The Trika Guru Paramparā
Kashmir Śaivism series
Kashmir Śaivism series
Kashmir Śaivism understands itself not as a body of doctrine to be studied from books, but as a living transmission — a chain of teacher to student, unbroken across time, honored within the tradition as sacred. What follows is that chain, as it has been received and recited by the tradition itself.
The Revelatory Origin
The tradition traces its ultimate source to Amṛteśvara Bhairava (Svacchandanātha), from whom the teaching descends through Śrīkaṇṭhanātha and the sage Durvāsa into the human world. From Durvāsa, transmission divides across two lines — through his mind-born son Tryambakanātha (continuing through Āmardakanātha and Śrīnātha), and through his mind-born daughter Ardhatryambakā (continuing through Tryambakāditya, Saṅgamāditya, Varṣāditya, Aruṇāditya, and Ānanda) — both converging on Somānanda (c. 875–925 CE), author of the Śiva Dṛṣṭi, the first written philosophical text of the tradition.
Alongside this line stands Ācārya Vasugupta (c. 800–850 CE), who received the Śiva Sūtras by direct revelation and composed the Spanda Kārikā as their commentary — the fountainhead of the tradition's written philosophy.
The Philosophical Lineage
From Somānanda, the transmission passes to his disciple Utpaladeva (c. 900–950 CE), author of the Śivastotrāvalī and the Īśvarapratyabhijñā Kārikā. Utpaladeva's teaching descends through Śrī Śambhunātha and Lakṣmaṇagupta to their combined disciple — Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016 CE) — who unified these streams into the complete philosophical vision preserved in the Tantrāloka. Abhinavagupta's own disciple was Kṣemarāja, and Kṣemarāja's disciple, in turn, was Yogarāja.
The Modern Kashmiri Revival
After Kṣemarāja and Yogarāja, the historical record shows a long gap of several centuries before the chain resumes visibly in 19th-century Kashmir:
Śrī Guru Manakāka (Swami Mansa Ram, 1820–1890) — a Siddha Yogi of the Kula tradition, who transmitted the teaching to his disciple, Swami Ram.
Śaivācārya Rāma (Swami Ram, 1854–1915) — who received the transmission from Manakāka and founded the Swami Ram Trik Ashram in Srinagar in 1885.
Śrī Mahatāb Kāka (Swami Mahtab Kak, 1880–1947) — disciple of Swami Ram, who gave initiation to Swami Lakshmanjoo.
Swami Lakshmanjoo (1907–1991) — the last master of the tradition's unbroken oral transmission, who carried this lineage into the twentieth century.
Into the Present
Mark ji (Rājānaka Mark Sadāśaya Dyczkowski, 1951–2025) — initiated by Swami Lakshmanjoo in 1976.
To study this tradition is to enter a chain that has never broken — from Bhairava to Vasugupta, through Abhinavagupta, to Lakshmanjoo and Mark ji.
