परमार्थसार (महामाहेश्वर अभिनवगुप्त - त्रिक-दर्शन, अद्वैत शैव साधना एवं सान्वय सटीक)

Introduction 5
years concerned correspond with AD 990, 992 and 1014 respecti-
vely.
Abhinavagupta was not a ‘Baniya’ (Vaiśya), as the surname
Gupta would suggest in accordance with the present-day usage.
His ancestor, Atrigupta was a prāgryajanmā, that is, a Brahmin
of a very high rank. Probably some ancestor of Atrigupta took up
the job of an administrator of one hundred villages and was on
that account designated as a goptā (from √goptṛ) meaning a pro-
tector. Such was the usage in ancient ages—गोप्ता ग्रामशताध्यक्षः।
(goptā grāmaśatādhyakṣaḥ). He must have worked on the post
so nicely that his family was called by people as Goptā. The
word in its corrupted form changed afterwards into the word
Gupta. The great Cāṇakya, known also as Viṣṇugupta and the
great mathematician Brahmagupta also were such Brahmin
Goptas whose such name came later to be pronounced as Gupta.
Vasugupta and Lakṣmaṇagupta can have risen in the family of
Atrigupta.
As described by the Kerala saint Madhurāja in his Gurunātha-
parāmarśa, Abhinavagupta lived like a prince and not like a beg-
ging monk. As said by Abhinavaguptā himself, he did not have
any wife or children—प्राजन्म दारसुतबन्धु कथा-मनाप्तः । (ājanma dāra-suta-
bandhu-kathāmanāptaḥ). But even then he appears to have lived
in his ancestral house with his kith and kin. His five cousins were
his disciples. His younger brother; Manorathagupta, was one of
his pet disciples. Tantrāloka was written by him in the house of
another pet disciple named Mandra whose name has been men-
tioned by him along with another such disciple Karṇa in more
than one works. All of them were his close relatives with whom
he lived and worked.
In fact Abhinavagupta and such prominent authors of Śaivism
who preceded him did not prescribe the path of wandering monks
as did the Buddhists, Jains, Pāśupatas and Vedāntins. Most of
them lived the lives of pious house holders, followed the Brahma-
nic ways of life as laid down in dharma-śāstras and as come down
to them through tradition. They performed all Brahmanic rites but
did not advocate any sort of puritanism. Unlike the Buddhists and
Jains, they did neither disown nor disturb the traditional Brahmanic
religion. They recommended it and in addition prescribed some
Tantric methods of sādhanā for the sake of quick attainment of
the liberation of the highest type from all bondages. The liberation