Category:Buddhist ritual implements]]
[[Category:Weapons in Buddhist mythology]]

Khaṭvāṅga - Revision history

Bot at 23:52, 13 August 2022