In the South Indian text Periya Purāṇam by Cekkilar (c. 1100), a Śaiva ascetic visits the home of a seventh-century householder-saint, one of the sixty-three Nāyaṉārs, and demands to be fed with the flesh of the saint's only son. With limitless devotional zeal, the saint promptly beheads his young son, helps his wife prepare a curry of their son's flesh, and finally agrees even to join the ascetic in the gruesome feast. At the last moment the cruel guest disappears and the sacrificed son returns to life. The ascetic reveals himself to be none other than the god Śiva come to test his devotee. This legend is typical of those associated with the Kāpālikas, or Bearers of the Skull (kapāla), a heterodox Śaiva sect often accused of both necrophilic and orgiastic practices.

The true character...