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Somānanda

Somānanda

925 CE · Kashmir Valley

c. 900–950 CE

Somānanda (c. 900–950 CE) is the founder of the Pratyabhijñā ('Recognition') stream of non-dual Kashmir Shaivism. His principal work, the Śivadṛṣṭi ('Vision of Śiva'), lays out the theoretical foundation of the doctrine that the bound soul is in fact none other than Śiva, and that liberation consists in 'recognizing' (pratyabhijñā) this pre-existing identity. His thought was developed and refined by his pupil Utpaladeva and ultimately brought to its full synthesis by Abhinavagupta, who stood two generations down the line.

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Kashmir Valley

What they did here

Traditional birthplace of Somānanda.

About Kashmir Valley

The Kashmir Valley, in the present-day Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, is a Himalayan basin drained by the Jhelum River and centred on Srinagar. From roughly the 9th to the 12th centuries it was the homeland of the non-dual Shaiva tradition known as Kashmir Shaivism, whose exegetes—among them Somanānda, Utpaladeva, Kṣemarāja, and the commentator Jayaratha—were active here.

In Kashmir Valley at the same time

Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa, Utpaladeva

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Somānanda’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

In the same tradition

Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa, Utpaladeva

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Somānanda’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

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