Kapalika and Kalamukha

The Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas were small Tantric sects scattered throughout medieval India known for their extreme practices. These groups are often connected with meat-eating, intoxication, ritual orgies, and in some cases cannibalism. Members of each group typically existed outside of the caste system and society at large, making their living as wandering mendicants, clad only in animal skins and bearing a "skull bowl" which they used to collect alms. The Kalamukhas may have also assembled in monastic orders. Although no actual texts produced by the groups are extant, the Kapalikas and Kalamukhas are mentioned in the works of many medieval Hindu thinkers, who generally condemn their practices.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Lorenzen, David. The Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas: Two Lost Saivite Sects. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1972. ISBN 81-208-0708-1