An Introduction to Hinduism

Frontispiece Krsna riding through the air on a symbolic elephant made of cowgirls. Rajasthan, Jaipur School c. 1800.

An introduction to Hinduism

G A V IN F L O O D Lecturer in Religious Studies Department o f Theology and Religious Studies University o f Wales, Lampeter

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a m b r id g e

U N IV E R S IT Y P R E S S

Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 i r p 40 West 20th Street, N ew York, N Y 10 0 11-4 2 11, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1996 First published 1996 Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue recordfo r this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Flood, Gavin D., 1954An introduction to Hinduism / by Gavin Flood, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. is b n 0 521 43304 5 (hardback). - i s b n o 521 43878 o (paperback) 1. Hinduism. I. Title. B L 12 0 2 .F 5 6

1996

2 9 4.5-D C 20 is b n is b n

o 521 43304 5 o 521 43878 o

9 6 - 4 2 7 5 5 C IP

hardback paperback

CENTRALBIBUOTEKET

For Leela and Claire

Contents

List o f illustrations x Acknowledgem ents xii A note on language an d transliteration xiii Abbreviations and texts xv Introduction I

1 Points o f departure 5 2 Ancient origins 23 3 Dharm a 51 4 Yoga and renunciation 75 5 Narrative traditions and early Vaisnavism 103 6 The love of Visnu 128 7 Saiva and tantric religion 148 8 The Goddess and Sakta traditions 174 9 Hindu ritual 198 10 Hindu theology and philosophy 224 1 1 Hinduism and the modern world 250 Notes 274 Bibliography 305 In d ex 329

Illustrations

Plates Unless otherwise stated, the author is responsible for the plates. Symbolic elephant (Reproduced by kind permission o f the Victoria and A lbert Museum.) frontispiece Between pages 304 and 305 1 A Saiva holy man by the Kanyakumari Temple, Tamilnadu 2 A mythical representation of Patanjali from the Siva Nataraja Temple Cidambaram, Tamilnadu 3 Lord Krsna. A popular representation 4 Lord Krsna with Radha. A popular representation 5 Lord Siva the ascetic. A popular representation 6 Siva Nataraja, the Dancing Siva. Bronze, c. 110 0 kind permission o f the British Museum)

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(Reproduced by

7 A Siva liriga covered in petals, Cidambaram (Reproduced by kind permission of D r David Smith, Lancaster University.) 8 Lord Ganesa (Reproduced by kind permission o f the British Museum.) 9 The Goddess Durga slaying the buffalo demon. Siva Nataraja Temple Cidambaram 10 The ferocious Goddess Camunda seated upon a corpse (Reproduced by kind permission of the British Museum.)

List of illustrations 11 Hanuman, the monkey-god (Reproduced by kind permission o f Ann and Bury Peerless Slide Resources and Picture Library.) 1 2 The Descent of the Goddess Gariga or A rjuna’s Penance, Mahabaiipuram, Tamilnadu, seventh century c e i3

The Kapalesvari Temple, Madras

14 The south gateway (gopura) o f the Siva Nataraja Temple at Cidambaram 15 A young girl offering a flower to Lord Krsna’s footprint (Reproduced by kind permission of Ann and B u ry Peerless Slide Resources and Picture Library.) 16 A serpent (ndga) shrine, Bhagamandala, Karnataka 17 Teyyam Shrine housing three teyyam deities, Nileshwaram, Kerala 18 Teyyam Shrine, housing the two deities. Nileshwaram, Kerala 19 The teyyam Goddess Muvalamkuhcamundl 20 The teyyam deity Visnumurti

Maps 1 India showing some important sacred sites

page 2

2 M ajor sites of the Indus valley civilization (adapted from Parpola, Deciphering the Indus Script, p. 7)

26

Figures 1 Indus valley ‘proto-Siva’ seal

29

2 The traditions of the R g and Yajur Vedas

38

3 The esoteric anatomy o f Yoga

99

4 The development o f Vaisnava traditions

118

5 Pancaratra cosmology

122

6 The development of Saiva traditions

15 2

7 The development of traditions o f Goddess worship

180

8 The twenty-five Samkhya tattvas

233

Acknowledgements

M an y sources contribute to the form ation o f a b o o k and I w ou ld like to acknow ledge m y debt both to people and to other w ritings. A num ber o f excellent introductions to H induism have influenced the present w o rk , particularly those b y Jo h n Brockington, C h ris Fuller, K laus Klosterm aier, Ju liu s Lipn er and, from a previous generation, R . C . Zaehner. I should like to extend thanks to P rofessor Jo h n C layto n o f Lancaster U n iversity fo r initially suggesting the project to me, and to D r D avid Smith o f the same university, w h o first introduced me to the stu dy o f H induism . I have been deeply influenced b y the w o rk o f D r R ich Freem an o f the U n iversity o f Pennsylvania w h o introduced me to the traditions o f K erala. I should also like to acknowledge conversations w ith D r Sumati R am asw am i o f the U n iversity o f Pennsylvania, Steve Jaco b s (a postgradu­ ate student at the U n iversity o f Wales), Sri A . Tham ban o f P ayannur in K erala, and an afternoon spent in the hospitality o f Sri K . P. C . A nujan Bhattatirippatu, the Tantri o f the Peruvanam Tem ple near Trichur. M an y fruitful discussions w ith D r O liver D avies o f the U n iversity o f Wales, Lam peter, have influenced the w o rk, and P ro fessor Paul M orris o f V ictoria U niversity, N e w Zealand, and the C am bridge U n iversity Press reader offered useful suggestions concerning the text itself. D r R . Blurton o f the B ritish M useum allow ed me to reproduce illustrations from the museum collection. I should also like to thank M s K im B axter o f Lancaster C ollege o f H igher Education fo r her help w ith illustrative mate­ rial, and M r A le x W right o f C am bridge U n iversity Press fo r his interest and encouragement.

A note on language and transliteration

The languages o f H induism are Sanskrit and the Indian vernaculars, particularly Tamil. This b ook follo w s the standard form o f transliteration w ith the exception o f place names and some proper names w hich are w ritten in their generally acknow ledged anglicized form s w ithout diacritical m arks. There is a distinction in Sanskrit between the stem form o f a w ord and the nom inative o r subject case. I generally use the stem form o f Sanskrit w ord s w ith the exception o f com m on terms such as karm a (which is the nom inative singular) and some p roper names such as H anum an (rather than H anum at) and Bhagavan (rather than Bhagavat). Sanskrit is a phonetic language, so transliteration reflects correct pronunciation. There are short vow els in Sanskrit (a, i, u, r, /) and long vow els (a, i, u, f, e, o, ai, au), twice as long as the short. The vow els are approxim ately pronounced as follow s: a like ‘a’ in ‘wom an’ a like ‘ a’ in ‘rather’ i like Y in ‘sit’ i like ‘ee’ in ‘meet’ u like ‘u ’ in ‘put’ u like ‘u’ in ‘rule’ r like ‘ri’ in ‘rig’ f like ‘ri’ in ‘reel’ / like ‘le’ in ‘table’ xm

A note on language am i transliteration e like ‘c ’ in ‘ red’ ai like ‘ai’ in ‘aisle’ o like ‘o ’ in ‘go ’ an like ‘o w ’ in ‘vo w ’ C onsonants are unaspirated (such as ka, g a ,p a ) and aspirated (such as kha, g h a ,p h a ). T h e retroflex sounds ta, tba, da, dha and na are pronounced w ith the tip o f the tongue bent backw ards to touch the palate. Th e dentals ta, tha, da, dha and na are pronounced w ith the tip o f the tongue behind the teeth. The gutteral nasal na, pronounced ‘ n g’, and the palatal na, pronounced ‘ n ya’ , are alw ays found in conjunction w ith other consonants o f their class (except in the case o f some ‘ seed’ mantras). Th u s hriga and anjali. The m sound o r anusvara represents a nasalization o f the preceding vow el and the h sound o r visarga represents an aspiration o f the preceding vow el: a ‘ h’ sound follow ed b y a slight echo o f the vow el (e.g. devah is dev a h a). A p art from these sounds, tw o Tamil consonants w hich have no E n glish equivalents are la and ra w hich are retroflex sounds.

Abbreviations and texts

The follow in g are abbreviations for Sanskrit texts referred to. A ssum ing that the Sanskrit editions o f the texts w ill be o f little use to the readers o f this book, on ly bibliographical details o f E nglish translations are given, w here available. Ait.Ar.

Aitareya Aranyaka

Ap.Gr.S.

Àpasthamba Grhya Sütra. H . Oldenberg, The Grhya Siitras, SBE 29, 30 (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1964-5)

Ap.S.S.

Àpasthamba Srauta Sütra

Ar.S.

Ârtha Sdstra o f Kautilya. L. N . Rangarajan, The Arthashastra (Delhi: Penguin, 1992)

As.Gr.S.

Asvalâyana Grhya Sütra. H. Oldenberg, The Grhya Sütras, SBE 29, 30 (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1964-5)

A st.

Astâdhyâyï of Pânini. See G. Cardona, Pânini, His Work and its Traditions, vol. 1 (Delhi: M LB D , 1988)

Ath. V.

Atharva Veda. M. Bloomfield, Hymns o f the Atharua Veda, SBE 42 (1897; Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1967)

BA U

Brhadâranyaka Upanisad, S. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads (London: Unwin Hyman, 1953)

Baud.SS.

Baudhayana Srauta Sütra

Bh. G.

Bhagavad Gita. J. van Buitenen, The Bhagavadgïtâ in the Mahâbhârata (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1981)

BSB

Brahma Sütra Bhâsya. G . Thibaut, Vedânta Sütras with xv

List of abbreviations an d texts Commentary by Sankardcdrya, 2 vols., SBK 34, 38 (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1987) Ch.U.

Chandogya Upanisad. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads

Dbh.Pur.

Devibhdgavata Purdna. See C. M. Brown, The Triumph o f the Goddess: The Canonical Models and Theological Visions o f the D evi-Bhdgavata-Purdna (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1990)

Devma.

Devimahdtmya. T. B. Coburn, Encountering the Goddess, a Translation o f the Devimahdtmya and a Study o f Its Interpretation (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1991)

Gaut.Dh.

Gautama Dharma Sdstra. G. Biihler, The Sacred Laws o f the Aryas, SBE 2 (Delhi: M LBD , reprint 1987)

Hat. Yog.

Hathayogapradipika of Svatmarama. T. Tatya, The Hathayogapradipikd o f Svatmarama (Madras: Adyar Library, 1972)

Jab.U .

Jdbdla Upanisad. Patricke Olivelle, The Samnydsa Upanisads: H indu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)

Jay.Sam.

Jaydkhya Samhitd

Kat.U.

Katha Upanisad. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads

Kau.

Kaulakjndnanirnaya

KBT

Kubjikdmata Tantra

Kur.Pur.

Kiirma Purdna. A Board of Scholars, The Kiirm a Purdna, All India Tradition and M ythology (Delhi: M LB D , 1973)

M abb has.

Mahabbdsya of Patanjali

Mahnar. U.

Mahdndrdyana Upanisad

Mait. U.

M aitri Upanisad

Mann

Manu-smrti. W. Doniger, The Laws o f Manu (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991)

Mark.Pur.

Mdrkandeya Purdna. F. E. Pargiter, The Markandeya Purdna (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1969)

Mat. Pur.

Matsya Purdna. A Board of Scholars, The Matsya Purdna (Delhi: A IT M , 1973)

Mbb.

Mahdbharata. J. A. B. van Buitenen, The Mahdbharata, 3 vols. (University of Chicago Press, 1973-8). W. Buck, The Mahdbharata Retold (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973)

xvi

I.ist o f abbreviations and texts MLBD

Motilal Banarsidass

MS.

Mimämsä Sutras of Jaimini. M. C . Sandal, The Mimamsa Sutras o f Jaim ini, i vols. (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1980)

M.Stav.

Mahimnastava. Arthur Avalon, The Greatness o f Siva, Mahimnastava o f Puspadanta (Madras: Ganesh and C o., reprint 196})

Nar.U.

Näradaparivräjaka Upanisad. P. Olivelle, The Samnyäsa Upanisads

Pas. Su.

Päsupata Sütra. H. Chakraborti, Päsupata-Sütram with Pancbärtha-Bhäsya o f Kaundinya (Calcutta: Academic Publishers, 1970)

RV

Rg Veda Samhitä, A selection of hymns can be found in M. Müller, Vedic Hymns, 2 vols., SBE 32, 46 (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1973); W. D. O ’Flaherty, The Rig Veda (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981)

Sam.Kar.

Sämkhya Kärikä of Isvarakrsna. G. Larson, Classical Sämkhya (Delhi: M LB D , 1979)

Sat.Br.

Satapatha Brähmana. J. Eggeling, The Satapatha-Brahmana, 5 vols., SBE 12, 26, 41, 43, 44 (Delhi: M LB D , reprint 1978-82)

SBE

Sacred books of the East

Sp.Nir.

Spanda-Nirnaya of Ksemaräja. J. Singh, Spanda Kärikäs (Delhi: M LB D , 1980)

Sribha.

Sribhäsya of Rämänuja. G. Thibaut, The Vedänta-sütras with Commentary by Rämänuja, SBE 48 (Delhi: M LBD , reprint 1976)

Svet. U.

Svetäsvatara Upanisad. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads

TA

Tanträloka of Abhinavagupta

Tait. Sam.

Taittiriya Samhitä. A. B. Keith, in The Veda o f the Black Yajus School Entitled Taittiriya Sanhita, 2 vols., Harvard Oriental Series 18, 19 (Cambridge: Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914)

Tait. Up.

Taittiriya Upanisad. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads

Vaj.Sam.

Väjasaneyi Samhitä

Vakpad.

Väkyapädiya of Bhartrhari. K. A . Iyer, The Väkyapadiya (Poona: Deccan College, 1965)

Vay. Pur.

Väyu Puräna. A Board of Scholars, The Väyu Puräna, All India Tradition and M ythology (Delhi: M LB D , 1973)

List o f abbreviations anil texts Vis. Pur.

Visnu Purdna. H. H. Wilson, The Visnu Parana: A System o f Hindu Mythology and Tradition (Calcutta: Punthi I’ustak, reprint 1967)

Vis.Smrt.

Visnu Smrti. J. Jolly, The Institutes o f Visnu, SBE 7 (Delhi: M L B D , reprint 1965)

Yog.U.

Yogatattva Upanisad. T. R. S. Ayyangar, The Yoga Upanisads (Madras: A dyar Library, 1952)

YS

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. See Y S bhasya

YS bhasya

Yoga Siitra-bhdsya of Vyasa. Swami H. Aranya, Yoga Philosophy o f Patanjali (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1983)

xvm

Introduction

V isiting India during the first half o f the eleventh century, the rem arkable Islamic scholar A l-B lru n I made a distinction between the view s o f the H indu philosophers and the ordinary peop le.1 In the form er he thought he could find analogues fo r his ow n m onotheistic belief. A l-B lru n i m ay or m ay not be correct in this, but w hat is significant is that w e have here an early recognition, b y an outsider, o f both the diversity o f H induism and its seem ingly u n ifyin g features. F o r A l B lrunl, underlyin g the diversity o f the popular religion is a philosophical unity to H indu traditions. In this book I hope to su rvey the w ide diversity o f w hat has becom e kn ow n as ‘ H in du ism ’ as w ell as to indicate some com m on elements and u n ifyin g themes. H in duism is the religion o f the m ajority o f people in India and N ep al, as w ell as being an im portant cultural force in all other continents. A n y visi­ tor to south A sia from the West is struck b y the colour, sounds, smells and vib ran cy o f daily ritual observances, and b y the centrality o f religion in people’s lives. There are innumerable w ayside shrines to local goddesses or divinized ancestors, majestic temples to the ‘ great’ deities such as Visnu or Siva, festivals, pilgrim ages to rivers and sacred places, and garlanded pictures o f deities and saints in buses, shops and homes. H indus w ill often say that H induism is not so much a religion, but a w a y o f life. H induism also contains developed and elaborate traditions o f ph ilosoph y and theol­ ogy, w h ich can be v e ry different from those o f the West, A l-B lru n fs com ­ ments notwithstanding. T h is b o ok is both a historical and thematic su rvey o f H induism . It is an

An introduction to Hinduism

Map i India showing some important sacred sites

Introduction attempt to make clear the .structures of 1 linduism and to explain its inter­ nal coherence as well as its apparent inconsistencies. W hile recognizing that it is im possible to include everything in a subject which covers a timespan o f 5,000 years and w hich has existed over a vast geographical area, this b o ok aims at giving com prehensive coverage o f the history, traditions, rituals and theologies o f H induism . Inevitably, in an approach w hich is both thematic and historical, there is som e overlap in the material covered, but it is hoped that this w ill provide m utual reinforcem ent o f im portant themes and ideas. T he b ook presents the realms o f the householder and the renouncer as distinct, and highlights ritual as a unify in g feature o f H indu traditions. It also lays emphasis on the influence o f Tantra w hich has often been underestimated. F o r the reader w ishing to get a general im pression o f H induism , the introductory chapter i and chapter 9 on H in du ritual (which I take to be m ore im portant than doctrine in understanding Hinduism ) are the m ost relevant. F o r the reader m ainly interested in the­ o lo gy and philosophy, chapter 10 provides a system atic overview . The b o o k ’s intended readers are students taking humanities courses in un iver­ sities and colleges, though it is hoped that others, particularly from H indu com m unities themselves, m ay find som ething o f interest in its pages. C hapter 1 begins w ith the question ‘ what is H indu ism ?’ This is a com ­ plex issue, as the term ‘ H in d u ’ has o n ly been in w ide circulation fo r a couple o f centuries and reading ‘ H indu ism ’ into the past is problem atic. This chapter discusses these issues, goes on to develop ideas about H in duism ’s general features and relates its study to some contem porary scholarly debates. The second chapter begins the historical su rvey o f H indu traditions, starting w ith the vedic religion and exam ining the rela­ tion between the A ry a n culture w hich produced the Veda, H in du ism ’s revelation, and the Indus valley culture. C hapter 3 develops the historical survey, discussing the idea o f dharm a, truth and duty, and the institutions o f caste and kingship. C hapter 4 introduces the idea o f w o rld renunciation and examines its ideals o f liberation from the cycle o f reincarnation through asceticism and yoga. C hapters 5 to 8 describe the great traditions o f Vaisnavism , w hose focus is the deity o f Visnu and his incarnations, Saivism , w hose focus is Siva, and Saktism , w hose focus is the G oddess, D evi. C hapters 9 and 10 are thematic, exam ining H indu ritual and H indu th eology respectively, and chapter 1 1 traces the developm ent o f H induism as a w o rld religion and its m ore recent m anifestations in H indu nationalist politics.

3

An introduction to Hinduism In w riting this b o ok, I have assumed that the study o f religion is o f vital im portance in the m odern w orld in which everyone is, in some sense, a ‘ global citizen ’, and in which issues o f identity and meaning are as im por­ tant as ever. In H induism w e see tw o contem porary cultural forces w hich are characteristic o f m odern com munities: on the one hand a movement tow ards globalization and identity form ation w hich locates H induism as a trans-national w o rld religion alongside C hristianity, Buddhism or Islam ; on the other, a fragm entation w hich identifies H induism with a nar­ ro w ly conceived national identity. B oth o f these forces, towards global­ ization and a fragm ented nationalism, are strong w ithin H induism and it remains to be seen w hich becom es the m ore prom inent voice. I hope that H indus reading this book w ill recognize their tradition in its pages, and I leave it fo r the reader to judge the appropriateness o f the ‘dis­ courses’ I have highlighted and those I have thereby occluded.

i Points of departure

What is H in duism ? A sim ple answ er m ight be that H induism is a term which denotes the religions o f the m ajority o f people in India and N epal, and o f som e com m unities in other continents, w h o refer to themselves as ‘ H indus’ . T he difficulties arise when w e try to understand precisely what this means, fo r the diversity o f H induism is tru ly vast and its h istory long and com plex. Som e m ight claim, both from w ithin the tradition and from outside it, that because o f this diversity there is ‘ no such thing as H induism ’, w hile others m ight claim that, in spite o f its diversity, there is an ‘ essence’ w hich structures or patterns its m anifestations. The truth o f the m atter p ro b ab ly lies som ew here betw een these claims. A s k m any Hindus and they w ill be sure o f their identity as ‘ H in d u ’ , in contrast to being C hristian, M u slim or Buddhist, yet the kinds o f H indus they are will vary a very great deal and differences betw een H indus m ight be as great as differences betw een H indus and Buddhists o r Christians. In In dia’s population o f approxim ately 900 m illion people,1 700 m illion are H indus, the rem ainder are M uslim s, Sikhs, C hristians, Jain s, Buddhists, Parsees, Je w s and follow ers o f ‘ tribal’ religions. There are 120 m illion Muslim s and 4 5 m illion tribal peoples or adivasis, w ith 14 m illion Sikhs and an estim ated 14 m illion C hristians.2 This is a w ide m ix o f religions and cul­ tural groups, all o f w hich interact w ith H induism in a num ber o f w ays. There are also sizeable H indu com m unities beyond the boundaries o f south A sia in South A frica, E ast A frica, South A m erica, the West Indies, the U S A , Canada, E u rope, A ustralia, N e w Zealand, B ali and Java. T he 19 8 1 census in the U S A estimated the population o f Indian com m unities to be

5

An introduction to Hinduism 387,223, m ost o f w hom w ould be 1lindu, while in the U K the num ber o f H indus for the same year is estimated at 300,000.3 There are also m any W esterners from E u rop e and Am erica w h o w ould claim to fo llo w H induism o r religion j deriving from it and H indu ideas, such as karma, yo g a and vegetarianism , are now com m onplace in the West. Th e actual term ‘ hindu’ first occurs as a Persian geographical term fo r the people w h o lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: sindhu). In A rab ic texts, A l-H in d is a term fo r the people o f m od ern -d ay India4 and ‘ H in d u ’, o r ‘H in d o o ’, w as used tow ards the end o f the eighteenth century b y the B ritish to refer to the people o f ‘H in dustan ’, the area o f northw est India. E ven tu ally ‘ H in d u ’ became virtu ally equivalent to an ‘ Indian’ w h o w as not a M uslim , Sikh, Ja in o r Christian, thereby encom passing a range o f religious beliefs and practices. T he ‘ -ism ’ w as added to ‘ H in d u ’ in around 18 30 to denote the culture and religion o f the high-caste Brahm ans in con ­ trast to other religions, and the term was soon appropriated b y Indians themselves in the context o f establishing a national identity opposed to colonialism ,5 though the term ‘ H in d u ’ was used in Sanskrit and Bengali hagiographic texts in contrast to ‘ Yavana’ or M uslim , as early as the six­ teenth century.6

Defining Hinduism Because o f the w ide range o f traditions and ideas incorporated b y the term ‘ H in d u ’ , it is a problem arriving at a definition. M ost H indu traditions revere a b o d y o f sacred literature, the Veda, as revelation, though som e do not; som e traditions regard certain rituals as essential fo r salvation, others do not; some H indu philosophies postulate a theistic reality w ho creates, maintains and destroys the universe, others reject this claim. H induism is often characterized as belief in reincarnation (sam sara) determ ined b y the law that all actions have effects (karm a), and that salvation is freedom from this cycle. Y et other religions in south A sia, such as Buddhism and Jainism , also believe in this. Part o f the problem o f definition is due to the fact that H induism does not have a single historical founder, as do so m any other w orld religions; it does not have a unified system o f belief encoded in a creed or declaration o f faith; it does not have a single system o f soteriolo gy; and it does not have a centralized authority and bureaucratic struc­ ture. It is therefore a ve ry different kind o f religion in these respects from the m onotheistic, western traditions o f C hristian ity and Islam , though there are arguably stronger affinities w ith Judaism .

6

I

Points o f departure Jaw aharlal N ehru, the first prim e minister of independent India, said iliat H induism is ‘all things to all m en’/ certainly an inclusive definition, hut so inclusive as to be o f little use tor ou r purposes. Yet w hile it might not be possible to arrive at a watertight definition o f H induism , this does not mean that the term is empty. T here are clearly som e kinds o f practices, texts and beliefs w hich are central to the concept o f being a ‘ H in d u ’ , and there are others w hich are on the edges o f H induism . I take the view that while ‘ H induism ’ is not a category in the classical sense o f an essence defined b y certain properties, there are nevertheless p rototypical form s o f I Iindu practice and belief. The beliefs and practices o f a high-caste devotee o f the H indu god Visnu, living in Tam ilnadu in south India, fall clearly within the category o f ‘ H in d u ’ and are prototypical o f that category. The beliefs and practices o f a Radhasaom i devotee in the Punjab, w h o w o r­ ships a G o d w ithout attributes, w h o does not accept the Veda as revelation and even rejects m any H indu teachings, are not pro to typ ically H in du , yet are still w ithin the sphere, and category, o f H induism . T he south Indian devotee o f Visnu is a m ore typical m em ber o f the category ‘ H in d u ’ than the Radhasoam i devotee. In other w o rd s, ‘ H in du ism ’ is not a category in the classical sense - to w hich som ething either belongs or it does not - but more in the sense o f prototype theory. P rototype theory, developed b y G eorge L a k o ff,8 maintains that cate­ gories do not have rigid boundaries, but rather there are degrees o f categ­ o ry m em bership; some members o f a category are m ore prototypical than others. These degrees m ay be related through fam ily resemblance; the idea that ‘ mem bers o f a category m ay be related to one another w ithout all members having any properties in com m on that define the category’ .9 H induism can be seen as a category in this sense. It has fu z z y edges. Som e form s o f religion are central to H induism , w h ile others are less clearly cen­ tral but still w ithin the category. To say what is o r is not central to the category o f H induism is, o f course, to m ake judgem ents about the degree o f prototypicality. The question o f the basis o f such judgem ents arises. H ere w e m ust turn, on the one hand, to H indu self-understandings, for H induism has developed categories fo r its o w n self-description,10 as well as, on the other, to the scholar’s under­ standings o f com m on features o r structuring principles seen from outside the tradition. A lth ou gh I have some sym pathy w ith Jon athan Z . Sm ith’s rem ark that religion is the creation o f the scholar’s im agination,1 1 in so far as the act o f

7

An introduction to Hinduism scholarship involves a reduction, a selection, a highlighting o f some dis­ courses and texts and a backgrounding o f others, there is nevertheless a w ide b o d y o f ritual practices, form s o f behaviour, doctrines, stories, texts, and deeply felt personal experiences and testim onies, to w hich the term ‘H in d u ism ’ refers. Th e term ‘ H in d u ’ certainly does refer in the contem po­ rary w o rld to the dom inant religion o f south A sia, albeit a religion w hich em braces a w ide variety w ithin it. It is im portant to bear in mind that the form ation o f H induism , as the w o rld religion w e kn o w today, has on ly occurred since the nineteenth century, w hen the term w as used b y H indu reform ers and w estern orientalists. H ow ever, its origins and the ‘ stream s’ w h ich feed into it are v e ry ancient, extending back to the Indus valley civi­ lization.12 I take the view that ‘ H in du ism ’ is not p u rely the construction o f w estern orientalists attem pting to m ake sense o f the plurality o f reli­ gious phenom ena w ithin the vast geographical area o f south A sia, as some scholars have m aintained,13 but that ‘H in du ism ’ is also a developm ent o f H indu self-understanding; a transform ation in the m odern w o rld o f themes already present. I shall use the term ‘ H in d u ’ to refer not on ly to the contem porary w orld religion, but, w ith the necessary qualifications, to the traditions w h ich have led to its present form ation.

Religion and the sacred W hat w e understand b y H induism as a religion p artly depends upon w hat w e mean b y ‘ religion’ . O u r understanding o f H induism has been mediated b y w estern notions o f w hat religion is and the projection o f H induism as an ‘ other’ to the West’s C hristian ity.14 W hile this is not the place fo r an elaborate discussion o f the m eaning o f religion, it is neverthe­ less im portant to m ake som e rem arks about it, and to indicate some para­ meters o f its use. T he category ‘ religion’ has developed out o f a C hristian, largely Protestant, understanding, w hich defines it in terms o f belief. Th is is indicated b y the frequent use o f the term ‘ faith’ as a syn on ym fo r ‘ religion’ . If ‘ religion’ is to contribute to our understanding o f hum an view s and prac­ tices, its characterization pu rely in terms o f belief is clearly inadequate and w ou ld need to be m odified to include a variety o f hum an practices. D efinitions o f religion provoke much debate and disagreem ent, but to use the term w e have to have some idea o f w hat w e m ean b y it. R eligion needs to be located squarely w ithin human society and culture; there is no privileged discourse o f religion outside o f particular cultures and societies. The fam ous sociologist Em ile D urkheim in The E lem en tary Form s o f the

Points oj depart arc Religious L ife , first published in 19 15 , defined religion as ‘ a unified set o f beliefs and practices relative to sacred things’ which creates a social bond between p eop le.15 Th is unified set o f beliefs and practices is a system o f sym bols w hich acts, to use Peter B erger’s phrase, as a ‘ sacred can o p y’, imbuing individual and social life w ith meaning. T he ‘sacred’ refers to a quality o f m ysterious pow er w hich is believed to dw ell w ithin certain objects, persons and places and w hich is opposed to chaos and death. Religion, follow in g Berger, establishes a ‘ sacred cosm os’ w hich provides the ‘ultimate shield against the terror o f an om y’ .16 This sense o f sacred p ow er is o f vital im portance to the experience o f men and w om en throughout the h istory o f religions. In H induism a sense o f the sacred m ight be experienced as the sense o f a greater being outside o f the self, a ‘ num inous’ experience to use the term coined b y the G erm an theologian R u d o lf O tto, characterized b y a feeling o f awe, fascination and m y stery;17 or the sense o f the sacred m ight occur as an inner o r con ­ templative experience w ithin the self, w hat m ight be called a ‘m ystical’ experience.10 There has been a tendency in recent studies to reduce the ‘ religious’ to the ‘ political’ .19 W hile it is im portant to recognize that the religious exists o n ly w ithin specific cultural contexts, as does the political, the concept o f the sacred is distinctive to a religious discourse w ithin cultures. T he sacred is regarded as divine p ow er manifested in a variety o f contexts: tem ples, locations, images and people. W hile this p ow er is not divorced from p o lit­ ical power, it can nevertheless exist independently, as is seen in popular religious festivals and personal devotional and ascetic practices w hich result in states o f inner ecstasy. T he sacred exists entirely w ithin culture. T he categories o f the sacred and the everyd ay are not substantive, as Jon athan Smith has observed, but relational; they change according to circum stances and situation. There is nothing in H induism w hich is inherently sacred. T he sacredness o f time, objects o r persons depends upon context and the boundaries betw een the sacred and the everyd ay are fluid. A ritual dance perform er w h o is p o s­ sessed b y a god one day, mediating betw een the com m unity and the divine, w ill the next day be sim ply human again; or the tem ple image or icon p rio r to consecration is m erely stone, metal, or w o o d , but once con ­ secrated is em pow ered and becom es the focus o f mediation: ‘ it becom es sacred b y having our attention directed to it in a special w a y ’ .20 T he sacred in H in duism is mediated through innum erable, changing form s w hich

9

An introduction to Hinduism bear w itness to a d eeply rich, religious im agination, centred on mediation and transform ation. T he understanding o f these aspects o f human experience is, as N inian Sm art has pointed out, indispensable in the plural cultures o f the contem ­ p o rary w o rld .21 Th is study o f H induism assumes this point and assumes that the academic study o f religion, o r religious studies, draws on a num ber o f m ethods w ithin the human sciences: anthropology, history, ph ilosop h y and phenom enology. There has been much recent debate concerning the nature o f objective studies o f other cultures b y ‘w estern’ social scientists and a questioning o f the v ery possibility, o r desirability, o f objectivity. T he French social thinker Pierre Bourdieu has asked that w e clarify the position o f the author, and that the researcher be aware o f the lim itations o f his o r her perspective on the object o f study.22 W hile it m ay be true that w e are all personally affected b y w hat draw s us, m ethodologi­ cally, the present study is written from a perspective standing outside H induism , rather than from inside. We should, however, be w a ry o f regarding these categories as watertight, fo r there is a dialectical relation between the objective structures o f H induism , its beliefs and practices, and the dispositions o f the m ethod used.23 T he m ethods o f religious stud­ ies must mediate between, on the one hand, the objective structure o f H indu traditions and H indu self-reflection, and, on the other, the co m ­ m unity o f ‘ readers’ w h o are external (whether o r not they happen to be H indus).24 N eedless to say, I am not concerned w ith the truth o r falsity o f the claims made b y the traditions described here. These claims are part o f the social and psychological fabric o f H in du com m unities w hich have given them life, and w hich have had p rofoun d personal significance fo r people w ithin them.

General features of Hinduism M an y H indus believe in a transcendent G o d , beyond the universe, w h o is yet w ithin all living beings and w h o can be approached in a variety o f w ays. Such a H indu might say that this suprem e being can be w orshipped in innum erable form s: as a handsome yo u n g man, as a majestic king, as a beautiful you ng girl, as an old wom an, o r even as a featureless stone. The transcendent is mediated through icons in tem ples, through natural ph e­ nomena, or through living teachers and saints. H induism is often charac­ terized as being polytheistic, and while it is true that innum erable deities are the objects o f w orsh ip, m any H indus w ill regard these as an aspect or

l'oints of departure manifestation o f sacred power. D evotion (b h a k ti) to deities mediated through icons and h oly persons provides refuge in times o f crisis and even final liberation (m oksa) from action {karm a) and the cycle o f reincarna­ tion (samsara). T he transcendent is also revealed in sacred literature, called the ‘Veda’, and in codes o f ritual, social and ethical behaviour, called dharm a, w hich that literature reveals. T he tw o terms v ed a and dharm a are o f central im portance in w hat m ight be called H indu self-understanding. V E D A A N D DHARMA

The Veda is a large b o d y o f literature com posed in Sanskrit, a sacred lan­ guage o f H induism , revered as revelation (sruti) and as the source o f dharm a. The term v ed a means ‘kn ow led ge’ , originally revealed to the ancient sages (rsi), conveyed to the com m unity b y them, and passed through the generations initially as an oral tradition. There is also a large body o f Sanskrit literature, inspired but nevertheless regarded as being o f human authorship, com prising rules o f conduct (the D harm a literature) and stories about people and gods (the E p ics and m ythological texts called Puranas). These texts might be regarded as a secondary or indirect revela­ tion (sm rti).25 There are also texts in vernacular Indian languages, particu­ larly Tamil, w hich are revered as being equal to the Veda b y som e H indus. Th e Veda as revelation is o f vital im portance in understanding H induism , though its acceptance is not universal am ong H indus and there are form s o f H induism w hich have rejected the Veda and its legitim izing authority in the sanctioning o f a hierarchical social order. H ow ever, all H indu traditions make some reference to the Veda, whether in its accep­ tance or rejection, and some scholars have regarded reference to its legit­ im izing authority as a criterion o f being H in d u .26 W hile revelation as an abstract, o r even notional entity, is im portant, the actual content o f the Veda has often been neglected b y H indu traditions. It has acted rather as a reference point fo r the construction o f H indu identity and selfunderstanding.27 D harm a is revealed b y the Veda. It is the nearest semantic equivalent in Sanskrit to the E nglish term ‘ religion’, but has a w ider connotation than this, incorporating the ideas o f ‘ truth’ , ‘ d u ty ’ , ‘ ethics’ , ‘law ’ and even ‘ nat­ ural la w ’ . It is that po w er w hich upholds o r supports society and the cos­ mos; that p o w er w hich constrains phenom ena into their particularity, which makes things what they are.28 Th e nineteenth-century H indu reform ers speak o f H induism as the eternal religion or law (sanatana

An introduction to Hinduism dharm a), a com m on idea among m odern I lindus today in their self­ description. M ore specifically, dharm a refers to the duty o f high-caste H indus w ith regard to social position, one’s caste o r class (v a rn a ), and the stage o f life one is at (asram a). A ll this is incorporated b y the term varn asram a-dharm a. O ne striking feature o f H induism is that practice takes precedence over belief. W hat a H indu does is m ore im portant than w hat a H indu believes. H induism is not credal. A dherence to dharm a is therefore not an accep­ tance o f certain beliefs, but the practice o r perform ance o f certain duties, w hich are defined in accordance w ith dharm ic social stratification. The boundaries o f w hat a H indu can and cannot do have been largely deter­ mined b y his or her particular endogam ous social group, or caste, strati­ fied in a hierarchical order, and, o f course, b y gender. This social hierarchy is governed b y the distinction between p u rity and pollution, w ith the higher, purer castes at the top o f the structure, and the lower, polluted and polluting, castes at the bottom . Behaviour, expressing H indu values and p o w er structures, takes precedence over belief, orth op raxy over o rth o­ doxy. A s Frits Staal says, a H indu ‘m ay be a theist, pantheist, atheist, com ­ munist and believe w hatever he likes, but w hat m akes him into a H indu are the ritual practices he perform s and the rules to w h ich he adheres, in short, w hat he does\ 29 This sociological characterization o f H induism is v e ry com pelling. A H indu is som eone born w ithin an Indian social group, a caste, w ho adheres to its rules w ith regard to pu rity and m arriage, and w h o perform s its prescribed rituals which usually focus on one o f the m any H indu deities such as Siva o r Visnu. O ne might add that these rituals and social rules are derived from the H indu p rim ary revelation, the Veda, and from the secondary revelation, the inspired texts o f hum an authorship. The Veda and its ritual reciters, the highest caste o r Brahm ans, are the closest H induism gets to a legitim izing authority, fo r the Brahm an class has been extrem ely im portant in the dissemination and maintenance o f H indu cul­ ture. It is generally the Brahm an class that has attempted to structure coherently the m ultiple expressions o f H induism , and w hose selfunderstanding any account o f H induism needs to take seriously. R I T U A L AN D SALVATION

D harm a implies a fundam ental distinction betw een the affirm ation o f w o rld ly life and social values on the one hand, and the rejection o f w o rld ly

Points of departure life or renunciation (sam nyasa) in order to achieve salvation or liberation (moksa) on the other. R eligion in w orld ly life is concerned with practical needs; the help o f deities in times o f crisis such as a child’s illness, the ensuring o f a better lot in this life and the next, and the regulating o f one’s passage through time in the social institutions into which one is born. This kind o f religion is concerned w ith birth, m arriage and funeral rites; the regular ordering o f life through ritual w hich is generally distinct from reli­ gion as leading to personal salvation o r liberation (moksa). Richard G om brich, w h o has highlighted this distinction, has called the form er ‘com m unal religion’ to distinguish it fro m soteriology, the path o f salva­ tion.30 R eligion as soteriology is concerned w ith the individual and his/her ow n salvation, how soever conceptualized, whereas com m unal religion is concerned w ith the regulation o f com m unities, the ritual struc­ turing o f a person ’s passage through life, and the successful transition, at death, to another w orld. The form er involves an element o f faith and, more im portantly, initiation into the particular w a y o r method leading to the practitioner’s spiritual goal. The latter is concerned w ith legitim izing hierarchical social relationships and propitiating deities. The relationship between soteriology and practical religion is variable. Paths m ight demand com plete celibacy and the renouncing o f social life, in w hich case the H indu w ou ld becom e a renouncer (samnyâsin), a w an ­ dering ascetic, o r they m ight be adapted to the householder continuing to live in the w orld , fo r exam ple b y dem anding a certain yoga practice. Some spiritual paths m ight allow w om en to be initiated, others might not; some might be open to U ntouchable castes, w hile others might not. T he aim o f a spiritual path is eventual liberation rather than w o rld ly prosperity which is the legitimate goal fo r the fo llo w er o f practical religion. H indus might, and do, participate in both form s o f religion. Th is distinction between practical religion and religion as soteriology, between appeasement and m ysticism , is expressed at the social level in the figures o f the householder, w h o maintains his fam ily and perform s his rit­ ual obligations, and the renouncer w h o abandons social life, perform s his ow n funeral and seeks final release. T he purposes o f the householder and renouncer, as Lou is D um ont has show n ,3 1 are quite different, even con­ tradictory, yet are both legitimated w ithin H in du traditions. T he highcaste householder is born w ith three debts (rna) to be paid: the debt o f vedic study to the sages (rsi) as a celibate student (brahm acârin), the debt o f ritual to the gods (deva) as a householder, and the debt o f begetting a

13

An introduction to Hinduism son to m ake funeral offerings to the ancestors (pitr). Traditionally, on ly once these debts have been paid can a householder go forth to seek libera­ tion. Som etim es, as in the fam ous text o f secondary revelation, the B h a g a v a d G ita , the ideals o f household obligation and ascetic renuncia­ tion are brought together b y saying that a person can w o rk towards liber­ ation w hile still fulfilling his w o rld ly responsibilities. ONE AND M ANY GODS

T he term polytheism can be applied to H induism in so far as there is a m ul­ tiplicity o f divine form s, from pan-H indu deities such as Siva, Visnu and G anesa to deities in regional temples, such as L o rd Jagannâth at Puri, and deities in local village shrines. These deities are distinct and particular to their location; the goddess in a shrine in one village is distinct from the goddess in a different shrine. W hile m ost H in du s w ill regard these deities as distinct, m any H indus w ill also say that they are aspects or m anifesta­ tions o f a single, transcendent G o d. Som e H indus w ill identify this tran­ scendent focus w ith a specific G o d , say K rsn a or Siva, and maintain that the other deities are lo w er manifestations o f this suprem e G o d . O ther H indus w ill say that all deities are aspects o f an im personal absolute and that deities o f m yth olo gy and the icons in tem ples are w in dow s into this ultimate reality. W hat is im portant is that the deities as icons in temples mediate between the human w orld and a divine or sacred reality and that the icon as d eity m ight be seen as a ‘ spiritualization’ o f matter. M EDIATION AND THE SACRED

C entral to any understanding o f H induism is the role o f m ediation between the sacred and the everyday or ‘p rofan e’ . The place o f the interac­ tion o f the sacred w ith the human is the place o f m ediation; the connection between the com m unity or individual and the religious focus. M ediation underlines difference; the difference betw een hum ans and deities, and the differences between human groups. These differences are mediated tem ­ p o rarily through ritual and festival cycles, and spatially through temples, icons, h oly persons and h oly places. In ritual, o fferin g incense to the icon o f a deity mediates betw een, or is thought to open a channel o f com m uni­ cation between, the H in du and the transcendent p o w er em bodied in the icon. Sim ilarly, renouncers and gurus mediate betw een the sacred and the everyday w orld s, as do people w h o becom e tem porarily possessed during certain festivals.

14

Points of departure The distinction between the sacred and the everyday overlaps with the important distinctions between the pure and the im pure, and the auspic ious and the inauspicious: distinctions w hich have been em phasized in recent studies o f H induism .32 T he sacred is generally regarded as pure, t hough m ay also be manifested in im purity, as in the A gh o ri ascetic living in the polluting crem ation ground. T h e sacred is also auspicious, yet m ay on occasion be inauspicious, as w hen a goddess o f sm allpox and other dis­ eases visits one’s family. The possessed man o r w om an recapitulates the tem ple icon. B oth con­ tain sacred p o w er and are identified w ith the deity. B oth icon and p o s­ sessed person are not m erely representations o f the deity, but have actually become the deity w ithin the particular, circum scribed, ritual situation. The transform ation o f the non-em pow ered icon into em powered icon, or o f the low -caste perform er into the sacred deity, is a central structure o f I Iindu religious consciousness. T he icon, or person w ho has becom e an icon, mediates betw een the sacred realm and the human com m unity. Should the divine interact w ith the hum an outside ritual contexts, such as in an unexpected possession illness, then the u n lo o ked-fo r m ediation might not be w elcom e and, indeed, could be dangerous. N o t o n ly certain people, but also certain places, mediate between the sacred and the everyday. Places o f pilgrim age are called ‘ crossings’ (tirtha). O ne such crossing is the sacred city o f Varanasi w hich is so sacred that lib ­ eration w ill occur at death fo r those lu ck y enough to die there. H ere, the crossing from everyd ay to the sacred w ill be permanent. A gain, rivers, such as the G anges in the north o r K averi in the south, are places w here the sacred is manifested and H indus receive blessings through visiting these sites. Yet, w hile difference mediated b y innum erable spatial and tem poral form s is central, identity rather than hierarchy, and b y im plication the absence o f m ediation, is also im portant. W hile the deity is w orshipped as distinct, the deity and devotee nevertheless share in the same essence and at a deep level they are one.33 The idea o f a boundless identity is at the heart o f m any H in du soteriologies w hich assert the essence o f a person, their true self (atm an), to be identical w ith the essence o f the cosm os, the absolute (brahm an). E ven traditions w hich em phasize the distinction between G o d and the self at som e level usually accept the identity or partial identity o f w orsh ipper and w orshipped, o f lover and beloved. This idea o f an iden­ tity betw een the w orsh ipper and the d eity has even been called, b y the

15

An introduction to Hinduism anthropologist C h ris Fuller, one o f 1lin d u ism ’s ‘ axiom atic truths’ .34 Yet the coexistence o f identity and difference, o f im m ediacy and m ediation, is also axiom atic. T h ere is unity, yet there is difference: the god K rsn a’s con ­ sort, Ràdhà, is united w ith him, yet she retains her distinct identity; the self and the absolute m ight be one, yet caste and gender differences matter.

H indu traditions T he idea o f tradition inevitably stresses unity at the cost o f difference and divergence. In pre-Islam ic India there w ould have been a num ber o f dis­ tinct sects and regional religious identities, perhaps united b y com m on cultural sym bols, but no notion o f ‘ H in du ism ’ as a com prehensive entity. Y et there are nevertheless striking continuities in H in du traditions. There are essentially tw o models o f tradition: the arboreal model and the river m odel. T he arboreal m odel claims that various sub-traditions branch o ff from a central, original tradition, often founded b y a specific person. The river m odel, the exact inverse o f the arboreal m odel, claims that a tradition com prises m ultiple streams w hich merge into a single m ainstream .35 C on tem porary H induism cannot be traced to a com m on origin, so the discussion is directed tow ards whether H induism fits the river m odel or, to extend the metaphor, w hether the term ‘ H in du ism ’ sim ply refers to a num ber o f quite distinct rivers. W hile these m odels have restricted use in that they suggest a teleological direction o r intention, the river model w ou ld seem to be m ore appropriate in that it em phasizes the m ultiple o ri­ gins o f H induism . The m any traditions w hich feed in to contem porary H induism can be subsum ed under three broad headings: the traditions o f brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popu lar o r local traditions. The tradition o f brahmanical orth op raxy has played the role o f ‘ master narra­ tive’, transm itting a b o d y o f know ledge and behaviour through time, and defining the conditions o f orthopraxy, such as adherence to varnâsram adharm a. BRAHM ANICAL TRADITIONS

T he brahmanical tradition can itself be subdivided into a num ber o f sy s­ tems or religions w hich are distinct yet interrelated, and w hich refer to themselves as ‘traditions’ (sam pradâya) o r system s o f teacher-disciple transm ission (param parâ). These traditions, w h ich developed signifi­ cantly during the first millennium c e , are focused upon a particular deity

16

Points o f departure or group o f deities. A m ong these broadly brahmanical system s, three are particularly im portant in H indu self-representation: Vaisnava traditions, focused on the deity Visnu and his incarnations; Saiva traditions, focused o n Siva; and Sakta traditions, focused on the G odd ess or D evi. There is .ilso an im portant tradition o f Brahm ans called Sm artas, those w h o fo llo w the sm rti o r secondary revelation, and w h o w orsh ip five deities, Visnu, Siva, Surya, Ganesa and D evi. These traditions have their ow n sacred texts and rituals, w hile still being w ithin the general category o f H induism .36 C utting across these religious traditions is the th eology o f Vedanta; the unfolding o f a sophisticated discourse about the nature and content o f sacred scriptures, w hich explores questions o f existence and know ledge. The Vedanta is the theological articulation o f the vedic traditions, a dis­ course w hich penetrated Vaisnava and, though to a lesser extent, Saiva and Sakta thinking. T he Vedanta tradition became the philosophical basis o f the H indu renaissance during the nineteenth cen tury and is pervasive in i he w orld religion w hich H induism has becom e. THE RENOUNCER TRADITIONS

The renouncer traditions, w hile their value system is distinct from that o f the Brahm an householders, are nevertheless closely related to the brah­ manical religions. Indeed, some brahm anical householder traditions, such as Saivism , originated am ong the w orld-renouncers seeking liberation while living on the edges o f society in w ild places and in crem ation grounds. T he renouncer traditions espouse the values o f asceticism and w orld transcendence in contrast to the brahm anical householder values o f affirm ing the goals o f w o rld ly responsibility (dh arm a), w o rld ly success and profit (artha), and erotic and aesthetic pleasure (kdm a). T he ideal o f renunciation is incorporated w ithin the structure o f orthoprax H induism , though orthoprax renunciation must be seen in the context o f general Indian renouncer traditions kn ow n as the Sram ana traditions. These Sram ana traditions, including B uddhism and Jainism , developed during the first m illennium

b c e

and w ere in conflict w ith brahmanical, vedic

orthopraxy. PO PULAR TRADITIONS

W hile there are pan-H indu traditions o f Vaisnavism , Saivism and Saktism alongside the renouncer traditions, there are also local or popular tradi­ tions w hich exist w ithin a bounded geographical area, even w ithin a

17

An introduction to Hinduism particular village. T h eir languages o f transm ission are the regional, ver­ nacular languages rather than the Sanskrit o f the brahmanical tradition. T h ey are less concerned w ith asceticism than w ith ensuring that crops grow , that illness keeps aw ay from the children, and that one is not haunted o r possessed b y ghosts. Such popular traditions are low -caste and need to appease ‘ h ot’ deities, particularly goddesses, w h o demand o ffer­ ings o f blood and alcohol. W hile the concerns o f popular religion are d if­ ferent from those o f the renouncer and brahmanical traditions, they are nevertheless inform ed b y the ‘ higher’ culture. The process w h ereb y the brahmanical tradition influences popular reli­ gion is called Sanskritization. Local deities becom e identified w ith the great deities o f the brahmanical tradition and local m yths becom e identi­ fied w ith the great, pan-H indu myths. F o r exam ple, the D ravidian god­ dess o f pustular diseases, M áriyam m an, might be identified as a m anifestation o f the great pan-H indu goddess D urgá. Local deities can also becom e pan -H in du deities and local narratives becom e com m only shared m yths.37 Th e god Krsna, fo r example, m ay have been a local deity w h o became pan-H indu. M ore recent examples might be the northern G odd ess Santos! M a, w h o has become a pan-H indu d eity through having becom e the subject o f a m ovie, o r the Kerala deity A iyap p an , w h o is com ­ ing to have trans-regional appeal. T he influence o f south Indian D ravidian culture on the grand narrative o f the Sanskritic, brahm anical tradition has been underestimated and, until recently, little investigated. The relationship between the popular and the brahm anical levels o f cu l­ ture is the focus o f much debate among scholars o f H induism . O n the one hand popular tradition can be seen as a residue or consequence o f the grand narrative o f the brahmanical tradition: an im itation o f the higher culture. O n the other hand popular tradition can be seen to function inde­ pendently o f the high, brahmanical culture, but interacting w ith it.38 Scholars w h o

interpret H induism

holistically, such as M adeleine

Biardeau, tend to favou r the im portance o f brahm anical culture in shaping the tradition.39 O thers, particularly anthropologists w h o have carried out fieldw ork in a specific locality, stress the discontinuities o f tradition, em phasizing the im portance and independence o f regional o r popular religion.40 H indu traditions, w ith their emphasis on continuity and the im p or­ tance o f the teacher or guru in the transference o f know ledge, are essen­ tially conservative and resistant to change. There is a fine balance between

l'oints (¡1 departure such conservatism , which preserves the tradition, and the necessity to adapt to prevalent historical conditions. It traditions adapt too m uch then they are no longer the traditions that they w ere, yet if they do not adapt they are in danger o f dying out. Som e H indu traditions have faded and others have arisen. H induism has adapted and reacted to political and social upheavals throughout its history, w hile maintaining m any o f its rit­ ual traditions and social structures alm ost unchanged fo r centuries. The impact o f m odernity and the developm ent o f a m iddle class in India w ill inevitably effect H induism , and debates about civil rights, nationalism, the rights o f the scheduled castes, and the Indian w om en ’s m ovem ent w ill inevitably transform it.

Hinduism and contem porary debate Issues w hich have arisen in the contem porary stu dy o f H induism relate to wider cultural problem s and general intellectual debates about agency, the relation o f religion to politics, and gender issues. M an y o f these issues have arisen out o f what is generally termed ‘postm odernism ’ , a m ovem ent o rig­ inating in the West, w hich manifests in all areas o f culture, and a discourse which questions and challenges traditional, rationalist view s. C ultural studies, w hich cuts across traditional divisions in the humanities o f so cio l­ ogy, history, ph ilosoph y and even theology, has developed w ithin the gen­ eral postm odernist fram ew ork. In ‘ deconstructing’ rationalist discourses, cultural studies has highlighted traditions w hich have been occluded, both in the West and the East. O ne o f the m ost im portant examples o f this w ith regard to India and H induism has been the w o rk o f the historian Ranajit G u ha and his colt

¿/ the sage Y ajn avalkya is asked h ow m any gods there are, and he gives an am biguous reply. F irstly he says there are 303, then that there are 3,003, w hen pressed further that there are 3 3 , 6 , 3 , 2 , 1 Vi, and fin ally 1. In the next verse he settles on 3 3. A lth ou gh this m ust be seen in the light o f the later m onistic ph iloso­ p h y o f the Upanisads - that all deities are m anifestations o f a single p o w er - the text is certainly echoing the early vedic identification o f the various gods w ith each other; the M oon is identified w ith Som a, Som a is identified w ith A gn i, A gn i w ith the Sun and so on. T H E DEVAS

T he R g Veda is filled w ith hym ns o f praise to the various deities (deva ) invoked in ritual. There are, however, few straight narrative accounts o f the 44

Ancient origins gods, either in the Rg Veda or in the Brahm anas, and die texts assume a co m ­ mon know ledge o f their stories. The great nineteenth-century Sanskritist, Max Muller, thought that all the deities of the Veda were ‘ the agents postu­ lated behind the great phenomena o f nature’, such as fire, water, rain, the sun and storms etc.47 W hile it is certainly true that m any deities o f the Veda are related to natural phenomena, some gods do not fit into this m odel and vedic scholarship no longer accepts this as an explanation o f the pantheon. The gods also have human qualities. The m ajority o f deities are male, though there are a few goddesses (devi) such as A diti, the mother o f the uni­ verse, U sas, the dawn, N irrti, destruction, and Vac, speech. T h ey can be addressed in hym ns, they share in human em otions, they have desire, they can be invited to the sacrifice and can share in the ritual meal. Indeed in the later texts, the Brahm anas, their connection w ith the sac­ rifice is what distinguishes them from other supernatural beings such as the ‘ dem ons’ or ‘ anti-gods’ , the asuras. A ccord in g to the Satapatha

Brahmana 48 both the dev as and the asuras are said to have been born from Prajapati, the ‘ lord o f creatures’ , a deity w h o becom es the creator god. The

asuras made sacrificial offerings to them selves, whereas the devas made offerings to each other. Because o f this, Prajapati gave him self to the latter as their nourishm ent and so the devas accept ritual offerings, whereas the

asuras do not. The devas are beings intim ately connected with, and, indeed, defined by, the sacrifice as the class o f supernatural beings w h o accept offerings and, in return, give help or, in the case o f m ore w rathful deities such as Rudra, sim ply stay aw ay from the human w orld. It is p o s­ sible that the devas represent the original deities o f the A ryan s and the

asuras the deities o f their enemies the Dasas. The devas inhabit a hierarchical cosm os. In one scheme, encapsulated in the three utterances pronounced each day b y orthodox Brahm ans, this cosm os is divided into the three w orld s o f sk y o r heaven (sva r), atm os­ phere (b h u va s), and earth (bh u r), each realm populated b y different deities. T h e three realms and the principal deities they contain are: - heaven (svar), contains the sky god D yaus; the lord of righteousness (rta) and of night, Varuna; the companion of Varuna and god of night, Mitra; the nourisher Pusan; and the pervader Visnu. - atmosphere (bhuvas) contains the warrior Indra; the wind Vayu; the storm gods, the Maruts; and the terrible Rudra. - earth (bhur) contains the plant god Soma; the fire Agni; and the priestly god of creative power, Brhaspati. 45

An introduction to Hinduism A n oth er classification places a group oi gods called A dityas, the sons o f the G odd ess A d iti (nam ely M itra, A ryam an , Bhaga, Varuna, D aksa, and A m sa), w ithin the category o f heaven; the M aruts or Rudras, the sons o f R u d ra, w ithin the atm osphere; and the Vasus, the attendants o f Indra, p er­ sonifications o f natural phenom ena, nam ely A p a (water), D hruva (the pole star), Som a (the m oon), D hara (the earth), A n ila (wind), A nala (fire), Prabhâsa (dawn), and P ratyüsa (light), at the level o f the earth. There is no suprem e deity in the R g Veda, though som e are undoubt­ edly m ore im portant than others. The tw o m ost significant devas, placed at the level o f the earth, are A gn i and Soma. A gn i m ysteriously pervades the w o rld as heat and is identified w ith the earth as the sacred cow Prsni, w ith the sun, w ith the daw n and w ith fire hidden in its stom ach.49 W hile being sim ply fire, A gn i is particularly the sacrificial fire. H e transports the dead to the realm o f Yam a, the lord of death, and transports, and purifies, all offerings to the realm o f the gods. T he m y th o lo gy o f A gn i plays on the idea o f fire being hidden w ithin the w orld and aw akened b y the fuel-sticks w hich kindle him. L ik e A gn i, Soma is a deity w h o intercedes betw een men and gods and is regarded as a link betw een the human and divine, the pillar o f the sk y and bringer o f ecstasy and understanding o f the divine realm s.50 Indeed Soma is identified w ith A gn i and w ith the m oon w hich contains the am brosia o f im m ortality (am rta) and there are parallels betw een the m yth o lo gy o f Som a and that o f A gni. A gni, hiding w ithin the waters from w here he w as origin ally born, is discovered b y the gods and agrees to co n vey the sacri­ fice to them.51 Sim ilarly Som a, like A gn i, w as hidden from the gods upon a m ountain and captured b y Indra riding an eagle.52 T here are parallels here w ith the G reek m yth o f Prom etheus and both A gn i and Som a can be seen as bringers o f culture, as things w hich distinguish the hum an w o rld from the natural w orld. O ther deities in the R g Veda are im portant, though none have such transform ing p o w er in the w orld as A gn i and Som a. Indra is the w arrior king, em powered b y soma, w h o destroys obstacles w ith his thunderbolt club. H is m ost fam ous m yth is the destruction o f the snake V rtra (whose name means ‘ obstacle’ ), sym bolizing cosm ic chaos, thus freeing the w aters o f the sky.53 The storm gods, the M aruts, accom pany Indra on his adventures w hich seem to reflect the w arrio r ethos o f vedic society: Indra captures the cow s as the A ry an w arriors w ou ld have gone on cattle raids to neighbouring groups. 46

Ancient origins A lthough Indra stands out in clear profile, many of the gods in the Veda are opaque. Th e A dityas, the sons o f the goddess A diti, include Varuna, the distant, majestic sk y god w ho protects the cosm ic and social order (rta); M itra, the god o f social responsibilities o r contracts, w h o accom pa­ nies Varuna; A ryam an , the god o f custom such as marriage, and, though very inferior to these other three, Pusan, presider over jo u rn eys.54 O f these, Varuna, the lord o f the ethical order, is the m ost im portant, and is asked fo r forgiveness and m ercy fo r any m oral transgression or fo r ‘going against the current’ .55 The you n g A svin twins are deities o f good fortune and health. A part from these, the elements and natural phenom ena are deified, such as the sun (Surya), the sun at dawn and sunset (Savitr), the w ind (V ayu), the waters (Apas), the goddess earth (PrthivI) and her consort, father sk y (D yaus Pitar). There are other deities in the pantheon such as V isnu and R udra (i.e. Siva) w h o becom e the central focuses o f later traditions. EARLY THEOLOGY

In the vedic w o rld view ritual has suprem e im portance and the vedic Samhitas prim arily serve as liturgical texts. A lth ou gh their use is prim arily liturgical, the contents o f the vedic songs or hym ns reflect and presuppose narrative traditions about the gods, and the origins o f the w o rld and o f human society. There are also philosophical speculations concerning the origins o f life. T he m ost fam ous o f these hym n s56 asks unansw erable questions about w hat existed at the beginning o f time w hen there w as nei­ ther existence (sat) nor non-existence (asat), neither death nor im m ortal­ ity, neither light nor dark. T he final verse conveys the hym n ’s sense o f cosm ic m ystery and w e can read into it both the beginnings o f a theistic tradition and also the beginnings o f Indian scepticism . It reads: ‘W hence this creation has arisen - perhaps it form ed itself, o r perhaps it did not - the one w h o looks dow n on it, in the highest heaven, on ly he know s - or p er­ haps he does not k now .’57 H ow ever, it is w ith the Brahm anas, later developed in the U panisads, that m ore system atic speculation begins, particularly on the nature o f sac­ rifice. The Brahm anas are a discourse b y the Brahm ans on the srauta ritu ­ als, w hich attempt to explain ritual action and relate it to w ider cosm ic and m ythological phenom ena; one Indian com m entator on the Taittiriya Sam hitd clearly and succinctly defined a Brahm ana as ‘ an explanation o f a ritual act and o f the m antras belonging to it’ .58 The sociologist Em ile

47

An introduction to Hinduism D urkheim once w rote that ‘ the moment when men have an idea that there are internal connections between things, science and philosophy become possib le’ .59 O ne o f the Brahm anas’ central concerns was the establishing o f such hidden o r inner connections (bandhu, nidana) between the srauta rituals and their purposes, and between ritual and m ythology. F o r exam ple, the Satapatha Brahmana clarifies the connection between the upper and lo w er fire-sticks used to kindle the sacred fires and the divine beings UrvasT and her husband Pururavas, w h ose names are invoked du r­ ing the fire-kindling cerem ony. The redactor o f the text is aware o f the sex­ ual sym bolism o f the fire sticks and identifies the ghee in the ghee pan, touched b y the adjvaryu priest, w ith A y u , the child o f the divine couple, w hich is placed on the lo w er (female) fire stick. G hee is also identified w ith semen (retas), and retas in turn is identified w ith an em bryo and also w ith rain.60 These kinds o f identifications and analogies are foun d throughout the texts and express a cosm ology in w hich the hierarchical structure o f the w ider cosm os is recapitulated in the structure o f society, in the individ­ ual’s b od y and in the ritual. The ritual is a m icrocosm reflecting the w ider m acrocosm o f the cosm os and the m esocosm o f society. COSMICAL H OMOLOGY

Identification, or ‘ cosm ical h om olo gy’ , as the historian o f religions M ircea Eliade has called it,61 along w ith hierarchy, m ight be said to be a principle o f Indian religion. It is present in the vedic tradition from the Rg

Veda and is found in all later Indian traditions, including Buddhism and Jainism . O ne o f the fundam ental vedic identifications o r hom ologies, w hich becomes central in later esoteric traditions, is between the body, the universe and the sacrifice. A k ey text here, occurring late in the Rg Veda, w hich is quoted and reiterated throughout the H indu tradition, is the fam ous hym n o f the cosm ic man, the Purusa Sukta .62 This hym n occurs in a late b ook o f the R g Veda and p rob ab ly does not accurately reflect vedic society in the earlier period w hich m ay have had less clearly delineated boundaries between social groups. This hym n describes the creation o f the w orld b y the gods, w h o sacri­ fice and dism em ber a cosm ic giant, the ‘ male person ’ {purusa), from the different parts o f w hose b o d y the cosm os and society are form ed and even the verses, songs and form ulae o f the Veda itself. The highest sacerdotal class, the Brahm ans, came from his m outh as so ciety’s voice; the w arrio r class {rajany a, o r later ksatriya ), as society’s strength, came from his arms; 48

Ancient origina the com m on people (vais'ya) came from his (highs as society’s support, and the serfs (südra), those on w hom society stands, came from his feet.63 In many w ays this is an idealized picture; the Brahm ans as the priests sustain­ ing the com m unity w ith spiritual sustenance, that is, perform ing vedic rit­ ual; the rulers o r w arriors protecting and ruling the com m unity; the com m on fo lk practising, prim arily, animal husbandry and agriculture; and the serfs serving the other classes. Y et this im portant hym n show s that the hierarchical, hereditary social groups w ere part o f the structure o f the cosm os. If the cosm os w as in some sense sacred, then so w as society w hich manifested its hierarchical order. M oreover, this order is reflected in sacri­ fice and in the hierarchical structure o f the body. The scale o f this order was the degree o f pu rity o r pollution associated w ith the b ody: the head, as the highest part o f the body, w as the purest and the feet, the low est part, the m ost polluted. T he social and individual bodies w ere reflections o f each other, and both w ere part o f the larger structure o r b o d y o f the cos­ m os. This integration o f society and cosm os, o f b o d y and society, is the sacred order or law (rta) o f the universe, w h ich is eternal and unchanging, brought to life in vedic ritual, expressed in the songs o f the vedic seers, and elucidated in the Bràhm anas.

Vedic society O f the fo u r classes (varna) o f A ry an society, the highest three are kn ow n as the ‘ tw ice-born ’ (dvija) because their male mem bers have undergone an initiation (upanayana ), a rite o f passage, w h ich gives them access to being full members o f society, w h o can m arry and perpetuate the ritual tradi­ tions. T h is rite separates the tw ice-born from the fourth estate, the ‘ serfs’

(südra), and clearly m arks the boundary betw een those w h o have access to the vedic tradition and those w h o do not. G eorges D um ézil, a scholar o f In do-E u ropean studies, has argued that In do-E u ropean ideology is char­ acterized b y a social structure o f three classes o r functions: the function o f the priest, the w arrio r or ruler and the farm er.64 T he sacerdotal class w o u ld serve the ruling, m ilitary aristocracy. This structure has been pre­ sent throughout Indo-E u ropean com m unities. In vedic India, D u m ézil’s three functions correspond to the tw ice-born classes o f priests (brâhmana), w arriors or rulers (ksatriya, râjanya) and com m oners (vais'ya). T he argument has been that upon entering the su b ­ continent the A ryan s w ith their tripartite social structure placed the local population on the bottom , w hich is the serf class (südra) com posed o f

49

An introduction to Hinduism n o n -A ryan D ravidians. H ow ever, the process of class form ation in early Indian society is m ore com plex and may go back to an indigenous struc­ ture in the ancient past, perhaps present in the Indus valley civilization. Indeed, the priestly and ruling classes o f the Indus valley cities probably lived separately in or near the citadels o f their towns. W hatever the origins o f the system , it m ust be remem bered that the fou rfold class structure is a theoretical model and ideological justification based on sacred revelation. The reality o f social classes in vedic society seems to have been m ore com plex. Rather than a priestly class serving a ruling aristocracy, at least at the time o f the R g Veda, there seems to have been tw o ruling elites, the Süris and the A ris, each o f w hich w ere served by their ow n priesthoods. A gu ilar i Matas has argued that R g-ved ic religion w as patronized b y the Süris and so the R g Veda favours them at the expense o f the A ris w h o have a negative reputation in the text. Th is is reflected at cultic and theological levels w hen Indra, the favourite god o f the Süris, trium phs over and becomes m ore im portant than Varuna, the suprem e god o f the A ris. Furtherm ore the tw o liturgical deities A gn i and Som a, pass from the side o f Varuna to Indra, thereby ensuring the Süris’ ritual pow er.65

Sum m ary We have seen h ow the origins o f H induism lay in the ancient cultures o f the Indus valley civilization and A ry an culture. A lth o u gh the issue is con­ tentious, there is strong supporting evidence to show that the language o f the Indus valley civilization was D ravidian, w h ich contrasts w ith the Indo-E u ropean language o f the vedic A ryan s. These tw o cultures, the D ravidian Indus valley culture and the A ry a n vedic, contribute to the fo r­ mation o f H indu traditions, and H indu civilization can be seen as a p ro d ­ uct o f the com plex interaction between the D ravidian and A ry an cultural spheres. W hile the A ry a n culture o f the Brahm ans provides the ‘ master narrative’ fo r later traditions, the im portance o f the D ravidian cultural sphere should not be underestimated and A ry a n culture itself, including the Sanskrit language, has absorbed D ravidian elements.

5°

3

Dharma

D urin g the late vedic period b y the time o f the com position o f the Satapatha B râhm ana and the early U panisads, A ry a n culture had becom e established in the G anges plain; w e kn o w that the Satapatha Brâhm ana and B rhad àran ya ka U panisad w ere com posed in the Videha regio n .1 Larger kingdom s replaced smaller ones and a process o f urbanization began. This was a form ative period in the h istory o f Indian religions, w hich saw the rise o f the renouncer traditions, particularly Buddhism , and the establishing o f brahmanical ideology. Betw een the M auryan dyn asty (c. 3 2 0 -18 5

b c e

)

and the G u pta em pire (320-500

c e

),

there w as a p olitic­

ally unsettled period prom pted b y incursions from the north-w est. The last M au ryan king, Brhadratha, was assassinated b y his Brahm an general Pusyam itra Süñga in 185

b c e

.

The Sünga d yn asty (c. 18 5 -7 3

b c e

)

lost

m uch o f its em pire to G reek invaders from Bactria under K in g D em etrios w h o founded an extensive empire, the m ost im portant king o f w hich was M enander (c. 16 6 - 15 0

b c e

).

A fter M enander’s death the kingdom broke

up to be eventually replaced b y the Sâka em pire, established b y Sai-W ang tribes from central A sia (c. 140

b c e

-

78

c e

).

W ith a slight decline in Sâka

pow er, the Kusânas (Kuei-shang) invaded, and established an em pire w hich extended along the Ganges plain to beyond Varanasi, culm inating in the rule o f K aniska (between 78 and 144

c e

w as founded b y C andragupta I (c. 320

and spread across all o f n orth­

c e

)

).

F in ally the G u p ta em pire

ern, and much o f central, India. Political support fo r religions varied w ith different dynasties and w ith different kings. A so k a (268-233

b c e ) was

favourable to Buddhism , as was

51

An introduction to Ilinduism K aniska (first century

c e

),

though both kings seem to have been tolerant

o f other religions within their realms. C andragupta M aurya may have been a Jain . With the death o f the last M auryan, his assassin Pusyam itra favoured a return to vedic sacrificial religion and perform ed the horse sac­ rifice and seems to have perform ed a human sacrifice at the city o f Kausam bi, perhaps in celebration o f a victo ry over the G reeks. A lthough official patronage o f religions varied, brahmanical ideology grew in im portance and established itself as the centre o f a sociopolitical religion, intim ately allied to the status o f the king, an id eo lo gy central to the G uptas (320-600

c e

)

and to later dynasties. This brahmanical religion w as con ­

cerned w ith the ritual status o f the king, the m aintaining o f boundaries betw een social groups, and the regulation o f individual behaviour in accordance w ith the overarching principle o f dharm a. W ith the rise o f the kingdom s culm inating w ith the G uptas, dharm a becom es an ideal operat­ ing in the dom estic realm o f the high-caste householder and in the political realm o f the H indu state. T he brahm anical id eology o f dharm a w as articulated b y the vedic tra­ ditions or schools (sakha) in texts concerned w ith the perform ance o f vedic ritual and social ethics, and expressed in the dom estic realm b y the figure o f the ideal Brahm an and in the political realm b y the figure o f the ideal king. These tw o figures, the Brahm an and the king, w ere intim ately connected. It w as the king w h o legitim ized the B rahm an’s p o w er through his patronage, yet it was the Brahm ans w h o perform ed the ritual consecra­ tion o f the king. T he id eology o f dharm a was articulated at the level o f the court, em bodied in the figure o f the king, and manifested in the social w orld in rules o f interpersonal interaction and ritual injunction. In this chapter w e shall examine the institutions o f dharm a as they are developed in the D harm a literature and as they became expressed in H indu history. T h e idea o f dharm a T he term ‘dh arm a’ is untranslatable in that it has no direct semantic equiv­ alents in any western languages w hich con vey the resonance o f associa­ tions expressed b y the term. It has been vario u sly translated as ‘d u ty ’ , ‘religion’, ‘justice’, ‘law ’, ‘ ethics’ , ‘ religious m erit’ , ‘prin ciple’ and ‘ right’ .2 M ore particularly dharm a is the perform ance o f vedic ritual b y the Brahm ans. It is ‘ the ritualistic order o f Vedic sacrifice’ ,3 w h ich refers espe­ cially to the perform ance o f the ‘ solem n’ rites (srauta) enjoined on all Brahm ans, to the dom estic rituals (grh ya), and to obligations appropriate 52

I )harm a

to on e’s fam ily and social group. D hartna is an all encom passing ideology which embraces both ritual and moral behaviour, w hose neglect w ould have bad social and personal consequences. T h e philosopher o f the Mimamsa school (see p. 236), Jaim ini, defines dharm a as that o f w hich the characteristic is an injunction (v id h i).4 T h is means that dharm a is an obligation, declared b y the Veda, to perform ritual action (karm a), w hich brings o f itself no rew ard other than that its non-perform ance w ould be ‘that w hich is not dharm a’ (adharm a) and result in retribution or ‘sin’ (papa). The rituals, particularly the solem n rites, are fo r their ow n realiza­ tion: it is ritual for ritual’s sake, though it does create reward in heaven fo r the ritual patron. A Brahm an can also perform supererogatory rituals for gaining w ealth and happiness in this w o rld and the next, but these are not obligatory. D harm a is identified w ith vedic obligation, w hich is eternal, and w ith action w hich is particular: the transcendent dharm a is expressed or manifested at a human level in ritual action in order to produce that w hich is good. L ! j'f *

The sources of dharma W hile the source o f dharm a is ultim ately the Veda, oral texts w ere fo rm u ­ lated betw een the eighth and fourth centuries

b c e

,

w ithin the vedic tradi­

tions (sdkha), concerned w ith ritual and law. T hese texts, the K alpa Sutras, form part o f a b o d y o f know ledge, the auxiliary sciences, kn ow n as the ‘lim bs o f the Veda’ (vedanga). The Vedangas are: siksa, correct pronunciation of vedic texts; kalpa, the correct performance of ritual; vydkarana, the study of grammar; nirukta, etym ology of vedic words; chandas, prosody; jyotisa, astrology. T he G au tam a D harm a Sutra says that the Veda is the source o f dharm a and also o f the traditions w hich flo w from it.5 There are three sources o f dharm a according to the D harm a Sutras: revelation (i.e. the Veda), tradi­ tion (smrti), and the custom s o r ‘ good custom ’ o f the virtuous or those learned in the Veda. The M anu S m rti o r M a n a va D harm a Sastra adds to these three ‘w hat is pleasing to oneself’ w hich might be rendered as ‘ conscience’ .6

53

An introduction to Hinduism T he Kalpa Sutras, the second source ol dharm a, ¡ire categorized into three groups: - the Srauta Sutras, texts dealing with the correct performance of the solemn or public rites; - the G rhya Sutras, dealing with domestic rites; - the Dharma Sutras, dealing with law and social ethics. W hile the Veda is revelation, the Kalpa Sutras are tradition o r secondary revelation, ‘rem em bered’ texts (smrti) com posed b y hum an sages w ithin the various vedic schools, though regarded as inspired and extraordinary hum ans. E ach sage is thought to have com posed a text in all three classes, though

in

fact

o n ly

three

sages, A pastam ba,

H iranyakesin

and

Baudhayana, have Srauta, D harm a, and G rh y a Sutras attributed to them. In all o f these texts w e see h ow dharm a was seen v e ry m uch in terms o f rit­ ual; to perform dharm a correctly is to fulfil one’s ritual obligations. T H E SR AU TA SUTRAS

These texts, called srauta because they fo llo w fro m sruti, lay dow n the rules, in a high ly technical form , fo r the perform ance o f public, vedic ritual. The actual srauta rites are prim arily focused upon A gn i and Som a to w h om vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings are made into three o r five fires established upon altars. These public rituals are older and m ore co m ­ plex than the simpler, dom estic rites, and surprisin gly have survived p o lit­ ical upheavals and social changes throughout In dia’s long history. D urin g the G u pta period they underwent a revival and are preserved in present times am ong the N am bu dri Brahm ans o f Kerala. The Srauta Sutras are rit­ ual manuals w hich lay out the rules fo r the perform ance o f srauta rites. T he earliest is b y Baudhayana (sixth century

b c e

o r earlier) w h ose text is

the first example o f the sutra style. A sutra, literally ‘thread’, is a pith y aphorism w hich states a principle or rule. These rules are cum ulative, the later rules assuming the earlier. Thus, in an injunction to m ake an oblation, an oblation made w ith ghee is understood.7 The Srauta Sutras are technical manuals com prising rules and metarules fo r w hat Frits Staal has called a ‘ science o f ritual’ . This science o f ritual has close parallels to the science o f language w hich developed a little later, but w hich uses the same sutra style. Th is science is furtherm ore distinct from the Brahm ana literature w hich preceded it, in not speculating about the hidden meanings o f ritual, but rather concentrating on the rules b y w hich it should be perform ed. These

54

I )h a rm a

texts, as Staal lias shown, are also distinct Icom Ihe later M imamsa philoso­ phy which is concerned with arguing a viewpoint, particularly against the Buddhists.8 T H E G R H Y A SUTRAS

The G rh y a Sutras describe different kinds o f ritual (yajna) to be per­ form ed in the home. These dom estic rituals m ay have been perm itted fo r all tw ice-born classes in the earlier vedic period, but came to be restricted to the Brahm an class. A Brahm an could perfo rm them fo r him self or fo r the other tw ice-born classes. These texts contain instructions on kindling the dom estic fire w h ich it is incum bent upon the Brahm an to keep; rules fo r ritual pu rity; and rites o f passage, p articu larly birth, initiation, m ar­ riage and death. Indeed, a household m ight em ploy a Brahm an to perform dom estic rituals on ly fo r rites o f passage, classified as ‘ occasional rites’ (naim ittika-karm a) rather than ‘ daily rites’ (n itya-k arm a). C on cern fo r ritual became supplemented in the D harm a Sutras w ith a concern fo r reg­ ulating and defining social relationships w ithin and betw een groups. It is interesting to note that at the level o f self-representation, ritual procedures took precedence over social considerations, though the tw o spheres became intim ately connected: to perform one’s ritual obligations w as to act in accordance w ith one’s social status w hich w as to act ethically. That is, from the perspective o f dharm a there is no gap between ritual perfo r­ mance and social or ethical obligation, an idea w hich the renouncer tradi­ tions, particularly Buddhism , w ere to reject. T H E D H A R M A SUTRAS

These texts develop material found in the G rh y a Sutras and are concerned w ith custom s and correct human conduct. In contrast to the Srauta Sutras, the G rh y a Sutras dem onstrate the dom estic concerns o f the Brahm an householder, laying emphasis on dom estic rituals and codes o f acceptable behaviour. T he m ost im portant o f the D harm a Sutras are ascribed to the sages Gautam a, Baudhayana, Vasistha and Apastam ba, w hose texts con ­ tain rules fo r perform ing dom estic rites, jurisprudence, and rules pertain­ ing to the fo u r stages o f life (asram a). T he significance o f these texts is that they lay d ow n rules fo r the perform ance o f dharm a fo r the A ry a n house­ holder, and lay the foundations for the im portant traditions o f the D harm a Sastra.

55

An introduction to Hinduism

T H E D H A R M A SASTRAS

T h e D harm a Sastras are a slightly later group o f texts, though they contain older material, w hich elaborates upon the topics o f the Sutra literature. W hile other texts o f human authorship were regarded as smrti, particul­ arly the Epics (itihdsa ) and narrative traditions (purana ), it is the D harm a Sastras w hich are particu larly associated w ith smrti and are, indeed, som e­ times sim ply referred to b y that name. The D harm a Sastras differ from the earlier Sutras in that they are com posed in verse in contrast to the prose or m ixture o f prose and verse o f the Sutras. T he subject matter is the same, though the Sastras give m ore explication w here the Sutras are silent, and contain m ore material o f a juridical nature, particularly pertaining to the role o f the kin g .9 It is these texts w hich are particularly im portant as sources o f dharma and w hich provide clear indications fo r the high-caste householder as to w h at duties he should perform , w hat w as expected o f him, w hat w as prohibited, and h ow these rules relate to a wider, cosm ic sense o f law and duty. The Brahm ans w h o fo llo w ed the teachings o f these texts w ere know n as Smartas, those w h o fo llo w ed the smrtis, and w ere particularly concerned w ith dharma in respect to caste and stage o f life, the varnasrama-dharma. T h e rules o f dharma in the D harm a Sastras merge into jurisprudence and they becom e im portant texts in H indu legislation and litigation, even during the period o f British rule in India. Indeed, one o f the first Sanskrit texts ‘ discovered’ b y the British w as the M ann Smrti or M anava Dharma

Sdstra, first translated into English b y the founder o f Indology, Sir W illiam Jon es, and published in 1794. W hile the M anu Smrti is the oldest and m ost im portant text o f this genre, com posed betw een the second cen­ tu ry b c e and third century c e , other D harm a Sastras are im portant fo r their legal material, particularly the Yajnavalkya Smrti and the Narada

Smrti, p rob ab ly com posed during the G u pta period (320-50 0 c e). The Sanskrit com mentaries are also im portant, particularly M edhatithi’s com m entary on the M anu Smrti. These texts contain a doctrine o f dharma as a universal, all-encom passing law, w hich is y et flexible and adaptable to different circumstances and a variety o f situations. T h ey w ere used particularly b y assemblies o f Brahm ans throughout the history o f H induism to help decide legal matters. We kn o w som ething o f their use from tw elfth-century epigraphic evidence. In one inscription, the caste o f W heelw rights, the rathakaras (lit. ‘cart-m akers’ ), are disputing their p o si­

56

1)h arm a tion in the vetlic social hierarchy. W illi quotations from a num ber o f Sanskrit sources, including the N arada and Y djn avalk ya Smrtis, the stone records the decision that there are tw o types o f wheelw rights, one group born from ‘ respectable’ o r hypergam ous marriages o f the tw ice-born classes, and another, menial group, born from the marriages o f high-caste w om en w ith low -caste m en.10 Such inscriptions show that the D harm a Sastras w ere im portant and were used in an advisory capacity to help settle am biguous legal matters. In quoting from a w ide range o f textual sources, not on ly from the D harm a Sastras, the inscriptions suggest an awareness o f a scholarly H indu tradition and a high degree o f assertiveness and self-aw areness am ong low er social groups. These inscriptions also show us that texts w ere open to a continuous process o f interpretation in the light o f contem ­ porary social events. The Sastras reflect the dom inant brahmanical ideol­ o gy and a vision o f social order in w hich the Brahm ans, the class w ith the highest status, had an im portant place as the upholders o f ritual and moral pu rity and the conveyors o f the sacred traditions.

The context-sensitivity of dharma W hile dharm a has been an im portant concept associated w ith kingship and has pervaded all classes o f H indu society, the law books have been m ainly concerned w ith the obligations o f Brahm ans. To fulfil his dharm a a Brahm an’s ritual action must be pure (su d dh i). A lth ou gh there is some debate concerning the im portance o f p u rity in H induism , w hether the sta­ tus o f pu rity is subordinate to political p o w er o r superior to it, pu rity is undoubtedly a ve ry im portant concept. Th e body, w hich is polluted every day b y its effluents, should be in as pure a state as possible through ritual purification, p rincipally b y water. There is, how ever, a deeper level o f p o l­ lution w hich is a p rop erty o f the b od y and differentiates one social group from another. The p olarity o f pu rity and pollution organizes H indu social space, a principle recognized in the D harm a Sastras w hich view social ethics as the maintenance o f order and the boundaries between groups and genders as governed b y degrees o f pu rity and pollution. The Brahm an, by virtue o f being the highest class o f person, is excluded from certain kinds o f interaction w ith other classes; rules o f com m ensality and strict m arriage regulations ensure the clear maintenance o f boundaries. A t a universal level dharm a refers to a cosm ic, eternal principle, yet it m ust also relate to the w orld o f hum an transaction. A t a particular level,

57

An introduction to Hinduism dharma applies to specific laws and the contexts to which they are applied. O ne o f the sources o f dharma according to Manu, is ‘custom ’ . This means that dharma can be adapted to particular situations and particular applica­ tions o f it w ere decided b y a local assem bly o f a num ber o f learned m en;1 1 as W endy D on iger has observed, dharma is ‘context sensitive’.12 The D harm a Sastras p rovid e us w ith examples o f this. Th e religious obliga­ tions o f men d iffer at different ages and v a ry according to caste {jati), fam ­ ily (kula ), and cou n try (des'a).13 A king, fo r instance, m ust judge according to the custom s and particular duties (svadharma ) o f each region. T his idea o f svadharma is im portant in understanding that dharma is relative to d if­ ferent contexts: w hat is correct action fo r a w arrio r w o u ld be incorrect fo r a Brahm an, w hat is correct fo r a man m ay be incorrect fo r a w om an, and so on. M anu says: ‘ on e’s ow n duty, [even] w ithout any good qualities, is bet­ ter than som eone else’s du ty w ell-d on e’ .14

V arnasram a-dharm a Tw o concerns in particular dom inate the D harm a Sutras and Sastras, one’s obligation {dharma) w ith regard to one’s position in society, that is, class

{varna), and obligation w ith regard to one’s stage o f life (asrama ). These tw o concerns together became know n as varnasrama-dharma w hose fu l­ film ent w as a sign o f brahmanical orth op raxy and, indeed, part o f an essentialist definition o f a H indu. W hile it should be rem em bered that some H indu traditions have rejected this model, its influence has been substantial in terms o f H indu self-perception and self-representation, and in terms o f the W est’s perception o f H induism . It has been integral to brahmanical id eology and m any H indu traditions, such as tantric tradi­ tions, have defined themselves against this brahm anical norm . C L A S S (V ARN A) A N D C A S T E { j A T l )

Vedic society, as w e have seen, was divided into fo u r classes, the Brahm ans, the N o b les o r W arriors (rajanya, ksatriya), the C om m oners

{vais'ya) and the Serfs (sudra), the top three classes being called the ‘ tw iceb o rn ’ {dvija) because b oys underwent an initiation {upanayana). This sys­ tem w as part o f a larger ‘ chain o f being’ , fitting into a cosm ical hierarchy in w hich various categories (jati) w ere arranged in varyin g degrees o f subtlety and purity and associated w ith each other.15 O n ly the tw ice-born classes were allow ed to hear the Veda and, w hile in an earlier period all tw ice-born were eligible to learn it, on ly the Brahm ans came to be its

5«

I )h arm ,i

guardians, learning it and reciting it during i iiu.ils. T he Visnu Sm rti states clearly that the Brahm ans’ duties are to teach the Veda and to sacrifice for others, the K satriya’s is to practise with arms and protect the people, the Vaisya should tend cattle, practise agriculture and m oney-lending, and the Sudra should serve the other classes and practise a rt.16 T he term translated as ‘ class’ is varn a, ‘ colou r’ , w hich refers not to an y supposed racial charac­ teristics, but to a system o f colour sym bolism reflecting the social hierar­ chy as w ell as the qualities (gu n a) w hich are present in varyin g degrees in all things. Th e Brahm ans w ere associated w ith w hite, the colour o f pu rity and lightness, the K satriyas w ith red, the colou r o f passion and energy, the Vaisyas w ith yellow , the colour o f the earth, and the Sudras w ith black, the colour o f darkness and inertia. W hile the term varna. refers to the fo u r classes o f vedic society, the term ja ti (‘birth’) refers to those endogam ous sections o f H indu society w hich w e k n o w as ‘ castes’ . C astes are characterized b y the fo llo w in g features: - castes are arranged in a hierarchical structure in any region, with the Brahmans at the top, the Untouchables (harijans, as Gandhi called them; dalits as they call themselves) at the bottom. Between these are a wide array o f other castes. - the caste hierarchy is based on the polarity between purity and pollution, the Brahmans being the most pure, the Untouchables the most impure. - the caste of any individual is inalienable; it is a property of the body and cannot be removed (except according to some traditions by initiation). - there are strict rules of caste endogamy and commensality. The term ja ti refers not on ly to social classes, but to all categories o f beings. Insects, plants, dom estic animals, w ild animals and celestial beings are all jdtis, w hich show s that differences betw een human castes m ight be regarded as being as great as differences between different species. M em bers o f a ja ti share the same b o d ily substance, substances w h ich are ranked hierarchically.17 This ‘ substance’ has been regarded b y some anthropologists as som ething w hich is exchanged in transactions: social actors constantly emit and absorb each other’s substances and so are not autonom ous individuals.18 The hum an jdtis are a highly com plex social reality w hich incorporate w ithin them m any sub-divisions. Indeed the Brahm an and K satriya varnas are also taken to be jdtis. The caste system ,

59

An introduction to Hinduism w hile having changed through time, as do all human social institutions, has nevertheless retained a continuity. It is probable that the caste system was com plex even at the time o f Manu, and fluid in the sense that different castes can change their rank relative to each other in any region over a period o f time by, fo r exam ple, creating a pure, legendary origin. The

varnas on the other hand, provide a stable m odel fo r a stratified social order in w h ich each group is clearly defined and functions as part o f an organic w hole: as part o f the b o d y o f society w hich is also the b o d y o f the prim al person or being, sacrificed at the beginning o f time, as the Rg Veda states. T he exact historical relationship between varna and jd ti is unclear. It is not certain that the ‘ castes’ or jatis developed from the varna system . Indeed philosophical texts do not consistently distinguish between the tw o terms and, according to H albfass,yiiz is used in the sense o f varna in the D harm a Sastra literature.19 The traditional view is that the jatis repre­ sent a proliferation o f social groups from the varna system . M anu could be attempting to m ake sense o f a pre-given social stratification in terms o f the clear id eology o f the vedic classes, w hen he attempts to explain the proliferation o f jatis in terms o f miscegenation am ongst the varnas, against the dangers o f w hich he warns the tw ice-bo rn .20 Indeed Manu prescribes some severe penalties fo r ‘ sexual m isconduct’ . A Brahm an w ho sleeps w ith a Sudra w om an goes to hell and loses brahm anical status upon the birth o f a son; hom osexuality is punished b y loss o f caste, and adultery b y the w om an being ‘ eaten b y dogs in a place frequented b y m an y’ and the man ‘ burnt on a red hot iron bed’.21 It is not certain w hether such severe punishm ents w ere ever actually carried out, but these examples certainly have rhetorical impact and M anu clearly makes the point that sex outside the boundaries o f m arriage pre­ scribed b y dharma is not to be tolerated b y an ordered society. Yet w hile

M anu presents a clear vision o f social ethics based on caste hierarchy, there are nevertheless subtleties in dharma w hich accom m odate various human situations. F o r exam ple, sex outside caste-restricted m arriage is w rong, yet there is the institution o f the tem porary gandharva marriage fo r the satisfaction o f desire, and w hile killing is w ron g, there are circumstances in w hich it is permitted. Dharma, the universal m oral law, m ust be adapted to human situations and to the everyday reality o f the householder. A lth ough cross-caste marriages are condemned in Manu, if they are to occur, then those in w hich the man is o f higher caste than the w om an, m ar­ riages ‘with the grain’ (anuloma ), are better than marriages o f low-caste 60

I )h arm a

men with high-caste wom en, marriages ‘ against the grain’ (jnatiloma). The

jdtis, according to Manu, are the consequences of such mixed marriages. F o r example, three o f the lowest or outcast groups - the castes o f carpenters, carvers, and the ‘fierce’ Untouchables (candala ) - are born from the union o f Sudra wom en with C om m oners, W arriors and Brahm ans respectively.22 The ‘ fierce’ caste, the candalas, w hom Manu classifies as a group w hom he contem ptuously calls ‘dog-cookers’, are taken as exem plifying the low est social groups, highly polluting to the higher castes, and so becom ing know n as ‘ untouchables’ in the West, though the actual term asprsta, ‘ untouched’, is not much used in Sanskrit sources. There was never a literal caste o f ‘dogcookers’ , this is m erely M anu’s rhetoric fo r groups identified w ith the most impure o f creatures, cocks, dogs and pigs. If a Brahm an is touched b y a member o f one o f these groups, am ongst others such as one fallen from caste or a menstruating wom an, he should p u rify him self w ith a bath.23 A lth ough

untouchability

is

now

legally

prohibited

in

India,

U ntouchable castes constitute about a fifth o f India’s population. T h ey were totally excluded from vedic society and high-caste ritual traditions, ‘outcaste’ beyond the system o f the fo u r classes (avarna ). E ven the Sudras w ere w ithin the class system , though forbidden to hear the Veda and ou t­ side the tw ice-born designation, but the U ntouchables had no place w ithin the higher social orders, living on the outside o f villages, as Manu directs,24 and living b y perform ing m enial and polluting tasks such as w o rk in g w ith leather and sweeping excrement from the village. Th e fifthcentury C hinese Buddhist pilgrim , Fa-hsien, mentions the Untouchables as having to strike a piece o f w ood before entering a tow n as a w arning fo r people to avoid them.25 Th e untouchable classes alm ost certainly go back into the first m illennium b c e . The dating o f Manu is unsure, though it is earlier than the third century c e and p ro b ab ly far older. There is evidence, cited b y D um ont, o f untouchable castes several centuries before the com ­ m on era, from the Buddhist Jatakas, stories o f the previous lives o f the Buddha, and D um ont not im plausibly suggests that both Brahm ans and U ntouchables w ere established at the same time, fo r the im purity o f the U ntouchable is inseparable from the p u rity o f the Brahm an; they are at opposite ends o f the status hierarchy.26 T H E ASRAMA S Y S T E M

T he second concept in the id eology o f dbarma is that o f life’s stages o r the

asramas. These are codifications o f different elements present in vedic

61

An introduction to Hinduism society and an attempt to integrate them into .1 coherent system . The four stages are: that o f the celibate student (brabmacdrya ), householder

(grhastha), herm it o r forest dw eller (vanaprastba ), and renouncer (samnydsa). P atrick O livelle has show n that the dsrama system , as a theo­ logical construct w ithin the H indu hermeneutical tradition, should be dis­ tinguished from the socio-religious institutions com prehended b y the system .27 T he ds'ramas are a theological entity w hose object o f reflection is the social institution, or institutions, w hich the system reflects upon. The dsrama system arose during the fifth century b c e as a result o f changes w ithin the brahm anical tradition. Initially the term referred to a ‘ herm itage’ (dsrama , the source o f the anglicized ‘ ashram ’ ) and came to be applied to the style o f life o f those Brahm ans w h o lived there. T he brah­ manical ‘herm its’ w h o lived in an dsrama w ere householders w ithin the vedic fold, perform ing the dom estic sacrifice, w h o pursued a religious life, p rob ab ly in areas rem oved from towns and villages. The term, as O livelle has show n, referred to this special category o f brahm anical householder.28 T he m eaning o f the term came to be extended, referring not on ly to the place w here the brahm anical householder-herm its dw elled, but to the style o f life they led, and eventually came to refer to other brahmanical styles o f life as w ell. In the D harm a Sutras the dsramas are not regarded as successive stages through w hich a man m ust pass, but as perm anent po ssi­ bilities - or lifestyle choices - open to the tw ice-born male after com plet­ ing his studies. The tw ice-born b o y w ou ld be separated from childhood b y the vedic initiation. H e w ou ld then becom e a ‘student’ in the house o f a teacher, during w hich time he w ou ld learn about the duties and responsi­ bilities o f each o f the fo u r dsramas. A t the end o f this period o f study he w ou ld choose one o f the dsramas that he w ould w ish to fo llo w fo r the rest o f his adult life.29 T h us, he could choose a life o f stu dy and continue as a ‘ student’ or brahmacdrin. B y the time o f the D harm a Sastras, the dsramas have solidified into successive stages through w h ich the tw ice-born should pass, and much space in the Sastras is devoted to describing the demands o f each stage. A s w ith the varna system , the dsramas are a m odel, this time concerned not w ith the ordering o f society but w ith the diachronic ordering o f the individual’s life: they are a paradigm o f h ow the high-caste man should live. T he celibate student stage o f life (brahmacdrya) refers to the traditional period after the high-caste initiation (upanayana ) w h en a b o y w o u ld go to the hom e o f his teacher (dearya, guru) to learn the Veda. T he student o f the 62

I )h a rm a

Veda o r brahmacarin, ‘ one w ho moves with or applies him self to brah­

man’, is know n as early as the Atharva Vccla,10 where he has all the charac­ teristics o f the student portrayed in the 1 )harma Sastras: he begs fo r food, practises penances, wears an antelope skin, collects fuel, and practises heat-generating austerity (tapas).31 Yet, unlike the contem porary idea o f the student, the brahmacarin is in a h oly condition in w hich he is identi­ fied w ith Prajápati, the creator deity in the Bráhm anas, and is under a strict rule o f celibacy. Indeed the term brahmacarin can mean ‘ one w h o is celi­ bate’ , the idea behind this, com m on to all Indian religions, being that to remain celibate is to be unpolluted b y sex and to control sexual energy w hich, usually understood as the retention o f semen, can be sublimated fo r a religious purpose. A ccordin g to M anu, this state w ou ld last between nine and as m any as th irty-six years, during w hich time the student w ou ld learn all, or a num ber of, the Vedas. A fte r this the student w ould undergo a hom e-com ing ritual and w ou ld soon be m arried and entered upon the householder’s life.32 W hen a householder is w rinkled and grey and sees his grandchildren, then, says Manu, he should retire and becom e a herm it o r forest-dw eller

(vanaprastha). In this stage a man, along w ith his w ife if he so wishes, retires from householder’s duties to live an ascetic life in the forest and to devote him self to ritual. H ere, in the w o rd s o f Manu, ‘ constantly devoting him self to the recitation o f the Veda, he should be controlled, friendly, and m entally com posed; he should alw ays be a giver and a non-taker, com pas­ sionate to all living beings’ .33 H e is not a com plete renunciate and has not given up fire fo r cooking and, m ore im portantly, fo r m aking the daily offerings into the three sacrificial fires. N evertheless, from the descriptions o f this stage in the D harm a Sastras, w e can see that vanaprastha practised severe b o d ily asceticism, eating on ly certain kinds o f food such as vegeta­ bles, flow ers, roots and fruits and even practising extreme austerity such as sitting surrounded b y five fires in the sum m er o r w earing w et clothes in winter, in order to generate spiritual energy or ‘ inner heat’ (tapas) ? “1The significant difference between this stage and that o f the total w o rld renouncer is the use o f fire. Th e renouncer has gone beyond the vedic injunctions o f maintaining his sacred fires; living entirely b y begging he does not coo k his ow n food. If fire and cooked food are sym bols o f culture and raw food o f nature, as Lévi-Strauss has suggested, then the renouncer in relinquishing fire has, in a sense, relinquished culture; he is attem pting to transcend culture fo r a pure, trans-hum an realm o f spiritual liberation.

63

An introduction to Hinduism I f a Brahman fo llo w s through the slaves nl life, says M ann, and has paid his three debts (rn a) o f vedic study to the seers (>>/), of ritual to the gods (d e v a ), and o f begetting sons to make funeral offerings to the ancestors (pitr), then he m ay aim at attaining liberation (m oksa). I lowever, if he has not fulfilled his social obligations then he goes to hell, making it clear that w hile renunciation and the goal o f liberation are valid, they must be deferred until social obligations have been met: here, db arm a , in the sense o f social obligation, is clearly superior to moksa. O f the asramas the householder and renouncer stages are clearly the m ost im portant both ideologically and in terms o f concrete historical developm ents. These tw o stages, or rather the figures o f the householder and the renouncer w h o pass through them, reflect the distinction between sociopolitical religion and soteriology. W hile throughout the history o f H induism there are attempts to reconcile the householder and the renouncer ideals, the tw o images, and tw o institutions, remain in tension. Th e D harm a Sastras favou r the householder’s life. Manu, explicitly states that, o f the fou r stages, the householder’s is the best because the householder supports the others and his activity is the suprem e good .35 The text presents a picture o f the Brahm an as a learned man, a model o f rational self-control w h o restrains his senses ‘ as a charioteer his race­ horses’ ,36 and w h o perform s the correct ritual activity. H e abides b y the ritual injunctions (vidh i) o f the Veda, nam ely the perform ance o f obliga­ to ry daily rituals (nitya-karm a ), occasional rituals (n aim ittika-karm a) such as the life-cycle rituals (samskara) o f birth, high-caste initiation, and death rites - and rites perform ed fo r a desired result (kam ya-karm a) such as going to heaven. This is in contrast to the renouncer, w h o has given up hom e, the use o f fire fo r ritual and cooking, and w h o cultivates total detachment, treating everything w ith equanim ity and going beyond attachment to the material w o rld .37 The image o f the renouncer might be contrasted not o n ly w ith the Brahm an but also w ith the image o f the king, the ideal householder, w ho, unlike the renouncer, possesses political pow er, and, unlike the Brahm an, does not possess brahmanical purity, being lo w er in the varn a hierarchy and having corpse-pollution due to w ar and punishm ent. The relation between the images o f the renouncer, the Brahm an householder and the king, has been contentious. Some scholars, such as Lou is D um ont, have regarded the renouncer and the householder to be the central contrast w ith H induism , w hile others, notably Ja n H eesterm an, have argued fo r

64

I )h a rm a

I he sim ilarity between the renouncer and the Brahm an and have em pha­ sized the contrast between the Brahman and the king38 (seep. 72).

Gender roles All these stages are characterized b y different regimens o f the body, p ar­ ticularly the control o f diet and sexuality. The first and last asramas are explicitly celibate; celibacy is a defining characteristic o f brahmacarya^ the 1 cntral ascetic idea being that sexual p o w er contained in semen can be 1 (directed to a spiritual end and, indeed, be stored in the head. The forestdweller and the renouncer, like the brahm acarin, are seeking to transcend ,md transform sexual pow er for the purposes o f the higher goal o f libera11011. O n ly the householder can express and explore his sexuality as a legit­ imate goal o f life (kam artha), concerning w hich there is an extensive literature, the Kam a £astras, and the m ost notable text, V atsy ay ana’s K am a Sutra, a text to which, exceptionally, w om en had access. Sexual enjoym ent was regarded as the forem ost o f pleasures and a man o f wealth, particu­ larly a king, w ou ld experience kam a w ith courtesans trained in the arts o f love. Yet even the B rah m an s sexuality stands w ithin his rational control; a control which orders his w orld according to the principles o f maintaining 1 itual purity and o f controlling elements w ithin it w hich threaten to dis­ rupt that purity, particularly his ow n desire and its focus, nam ely his w ife and other w om en o f his household. 'That physical love {kam a) is a legitimate purpose o f life is significant in demonstrating a strand in brahmanical id eology w hich was generally p o s­ it ive towards the b od y and sexuality. Sex is not inherently sinful but can be legitimately explored and expressed w ithin the correct caste-specific boundaries, especially b y men w ith w ealth and power. E ven M anu, a text which in the light o f contem porary western sensibilities seems oppressive o f wom en’s rights, recognizes the need fo r the mutual sexual satisfaction of husband and w ife.39 This is also the case in H indu erotic literature where w om en are not sim ply the instruments o f male desire. A s Biardeau bserves, love {kam a) w as a traditional art w hich w om en handed dow n to one another through the generations; love was a w om an ’s svadh arm a, or more correctly her strldharm a, ‘w om an ’s d u ty ’ ,40 and a realm o f human experience w hich is legitim ized in the Sm rti literature. H ow ever, sexuality beyond rational control, that is, outside o f caste restrictions and pollution controls, was anathema to the orth od ox Brahm an fo r it threatened his ritual pu rity and threatened the stability o f society and the family.

65

An introduction to Hinduism M ann's attitude to wom en expresses tlie ambivalence of the general brahm anical ideal. W omen are to be revered and kept happy by the house­ holder in order that the fam ily may thrive, yet wom en are also polluting to the Brahm an male during menstruation. A ccordin g to M an u , wom en are to be subject to male control throughout their lives. A high-caste wom an must do nothing independently (svatantra), but must be subject to male authority - as a child to her father, as a married w om an to her husband, and as a w id o w to her sons.41 B y leading a life subject to male authority, a w om an ’s virtuous behaviour w ill be rewarded b y heaven upon her death.42 In later brahm anical tradition, a ‘ good w om an ’ (sati) is one w h o dies on her husband’s funeral p yre if he predeceases her, a practice w hich had devel­ oped b y the fourteenth century though it was not kn ow n to Manu> and although n ow illegal, still sometimes occurs in contem porary India.43 An

eighteenth-century

dharmic

text,

T ryam baka’s

Strldharm a

P a d d h a ti, gives details o f the w ife ’s duties tow ards her husband, w h o is treated b y her as a d e v a , and his expectations o f her. A b o v e all, obedient service to her husband is her prim ary religious duty, even beyond regard fo r her ow n life.44 H ow ever, prob ab ly the text w hich best portrays the ideal high-caste w om an is not a technical law b ook, but the H indu epic poem com posed perhaps as early as the fifth century

b c e

,

the R am ayana.

In this narrative the god-king Ram a is banished to the forest w ith his brother Balaram a and his w ife Sita. Sita is demure, m odest, beautiful and dedicated to her L o rd Ram a, yet she is also strong in herself, endures great hardship and displays great devotion to her husband. She is the ideal highcaste w ife. In exam ining H in du literature on dharm a w e are dealing w ith brah­ m anical self-representations and idealized images o f gender roles. In M anu w e have the brahmanical view o f h ow things should be, a clear p ic­ ture o f brahmanical ideology, but the degree to w hich this reflected social reality is unclear. W omen p ro b ab ly wielded p o w er w ithin the hom e, w ithin the realm o f dom esticity, but w ielded little p o w er in the realms o f public office, adm inistration and politics, a situation w hich, in India as elsewhere, has on ly begun to change in the twentieth century.

Purity and auspiciousness Tw o distinctions have been im portant in the h istory o f H indu society: on the one hand the distinction between pu rity (.sauca, suddhi) and pollution (asauca, asuddhi) and on the other the distinction between auspiciousness

66

Dharma (yu bh a, m añgala) and inauspiciousness (a iu b h a , amarínala). The scale o f purity and pollution is a scale o f status hierarchy which corresponds to the caste hierarchy with the Brahmans at the top and the dalits at the bottom . H indu society is arranged around this scale. A uspiciousness and inauspi­ ciousness, on the other hand, is a scale o f the degree to w hich events, times and relationships are conducive to the w ell-being o f the society or in d ivid­ ual. A stro lo g y is particularly im portant here in determ ining the degree o f auspiciousness for a particular event such as a m arriage. The degree o f pu rity and pollution is concerned w ith status, the degree o f auspiciousness and inauspiciousness concerned w ith power, particu­ larly political power. W hile p u rity has been the predom inant concern o f the Brahm an, auspiciousness has been the predom inant concern o f the king and the local dom inant caste. W hile the Brahm an creates a ritually pure environm ent, so the king must create an auspicious kingdom ; one in w hich there is good fortune and prosperity. The ability to create auspi­ ciousness in the kingdom is a function o f the kin g’s divinity. The king, like the icon in a temple, might be regarded as a channel fo r divine p o w er and the level o f p rosperity in the kingdom related to the degree to w hich he lives up to this responsibility.

The political theology of kingship O ne o f the m ost im portant aspects o f dharm a is its applicability to k in g­ ship. Kingship has been ve ry im portant in H induism , both as an ideal and as a sociopolitical reality, intim ately linked to the idea o f the sacred. A s the icon o f a deity is thought to mediate betw een the divine and hum an realms, sim ilarly the king was thought to do so. W hereas the G rh y a Sütras are concerned on ly w ith dom estic ritual, the D harm a texts have w ider inter­ ests in the fou r stages o f life, social or caste obligation, jurisprudence and, particularly, the rites and duties o f kings. F ro m these texts w e see that, w hile dharm a is timeless and transcendent, it was also the province o f dom estic affairs and public, social relationships, and had apolitical dim en­ sion in governing the status and behaviour o f the king. Regardless o f the actions o f any particular king, the ideal o f kingship was upheld through­ out H indu h istory from the vedic period onw ards, an ideal in w hich the king was the centre o f the H indu universe. This ideal o f kingship plays an im portant role even in contem porary H induism and rituals o f kingship persist into the present.45 A lth ou gh in one sense the king is the ideal householder, able to fulfil the

¿7

An introduction to Hinduism goals o f dharm a , o f wealth, and o f sexual love with innumerable courte­ sans, he is also divine. W orldly pow er in the history of I lindu kingship is legitim ated in terms o f a religious sym bolism in which the qualities o f deities are attributed to kings. The king was regarded as a divine being - a divin ity w hich is attested in one o f the names fo r king, deva - particularly identified in the m edieval period w ith the god Visnu. The beginnings o f this id eology are found in the R g Veda Samhita where Indra is the king ‘ o f that w hich m oves and that w hich rests, o f the tame and o f the horned. H e rules the people as their king, encircling all this as a rim encircles spokes.’46 Sim ilarly the hum an king is lord o f his kingdom or sphere and as such should protect his realm and w age w ar against his enemies.47 The king ideally aspires to be a ‘ruler o f the universe’ or cakravartin (‘one w h o is at the centre o f the w h eel’ ). X The kings o f the early vedic period w ere constrained b y the po w er o f tribal councils, but this changed in the later vedic period w hen the pow er o f the king became m ore absolute. W hile the king is not endowed w ith divine origin in the D harm a Sutras, later texts clearly identify the king w ith a deity or deities. It is from the D harm a Sastras, K a u tilya’s Artha

Sdstra and the great epic poem the M ahabharata , that w e can build a clearer picture o f the id eology o f sacral kingship in early Indian politics. This m odel o f sacral kingship w as later em bellished b y the tantric identifi­ cation o f the king w ith the deity, particularly the G oddess, and b y the id eology o f the d eity’s energy (sakti) flow in g through him .48 O nce consecrated, generally even if not a K satriya, the king is no mere hum an being but a god. A ccordin g to M anu , the king is emitted b y the L o rd o f the C osm os. H e is a great deity in the form o f a man, or rather a com posite deity, being form ed from fragments o f the different vedic gods Indra, V ayu , Yam a, Surya, A gn i, Varuna, Som a and K u bera and in some sense m ight be said to contain all gods. Manu writes: Because a king is made from particles of these lords of the gods, therefore he surpasses all living beings in brilliant energy, and, like the Sun, he burns eyes and hearts, and no one on earth is able even to look at him. Through his special power he becomes Fire and Wind; he is the Sun and the Moon, and he is (Yama) the King of Justice, he is Kubera [Lord of wealth] and he is Varuna, and he is great Indra.49 This passage show s the king as the highest point o f the kingdom or polity. E ven a child king is no mere m ortal but a great deity in human form .

1)h arm a It was not so much the charisma of any particular king which maintained power, but the tradition and legitim ation of the institution o f kingship through the idea o f the descent o f p o w er from above during the k in g’s anointing. From the king, pow er descends to the court and to the rest o f the realm. W hile there is much rhetoric in the D harm a literature concerning the need for the king to administer justice, the H indu king was m ore im p or­ tant as a ritual figure in close p ro xim ity to the divine than as a ruler involved w ith the bureaucracy and running o f the kingdom . The ruler o f a large kingdom , a dharm araja, was m ore im portant as a m oral and ritual source, than in the practical concerns o f the day-to -d ay running o f a region or regions. The politically segm entary nature o f the H indu k in g­ dom was ritually united in the figure o f the king. We cannot sim ply regard the H indu king as a despot or the institution o f divine kingship as a pecu­ liar consequence o f caste society. Rather, the king was an integral part o f a w hole structure in w hich he and those b elow him, dow n to com m on people in the villages, functioned in an integrated way. The H indu p o lity was a com plex structure, an ‘ imperial fo rm ation’ , to use R onald Inden’s term, in w hich each part played a role in its maintenance. Inden writes that w ithin this w orld ‘the kingship equated w ith the sun, its officialdom w ith the lesser gods o f the sky, the queen w ith the earth, w ere, together w ith the com m oners, all parts’ .50 T H E S E G M E N T A R Y H IN D U STATE

The H in du kingdom , as historian B u rto n Stein has show n, was segm en­ tary, com prising a num ber o f em bedded elements or socio-political groupings w hich form ed a pyram idal structure. These elements w ere em bedded w ithin each other; the village w ithin the locality, the locality w ithin the supralocality, and the su pralocality w ithin the kin gd om .51 Lesser kings gave ritual and sym b olic lo y a lty to m ore p o w erfu l kings and chieftains paid hom age to lesser kings. F o r m ost o f the h isto ry o f south A sia from the advent o f kingship to dom ination b y foreign p o w ­ ers, each region w o u ld have been ruled b y a chief or p etty-kin g w h o acknow ledged and paid allegiance to a sacred centre. The H in du king w o u ld have been the ritual focus o f the sacred centre, a ritual figure w h o held together his kingdom not so m uch as a united adm inistrative entity, but as a segm ented political structure w ithin a com m on m oral fram e o f reference. Th is m odel is found in K a u tily a ’s A rth a Sdstra w h ich presents 69

An introduction to Hinduism the king as the centre o f a state form ation held together by alliances and w ars. Furtherm ore, the kingdom was embedded within a hierarchical cos­ m os. In vedic and later H indu cosm ologies, the universe is regarded as a hierarchical structure in w hich purer, m ore refined w orlds are located ‘ above’ , yet at the same time they incorporate, lower, impure w orlds w hich, as in the segm entary H indu kingdom , have some autonom y. In this hierarchical cosm ology the various w orlds or realms are governed b y an overlord or god w h o also em bodies the principles controlling or govern­ ing that w orld . T he various w orlds w hich com prise the cosm os are con ­ trolled b y forces w h ich are also ‘persons’ . Inden has observed that the ‘natural w orld o f ancient and m edieval India was person-based, con ­ structed b y a cosm ic overlord out o f him self’ .52 The hum an realm m ust be located w ithin the context o f this w ider cosm o lo gy o f w hich it was thought to be a part. There is a ‘ chain o f being’ w ithin the H indu universe w hich is reflected in the sociopolitical realm o f the H in du segm entary state. A s a god might rule a sphere o f the cosm os, so the king rules his kingdom . T H E B O D Y OF T H E K I N G D O M

The fam ous study b y K an torow icz show s h ow in medieval E urope the king had tw o bodies, a natural b o d y subject to disease and death and an im m utable political b o d y in w hich resided his sovereignty.53 This m odel can be applied to kingship in south A sia. W hile the physical b o d y o f the king was subject to death, as are all human bodies, the political b o d y o f the king as a m anifestation o f the gods, contained splendour and great power. T he physical b o d y o f the king could be killed, but the political body, the b o d y o f the kingdom 54 lived on in the form o f the new king, regenerated b y the act o f royal consecration. The king is the pivotal point o f the b o d y politic: the ‘ b o d y o f the k in g­ dom ’ is recapitulated in his ow n body. If he acts in accordance w ith dharm a the kingdom prospers, but if he acts against d h arm a, the b o d y o f the kingdom - w hich means the people - suffers. The k in g’s body, w hich expressed the social body, was the w o rld ly counterpart o f the cosm ic m an’s imm olated b od y w hich com prised the cosm os. The king could be seen, therefore, as the interm ediary between the eternal, cosm ic law o f dharm a and its w o rld ly m anifestations in justice adm inistered through the courts o f a segmented hierarchical structure. W hatever happens to him

7o

I )h a rm a

as the pinnacle o f the social body affects the dom ain for good or bad. As the king is a m anifestation o f the gods, so society is a recapitulation o f the cosmic body o f the primal man. THE K IN G ’ S FUNCTIONS

A ccording to the D harm a literature, the central functions o f the king, the rajadharm a, are: - the protection of the people; - the maintaining of social order through the control of caste boundaries; - the administration of justice (danda). M anu says that the king is created ‘as the protector o f the classes and stages o f life’ .55 H e is the suprem e upholder o f justice in the social w o rld w h o ensures the prosperity and protection o f the com m unities w hich he g o v­ erns so that his subjects live w ith a sense o f security. The king is the absolute dispenser o f justice, the term fo r w hich, danda (literally ‘the stick’), also meant punishm ent. D an da is the w a y in w hich dharm a is manifested upon the earth. It creates fear in all beings so that they do not w ander from their ow n, castespecific duties and ensures the obedience o f the castes to the dharm ic ideal. It keeps the w hole w o rld in order, governs all created beings, protects them w hile they sleep and w ithout it there w ou ld be no order in society; castes w ou ld be m ixed and the w hole w o rld w o u ld be in a state o f rage.56 Th rough the legal processes o f the state, the king should see that justice is done and so maintain social order and harm ony. A bad king, one w ho neglects the protection o f the people and neglects the adm inistration o f justice, w ou ld bring about social disharm ony and chaos. W ith British colonialism the p ow er o f kings in India dim inished but was not w h o lly eradicated. A s Fuller notes, there w ere still 565 kingdom s or princely states not under direct B ritish rule in 1947, and even up until the 1 930s the M aharaj o f M ysore, a kingdom w hich had developed out o f the ruins o f Vijayanagara, celebrated the n avaratri festival, a direct legacy from the festival o f the Vijayanagara kings. T he ritual im portance o f the king should not be underestimated, and even at an ideological level, the king as upholder o f cosm ic order or dharm a is central to the contem po­ rary H indu politics (see p. 262). The king was the centre o f the H indu uni­ verse in the material w orld , and the ideal state was the ideal kingdom

7i

An introduction to / /induism ruled by a king w ho was the analogue ol I he deity; an ideal established in ritual.

The jajm anl system W hile the king o f kings ruled over a num ber o f kingdom s, themselves ruled b y kings, those kings in turn ruled over a num ber o f regions con ­ trolled b y a dom inant caste or coalition o f castes. These controlling castes are u sually not Brahm ans, but other castes, often Sudras. T h e ja jm a n is a local, pow erfu l landow ner w h o em ploys Brahm ans to perform rituals fo r him in return for a fee. H e also gives a portion o f grain to other castes w ho provide him w ith services. The term is derived from the vedic yajam ana, the ‘sacrificer’ or ritual patron for w hom sacrifices w ere perform ed b y the Brahm ans. The jajm anl system is not a pu rely econom ic arrangement, but is rooted in the socio-ritual structure o f caste hierarchy w hich itself is regarded as sacred. D um on t has observed that castes can be divided into those w h o ow n land and those w h o do not. The caste in a village or region w hich ow ns the land is the caste w ith political p ow er and control over other castes, because it controls the means o f subsistence. The other castes gain access to the means o f subsistence through personal relationships w ith the dom inant caste. There is a reciprocal relationship here. The dom inant caste em ploys Brahm ans for its ritual needs, barbers, carpenters, and untouchable labourers w h o in turn receive ‘ gifts5 fo r their services.57 A t the level o f the kingdom , the king might be regarded as a jajm an, receiving the services o f others, including w orsh ip, and giving in turn gifts and, above all, protec­ tion.

Royal power and transcendence The w o rld ly p ow er o f the king, a K satriya, has been contrasted w ith the pu rity o f the Brahm an. Heesterm an contrasts the Brahm an, w h o em bod­ ies an ideal o f w orld transcendence in perform ing the ritual, w ith the king, w h o is necessarily em broiled in the w o rld ly concerns o f p o w er and v io ­ lence. A ccording to Heesterm an, the king aspires to participate in the transcendent realm o f the Brahm an, but necessarily fails because o f his involvem ent and entanglement in the w o rld o f politics, desire and inter­ ests. There is a rift between the king’s order o f conflict and the B rahm an’s and renouncer’s order o f transcendence.58 B y em ploying Brahm ans in his court to perform the necessary sacrifices, the king hopes to participate in

72

I )h a rm a

their sacred level, yet in becom ing entangled in the w orld, the Brahman moves aw ay from that transcendence. Th ere is thus an insoluble problem here and a gap between the pow er o f the king operating in the ‘ turbulent order o f conflict’ and the authority or status o f the Brahm an, operating in the ‘ static order o f transcendence’ .59 The Brahm an, according to H eesterm an, turns tow ards transcendence, w hile the king, lacking the Brahm an’s pu rity and authority, remains w ithin the w o rld o f strife and violence. This contrast is related to a contrast betw een tw o senses o f dharm a. O n the one hand it refers to an eternal, timeless principle, and, on the other, it refers to w o rld ly or human transactions. The Brahm an faces both w ays, towards transcendence through ritual, w hile yet being in the w orld , w hile the king is em broiled in the realm o f w orld ly, tem poral dh arm a. This is w hat Heesterm an calls the ‘inner conflict o f tradition’ ; the need to assert dharm a as the eternal, timeless principle, in contrast to the need to accom ­ m odate to w orldly, tem poral interests, a contrast w hich poses an insoluble dilemma. This m odel has been criticized from the perspective o f h istory and anthropology, particularly b y R on ald Inden and N icholas D irks. Inden argues, against Heesterm an, that there was no such distinction between the pure Brahm an and the pow erful, but im pure, king.60 Rather there was an intimate relationship betw een king and Brahm ans w h o lived b y the k in g’s patronage. The king w o u ld donate wealth, land and other valuables to the Brahm ans, and, w hile they w ere clearly distinct from the king, there was not the rift between w o rld ly life and transcendence w hich H eesterm an suggests. The Brahm an perceived a continuity between his inner life and its outer expression. N icholas D irks has argued against D um ont that caste cannot be under­ stood outside o f the ideas o f kingship and the structure o f the H indu state. D irks argues that caste is em bedded in kingship and that the dom inant ide­ o lo gy has not been one o f p u rity but one o f royal authority and social rela­ tions based on pow er and dom inance. C aste, and particularly the role o f the Brahm ans, is based on p o w er related to kingship and the H indu state. W ith the general demise o f the H indu state, caste became separated from kingship and survived it, a process w h ich led to the ascendancy o f the Brahm ans. U ntil recently, however, kings still ruled the small state o f P udokkottai in the middle o f Tam ilnadu, w here the Brahm ans perform ed rituals fo r the king and became emblems o f the kin g’s sovereignty. The king in return gave the Brahm ans land. T h eir importance was alw ays,

73

An introduction to ! Un du ism argues D irk s, mediated through the king, 'w h ose kingship was in turn made all the m ore p ow erful because o f the presence o f the Brahm ans’.61 Pudokkottai provides an example in which the pow er ot the Brahmans is directly related to the p ow er o f the king and in which the Brah m an s p u rity is subordinated to his dependence on the k in g s patronage.

Sum m ary D h arm a is the central id eolo gy o f orthoprax H induism , believed to be eternal and deriving from the revelation o f the Veda and from the sec­ on dary revelation o f the D harm a literature. It is particularly concerned w ith caste hierarchy expressed in the varnâsram a system and w ith the nature and behaviour o f the H indu king. The king expresses dharm a through just rule and so ensures the p rosperity o f the kingdom . The rela­ tion o f the Brahm an to the king is am biguous. O n the one hand the Brahm an is the highest being on the status hierarchy o f p u rity and p o llu ­ tion, yet the Brahm an is dependent upon the p o w er o f the king fo r patronage. H eesterm an has described the tension between the w o rld transcending tendencies o f the Brahm an and his w o rld ly concerns as the inner conflict o f tradition. Studies b y Inden and D irk s, in contrast, have argued fo r the closer p roxim ity o f the Brahm an to the king and D irks has argued that the status o f the Brahm an cannot be separated from the po w er o f the king; the religious realm o f the Brahm an cannot be understood out­ side the political realm o f the king. W hether there is an opposition between the Brahm an and the king, or w hether the tw o figures are closer than has been thought, is a matter o f continuing debate. H ow ever, one contrast w hich is made b y the H indu tradition is that betw een the renouncer and the householder. H induism contains a sociopolitical id eology o f a chain o f being w hich endorses the social hierarchy, caste, and gender roles, alongside an id eo lo gy o f renunci­ ation w hich negates those roles at doctrinal and practical levels. In order to com e to a fuller understanding o f orthoprax H induism and the contrasts w ithin it, w e need to turn our attention to renunciation, the institution fo r leaving the sociopolitical w orld o f suffering.

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4 Yoga and renunciation

B y the sixth century

bc e

the brahmanical schools are w ell established and

the ritual traditions passed through the generations from teacher to stu­ dent. P rob ab ly the h eyday o f vedic ritual perform ance was between iooo and 500

b c e

,

though the traditions are never com pletely attenuated and

have survived into the present. A longside the perform ances o f ritual, spec­ ulation about its nature and purpose developed, initially in the Brähm anas and later in the Ä ra n y akas and U panisads. In speculating about the ritual patron and the renew ing effects o f the ritual upon him, the Brahm anas begin to represent the ritual as the sustainer o f life and posit elaborate co r­ respondences (b a n d h u ) between ritual and the w ider cosm os. These spec­ ulations are developed in the Ä ranyakas and U panisads w hich com pletely re-evaluate the nature o f ritual, seeing its internalization w ithin the indi­ vidual as its highest meaning, and subordinating ritual action to k n o w l­ edge. This spiritual know ledge could be attained b y asceticism or w orld-renunciation and disciplines w hich came to be kn ow n as yoga. The U panisads attest to the existence o f ascetic traditions and, b y the sixth or fifth century b c e , traditions o f asceticism and w orld-renunciation fo r the purpose o f spiritual know ledge and liberation had developed both w ithin the bounds o f vedic tradition and outside those boundaries, m ost notably in the Ja in and Buddhist traditions.

General observations Tw o ideas o f great significance developed between the ninth and sixth cen­ turies b c e , nam ely that beings are reincarnated into the w o rld (samsdra)

75

An introduction to Hinduism over and over again and that the results of action (karma) are reaped in future lives. This process o f endless rebirth is one o f suffering (duhkha ), escape from w hich can be achieved through the m inim izing o f action and through spiritual know ledge. Patanjali (second century b c e ) , a system atizer o f yo ga practice and philosophy, states that all is suffering to the spiritually discrim inating person (vivek in )} This doctrine that all life is suffering is com m on to renouncer traditions and is the first noble truth o f the Buddha. To be free o f suffering one needs to be free from action and its effects. The renunciation o f action at first meant ritual action, but comes to refer to all action in the social w orld. This renunciation o f action could be achieved through asceticism (tapas) and meditation, w hich means tech­ niques o f altering consciousness or w ithdraw ing consciousness from the w o rld o f the senses in order to experience total w o rld transcendence. The groups o f ascetics w hich grew up during this period are kn ow n as, am ong other names, sramanas (Pali samana ), ‘ strivers’ , w h o seek libera­ tion through the efforts o f their austerity. T h ey are hom eless, depend fo r food on alms (bhiksd), and m inim ize, in varyin g degrees, their ow nership o f possessions. Buddhism , the first w o rld religion, originated in these groups, as did Jainism . B oth Buddhism and Jain ism reject the Veda as rev­ elation and em phasize the practice o f austerity, in the case o f Jainism , and m editation, in the case o f Buddhism . Indeed these early renouncer tradi­ tions cannot be understood in isolation from each other as there is mutual cross-fertilization o f term inologies and ideas: Buddhism influences the brahm anical renouncer religion and brahm anical religion influences B uddhism .2 The higher states o f consciousness or meditative absorptions spoken o f in the Buddhist scriptures, the jhànas (Pali) or dhyânas (Sanskrit), w hich are certainly pre-Buddhist, are rem iniscent o f the later H indu stages o f yogic concentration o f samâdhi. These renouncer traditions offered a new vision o f the human con di­ tion w hich became incorporated, to some degree, into the w o rld view o f the Brahm an householder. The ideology o f asceticism and renunciation seems, at first, discontinuous w ith the brahm anical id eo lo gy o f the affir­ m ation o f social obligations and the perform ance o f public and dom estic rituals. Indeed, there has been some debate as to w hether asceticism and its ideas o f retributive action, reincarnation and spiritual liberation, might not have originated outside the orthodox vedic sphere, or even outside A ry a n culture: that a divergent historical origin m ight account fo r the apparent contradiction w ithin ‘ H in du ism ’ between the w o rld affirm ation

76

Yoga and renunciation o f the householder and the world negation o! the renouncer. H ow ever, this dichotom ization is too sim plistic, fo r continuities can undoubtedly be found between renunciation and vedic Brahm anism , while elements from non-brahm anical, £ramana traditions also played an im portant part in the form ation o f the renuncíate ideal. Indeed there are continuities between vedic Brahm anism and Buddhism , and it has been argued that the Buddha sought to return to the ideals o f a vedic society w hich he saw as being eroded in his ow n day.3 G eneral ideological features o f w o rld renunciation com m on to d iffer­ ent renouncer traditions can be sum m arized as follow s: - action leads to rebirth and suffering. - detachment from action, or even non-action, leads to spiritual emancipation. - complete detachment, and therefore spiritual emancipation can be achieved through asceticism and methods of making consciousness focused and concentrated.

Ascetics in the Veda In the R g Veda Sarnhita the im portant religious figures are the priests w h o officiate at the ritual and the inspired seers (rsi) w h o receive the Veda. There are, however, some references in the vedic corpus to figures w h o do not have a ritual function and seem to be outside the brahmanical, vedic com m unity. Tw o groups are o f particular note, the Kesins and the V rátyas.

TH E KESINS

O ne fam ous hym n in the R g Veda Sam hita describes long-haired ascetics ([kesin) or silent ones (m uni), w h o strongly resem ble later H indu ascetics. The text describes them as either naked (‘ swathed in w in d 5) or clothed in red tatters. T h ey have ecstatic experiences, being ‘possessed b y the god s’, and they fly outside the body, perhaps suggestive o f w hat have becom e kn ow n as ‘o u t-o f-th e-b o d y experiences’ . The text also indicates that they possess the ability to read minds, a pow er attributed to accom plished yogins in later yo ga traditions. Such experiences are seem ingly induced b y an unidentified ‘d ru g’ (visa) w hich the ascetic drinks w ith the god Rudra, and w hich is pre­ pared b y a (possibly hunch-backed) goddess Kunam nam á.4 W hether the hym n describes a drug-induced vision ary experience depends upon the interpretation o f the term visa, w hich is usually taken to

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An introduction to Hinduism mean ‘poison*. Som e scholars have argued that visit here refers to a hallu­ cinogenic drug, though distinct from som a^ while others have argued that to see the hym n in terms o f a chem ically induced ecstasy is to disregard the sym bolic nature o f the vedic texts, and that drinking poison is akin to the m yth o f S iv a s drinking the poison churned up from the w orld ocean. O n this view the K esin attained his m ystical state through a yoga practice, and the poison he drinks refers to his ability to remain in the poisonous m ater­ ial w orld , w hile being unaffected b y it.6 It is, o f course, possible to view the hym n as describing a hallucinogen-induced ecstasy and being sym bolic at the same time. The description o f the K esin is rem iniscent o f later ascetics w h o undergo extraordinary inner experiences. Regardless o f the cause or facil­ itator, w hether through a drug or through ascetic practices, this hym n provides us w ith one o f the earliest recorded descriptions o f an ecstatic religious experience. O ther features o f the hym n, such as the K esin ’s asso­ ciation w ith R udra, are significant in establishing a connection w ith later yo gic traditions. R udra, w h o later becomes Siva, the archetypal ascetic, him self associated w ith the hallucinogenic plant datura, is a terrible deity w ith long, braided hair, on the edges o f vedic society, w h o is entreated not to harm the com m unities b y taking aw ay their cattle and children.7 R u d ra is peripheral to the vedic pantheon, there are o n ly three hym ns to him in the R g Veda, and the K esin ’s association w ith him suggests that he too w ou ld have been on the edges o f the vedic com m unity. T he goddess Kunam nam a is on ly m entioned in the Veda in this hym n, again suggestive o f the K esin ’s location outside o f the vedic com m unity. W hile it might not be legitimate to argue that the K esin represents a n o n -A ryan tradition - after all the com poser o f the hym n is sym pathetic to the K esin - it w ou ld be reasonable to assume that the K esin represents a strand o f asceticism existing outside mainstream, vedic ritual culture and was p ro b ab ly an influence on later renouncer traditions; indeed the Buddha him self, like the Kesin, is described as a m uni. H ow ever, it w o u ld be a gross oversim plification to suggest that the renouncer tradition sim ­ p ly developed from this M uni culture. The developm ent o f renunciation in the U panisads is intim ately connected to the vedic ritual tradition, yet one must also recognize the force o f the argument that the U panisads co n ­ tain a discontinuity o f ideas w ith the vedic ritual tradition; a discontinuity w hich indicates non-vedic influences, such as are represented b y the ‘ K esin H y m n ’ .

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Yoga and renunciation

T H E VRATYAS

A part from the Kesins, B ook 1 5 of the Atharva Veda Samhita attests to the existence o f a com m unity o f aggressive w arriors m oving about in bands, the Vratyas, w h o lived on the edges o f A ry an society and m ay have been connected w ith the Kesins. These V ratyas com prised itinerant groups, concentrated in the north-east o f India, w h o spoke the same lan­ guage as the vedic A ryan s, but w h o w ere regarded w ith disdain b y them. Indeed, there is a special purification ritual, the vratyastoma , in w hich they could be assimilated into vedic society and assume the A ry a n status w hich they forfeited b y not undertaking the brahm anical rites o f passage. W hile evidence is lacking to say precisely w h o the Vratyas w ere, they cer­ tainly seem to have been on the bound ary o f groups w h o w ere acceptable to the vedic A ryan s, though H eesterm an has suggested that the vedic, sacrificial initiate (diksita ) derives from the V ratya.8 The A tharva Veda describes them as w earing turbans, dressed in black, w ith tw o ram skins over their shoulders.9 The V ratyas practised their ow n cerem onies. The precise nature and structure o f these rites is unclear, but they w ere p rob ab ly concerned w ith fertility and the magical renewal o f life w ith the seasons. D urin g the sum ­ mer solstice ‘ great v o w ’ (mahavrata ) ritual, the priest (hotr) muttered chants w hich included reference to the three breaths animating the body. These breaths are inhalation, the breath w hich is retained, and exhalation, and suggest an early kind o f breath control w h ich becomes developed as

prandyama in later yogic traditions. This rite is accom panied b y obscene dialogues and also involves ritual sexual intercourse between a ‘ bard’, w h o m ay have otherw ise remained celibate, and a ‘prostitute’ ; a rite w hich has echoes in later tantric ritual (see pp. 18 9 -9 1). The V ratyas demonstrate a close connection, found in later traditions, between asceticism and martialism. W arrior brotherhoods, skilled in physical techniques and the technologies o f war, became associated w ith ascetic, renunciatory practices: the outer war, as it w ere, becom es an inner w ar to subdue the b o d y and the passions. This connection between ascetic and martial fraternities is further borne out in that ascetic ideologies and practices emerged w ithin the ruling o f w arrio r classes o f Indian society. The Buddha, fo r example, came from a m artial background and the secret teachings o f the U panisads are associated w ith rulers. W hile renunciation and asceticism are prefigured in vedic religion, a

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An introduction to Hinduism developed id eolo gy o f renunciation comes with a change in social and eco­ nom ic conditions in India from the sixth century

bck.

These changes

allow ed fo r the developm ent o f ideas from outside the strictly brahmanical, ritual fram e o f reference. To these conditions we now turn.

Individualism and urbanization Vedic ritualism developed in an agrarian society: the A ryan s w ere pastoralists and later agriculturalists living in rural com m unities. B y the fifth century

b c e

,

how ever, an urban culture is developing along the Ganges

plain and m ajor kingdom s have arisen associated w ith the grow th o f urban centres. O f particular note are the kingdom s o f M agadha and K osala, w ith the tribal ‘republics’ o f the Vrijis and the Sakyas to the north. Some o f these tow ns, such as Pataliputra (Patna), the capital o f the M agadha em pire, w ere w ell-fortified centres w hich rapidly expanded w ith an increase in population, a food surplus, and the developm ent o f trade. W ith the developm ent o f kingdom s, trade routes w ere secured and roads con ­ structed. Such im proved com m unication in turn meant that new ideas could be more easily disseminated, particularly b y w andering ascetics. It is in the context o f this urbanization that renouncer traditions developed. Richard G om b rich has outlined this process, show ing h ow the rise o f tow ns under royal protection allowed fo r trade, fo r the m ovem ent o f p eo ­ ple, and fo r greater personal freedom and m obility. A lo n g with this devel­ opm ent came a bureaucracy and institutions o f control w hich eroded the traditional, rural social order.10 N o t on ly do w e need to take these material and political concerns into consideration, but ideological concerns as w ell. Paul W heatley has con ­ vincingly argued that the earliest towns and cities are not o n ly com m ercial centres, but prim arily ritual com plexes, and that the size and com plexity o f the c ity ’s walls might be seen not on ly in terms o f defence, but also in terms o f status and prestige w hich reflect the k in g’s glo ry.1 1 Such a picture clearly fits into the H indu theology o f sacral kingship. The early cities o f the Ganges valley are centres o f early polities w hich reflect or sym bolize the ritual status o f the king. The urban centre as sym bol o f the k in g’s p ow er is a phenom enon w hich occurs in the later h istory o f south A sia, fo r example at Vijayanagara, and attests to a continuity o f the id eology o f kingship from ancient times to the m edieval period. W ith urbanization a traditional agrarian lifestyle was eroded and emphasis placed on trade initiatives and enterprise; values w hich highlight 80

Yoga and renunciation the individual above the w ider social group. The m ove from an agrarian to an urban situation provided a context in which individualism could develop in some segment o f the com m unity. With the weakening o f tradi­ tional, ritualized behaviour patterns, the individual rather than the group, as G om brich show s, became the im portant agent in the socioeconom ic functioning o f tow ns, as the trader, the shopkeeper, the skilled w orker, and the governm ent official.12 This is not to say that at this time there w as an articulate id eology o f individualism w hich stressed autonom y and per­ sonal rights - there was not - or that the urban individual was not subject to law and a hierarchical social structure, but m erely that socioeconom ic functioning w as placed m ore in the hands o f innovators than w o u ld have been possible in a rural context. The form o f individualism that developed in the Protestant West, w ith its emphasis on autonom y and responsibility, was not present in the ancient w orld , but a form o f individuality w hich em phasized or particularized the distinct self, did develop in urban cen­ tres. Indeed, the separation or distinction o f persons is necessary fo r them to be objects o f social control b y an abstract social structure, law and bureaucracy.13 The earliest ascetic traditions w hich are w ell docum ented, Jain ism and Buddhism , grew up in urban contexts, w here em erging com m ercial classes w ere interested in new ideas. The Buddha visited num erous tow ns, mentioned in the B uddhist scriptures, and was supported b y the urban laity, some o f w hom w ere w ealth y tow n-dw ellers. M oreover, the m ajority o f his com m unity o f m onks and nuns seem to have been draw n from the towns rather than the country.14

The sram ana traditions F ro m about 800 to 400

bc e

Sanskrit and Prakrit texts bear witness to the

emergence o f the new id eology o f renunciation, in w hich know ledge (jn a n a ) is given precedence over action (ka rm a ), and detachment from the material and social w orld is cultivated through ascetic practices (tapas), celibacy, p o verty and methods o f mental training (yoga). The purpose o f such training is the cultivation o f altered or higher states o f consciousness w hich w ill culminate in the blissful m ystical experience o f final liberation from the bonds o f action and rebirth. W hile the renouncer o f sramana tra­ ditions differ on points o f doctrine and m ethod, they generally agree that life is characterized b y suffering (duhkha) and adhere to a teaching in w hich liberation (m oksa, nirvana) from suffering is a form o f spiritual 81

An introduction to Hinduism know ledge or gnosis (Jnanayvidyu). The spread o f disease among the new urban population m ay well have contributed to the grow th o f ascetic m ovem ents and added poignancy to the doctrine o f life as sufferin g.15 In these new ascetic ideologies, spiritual salvation cannot be attained sim ply due to a high-caste birth, but on ly b y liberating insight or understanding the nature o f existence. The true Brahm an, according to the Buddha, is not som eone born to a particular mother, but a person w hose conduct is pure and m oral.16 Personal experience in this w a y is placed above the received know ledge o f the vedic revelation. A t an early period, during the form a­ tion o f the U panisads and the rise o f B uddhism and Jainism , w e must envisage a com m on heritage o f m editation and mental discipline practised b y renouncers w ith varyin g affiliations to n on -orthod ox (Veda-rejecting) and orth odox (Veda-accepting) traditions. The institution o f w orld-renunciation or ‘ going fo rth ’ offers the renouncer (.sramana , bhiksu , parivrajaka) an escape route from w o rld ly suffering, as w ell as from w o rld ly responsibilities, and a life dedicated to finding understanding and spiritual know ledge; a know ledge w hich is expressed and conceptualized in various w ays according to different sy s­ tems. W hile there are elements o f doctrine and practice shared b y the sramana m ovem ents, there are nevertheless w ide differences between them. The materialists (( k i.11hierarchy, that is b y caste and gender. E ven though at an ideological level most bhakti traditions have m aintained that caste and gender are immaterial to devotion and final salvation, nevertheless some are m ore tolerant o f non-discrim ination on the grounds o f caste and gender than others. The Sri Vaisnavas, fo r example, w hile not excluding lo w er castes ,md wom en, restrict lower-caste access to their tem ple at Srirangam , w hile (>i her sects such as the Raidasis are themselves low -caste. The m ost im poru n t Vaisnava orders and cults are: - the Sri Vaisnavas located in Tamilnadu whose centre is the temple at Srirangam, for whom the theology of Ramanuja is particularly important. - the Gaudlya or Bengali Vaisnavas located mainly in Bengal, Orissa and Vrndavana. They revere the teachings of the Bengali saint, Caitanya, and focus their devotion on Krsna and Radha. -

the cult of Vithoba in Maharashtra, particularly in the pilgrimage centre of Pandharpur. Their teachings are derived from the saints (sant) Jnanesvara, Namdev, Janabai etc.

- the cult of Rama located mainly in the north-east at Ayodhya and Janakpur and associated with an annual festival of Ramllla in which the Ramayana is performed. The ascetic Ramanandl order is devoted to Rama and Slta. - the northern Sant tradition; while not being strictly Vaisnava, worshipping a transcendent Lord beyond qualities, this tradition nevertheless derives much of its teachings and names of G od from Vaisnavism. Especially venerated are Kablr and Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. T H E SRI VAISNAVA T R A D I T I O N

The Sri Vaisnava tradition, w hich developed in Tamilnadu, inherited a dual vision o f the universe: on the one hand, the northern Sanskrit tradi­ tion o f the Pancaratra and puranic w orsh ip o f Visnu, w ith its emphasis on the L o rd as the transcendent cause and sustaining pow er o f the cosm os,

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An introduction to Hinduism and, on the other, the southern Tamil tradition of longing devotion to a personal Lord installed within specific temple icons. The Sri Vaisnavas therefore revered sacred scriptures in Sanskrit, both the Vedas and the Päncarätra Ägam as or Samhitäs, and the Tamil songs o f the Ä lvars. The Sri Vaisnavas also revered a line o f teachers (äcärya) w ho functioned as the­ ologians and interpreters o f the tradition and as hierarchs o f the order. The first o f these äcäryas, and the founder o f the Sri Vaisnavas, was Nätham uni (tenth century

c e

)

w h o collected the songs o f the Ä lvars in his

P raban dh am . W hile his em otional and aesthetic inspiration came from the Tamil poet-saints, N atham un i’s main intellectual inheritance was the Sanskrit philosophical tradition, particularly the Vedanta, and the theolo­ gies o f the B h a g a v a d G itä , the Visnu Puräna and the Päncarätra Ägam as. H e is attributed w ith founding the Sri Vaisnava tradition and legitimated the tradition b y establishing a lineage w ith the Tamil Ä lvärs. N ätham uni is said to have gone on pilgrim age to Vrndävana in the north, the Vaisnava religious centre and m ythological hom e o f K rsna, w here he received a vision o f Visnu in the form Mannanär, the icon in his local temple in Tamilnadu. In the vision the god told him to return to his hom e tow n. H e did so and became an administrator, firstly in the temple o f M annanär and later in the Visnu temple at Srirangam w hich became the centre o f the Sri Vaisnava com m unity. N ätham uni^ grandson, Yäm una, became the next Sri Vaisnava äcärya, noted fo r his defence o f the Päncaratra Ägam as as having revelatory status and o f the Päncaratra ritual as being equal to orth odox brahm anical rites.11 The m ost fam ous Sri Vaisnava leader, w hose influence was to extend throughout H induism , w as Räm änuja (c. 1 0 1 7 - 1 1 3 7 ) . H e did not directly meet Yäm una, but became the recognized leader o f the com m unity, devel­ oping a Vaisnava th eology and interpretation o f the Vedänta tradition in the light o f his theism, w hich became kn ow n as ‘ qualified non-dualism ’ (visistädvaita\ see p. 243). Räm änuja w rote in Sanskrit, but he was in flu ­ enced b y the bh akti p oetry o f the Ä lvärs. H is favoured disciple, Pillän, w rote a com m entary on N am m älvär’s T iru väym o li in a language w hich was a m ixture o f Sanskrit and Tamil, m an ip raväla, thereby elevating the status o f the Tamil text, the first text in a D ravidian language to have com ­ m entary written on it. Pillän, w ho was a Sudra, implies here that caste is not an impediment to salvation.12 Salvation or liberation fo r the Sri Vaisnavas was conceived as transcend­ ing the cycle o f reincarnation (samsära) and karm a and going to V isn u 5s 13 6

¡he love ofVisnu In .won (vaikuntha ) at death, where the soul is united with the Lord in a loving relationship, while yet maintaining its distinction. This state is iti liieved through attachment to the I ,ord and detachm ent from the w orld , oi, more specifically, through the religious practice (upasana ) o f devotion i ni ship Siva, pro b ab ly meaning those w h o fo llo w thzpa u rdn ik a form o f worship. A s A lexis Sanderson has described, such a brahmanical Saiva within the Smärta dom ain, a M ahesvara, can be contrasted w ith an initiate, technically kn ow n as a Saiva, w h o has undergone an initiation (diksd ) and who follow s the teachings o f Siva (sivasdsana) contained in Saiva scrip­ tures (s d stra )P W hile the Saiva initiate hoped fo r liberation (m oksa), the Saiva householder or M ahesvara w ou ld at death be taken to Siva’s heaven (Siva-loka) at the top o f the w orld egg (where vaik u n th a w ou ld be fo r the pu ränic Vaisnava). The Saiva initiates (as opposed to the lay, pau rd n ik a devotees) can be lurther classified w ithin a m ore general distinction, again clearly expli­ cated b y A lexis Sanderson, between on the one hand the ‘ O uter Path ’ (atimdrga) and on the other the ‘ Path o f M antras’ (m a n tra m drg a)}AThese are tw o m ain branches described in Saiva texts, the Ägam as or Tantras. The form er, open to ascetics only, is a path exclusively for the purpose o f salvation fro m samsdra, w hile the latter, open to ascetics and household­ ers, is a path w hich leads to eventual salvation, but also to the attainment o f supernatural or magical pow ers (siddhi) and pleasure (bh oga ) in higher worlds along the w ay. The path o f the atim drga might also be rendered as the ‘higher path’ - the path w hich has transcended the orthodox system o f four stages o f life (ve for an eternal transcendent Lord. Bhakti tends to reject caste and gen­ der restrictions as having any consequence fo r salvation; all that is needed is love and the grace o f the Lord. Th e devotional traditions o f Saiva Siddhanta and the Lingayats (see pp. 1 7 1 - 2 ) have expressed, though not exclusively, the needs o f non-brahm anical social groups. Yet devotionalism within these traditions has in turn been absorbed into m ore form al structures w hich the founders o f bhakti m ovem ents m ay have originally been against. In the vision o f bhakti presented in the Tamil sources, what is forem ost is the direct relationship between the devotee and the Lo rd . There is almost a sense o f anti-structure in these hym ns and a reversal o f received social norm s: in M anikkavacakar’s Tiruvacakam (‘ Sacred Verses’), for example, w e read o f devotees as being ‘ m ad’ (piccu, unmatta) w ith the love o f G o d and straying from accepted social and personal behaviour. Yet, perhaps ironically, bhakti and the hym ns o f the Tamil saints became part of the Saiva canon and an integral part o f structured temple w orsh ip, which had the blessing o f the C h o la kings. H indu orthodoxy, that is the Brahmans w ith royal support, did not generally actively repress m ove­ ments w hich could be seen as antithetical to orth od ox interests, but rather encompassed them w ithin their ideological structures. Indeed, devotion to a tem ple deity might be seen as an analogue o f the subject’s devotion to the king, though, unlike a subject’s devotion, there is alw ays the possib il­ ity that bhakti could be w ild, uncontrolled and ecstatic. The texts revered b y the southern Saiva Siddhanta are the Vedas; the tw enty-eight dualist Agam as w hich form the ritual basis o f the tradition; the tw elve books o f the Tamil Saiva canon called the Tirumurai, w hich con ­ tains the p oetry o f the N ayanars; and the Saiva Siddhanta Sastras. The

Tirumurai contains a vast b od y o f material w hose dates span a 600-year period from about the sixth to the tw elfth centuries. A m on g the poets w hose w o rk appears in the Saiva canon are A ppar, C am pantar and C untarar (sixth-eighth centuries

c e ) w hose p oetry form s the Tevaram , a

collection com piled and classified on the basis o f music in the tenth century b y N am p i A ntar N am pi. These three poets, along w ith the later ninth-cen­ tu ry saint, M anikkavacakar, the author o f the Tiruvacakam , are regarded as 169

An introduction to Hinduism the founding fathers o f the Saiva Siddhania in the south. These poets praise Siva and the tem ples o f south India where he lives, form ing a netw ork ol pilgrim age sites and creating a sacred geography which also became a sacred political geography with the dyn asty o f the C hola kings (c. 8701 280).41 U n d er the C holas, Saivism enjoyed patronage with the great tem ­ ple at Cidam baram becom ing an im portant political and religious centre. D urin g the period from 600 c e to the rise o f the C holas, the period du ring w hich the N ayan ars w ere com posing their hym ns, the Pallavas w ho ruled northern Tam ilnadu and the Pandeyas w h o ruled the south, devel­ oped a strong social structure akin to feudalism - an embedded hierarchy o f patronage w hich w ou ld have involved a sophisticated bureaucracy.42 There w as constant political and m ilitary conflict between these k in g­ dom s, as w ell as w ith the C h alu k ya kingdom to the north, as they jostled fo r territory and power. The bhakti m ovem ent, both Saiva and Vaisnava, w hich stressed the equality o f devotees, can be seen in part as a reaction against a system w hich oppressed the lo w er social strata and im posed heavy tax burdens in order to finance m ilitary struggles. W hile the bhakti m ovem ent should not be exaggerated as an articulation o f a ‘class strug­ gle’ , there is nevertheless a strong sense in w hich bhakti is opposed to rigid structures and rationalized systems: all devotees o f Siva are his slaves

(atiyar) and each has a personal relationship w ith him outside any institu­ tionalized religion.43 W ritings against caste can also be found am ongst the ‘ adepts’ (Tamil cittar , Sanskrit siddha ), Tamil yogis w hose ideas are expressed in T irum ular’s Tirumantiram. A nother im portant factor which led to the developm ent o f bhakti was popular reaction against Buddhism and Jainism , both ascetic and renunci­ atory traditions, w hich w ere w ell established in the south until about 1200 c e

. The

Jains particularly bore the brunt o f the devotees’ invective, being

accused o f know ing no Tamil or Sanskrit (but o n ly Prakrit), and o f being filthy and generally anti-social. The doctrines o f renunciation and the ‘ atheism’ o f these religions had little appeal to Tamil culture in the medieval period and so they died out, devotion becom ing the predom i­ nant ideology, and puja to perceptible deities the practice. Tamil Saiva Siddhanta is therefore a fusion o f a num ber o f elements. There is brahmanical adherence to the Veda, though practically it is neglected in favou r o f the A gam as; a strong cult o f tem ple ritual, based on the Agam as and focused on Siva’s form s located in temples throughout the sacred Tamil land; and an em otional bhakti cult based on the hym ns o f the 170

Saiva and tantric religion NityauSirs. This emotional bhakli, while originating in the south with the l*i m*i ry of the Nayanars and Alvars, rapidly spread north and the Lingayat ti.idition in neighbouring Karnataka soon became infected by Tamil ilrvolionalism. T A N T R I S M IN K E R A L A

l.mtrism also took root in Kerala, the extrem e south-w est o f India, where 11 has become one o f the predom inant traditions o f the N am b u dri lit ¿limans. In Kerala, as indeed inTam ilnadu, w e can see the im portance o f I intrism in the general temple culture and the w a y in w hich tantric form s »>1 worship are integral to daily ritual practices. Yet, whereas in Tamilnadu i an trie traditions are clearly either Saiva or Vaisnava, in K erala these dislinctions are not maintained and Kerala Tantrism cannot be classified in l his way, incorporating in its w orsh ip a num ber o f brahmanical Saiva and Vaisnava deities, such as Siva, Visnu, G anesa, and low -caste regional deities, particularly goddesses. The Tantrism o f K erala appears to be far Irom the crem ation-ground traditions o f northern Tantrism and has become com pletely em bedded w ithin orthoprax vaidika traditions. In Kerala a Tantri is a N am bu dri Brahm an belonging to one o f a group o f families ranked in a status hierarchy. The main function o f these Tantris is to install icons in temples, w hile the daily ritual observances are per­ formed b y piijdr is o f different families. There is a, generally low -caste, tradition o f ritual magic to cure sickness and w ard o ff m isfortune, the

mantravadam , and a Tantri might w ell perform the functions o f both tem ­ ple priest and ‘ m agician’ (mantravadin ). The precise origins o f Tantrism in K erala are unclear, though the tradi­ tion m ay have com e from Kashmir. The tw o k ey texts used in temple ritual are the Tantrasamuccaya b y C enasnam budri (fifteenth century c e ) and the Isanasivagurudeva-paddhati w hich dates back to the twelfth century.44 W hile these texts are used in the temple tantric cults o f the respectable householder religion, they still reflect an archaic tantric w o rld view and reflect the roots o f Tantrism in crem ation-ground asceti­ cism. A n oth er im portant regional tradition, a fusion o f bloakti w ith Tantrism, w hich developed in A ndh ra Pradesh, w as that o f the Lingayats. TH E LINGAYATS

The Lingayats, ‘wearers o f the linga\ or V irasaivas, ‘ heroes fo r Siva’ , w ere founded b y Basava (twelfth century c e ) , though seem to have had some

171

An introduction to Hinduism connections with the Kalam ukha order. U nlike the Kalam ukhas, h o w ­ ever, they lay emphasis on devotion rather than asceticism and reject tem ­ ple w orsh ip and icon w orship, except for a liriga worn around the neck, w hich is w orsh ipped daily. The Lirigayat devotee believes that upon death he w ill go straight to union w ith Siva and that there w ill be no return to the w orld . The Lin gayats therefore need no orthoprax funereal rites and bury their dead, as is done w ith h o ly men. There is still a large Lirigayat com m u­ n ity in Karnataka. Basava (c. 110 6 -6 7 ) was a Saiva Brahm an at the court o f K in g Bijjala, the king o f K alyan a. H e was a social and religious reform er, a devotee o f Siva as the ‘ L o rd o f the M eeting o f R iv ers’, w h o expressed his devotion in p o etry and founded a new com munity. A n oth er notable poet am ong the Lin gayat com m unity was a you nger contem porary o f Basava, M ahadevyakka. She became a wandering, naked ascetic and is iconographically depicted clothed only in her hair. In her poetry she writes o f her longing fo r Siva and she scorns w o rld ly love as impermanent and unsatisfactory: I love the Beautiful One with no bond nor fear no clan no land no landmarks for his beau ty... Take these husbands who die, decay, and feed them to your kitchen fires!45 Basava was vehem ently against the caste system and ritualistic religion. H e began a com m unity at K alyan a w hich em phasized egalitarianism, including caste-free marriage, and developed an ethos o f w hat V ictor Turner has called com munitas or ‘com m union’ .46 Indeed, according to B asava’s biographer, a w edding occurred betw een the son o f an outcaste and the daughter o f a Brahm an. This flouting o f social convention led to K in g B ijjala condem ning the couples’ fathers to death, an act w hich, rather than repressing the com m unity, caused a riot against the king w h o was assassinated. This in turn led to repression o f the Lirigayat com m unity, w hich nevertheless survived. Basava, w h o w as opposed to the com m u­ n ity ’s violence against the king, lived out his days aw ay from the co m ­ m unity he founded.47

172

Stiivd twd tantric religion

Sum m ary As with Vaisnavism, Saivism is a com plex and rich tradition, reaching a * Ic.ir articulation in the post-G u pta period, though its roots stretch back a long way, perhaps as far as the Indus valley civilization. Saivism has been generally less orthoprax than Vaisnavism , less concerned w ith locating 11 self in the tradition stem ming from the vedic revelation. It has provided its ow n revelation in the Saiva Tantras, and incorporated the vedic revelaIion within it at a low er level. A s w ith Vaisnavism , there is a w ide diversity of religious form s, ranging from the orthoprax Smarta or pauranika w o r­ ship o f Siva, to ecstatic bh akti, and to h igh ly esoteric and antinomian lorms o f w orship in its tantric extreme. W ithin the tantric realm, am ong the Tantras w here the G oddess predom inates, it is difficult to distinguish between Saiva and Sakta orientations. It is this m ore exclusive Sakta w in g of the tantric material and the religion o f the G oddess generally to w hich we now turn.

173

8 The Goddess and Sakta traditions

The traditions o f Siva and Visnu have dom inated H indu literature and have been the m ajor focus o f devotional attention. Yet there is nevertheless a vital H indu G oddess tradition and m any goddesses are w orshipped daily throughout south A sia. The innum erable goddesses o f local tradi­ tions are generally regarded b y H indus as m anifestations or aspects o f a single G reat G oddess or M aha D evi, w hose w orship m ay go back to p re­ historic times if sixth- or fifth-m illennia terracotta figurines are taken to be G oddess images. W orship o f the H in du G oddess is also im portant beyond the bounds o f H induism in contem porary western revivals o f G oddess w o rsh ip .1 The G oddess is a contradictory and am bivalent figure in H induism . O n the one hand she is the source o f life, the benevolent mother w h o is giving and overflow ing, yet on the other she is a terrible malevolent force w h o demands offerings o f blood, meat and alcohol to placate her wrath. W endy O ’Flaherty has referred to tw o distinct categories o f Indian goddesses w hich reflect these tw o natures: on the one hand are ‘ goddesses o f tooth ’ w h o are erotic, ferocious and dangerous, on the other are ‘ goddesses o f breast’ w ho are auspicious, bountiful and fertile.2 The goddesses o f breast are generally role models o f H indu w om en w h o em body maternal quali­ ties o f generosity and graciousness, subservient to their divine husbands, w hile the goddesses o f tooth are independent, low -ranking and dom inate their consorts if they have any. The high-ranking goddesses o f breast are sexually controlled w ithin a brahmanical fram ew ork, the low -ran kin g goddesses o f tooth are free, as W endy O ’F laherty observes, to attack

174

The (iodilrss and Sakta traditions Mini ' There are some exceptions to this distinction and some goddesses, «in h as Tripurasundari, are both beautiful and independent. Devi, the I ii cAt (ioddess, embraces both of these images and her cults express this ambivalence. I >evotees o f the G oddess are generally called Säktas: the follow ers o f *. ilui, a name fo r the G oddess denoting the female ‘p o w e r’ or ‘en ergy5 o f ihe universe. The Säkta tradition is, how ever, less clearly defined than V i ivism

or Vaisnavism . Indeed it w ou ld be greatly misleading to assume

ili.it only Säktas w orship the G oddess. A lm o st all H indus w ill revere her in some capacity, particularly at village level w here her demands are ve ry immediate as are her boons. B oth Vaisnavism and Saivism have incorpo14led the G oddess w ithin them as the consorts or energies (sakti) o f their in.ile deities. Yet, as w e have seen, at its tantric heart Saivism is pervaded b y feminized images o f divinity and practice. W ith Säkta texts this fem inized irligion becomes overt in both puranic and tantric manifestations. The < ioddess, on the edges o f the brahm anical w orld , is incorporated into m thoprax, puranic w orsh ip and her tantric w orsh ip becomes brahm anj/.ed in the later medieval tradition o f the Sri V id yä. H indu o rth op raxy contains the G oddess w ithin a brahm anical structure. H ow ever, on the edges o f brahmanical authority am ongst the low er castes, the tribals, and m the tantric m iddle ground between the high and lo w castes, she maini.iins a w ild independence as a sym bol o f the reversal o f brahmanical values. In this chapter I w ill first describe images o f the G oddess in m yth and iconography w hich developed during the first m illennium

c e

,

and w hich

.ire still im portant in contem porary H induism . We w ill then go on to trace developments in the h istory o f G oddess w orsh ip am ong the orthoprax Brahmans, among the tantric traditions, and at village level.

The m yth of Devi There are a num ber o f narrative traditions about the G oddess and m inor goddesses in the Puränas and Tantras. T he m ost im portant m anifestation of D evi is D urgä, the w arrior goddess w h o slays the buffalo dem on Mahisa. This m yth is central to the cult o f D evi and provides the inspira­ tion fo r her main iconographic representation w hich show s her as M ahisamardinl, the slayer o f the buffalo demon. The m yth is told in a num ber o f variants in the Puränas, especially the D evib h ä g a va ta Puräna and the D evim ä h ä tm ya , a part o f the M ärkan deya Puräna. The latter text, the

175

An introduction to Hinduism earliest w ork g lo rifyin g the ( foddcss, elates Irom the fifth to seventh ceil* turies

c e

.

This version in the D evim ahdtm ya is the simplest and the fo l­

low in g account is based on that earlier version. The buffalo dem on, M ahisasura or sim ply M ahisa (‘ buffalo ’), had obtained a boon from Brahm a that he could not be killed b y any male. W ith the confidence o f his invincibility, he firstly conquers the w o rld aiul then, w ish ing to conquer heaven as w ell, sends an ultim atum to Indra, the king o f the gods. Indra scorns M ahisa and a terrible battle ensues in which Indra is defeated and flees to Brahma fo r shelter, then to Siva and finally to Visnu. F ro m the bodies and angered faces o f the gods, great energy masses emerge w h ich fo rm into the shape o f a beautiful w om an, w h o is, o f course, D evi. The gods m anifest replicas o f their w eapons and give them to her, requesting her to defeat the demon M ahisa. H er lion m ount she receives from the m ountain god Him avat and her cup o f w ine from K ubera, the god o f wealth in the north. She gives out a terrible laugh and the gods shout ‘v ic to ry ’ . U p o n hearing the laughter and the shouting o f the gods, M ahisa is angered and sends his troops to find out w hat is going on. T h ey return, telling him o f the beauty o f the Goddess w h o is unm arried and w h o p o s­ sesses all the qualities o f love, heroism, laughter, terror and wonder. Th rou gh his en vo ys, M ahisa proposes m arriage to D evi w ho refuses him, and he and his councillors are confused b y her am orous dem eanour yet her w arlike talk. T h e envoys attack the G oddess when they are rebuked by her and are slain. M ah isa himself in a handsom e hum an form goes to D evi and again p roposes marriage, but she tells him that she has been born to protect the righteous and that he must flee to hell or fight. H e attacks the G odd ess, assum ing the form s of different animals, but D evi drinks wine, pursues M ahisa on her lion, and defeats him, kicking him w ith her foot, piercing his chest w ith her trident and decapitating him w ith her discus as he emerges in hum an form from the b u ffalo ’s body. The rem aining dem ons flee to hell and D evi is praised b y the gods w h om she prom ises to help w henever necessary.4 A num ber o f them es and attitudes are expressed in this m yth. The m yth directly confronts brahm anical models o f w om anhood expressed in the D harm a Sastras w h ere the nature of w om an (strisvabh ava) is passive, unw arlike and w h ere a w om an’s role is defined in terms o f male authority on w hich a w om an should always be dependent as daughter, w ife, or mother. M ahisa can not be killed by any male, and a w om an, so he thinks, could not possib ly b e strong enough to defeat him. M ahisa’s initial reac176

The ( loddess andtidkta traditions Ihiti is to want to m arry the beautiful D evi and thereby contain and conmil her, and he is confused by her attractiveness which contrasts w ith her like speech, for the G oddess em bodies the traditional aesthetic quali­ ties (rasa) found in Sanskrit poetics o f both heroism (virya) and eroticism (0 flgdra). W hen M ahisa does attack, she drinks w ine before going into (•»title, an act indicative o f her origins as a G odd ess to w hom offerings o f il< ohol and blood w ere made. She is far m ore p ow erfu l than the gods, fo r «mly she can defeat the all-conquering demon.

Images of the Goddess 1‘he name D evi is interchangeable w ith D urga, though D evi incorporates a wider conception o f deity. A com m on term fo r the G oddess is sim ply ’ M other’ . Throu ghou t south A sia the G odd ess is referred to as ‘M o th er’ : Mata, M ataji or M a in the H indi-speaking north, A m m a in the D ravidian I,inguages o f the south. Lik e Siva, the G odd ess em bodies paradox and ambiju ity: she is erotic yet detached: gentle yet heroic; beautiful yet terrible. These aspects are expressed in a variety o f different goddesses at local and Imu-1ndian levels. Indeed, there is a tendency fo r local goddesses to becom e identified w ith the G reat G oddess through the process o f Sanskritization, .md sometimes for local goddesses to becom e universalized, as w ith the local goddess Santosi M a w h o became a pan-H in d u deity due to a film id lin g her story. F o r her devotees, the G odd ess is the ultimate reality, knowledge o f w h om liberates from the cycle o f birth and death, yet she is .i Iso the ensnaring veil o f the ‘ great illusion ’ (m ahdm aya) binding all beings. As the p ow er w hich both enslaves and liberates, she is Sakti, the energy or power o f Siva. The G oddess generates all form s and so is identified w ith Visnu’s second w ife, the Earth (Bhu), and w ith nature or matter (prakrti). Vet she also destroys the cosm os and the hum an com m unities w h o inhabit it with terrible violence. She can be approached and w orshipped in m any forms, in natural phenom ena, or in hum an form s as a mother, a w ife, an old wom an, or a yo u ng girl. H er main representations are: - as Durga, slayer of the buffalo-demon (Mahisasura), seated on or attended by a lion or tiger (when she is called Ambika). Durga, the ‘difficult to access’, has ten arms and weapons, kicks and pierces Mahisa with her trident and beheads him, while yet maintaining a calm and detached demeanour. - as Kali and other terrible manifestations, such as Camunda. They are emaciated, blood-drinking and violent forms who haunt the

177

An introduction to Hinduism cremation grounds. Kali is ‘ hl.u k ’ or 'blue’, garlanded with severed heads, girdled with severed arms, with rolling, intoxicated eyes and .t lolling tongue. She dances on the corpse of her husband Siva. - as consorts or energies (s'akti) of the gods, particularly Sarasvatl, Parvatl and LaksmI, the consorts of Brahma, Siva and Visnu, who arc beautiful models of wifely and maternal devotion (though not devoid of righteous anger). In this category we can also include Radha, the consort of Krsna, and Slta, the wife of Rama. - as groups of generally ferocious female deities, notably the ‘seven mothers’ (Saptamatrkas) whose natures are ambiguous, preying on children yet also destroying demons. In esoteric tantric literature they are associated with letters of the Sanskrit alphabet and the Goddess M atrka is the deity of the complete alphabet. - as local or regional icons in village or family shrines and temples. Local goddesses are often goddesses of smallpox and other pustular diseases, such as Sltala in the north and Mariyamman in the south. - as ‘ aniconic’ forms such as stones, poles, weapons, magical diagrams (yantra) and stylized female genitals (yoni). - as natural phenomena, particularly rivers (such as the rivers Gariga, the sacred Ganges and the Kaveri), lakes, trees and groves. - as male and female ‘mediums’ possessed by a goddess, particularly during festivals.

Early worship of the Goddess W orship o f goddesses m ay be extrem ely ancient in south Asia. Fem ale fig ­ urines o f baked clay have been found in the north-w est at M ergarh and Sheri K han Tarakai, dated to the sixth or fifth millennium , and terracotta figurines have been found at M o h en jo -D aro (c. 2500-2000

b c e

),

the

m ajor city o f the Indus valley civilization. We do not k n o w the purpose o f these figures. It is possible that they served a ritual function, perhaps as offerings or talismans, or sim ply as gifts. U n fortu n ately the archaeological record is incom plete, though figurines from the north-w est region have been dated to the third and fourth centuries

bce

w hich m ay represent a

continuity o f tradition from ancient times, after the collapse o f the Indus valley cities. In early vedic religion, goddesses (d e v i) are insignificant in that they p lay no role in the sacrifice at this early date, though several are m entioned in the R g Veda, the earliest textual record w e have. M ost notable am ongst 178

The ( ¡oddess artdSakta traditions ♦lit hi arc Prthivi (the Earth), Aditi (the ‘ unbound*), Usas (the dawn), Nil 11i (destruction) and Vac (speech). Prthivi is M other Earth w hose coniiii i is D yaus, Father Sky. Aditi is a goddess o f som e significance as the Mini her

o f the A dityas, a group o f seven or eight deities including D aksa,

,i s later father-in-law.5 She provides safety and wealth and is associated Hith the cow w hose m ilk nourishes hum anity. In the Brahm anas she is identified with the Earth, Prthivi.6 U sas is a yo u ng girl w h o brings light to ill«' world each m orning b y going before the Sun (Surya). She is bestow er mI prosperity and long life, yet conversely, because she announces the p.rising o f the days, she also wears aw ay peop le’s lives. N irrti is a goddess i *1 destruction; an early representation o f destructive female p o w er found hi Liter H induism in local and pan-H ind u goddesses such as K ali. The

11Vm ns of the R g Veda im plore her to go aw ay and ask the gods fo r proteci ion from her.7 In the Brahm anas she is described as dark and living in the MUIth,

the direction o f death.8 In contrast V ac (speech) is a creative p o w er

who inspires the sages, reveals the meaning o f language and is identified with truth. Speech plays an im portant part in later H indu ph ilosoph y and hi

yogic and tantric traditions as the p o w er behind w ords, particularly

mantras. O ther goddesses are mentioned in early vedic literature, such as i lie river Sarasvatl, N igh t, the Forest, and D iti, the m other o f the dem ons, Imi their role is subordinated to that o f the gods. As the early texts are all the evidence w e have regarding vedic religion, we can conclude from this evidence the follow in g points: - goddesses have a subordinate position in early vedic religion, male deities being predominant. - there is no evidence of a ‘ Great Goddess’ in the Vedas, an idea for which there is textual evidence only from the medieval period. - some of the goddesses in the Veda, notably Prthivi and Sarasvatl, survived into later Hindu times. Sarasvatl becomes the Goddess of learning and music and wife of Brahma; Prthivi or Bhu (the Earth) becomes the second wife of Visnu. - the evidence of goddess worship from the archaeological record and from references in the Veda, suggests that worship of goddesses has non-vedic, and probably non-Aryan, origins.

The form ation of Goddess worship Between the com position o f the Vedas and the Puranas there is little liter­ ary evidence o f G oddess w orsh ip, though there are Jain and Buddhist

179

An introduction to Hinduism

Worship of the Goddess in the Veda

Purânas

-►

(Indus Valley ?) (Dravidian worship)

Tantras

K âlïku la

I brahm anical

Sri V id ya

U K ali cults

G odd ess w orsh ip

village goddess w orship

Figure 7 The development of traditions of Goddess worship

sculptures depicting divine female beings, such as on the first-century

bce

B uddhist m onum ent (stupa) at Sanchi. A general picture is suggested of low -caste, local goddesses becom ing absorbed into, and resisted by, brah­ manical tradition. Som e o f these goddesses w ere o f D ravidian, rather than A ry an , origin. The M ah abh arata, com posed b y Brahm ans, presents vari­ ous images o f fem ale destructive pow er in the form o f the seven or eight M atrkas, the ‘M others’ and a num ber o f other demonesses. The M atrkas are described as dark, living on the periph ery o f society, and bringing m is­ fortune, particularly upon children w h o must be protected from their unwanted attentions. The ferocious K ali is m entioned in the E pic as being generated from the anger o f Siva’s consort, the G odd ess U m a or Parvati, and D urga is praised in tw o laudations b y A rju n a in order to defeat his enemies.9 In south India there is evidence o f early w orsh ip o f goddesses. The Virgin G oddess K an ya Kum ari, w hose tem ple is situated at the tip o f India, existed in the early centuries o f the com m on era, and the Tamil C ankam literature m entions K orravai, goddess o f victory, to w h om b u ffa­ los w ere sacrificed and for w hom forest w arriors, the M arvars, w ere exhorted to ritual suicide.10 H ow ever, it is not until the Puranas that w e find a m ore developed Sakta theology and m yth ology, and the idea o f a single, all-em bracing ‘ G reat G o d d ess’ (M ahadevi) w h o encompasses all other deities. A picture emerges therefore o f the gradual incorporation o f the G oddess into the brahmanical sphere. This process o f assim ilation might 180

r

ihc ( ¡f a you ng w om an (the kum ari-puja) in w hich a virgin girl o f about tw elve is placed upon a ‘throne’ . The G oddess is installed or brought dow n into her, as w ou ld occur w ith an icon, and she is w orshipped. The ritual deification o f the you ng girl is an im portant annual festival in N epal. Yet, w hile the G oddess is w orshipped as a you th ful girl, she can also be w orshipped in a terrible form as the b lood-drinking K ali or the old and crooked Kubjika. T H E CULTS OF K A LI

C ults o f K ali or her manifestations are in evidence from among the earliest tantric texts w e have, possib ly dating to as early as the seventh or eighth centuries. The w orship o f K ali is found at the heart o f K ashm ir Saivism , traditions w hose origins can be found in the crem ation-ground cults. While the Sri V id ya, according to its self-classification, develops from the southern transm ission in the Kaula system , the cults o f K ali are w ithin the northern and eastern transm issions. The Ja y a d ra th a ya m a la , a text o f the northern transm ission, describes form s o f K ali, w hich the devotee w ou ld visualize, as transcending the male form o f Siva, Bhairava, on w hose corpse she stands. H ere K ali is the absolute, identified w ith light at the 185

An introduction to Hinduis heart o f pure

The ( ¡oddcssan dSakta traditions

consciousness from whic

i ilie universe manifests and t< w hich it returns. T h e devotee she .............. .. upun 1

ould meditate upon this process of the

T H E SRI VID YA T R A D IT I O N

projection and w ithdraw al o f consciousness, identified with twelve Kalis, and realize the final, liberating im plosion o f consciousness into itsell,

flic Sri V idya is the cult o f Lalita Tripurasundari or sim ply Tripurasundari

sym b olized b y the ‘thirteenth’ Kali, K alasam karsini.12 These esoteric tra

( Beautiful G oddess o f the Three C ities’), a tantric form o f Sri/Laksm i,

ditions, id entifyin g K a li w ith states o f consciousness, later became co n ­

who is worshipped in the form o f a sacred diagram or yantra o f nine inter­

cretely expressed in external ritual from the tenth century, focused on the

im ting triangles, called the sricakra, and in the form o f a fifteen-syllable

goddess G u h yakali, visualized as having anim al and human heads with

m,in tra called the srivid ya , whence the tradition takes its name. The

eight arms bearing weapons. She is w orsh ipped at an exoteric, popular

II ipurasundari cult can be classified, in its earliest phase, as the latest level

level in N e p al as G u h yesvari and associated w ith the G oddess Kubjik.i (see below).

«*11 he M antram arga, the ‘ Path o f M antra’ (see p. 162). The earliest sources

The texts o f the K aliku la describe m acabre rites in the cremation

III

the

Sri

V id ya

w ithin

this

category

are

tw o

texts,

the

Nityasodasikarnava (‘The O cean o f the Tradition o f the Sixteen N ity a

grounds to evoke a goddess and allow the practitioner to achieve salvation

( ioddesses’) w hich

classifies

itself in

the M antram arga,

and

the

through confronting gruesom e (ghora) experience. In a fam ous rite, the

Yoginihrdaya (‘The H eart o f the Y o g in i’ ) w hich are said to form together

‘offering to the jackals’, jackals are revered as m anifestations o f K a li and

the Vam akesvara Tantra . 1 6 The N ityasodasikarn ava is concerned w ith

offerings are made to them at an inauspicious, though po w erful, location such as a crossroads, a w o o d o r a crem ation gro u n d .13

esoteric, interpreting the sricakra as the expansion and contraction o f the

A n oth er tantric goddess w h o is the focus o f a group o f Tantras o f the

«osmos. A later text, the Tantraraja Tantra (the ‘ K in g o f Tantras’), gives a

w estern K aula transm ission is K u b jika, the ‘C ro o k ed O n e’. Th is school j

more detailed exposition o f these subjects.17 A p art from these early

originated in the w estern H im alayas, p o ssib ly in Kashm ir, is know n to 1

I antras, a num ber o f later texts praise the G oddess Tripurasundari, partic-

have existed in N ep al b y the tw elfth century, and, according to its texts, i

nlarly the extrem ely popular S aun da ryala h ari (‘The O cean o f B ea u ty ’),

spread throughout India. The principle text o f the school is the ‘Tantra o f 1

1 he Lalitasaharanam a (‘The Thousand N am es o f Lalita’ ), and the Tripura

the Teachings o f the C ro o k ed G o d d ess’, the Kubjikamata Tantra, which explains the m ythology, and ritual r i t u a l associated w ith h e r .H 1~— doctrines 1 A lth ou gh the text and tradition takes its name fro m the G oddess w o r­

l/panisad

I alitdsaharanam a are traditionally said to have been com posed b y the

shipped in the form o f an old, crooked w om an, she is identified w ith the

indigenous Sri V id ya scholar w ou ld doubt his authorship o f these texts.

external rituals and their magical effects, w hile the Yoginihrdaya is m ore

(‘The

Secret

o f Tripura’ ).18 The

S aun daryalahari and

Ad vaita Vedanta philosopher Sankara. Indeed, as Bharati has observed, no

Suprem e G odd ess (Para D evi) and also w orsh ipped in the form s o f a girl

While in principle it is not im possible that Sankara w ou ld com pose devo-

and a yo u n g w om an. T h e school had an esoteric dim ension and show s its

lional hym ns to the G oddess - this w o u ld not be incom patible w ith the

close links to K ash m ir Saivism b y identifying the G o dd ess w ith pure con­

com position o f philosophical w orks in the Indian context19 - these texts

sciousness.14 The G odd ess is also associated w ith the ‘co iled ’ goddess

owe m ore to the non-dualism o f K ash m ir Saivism than to Sankara’s

Kundalini, the p o w e r lyin g dorm ant at the base o f the b o d y until aw ak­

Vedanta. This can be seen by the Trika id eo lo gy w hich pervades these texts

ened b y yo g a to pierce the centres o f subtle anatom y and unite w ith Siva at

and their term inologies derived from K ash m ir Saivism , such as the idea o f

the crow n o f the head. T he K u b jik a school is significant because it is in the

1 he cosm os as the m anifestation o f sound. Indeed the K ashm iri Trika go d ­

Kubjikamata Tantra that w e first have m ention o f the classical six centres

dess, Para, is regarded in some literature o f this school to be the inner

(icakra) o f esoteric anatom y w hich have becom e pan -H in d u and have been

essence o f Tripurasundari.20

popularized in the W est.15 Earlier Tantras m ention varyin g num bers at

H ow ever, the Sri V id ya w hich developed in south India became dis­

various locations. These six centres also becam e adopted b y the Sri V id yá tradition.

tanced from its Kashm iri tantric roots and the cult o f Tripurasundari was adopted b y the southern Vedanta m onastic order o f the D asanam is at Srrigeri and Kanchipuram , traditionally founded b y Sankara. The Sri

1 86 187

An introduction to Hinduism V id ya tradition became popular in the south and the cult o f T ri­ purasundari penetrated the Saiva Smarta com m unity as well as the highly orth odox m onastic tradition o f the Sarikaracaryas. In the th eology o f the Sri V idya the G oddess is supreme, transcending the cosm os w hich is yet a manifestation o f her. A lthough visualized and praised in personal terms, the G oddess is also an im personal force or power. She unfolds the cosm os and contracts it once again in endless cycles o f emanation and re-absorption. This process is conceptualized as the m anifestation and contraction o f the W ord, the absolute as primal sound (sabda, nada), or the syllable ora, identified w ith energy, light and consciousness. E v e ry d a y speech is but a gross m anifestation o f this subtle, all-pervading sound w hich manifests the cosm os through a series oi graded stages from the m ost subtle, non-m aterial realms, to the gross material w o rld w hich humans inhabit. This subtle sound is expressed as a ‘point5 or ‘ d ro p 5 (bindu) o f energy, p rio r to extension, w hich then p ro ­ ceeds to generate the m anifold cosm os. The bindu, an extrem ely im p or­ tant term in tantric theology, is associated w ith the fifteenth phonem e of the Sanskrit alphabet, the nasalized ‘ do t5 (,anusvara), w hich sym bolizes concentrated, potential energy, ready to burst forth as manifestation. The details o f cosm ological schemes vary in different texts, but the principles are identical in Sri V id ya texts to those in K ash m ir Saiva Tantras.21 This cosm o logy is sym bolized b y the cosm ogram o f the sricakra, the central icon o f the tradition, used as a focus o f w orsh ip and installed in temples. This diagram or ritual instrum ent (yantra) is both the deity and a representation o f the cosm os. The fo u r upw ard-poin tin g triangles sy m ­ bolize the male principle in the universe, nam ely Siva, the five do w n w ardpointing triangles represent the female principle, nam ely Sakti. A ll these triangles emanate out from the central point or bindu. T h eir interpenetra­ tion represents the union o f Siva and the G odd ess, w hich the aspirant or sadhaka realizes w ithin his ow n b o d y through the ritual identification o f the sricakra w ith his ow n body. Integral to the m ore esoteric practices o f the Sri V id ya tradition, and closely related to cosm ological speculation, is the idea that the material human b o d y is a gross m anifestation o f a subtle body, w hich in turn is a manifestation o f a suprem e or causal body. A s the material w o rld is the m ost solidified coagulation o f the subtle w o rld s, so the b o d y is the m ost coagulated form o f the subtle body, w h ich in turn is a m anifestation o f a higher form . Salvation or liberation is release from the cycle o f birth and

ihv ( ¡oddtw andtiakta traditions death, conceived as a journey which retraces the stages of m anifestation luck to its source, which is the G odd ess. T h is yogic jou rn ey through the i osmos is also conceived as a journey through the body, and the levels o f cosm ological m anifestation are identified with levels along the vertical axis o f the body. The Sri V id ya yogin will attempt to awaken the dorm ant power o f the G oddess KundalinI, w h o rises up from the ‘root centre’ , at I he base o f the central channel w hich pervades the body, to unite w ith Siva it the crow n o f the head, piercing various centres or wheels o f energy as she rises (see pp. 98-9). The model used here b y the Sri V id ya is the stan­ dard Hatha yogic one w hich went beyond the boundaries o f any particu­ lar tradition. Ideas about the universe as a hierarchy o f levels and the h om ology or esoteric correspondences between the b o d y and the cosm os are central to 1 he practice and theology o f the Sri V id ya, as they are to all other tantric traditions. This is illustrated b y the Tantraraja Tantra w hich describes three aspects or form s (rupa) o f Tripurasundarl, the supreme, subtle and gross, which correspond to three w ays o f w orsh ippin g her, w ith the m ind, with speech and w ith the body. These refer to meditation upon her, or visualization o f her form , repeating m antras, and perform ing external worship b y offering flow ers, incense and vegetarian offerings. Initiation is, o f course, a prerequisite fo r access to Sri V id ya daily and occasional rit­ uals, qualification fo r w hich must be determ ined b y a guru, though it is not based on caste as is vedic initiation. LEFT-H A N D TANTRA

Perhaps the m ost fam ous controversy w h ich surrounds Tantrism gener­ ally, and w hich is o f concern to the Sri V id ya in particular, is the ritual use of ‘ substances’ prohibited w ithin Brahm anism . These ritual substances came to be kn ow n as the ‘ five M s’ (pancamakara) - the initial Sanskrit let­ ter o f each being the letter ‘M ’ - or ‘five realities’ (pancatattva). These are the ritual use o f w ine (madya), fish (;matsya), meat (mamsa), parched grain

(mudra) and sexual union (maithuna). T h e consum ption o f alcohol, meat and fish is expressly forbidden to Brahm ans according to the Law s o f M anu,22 so to ritually use these substances is, fo r a Brahm an, to con ­ sciously pollute him self. We have seen that in the K aula rites o f early Saivism , ferocious female deities w ere appeased w ith offerings o f blood, alcohol and sexual substances (p. 165). A bhinavagupta speaks about the ‘three M s’ o f alcohol, meat and copulation, referring to their use as true 189

An introduction to Hinduism ‘ holiness* or ‘ celibacy* (brahm acarya).2 s The live Ms later developed and their use became know n as ‘ left-handed practice* (vam acdra), that is, transgressive practices using impurity, as opposed to the ‘ right-handed practice* (daksinacara), based on purity. The use o f parched grain (m udra) is sometimes said to be an aphrodisiac, yet m ay sim ply represent the kind o f offerings to deities made amongst lower-caste groups. There is a distinction w ithin the Sri V id ya between those w h o reject the use o f the ‘ five Ms* and those w ho incorporate them, yet, generally, the Sri V id ya tends to distance itself from extreme antinom ian tantric groups. Left-handed Tantrism throw s up challenging ethical questions fo r orthoprax H induism . The left-hand or Kaula division flouts brahmanical p u rity law s and conventions in order to gain magical p o w er (.siddhi), w hile the right-hand, the ‘ Conventional* or Sam aya division, rejects the literal use of the ‘five Ms*, or uses sym bolic substitutes (pratinidhi) instead, such as m ilk fo r wine, sesamum fo r meat or fish, and offerings o f flow ers fo r sex. The use o f the ‘ five Ms* in the Sri V id ya has been controversial. Laksm idhara (sixteenth century) was a theologian o f the ‘conventional way* (samayacdra) w h o vehem ently rejected the non-vedic and im pure practice o f the ‘five Ms*. O thers, how ever, such as B haskararaya (17 2 8 -5 0 ), w ere h appy to advocate the secret use o f prohibited sub­ stances.24 Indeed, it is quite usual fo r the tantric Brahm an householder to maintain brahm anical social values alongside a tantric soteriology w hich involves the use o f otherw ise prohibited substances. There is an oftquoted saying that the tantric Brahm an should be secretly a K aula (i.e. a left-hand tantric practitioner), externally a Saiva, w hile rem aining vedic in his social practice.25 Sex in a ritual setting and the transform ation o f desire fo r a spiritual purpose is an ancient practice in Indian religion, stretching back at least to the time o f the B uddha,26 and m ystical union w ith the absolute has been com pared, in the B rhaddran yaka U panisad to the jo y o f sexual union.27 Sexual union (m aithuna) becomes im portant in Tantrism as both sym bol and event. The earlier tantric literature seems to em phasize sexual rites as offerings to the deity, whereas later texts indicate that semen should be held back in order to facilitate a yogic transform ation to a higher state o f awareness. Sakta Tantras even classify people according to three natures or dispositions (b h a v a ) - o f being an animal (pasu), a hero (v lra ) or divine (1d iv y a ) - though the classification is not found in Saiva texts. O n ly heroes and ‘the divine* should perform erotic w orsh ip, fo r those o f animal nature 190

/hr ( ¡oddcs ' itml .SV/A*/a traditions arc driven by desire which would lead to their destruction.28 Indeed, whether sexual congress is perform ed, as in left-handed ritual, or is substi­ tuted, as in right-handed ritual, erotic w orsh ip taps into a rich and pow erIul sym bolism . The actual or represented union o f the tantric practitioners sym bolizes the union o f Siva and Sakti, o f the male and female polarity in the cosm os, and their jo y reflects the jo y (ananda) o f that ultimate con d i­ tion. There are also strings o f sym bolic associations in the Tantras between Siva, w hite semen, the m oon, passivity and consciousness, on the one hand, and Sakti, red blood, the sun, activity and nature (prakrti), on the other. Because w om en are filled w ith sakti in tantric ideology, they are consid­ ered to be m ore pow erful than men, yet this p o w er is generally not reflected in social realities where w om en have remained subordinate.29 Tantric texts w ere written b y men - u sually Brahm ans - prim arily, though not exclusively, fo r men. T h ey reflect the concerns o f the male practitioner rather than his female partner, regarded as his ‘ m essenger’ or d oor to the divine realm, though some texts make it clear that the ensuing liberation is for both partners. Yet w om en have a higher ideological status in Tantrism than in strictly orthoprax Brahm anism , even though this might not be reflected in social institutions. The w om en in these rites w ere generally from lower-caste groups such as washers, and w hile these w om en ’s social realities w ere much m ore restricted than those o f their male consorts, the tantric m odel o f the strong, intelligent and beautiful w om an contrasts w ith the brahmanical m odel o f passivity and docile dependence.30 There were also female tantric renouncers w h o w ere greatly revered and w h o dw elled at sites sacred to the G oddess (pitha), where tantric yogis w ou ld hope to meet them and obtain magical pow ers through their acquain­ tance.31 A p art from the transgressive K aula w in g o f the Sri V idya, other tantric groups w hich adopted the five M s arose during the later medieval period. O f particular note is the Vaisnava tradition o f the Sahajiyas, w hich devel­ oped from the tantric Buddhist Sahajiyas, adopting a Vaisnava theology.32 F o r them, man and w om an are physical representations o f K rsn a and Radha, and, through erotic ritual, higher states o f consciousness, or sam adhi, can be achieved. The Bauls o f Bengal have inherited the Sahajiya id eo logy and erotic ritual continues to be used b y them .33 M an y o f the elements o f brahm anical tantric w orship are derived from low -caste propitiation o f ferocious deities w ith alcohol and blood 191

An introduction to Hinduism offerings, and from the cremation ground asccticism of the Kapalikas. Yet these becom e transform ed in the context ol the Brahman householder, such as the Sri V id ya devotee, into a so teriology in which the tantric Brahm an maintains his social status w hile follow in g the tantric path. W hile m aintaining social status, the tantric Brahm an can pursue his soteriological quest fo r p o w er and liberation, through transcending his social inhibition in a controlled ritual context. It is one thing to perform erotic w orsh ip w ith a low -caste wom an in a ritual setting, but quite another to interact w ith her outside that context. The theological split w ithin the Sri V id ya, between the Sam ayacara/right-hand path and the Kaula/left-hand path, highlights a tension between the dom inant id eo lo gy o f Brahm anism and an id eology infiltrated b y ideas and practices from crem ation-ground asceticism and from low er castes, yet w hich, fo r the Sri V idya, is con ­ trolled b y or contained w ithin brahmanical structures and ideology. T H E SAKTA PITH AS

There are various im portant locations o f G oddess w orsh ip in both north and south India, such as the temple to the V irgin G odd ess, K an ya K um ari, at C ape C om orin , the M inaksi temple at M adurai, and the K ali temple in Calcutta. The G oddess is not only located at specific sites but is identified w ith the Earth and the landscape, so in one sense the w hole o f ‘ India’ is the G oddess, to the ‘fo u r corners’ o f w hich a pilgrim can jo u rn ey and receive great blessing. Y et tantric literature refers specifically to ‘ seats’ (pitha) o f the G oddess w hich are distinct from these other pilgrim age centres. The locations o f these ‘ seats’ are given justification in the m yth o f Siva’s first w ife Satl. I

have already recounted the m yth o f D ak sa’s sacrifice: h ow Siva’s

father-in-law D aksa had not invited him to the sacrifice, h ow his daughter Sati was so upset that she burned herself to death in the fire o f her ow n yoga, and h ow Siva destroyed the sacrifice in the ferocious form o f V lrabhadra (see pp. 149 -50 ). Later versions o f the m yth, in the D e vib h a g a va ta Purana and the K a lik a P u ran a, continue the story. Siva is so upset at the death o f his w ife that he picks up her corpse in the crem ation ground and dances w ith it on his shoulders in a distraught state. The other gods becom e w orried, fearing the destruction o f the universe due to this dance o f death, so Visnu hacks at the b od y o f Satl, cutting it aw ay piece b y piece, until Siva returns to a more com posed state.34 W hile this is a m yth behind the im m olation o f w id o w s upon their hus­ 192

The ( ¡oddest andSahta traditions bands’ funeral pyres (sati, ‘ suttee’), it is also an explanation o f the pithas, which are located where the different parts of Sati’s body fell. In the Tantras and Puranas there are four principal sites listed, though other texts list more, and the K ubjikam ata Tantra says that all w om en ’s homes should be w orshipped as pith as.35 T he standard fou r ‘ G reat Seats’ (m ahapitha) are at Jalandhara (possibly Ju llu n d u r in the Punjab), O ddiyana or U ddayana (the Swat valley in the far north-w est), Purnagiri (of unknow n location) and K am arupa in A ssam . A t these places the G odd ess’ tongue, nipples and vulva (y o n i) are said to have fallen. The m ost important o f these ‘ seats’ as a living place o f pilgrim age is K am arupa or Kam agiri in A ssam w here Sati’s y o n i fell. H ere the G oddess is w orshipped in the form o f a vulva and her menstrual cycles celebrated b y adorning the icon w ith red powder. This form o f the y o n i is not com m on, but its h istory as an icon is w ell attested.

Regional and local traditions While esoteric form s o f Tantrism are o f central im portance in the h istory of H induism and have had impact on all its m anifestations, they are not directly relevant to the m ajority o f H indus. The m ajority o f H indus in India live in villages and most devotees o f the G oddess at regional and local levels express their devotion through external w orsh ip (puja) o f local goddesses and in pilgrim age to places particularly sacred to the G oddess. W hile the brahmanical id eology o f the G reat G oddess spread throughout south A sia, there have been innum erable local goddesses, m any w ithout iconic representations, w orshipped b y local villagers usually belonging to low er castes. V ILLA G E GODDESSES

A distinction can be draw n between ‘h ot’ and ‘co o l’ deities. H o t deities are associated w ith passion, hot diseases such as sm allpox w hich need to be cooled, pollution and low er social layers. C o o l deities are associated w ith detachment, the cooling o f passion, p u rity and higher social levels. The village goddesses, as w ell as ferocious goddesses such as Kali, are classified as hot deities in contrast to the cool, m ostly male, deities o f the H indu pan­ theon, such as Visnu and Siva. Village deities, the gram adevatas, usually fall w ithin the hot classification. T h ey are alm ost alw ays female, called ‘ m others’ (m ata), associated with a particular village or locality and repre­ sented b y a simple signifier such as a rock, a pile o f stones, a stick, a couple

193

An introduction to Hinduism o f bricks, a thorn bush with pieces of cloth tied to it as offerings, or in the form o f a pot.36 These aniconic hot goddesses not only accept vegetarian offerings but also demand blood sacrifice (bali), o f chickens, goats and sometimes buffalos, and need to be appeased with offerings o f alcohol. In contrast the cool pan-H indu deities, present in iconic representations, accept on ly vegetarian offerings. The G reat G oddess shares both cate­ gories. She can be hot and ferocious, dem anding blood and alcohol, yet also cool and benevolent, accepting o n ly vegetarian offerings, as with Tripurasundari and Laksm L A particular goddess might o f course have tw o form s, an iconic cool form w ithin a shrine or temple, and an aniconic hot form outside the shrine, perhaps manifested on ly during certain festivals. F o r example, the Tamil goddess M ariyam m an might have an im m ovable icon w ithin her temple, yet accept blood offerings on ly in a second form such as a pot of water, aw ay from the central shrine. The goddess is thus split into high and lo w form s, as F u ller describes.37 These offerings reflect caste ranking to a degree, w ith low er-caste ‘priests’, perhaps possessed b y the goddess, m ak­ ing offerings o f meat to the low er form . W hile it is true that some deities are affiliated to particular castes - fo r example Laksm I, the goddess o f wealth, is revered b y trading castes - it w o u ld be an oversim plification to regard the ranking o f deities as sim ply a reflection o f caste society. W hile certain village goddesses might not be w orshipped b y Brahm ans or, even w ithin the same caste, the goddess o f a particular fam ily (kula mata) w ou ld not be w orshipped b y a different fam ily, other deities have appeal across the social spectrum. A lth ough sometimes barely distinguishable, the ferocious village go d ­ desses have a name and specific location. T h ey tend to be associated w ith disease, particularly pustular diseases such as sm allpox, and accidental death, and need to be appeased, usually w ith blood and meat. A lth ou gh they are unpredictable, they are also protectors o f a village or locality. These goddesses have no form al links w ith the pan -H in du goddesses, though often villagers might identify the local goddess w ith the panH indu G reat G oddess, even though there m ay be no iconographic or m ythological resemblance. Sometimes the village goddess w ill have a m yth about h ow she came to be in that particular location. For

example,

in

Kerala

the

particularly

terrible

goddess

M uvalam kulicam undl is w orshipped in a num ber o f local shrines, the teyyam shrines, and along w ith other deities is celebrated in local, annual, 194

The ( ioddcss and Sakt a traditions dance-possession festivals. D uring these festivals the dancer becom es the goddess and relates her myth. A Brahm an, who was perform ing sorcery upon one o f these devotees, attempted to capture the goddess w ith m,mtras and confine her in a copper vessel with a lid which he then buried in a hole (kuli) to the depth of three men (m uvalam ). She burst out o f the ground in a terrible form and pursued the Brahm an to a temple o f Siva where she agreed to settle dow n on ly if she could be installed there beside Siva, which du ly happened. The goddess is therefore w orshipped as the consort o f Siva in the Trikanyalapan tem ple as w ell as in the teyyam shrines. This m yth indicates that, although a hot low -caste deity (her teyyam dance is perform ed b y the lo w M alayan caste o f professional sorcerers), she is yet contained within the p o w er o f the high-caste pan -H in du 11city Siva. H er pow er is contained and kept in place b y the male deity, and absorbed into a brahmanical structure. Am ong goddesses w h o have a regional rather than p u rely village appeal, yet w h o are not identified w ith p an-H ind u deities w ith large tem ­ ples, are the sm allpox goddesses Sitala, in the north, and M ariyam m an, in the south. A lth ough n ow eradicated, sm allpox has been particularly viru ­ lent in some parts of India during the hot season and has been regarded as a visitation or ‘possession’ b y the sm allpox goddess. M ariyam m an has a couple o f m yths relating her origin. In one she w as a Brahm an girl w h o was deceived into marriage b y an U ntouchable disguised as a Brahm an. Upon realizing what had happened she killed herself and was transform ed into the goddess M ariyam m an w h o then burned the U ntouchable to ashes. The second m yth tells o f a pure but po w erfu l w ife o f a h o ly man, who could perform miracles, but w h o one day saw tw o divine beings m ak­ ing love. She felt jealou sy and as a consequence lost her pow ers, w h ere­ upon her husband suspected her fidelity and ordered their son to kill her. The son obediently cut o ff her head. E ven tu ally she is restored to life as M ariyam m an, but instead o f upon her o w n body, her head was placed upon an U ntou chable’s body, w hich expresses her ambivalent and angry nature as both Brahm an and U ntouchable. Sitala is a hot goddess w h o is dorm ant m ost o f the year but w h o tradi­ tionally erupts w ith terrific violence during the hot season, spreading her ‘grace’ in the form o f epidemics through villages and needing to be pla­ cated. Sometim es these diseases are seen to be the w o rk o f demons w h om the goddess must defeat, at other times they are the w o rk o f the goddess herself. Sm allpox victim s were seen to be possessed b y the goddess and

i95

An introduction to Hinduism were ‘cooled’ with water and milk, which are in effect offerings to appease her wrath, though the most effective offering to soften her anger is blood sacrifice. These hot village goddesses and, indeed, the G reat G oddess herself, are intim ately associated w ith the cyclic pattern o f the year, particularly the cycle o f agricultural activity. The G oddess is associated with the earth, and the changing seasons might be regarded as changing modes o f the G oddess. In northern and central India the seasons can be divided into three: the hot season (approxim ately from M arch to June), the wet season (approxim ately Ju n e to O ctober) and the d ry or w inter season (the rest o f the year particularly D ecem ber to Jan uary). The ritual cycles o f the v il­ lages are closely associated w ith the seasonal changes and w orship o f the G oddess, identified w ith the earth, is im portant during these times. In terms o f ritual cycles, the hot season is im portant fo r village and regional goddesses, w hose festivals occur at that time (the hot goddess w orshipped during the hot season), as do m any marriages, w hich allow expression to the ‘heat5o f passion.38 A p art from local festivals during the hot season, the m ost im portant festival fo r the G oddess as a pan -H in d u deity is the D urgâ-pü jà in O ctober, culm inating in the day o f dassera, the tenth day follow in g the com m encem ent o f the ‘nine night’ (navaràtrï) festival. It is possible to view the village goddesses in terms o f distinctions between popular/brahm anic culture, lo w caste/high caste, regional/panH indu, little tradition/great tradition, and even D ravidian /A ryan. W hile these distinctions m ight be useful in understanding the structural o p p o si­ tions between village goddesses and pan -H in du deities, the situation is m ore com plex and m any regional goddesses participate in both ‘lo w ’ and ‘high’ cultural spheres. The goddess D raupadï, fo r example, as A lf HiltebeitePs im portant study has show n, participates in both realms as pan-H indu goddess - the w ife o f the Pândavas in the epic M ahâbhârata and as local or regional deity in Tam ilnadu.39 S u m m a ry H induism cannot be understood w ithout the G odd ess, fo r the G oddess pervades it at all levels, from aniconic village deities to high-caste panH indu goddesses, such as D urgâ, or the w ives o f the male gods, such as Laksm l. This chapter has presented central ideas, m yth o lo gy and icon o ­ graphie representations o f the G oddess in brahm anical H induism , in tantric H induism and in village H induism . We have seen that, w hile there 196

f

The (¡oddvss and Saltta traditions >11 v innumerable goddesses, each one being unique to a particular place, there are essentially tw o kinds o f G odd ess representations: a ferocious lorm such as Kali, and a gentle benevolent form such as Tripurasundari or I .iksmi. W hile some goddesses are independent - these tend to be the ferocious form s - others are perfect w ives to their divine husbands w h om they energize. Indeed, w ithout the G odd ess a god such as Siva is a corpse.

197

1 9 Hindu ritual

There are m any styles o f worship within H indu traditions and vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings are made to innumerable deities throughout south A sia. H indu ritual occurs in the home, in the temple, at w ayside shrines, at places o f pilgrim age such as the confluence o f sacred rivers, and in specially constructed pavilions. Rituals occur to m ark special occasions, to ask fo r blessings or to propitiate gods. Ritual patterns constrain life from birth, through childhood, to marriage and finally death. W hile ritual behaviour can be extrem ely diverse, it is nevertheless ritual, encoded in manuals and in behaviour patterns passed through the generations from teacher to student and from parent to child, which gives shape and a degree o f unity to H indu traditions. A longside ritual, and sometimes intim ately connected w ith it, m yths, the narrative traditions o f India, also serve to give coherence. W hile narrative traditions provide people w ith meaning and understanding o f w h o they are and how they came to be as they are, it is rit­ ual action w hich anchors people in a sense o f deeper identity and belong­ ing. W hile H indus have questioned the meanings o f ritual and interpreted rituals in a variety o f w ays, ritual has seldom been abandoned within H indu traditions. Ritual patterns recur over vast geographical areas in south A sia and have been repeated and handed dow n from ancient times; m any ritual elements, and indeed actual rituals, can be traced to very early H indu texts.

Ritual and H indu identity This ritual continuity m ay at first suggest a stability o f H indu social rela­ tions, yet it cannot be reduced to this or explained in these terms. The 198

I l indu ritual social and political contexts in which I lindu rituals have existed have been diverse, from Hindu kingdom s to colonial rule; they have been trans­ ported overseas to other countries, such as south-east A sia, and even, in I he last hundred years or so, to the other continents o f E urope, A frica and A merica. O f the kinds o f ritual described in this chapter, all have been perlormed w ithin H induism for significant periods o f time, some p ro b ab ly since the second millennium

b c e

,

others having m ore recent origin in the

medieval period. O f course, rituals change, die out, and new rituals arise, hut they change at a far slow er rate than the societies in w hich they are periormed: fo r example, rituals associated w ith kingship still continue in India. Rituals have a persistence w hich survives great political upheavals, ecological catastrophes and colonial repression. The question o f the degree to w hich ritual is affected b y h istory or reflects social and political structures is a difficult one. O n the one hand, it is clear that some ritual form s originated during specific historical periods and reflect cultural and political elements present during those times. Yet on the other hand, some ritual structures, m ost notably those o f the vedic solemn (srauta) rituals, seem com paratively unaffected b y social, political and econom ic changes. Because ritual has persisted in the face o f great political and econom ic shifts in south A sia, it cannot be contingent upon econom ic structures: the realm o f ritual and the realm o f politics and eco­ nomics must be distinct. This is not to say that they never coincide, they do, but rather that ritual and the politico-econom ic are distinct levels or realms w ithin H in du culture. The ritual realm, and therefore the religious, cannot be reduced to the political. Indeed, ritual m ight be seen as a com ­ paratively stable and invariant event in contradistinction to a changing, and often unstable, political and econom ic history. In some sense ritual defies history. R itual also cuts across theological distinctions. If it is possible to define H induism , it is certainly not possible to do so in terms o f doctrine and the­ ological beliefs. Ritual is prior to theology, both historically and concep­ tually, and various theologies in India have been built upon a ritual basis and make sense only in the context o f ritual traditions. The M im am sa, fo r example, is based upon the interpretation o f vedic rites. In the rich variety o f H in du ritual, w e find cultural form s w hich do not demand belief in any particular doctrine, but rather demand action. It is the persistence o f ritual in H induism , the patterning o f action in certain w ays, and its understand­ ing b y those w h o perform it, w hich provides, and expresses, a sense o f 199

An introduction to Ilinduisrn identity for Hindu communities: an identity which goes beyond social and political changes and provides I lindus with a sense of belonging in the face of sometimes rapid social change. W hile ritual behaviour w ould seem to provide a sense o f continuity and belonging, an argum ent has recently been put forw ard b y Frits Staal that any meanings attributed to ritual are random . Ritual has often been conv pared to language as a system o f com m unication. H ow ever, w ith specific and detailed reference to vedic solemn rites, Staal has argued that, while ritual is like language in that it has a structure, a syntax, it is unlike lan­ guage in that it has no meaning, no semantics. Vedic ritual has a structure w hich has been transferred through the generations from ancient times, but any meanings attributed to it, b y the Brahm ana literature for example, are secondary. Because the interpretations o f ritual have changed over time, w hile its structure has remained constant, these meanings must be arbitrary or at least secondary to the m ost dom inant feature o f ritual, its structure and invariant transm ission.1 Staal’s argum ent is im portant and needs to be carefully considered, not on ly fo r the understanding o f vedic ritual, but fo r ritual studies gen­ erally. The issue cannot be considered here, but, w hile it might be the case that the srauta rites have no meaning in a form al sense, it is far less clear that dom estic rituals, the grloya rites, involving birth, m arriage and death, are meaningless activities. Indeed, in such rituals human life expe­ riences are o f vital significance and arguably such rites o f transition express deep-felt hum an anxieties and attempt to resolve conflicts. In H induism rites o f passage form an im portant part o f ritual activity and constrain a p e rso n s passage through time from birth to death. A H in d u s sense o f identity and belonging is given expression particularly through rites o f passage, but not o n ly thus - also in pilgrim age. Pilgrim age, p ar­ ticularly in m odern times, has become a central feature o f H induism , w hich serves to give coherence to its diversity. I shall here give an account o f im portant ritual processes in H induism w hich give it coher­ ence, nam ely rites o f passage, personal and temple w orsh ip (puja), festi­ vals, sacrifice and pilgrim age.

Rites of passage There are traditionally tw o sources fo r H indu rites o f passage: on the one hand the texts o f tradition (.sm rti), specifically the G rh y a Sutras and the D harm a Sutras and Sastras; on the other, the regional oral traditions 200

Hindu ritual whose legitim acy was recognized in the 1)harma Sastras. In the G rh y a and I )harma literature, rites o f passage are classified as ‘occasional ritual* (naimittika-karma), rites ‘ occasioned by a special occurrence’/^ in coni rast to daily rites (nitya-karma) and rites fo r a desired purpose or object (hamya-karma). Rites o f passage are also classified as ‘ bo dily rites’ because o f their central concern w ith the b o d y - the im position oTcuItural meanings upon the biological b o d y and its transitions from conception to death. Rites o f passage are expressive of, and transform , a person ’s iden­ tity, an identity w hich is personally or p sych ologically im portant and which is recognized b y the w ider com m unity: they are the form al im position o f an identity and its recognition b y a social group. As w e have seen,’ there is a fundam ental distinction in H induism Jun. — ........---------------- ----------------------------------------------— « — between w o rld ly life and soteriology, the form er being the concern o f the householder, the latter being the concern o f the renouncer. Rites o f pas­ sage are w ithin the realm o f the householder’s life and are not concerned with liberation. The ritual o f renunciation and initiation into various sects, rituals w hich are concerned w ith liberation, are not included in the classi­ fication o f rites o f passage. W hile Manu does say that the perform ance o f dharma w hich encompasses rites o f passage leads to happiness in the next life,3 this is distinct from liberation w hich cannot be attained b y rites con ­ cerned w ith social transform ation. Rites o f passage m ould and help construct social identities. Indeed, the Sanskrit term fo r such rites is samskâra, ‘constructed’ or ‘put together’ , im plying the putting together o f a person as a social actor and even, to some extent, defining ontological status. B y undergoing the various

samskâras a H indu gains access to resources w ithin the tradition w hich were p reviou sly closed to him or her and enters a new realm or state. The anthropologist V ictor Turner has made a distinction between ‘ state’ and ‘process’ .4 ‘ State’ refers to a relatively fixed social condition, w hile ‘process’ refers to an unfixed, liminal, period o f transition between states. Rites o f passage are therefore transform ative processes linking different states. W hile ‘ state’ is associated w ith ‘ structure’ and hierarchy, ‘process’ is associated w ith ‘ anti-structure’, ‘ lim in ality’ and equality. Yet it is im p or­ tant to rem em ber that the tem porary anti-structure o f process serves to reinforce the structure o f state. The samskdras are rites o f passage w hich serve to legitim ize social order and to uphold social institutions. T h ey are im portant not on ly fo r w h o they include, but also, as Pierre Bourdieu has pointed out, fo r w h o they exclude and fo r the ordering o f social groups; 201

An introduction to Hinduism for separating those who have undergone the ritual from those who have not and from those who will never undergo it.5 The D harm a Sastras deal only with male rites o f passage, but through­ out India w om en have undergone rites o f passage based on oral fo lk tradi tions.6 F o r high-caste or ‘ tw ice-born ’ H indu males - those belonging to the top three classes o f Brahm ans, K satriyas and Vaisyas - the theoretical m odel o f the as'rama system , the H indu stages o f life, maintains that there are fou r stages or states through w hich a man m ay pass: the student (brah-

macarya), the householder (grhastha), the herm it or forest-dw eller (vanaprastha) and the renouncer (samnyasa) stages. A s w e have seen, the first tw o are concerned w ith w o rld ly life, the third w ith a life retired from household duties and the fourth w ith the transcendence o f the social w orld . M ost H indus remain householders and the samskaras are con ­ cerned w h o lly w ith life as a social being, that is, w ith the first tw o stages or states. W hile there are a varyin g num ber o f samskaras recorded in different texts, the im portant point is that they form a ritual sequence or com plete system w hich expresses the H indu social order, or dharma. The undergo­ ing o f any o f them implies an acceptance o f orthoprax brahmanical values and underlines differences in gender roles and castes. The high-caste b o y w h o undergoes vedic initiation is separated from his yo u nger contem po­ raries, from low er castes and from w om en, w h o are not eligible to undergo the rite. Rites o f passage are also rites o f exclusion and underline the differ­ ence between the high-caste b o y and others w ithin the com m unity. The num ber o f samskaras varies. F o rty are recorded in the Gautama

Dharma Sdstra, though the standard num ber in the G rh y a Sutras is between twelve and eighteen. The Manu Smrti mentions thirteen, though sixteen tends to be the standard number.7 T h ey can be divided into prena­ tal rites, birth, childhood and educational rites, then marriage and death rites. The standard sixteen are: 1 garbhadhana, the rite of the conception of the embryo or the ‘infusion of semen’ performed at the time of conception. 2 pumsavana, the rite of ‘bringing forth a b o y ’ to ensure the birth of a male child. 3 simantonnayana, the ‘parting the hair’ rite of the woman during pregnancy. 4 jatkarman, the birth rite.

Hindu ritual 5 namakarana, the naming ceremony on the tenth or twelfth day after birth. 6 niskramana, the child’s first outing. 7 annaprasana, the child’s first feeding with solid food. S ehudakarana, the tonsure ceremony during the first or third year. 9 karnavedha, the ear-piercing ceremony around the age of three to five. i o vidyarambha, the ‘beginning of knowledge’ when the child learns the alphabet between the ages of five and seven. 11 upanayana, the rite of initiation and investiture of the sacred thread, occurring from the age of eight up to about twenty-four. 12 vedarambha, the ritual of beginning the study of the Veda. 1 3 kesanta, the first shaving of the beard. 14 samavartana, the ritual ending of student life. 15 vivaha, marriage. 16 antyesti, the funeral ritual. The m ost im portant o f these are birth, the initiation cerem ony (upanayana), marriage (vivah a) w hich m arks the beginning o f the house­ holder’s life, and the funeral rites (antyesti) w hich end it, though in con ­ tem porary H induism the initiation rite and m arriage are often conflated for reasons o f convenience and econom y. TH E B IR T H RITES

Birth, especially o f a boy, is a jo yo u s and auspicious occasion fo r H indus, but it is also hedged about w ith uncertainty and im purity, fo r all biological processes are considered to be polluting and so necessitate ritual control. D uring a w o m an ’s first pregnancy, after the hair-parting rite, she w ill go to the hom e o f her parents fo r the birth and remain there fo r some time before being re-incorporated back into her marriage hom e w ith a new and higher status o f mother, particularly higher if the child is male. The birth of a boy, especially the first child, is considered to be m ore auspicious than that o f a girl, though the birth o f a girl is not necessarily regarded as inaus­ picious. W ith the birth o f a son a man has repaid his debt to the ancestors and has enabled his forefathers to attain the w o rld o f heaven. A m o n g the A iy ars, the Tam il-speaking Smarta Brahm ans, it is said that the birth o f a son enables a generation o f ancestors to pass over from the intermediate realm into the w o rld o f heaven (svarga lo ka )?

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An introduction to Hinduism

H IG H -C A ST E IN IT IA T IO N

Betw een the ages o f eight and tw enty-four, a high-caste boy w ill undergo the vedic initiation or upanayana cerem ony at which he will be given the sacred thread, the sym bol o f high-caste males. W hile the ritual texts have strict age limits on initiation - the Asvalayana Grhya Sutra states that a Brahm an b o y should be between eight and sixteen, a K satriya between eleven and tw en ty-tw o and a Vaisya between tw elve and tw en ty-fo u r9 contem porary H in du life is less strict and it is com m on practice to hold the

upanayana on the day before the you ng m an’s wedding. Th rough the upanayana the high-caste b o y gains entry to high-caste society, which excludes him from other spheres o f social activity. H e is separated o ff from the w o rld o f w om en and the sphere o f the mother, and from low er impure castes, thereby legitim izing social structure and gender roles. The actual cerem ony takes about a day, though there are regional varia­ tions w ith regard to the content o f the rite. A com m on pattern might be fo r the b o y ’s head to be shaved except fo r the tuft on the crow n, fo r him to be bathed and dressed in a loin-cloth, girdle and antelope-skin over his shoulder. O blations are offered into the sacred fire, the b o y vow s celibacy and is invested w ith the sacred thread, com prising three times three single strands, the sym bol o f tw ice-born status, w o rn over the left shoulder and annually renewed until either death or renunciation. The b o y is taught the fam ous ‘root m antra’, the gayatri, w hich he should recite daily thereafter, is given a secret name and is taught h ow to make oblations into the fire. The cerem ony ends w ith the ‘departure fo r K a si’ , the sym bolic gesture o f leaving to go to the sacred city o f Varanasi in order to study the Veda. The b o y is persuaded b y his maternal uncle, w ith some mirth, not to go. A feast follow s this and gifts are given to the boy. A ccord in g to the classical m odel, after initiation the b o y w ould enter the student stage o f life and study the Veda w ith a teacher. W hile vedic initiation is fo r high-caste males, this does not mean, o f course, that w om en are excluded from m em bership o f high-caste com m u­ nities. A lthough, according to Manu, m arriage is a w o m an ’s upanayana, serving her husband is equivalent to vedic study, and h ou sew ork equiva­ lent to the fire oblations,10 there are nevertheless w o m en ’s rites o f passage. Such w om en’s rites are not based upon Sanskrit treatises, but upon oral fo lk (laukika) traditions, and it is im portant, as Ju lia Leslie has pointed out, not to see w om en in south A sia as ‘ the passive victim s o f an oppressive 204

! ¡indu ritual ideology but also (perhaps primarily) as i he activc agents of their own pos­ itive constructs’.11While this is an important point, the power of the ideo­ logical, brahmanical framework or model should not be underestimated. In her study o f A iy a r wom en, the Smarta Brahm ans o f Tam ilnadu, I )uvvury has show n that they can be seen both as active agents and as co n ­ strained w ithin brahmanical orthopraxy. She show s that A iy a r w om en have their ow n rites o f passage, including a rite during a g irls first m en­ struation akin to the upanayana cerem ony. This rite involves the g irls being separated and isolated in a darkened room fo r three days (though not excluded from the com pany o f friends). O n the fourth day a ritual bath is taken and a feast held. The girl is brought to the temple b y her mother and to visit other households w here older w om en perform cere­ monies o f offering lights (arati) to her. A lternative rites fo r w om en have probably alw ays been a part o f south A sian religions, but have not been recorded in Sanskrit treatises, being regarded as fo lk traditions. W hile these rites give expression to w om en ’s aspirations and express a sense o f belonging to a com m unity, they m ust be understood w ithin the context o f the broader fram ew ork o f brahmanical orthopraxy. D u v vu ry claims that such rites, w hile expressing w om en ’s hopes, must also be seen w ithin a cu l­ tural context w hich defines w om en ‘largely in terms o f their functions as mothers and w ives’ .12 In the broader brahm anical fram ew ork the fo lk tra­ ditions (la u k ik a ) are subordinated to the dharm ic tradition (.sastra), v e r­ nacular

languages

subordinated

to

Sanskrit,

human

conventions

subordinated to universal law (dharm a) and wom en subordinated to men. M A R R IA G E

M arriage (v iv a h a ) is and has been the expected norm o f H indu societies unless a person becom es a world-renouncer. W ith the m arriage sam skara a y o u n g high-caste man enters fu lly into the householder’s life in w hich he can pursue the goals o f du ty (dharm a), gaining w ealth and w o rld ly success (artha), and experiencing pleasure, particularly sexual pleasure (kam a). F o r a w om an, marriage marks the end o f her childhood life w ith her fam ily and friends and the beginning o f a new life w ith her husband, p ro b ab ly in his village, w ith a new set o f social relationships to negotiate. M arriages are, o f course, arranged. In D ravidian south India cross-cousin m arriage tends to be practised, in w hich case the you ng couple m ay already k n o w each other, whereas in the north the couple w ill be strangers. M arriage can therefore be em otionally stressful and a you ng w om an is culturally 205

An introduction to Hinduism expected to show signs o f sorrow at leaving her old home and w ay o f life. Yet most you n g wom en will desire marriage as a necessary transition to com plete w om anhood and integration into the w orld o f mature wom en. C aste com patibility is the most im portant factor in a H indu marriage, though other factors o f wealth, occupation and astrological com patibility are taken into account. W ithin caste (jati), marriage is generally endogam ous, yet exogam ous w ith regard to kin group (gotra), as is specified in M a n u P Yet the social realities o f marriage in south A sia are m ore co m ­ plex than M a n u s prescriptions, w ith regional differences w ith regard to marriage and kinship patterns. F o r example, a notable exception to caste endogam y has been am ong the N am bu dri Brahm ans o f K erala, w here the eldest son w ou ld m arry a N am bu dri w om an, but the rem aining sons w ou ld maintain alliances w ith low -caste N a y a r w om en. C hildren from these alliances w ou ld belong to the N a y a r caste and live in their m other’s house or the house o f their m other and her brother. The N am b u dri father w ou ld visit the house, bringing his ow n food and utensils in order to avoid becom ing polluted, even from his ow n fam ily.14 F o r a H indu, m arriage is p rob ab ly the m ost im portant sam skara. The marriage o f daughters involves a fam ily in great expense as it is an occasion fo r giving gifts to the b rid egro om s fam ily and fo r arranging an elaborate w edding celebration. Indeed, marriage is, according to D um ont, the main cause o f debt in rural com m unities,15 as this is an o pportu n ity to dem on­ strate a fam ily’s wealth and status. W hile there are regional variations in marriage cerem onies, a com m on pattern is fo r the b ride’s father to give her to the groom and his father. O blations are then offered into the fire. The bride’s w rist is tied w ith a thread and she steps three times upon the groom ’s fam ily grinding-stone, a gesture sym bolic o f her intended fidelity. The couple then take seven steps around the sacred fire, the essential part o f a H indu w edding, and the groom offers oblations into the fire, a rite w hich he has learned during his upanayana. I f the celebrations occur d u r­ ing the evening, the couple might go outside to see the pole-star and the bride w ill vo w to be constant like that star. A fte r the celebrations, w hich m ay go on for a couple o f days, the bride w ill return w ith the groom to his fam ily home where they w ill begin treading the path o f the householder. FU N E RA L RITES

Death, as in m ost cultures, is inauspicious in H in duism and fraught w ith the danger o f pollution fo r the bereaved and the danger o f being haunted 20 6

Hindu ritual hy a malevolent ghost. The last $amskara% called the ‘ last sacrifice*

(tntyesti) - for indeed, as Parry show s, crem ation is akin to sacrifice16 . nntrols the pollution o f death and re-iintegrates the fam ily back into n o r­ mal social life from which they have been separated by death, and allow s I he spirit o f the deceased to travel on its w ay. These tw o concerns are panII indu, though funerary practices vary to some extent in different regions. While crem ation is the usual w a y o f disposing o f bodies, inhum ation is practised am ong low castes and h oly men and children are generally I»uried. A h oly man might be buried in a tom b called a sam adhi or sam adh, indicative o f the belief that, although he has left his body, he has becom e absorbed into a higher state o f consciousness. A renouncer, having under­ gone his ow n funeral during his rite o f renunciation, and so transcending his social identity, might sim ply be placed in a river. A person is cremated on the day o f death if possible. The corpse is bathed, anointed w ith sandalw ood paste, shaved if male, w rapped in a cloth and carried to the crem ation ground b y male relatives w h o m ove as quickly as possible chanting the name o f G o d (‘R a m ’ ). O n the funeral p yre the co rp ses feet point south tow ards the realm o f Yam a, the god o f death, with the head pointing north to the realm o f K ubera, the god o f wealth. The funeral p yre is lit, theoretically w ith the dom estic fire o f the deceased if he is tw ice-born, and the remains are gathered up between three and ten days after the funeral and buried, placed in a special area o f ground or immersed in a river, preferably the h oly G anges. D urin g the days im m edi­ ately follow in g the funeral, the fam ily are h igh ly polluted and remain p o l­ luted until the final rites (sraddha) are perform ed. These sraddloa rites are offerings to the deceased o f rice balls (pinda) w hich construct a b o d y fo r him in the next w orld , the w o rld o f the ghosts (preta-loka). These daily offerings continue fo r ten days, recapitulating the ten lunar months o f the em b ryo ’s gestation,17 at w hich time the gh ostly b od y is com plete and, w ith the rite know n as sapindikarana, m oves into the realm o f the ances­ tors (pitr-loka). In south India the offering o fpindas to the deceased m ight take place at the confluence o f a sacred river and a ritual to determ ine w hether the ghost still lingers involves offering pin das to crow s. If the crow s eat the offerings then the deceased is happy. This marks the end o f the life-cycle rituals, the last ritual reflecting the birth rite at life’s beginning. W hile the official id eo logy o f brahm anical H induism is reincarnation and this is the m odel generally assumed b y renouncer traditions, the 207

An introduction to Hinduism funeral rites dem onstrate another model of the afterlife operating along side the reincarnation model. 1 lere the dead go to an intermediate realm, the ‘w orld o f the gh osts’ (preta-loka) and, once they have a com plete body constructed through the p in d a offerings, go into the realm o f the ancestors o r fathers (pitr-loka). A t village level there are often no coherent beliefs Vs about the afterlife. G enerally, a person is regarded as a com posite being,

OS

after w hose death the different elements or pow ers w hich constituted the person go to different places. F o r example, in K erala a com m on fo lk beliel is that a person has at least tw o pow ers (sakti) w hich separate at death: the ‘ soul’ (jiva) or ‘life principle’ (ayus) goes o ff to the L o rd or to heaven (,svargam , even called m oksam , ‘liberation’), w hile the other power, con ­ nected w ith the body, remains on earth as a ghost (preta,pisaca). This part o f the person connected w ith the earth is sometimes thought to becom e a crow .18 W hile m any non-Brahm ans do not claim to believe in reincarna­ tion, there is no cognitive dissonance experienced b y H indus w ho do, yet w h o nevertheless perform the correct funeral procedures. This indicates the autonom y o f the ritual realm, the ritual pattern o f the funeral follow ed b y the creation o f the deceased’s b o d y in the next w o rld going back to the time o f the Vedas, before the id eology o f reincarnation made its entrance.19 Rites o f passage are occasional rituals perform ed at different junctures o f a person ’s life. There are also rituals perform ed on a daily basis, not only b y Brahm ans, but b y all H indus. These constitute the daily w orsh ip of deities - m aking offerings to them and in turn receiving blessings from them.

Puja

v'e-C, / C ¿0 ^ ,

In contrast to animal sacrifice, p u ja is the offerin g o f vegetarian food, flow ers and incense to a deity. A ll deities accept these offerings and are the focuses o f p u ja, though some accept blood-sacrifice (ball) as well. P u ja , a Sanskrit w ord w hich can be loosely translated as ‘w o rsh ip ’ , is perform ed in private hom es and in public temples throughout H indu south A sia. M in im ally it might involve m aking a small offering o f a coin to the icon o f a deity and receiving the d eity’s blessing in the form o f a m ark (tilak) o f sandalw ood paste (candana) or red turm eric p o w d er (kunkum a) on the forehead. In private hom es, p u ja w ould be perform ed before the icon o f the deity installed either in a separate room , in the houses o f the better-off,

V jJ

or in the purest room in the house, the kitchen. In the tem ple a p u ja might 208

Hindu ritual become very elaborate, with sacred verses (m antra) being uttered by the icmple priest (pujari/pucari) while the icon is bathed and dressed, and a variety o f foods are offered, accom panied by the strong smell o f incense and the loud ringing o f bells and banging o f drum s. M any people m ight be present at such pujas to gaze upon the deity - to have its darsana - and to receive back the offered food blessed b y the god {prasada). T E M P L E W O R SH IP

Puja follow s a sim ilar pattern and contains the same elements in different temples throughout India. In south Indian tem ples, p u ja generally conform s to accounts given in sacred texts, the A gam as and Tantras com ­ posed during the medieval period, and in ritual manuals (paddhati). Temples w ill adopt the rites and mantras prescribed in a specific text, such as the K am ikagam a used in m any tem ples in Tamilnadu, or the Tantrasamuccaya used in m ost K erala temples today. In t e m p le s / ? ^ usually com prises a rite o f bathing the icon (abhiseka), during w hich various substances are rubbed on the d eity’s ‘b o d y ’ , such as sesame seed oil and curd. The deity is then dressed and decorated in new clothes, given a new sacred thread (the sym b ol o f high-caste birth), and adorned w ith gold, jew els and perfum es, often receiving a dot o f red turmeric on the forehead or bridge o f the nose. Plates o f boiled rice and sweets are offered to the deity (naivedya) to the accom panim ent o f ringing bells. The rice is later consum ed b y the priests and temple officiants. A fte r the d eity’s meal, a curtain is draw n back and the devotees can have the ‘visio n ’ (darsana) o f the deity and see the final stage o f the ritual, the dis­ p lay o f lamps (diparadhana), during w hich the priest w aves a variety o f cam phor lamps in a circular m otion before the icon. The rite is n ow approaching its culm ination and m ight be accom panied b y loud drum ­ ming, pipes and the blow in g o f conches. A priest w ill then take a lamp to the devotees w h o cup their hands over the flames and touch their eyes and faces, bringing the light and w arm th o f the deity to themselves. The devo ­ tees accept turm eric pow d er or w hite ash from the priest to m ark their foreheads and the p u ja is over. D evotees w ill take aw ay blessed food (prasada) to be eaten later. The circling lam p, bringing the deity’s light and w arm th to his or her devotees, is kn ow n as the arati lamp - a term w hich is used syn on ym ou sly w ith p u ja. C h ris F u ller notes that, in the M inakshi temple at M adurai, the p u ja should ideally be preceded b y a preparatory ritual and should end w ith a fire ritual (h om a), but this is o n ly perform ed 209

An introduction to Hinduism on im portant occasions.20 Many temples, such as the fam ous Jagannatli temple at Puri, w ould have had devada si dancers, the temple ‘ prostitutes' m arried to the deity, to perform sacred dances before the shrine. In temples such as the famous temple o f G u ru v a yu r on the Kerala coast, w hich attracts m any thousands o f pilgrim s, five daily pujas arc celebrated. These occur at the junctures o f the d ay (dawn, midday, sunset), and tw o betw een daw n and midday. The presiding deity o f the temple*, G uru vayu rappan , ‘ L o rd o f G u ru v a yu r’, is regarded as a manifestation ol Krsna. The icon is in a standing posture located in the inner sanctum of the temple where the daily rituals are perform ed. W hile the day is techni­ cally divided into five p u jas, in some sense the entire daily ritual cycle can be seen as a single p u ja , the deity being awakened, bathed, paraded around the tem ple, fed, and offered lights, w hile blessings are received b y his devotees in the form o f his vision (darsanam ), food and coloured pow d ers.21 The pattern o f w orsh ip that w e see here in the G u ru va yu r temple - m in­ im ally the m aking o f an offering and the receiving o f a blessing - is found, w ith variations, throughout H induism . O ne further example w ill illus­ trate this. A d a y s jou rn ey north o f G u ru va yu r is the small tow n of Payyanur. H ere, along w ith m any other fam ilies throughout K erala, a N am b u dri Brahm an fam ily perform s an annual ritual, the puja to the fam ­ ily deity Raktesvari. Traditionally each N am b u dri fam ily group has an ancestral hom estead (illam) to w hich fam ily members return on special ritual occasions. In this particular p u ja , the fam ily deity, Raktesvari, is appeased through receiving offerings and in turn conveys blessing (anugraham ) on the family. Preparations fo r the p u ja are begun on the evening before the ritual itself, during w hich a fram e or m an dalam , made out o f split layers o f banana tree stalks, is prepared as an altar. O n the day o f the ritual, w hich lasts fo r a couple o f hours, the extended fam ily o f parents, children, uncles and aunts, gather at the shrine b y the fam ily hom e in the m orning. The G oddess is addressed b y a respected elder behind the closed door o f the shrine’s inner sanctum where she lives. The shrine is lit b y a num ber o f lamps and he utters mantras, touching parts o f the G o d d ess’ body, thereby em pow ering them (nyasa). The priest then w ithdraw s from the inner shrine, and lamps are lit on the m andalam w hich functions as the locus fo r the invocation o f the deity w h o receives offerings. These offerings include three bow ls o f substitute blood (gurusi), coloured black and red, w hich 210

Hindu ritual I he priest pours over the mandalam. The fam ily then circumambulate the shrine. Fin ally the arati lamp is brought around to the fam ily members fo r Ihem to take the flame and heat o f the G oddess. Red powder, p reviou sly offered, is given out to make a mark called a tilak on the forehead. The rit­ ual over, the fam ily members partake o f a feast w hich includes a dessert item (payasam) made from food offered during th epuja and called prasa-

dam. In this puja w e see the basic elements o f H indu ritual: the offerings to the deity, the repetition o f sacred form ulae, the closing o f the doors o f the inner shrine, the offering o f light and the receiving o f the G o d d ess’ grace in the form o f fire. This structure is directly paralleled b y the rituals at G uruvayur, and is a pattern, with regional variations, w hich can be located throughout the subcontinent, and indeed in other countries w here Hinduism has journeyed. W hat is interesting about this puja is that the offerings o f coloured water are sym bolic representations o f blood. Indeed Kaktesvari means ‘ G oddess o f b lo o d ’ . So w hat are literal offerings o f blood to the G oddess amongst lower, m ore im pure, social groups, become, with the N am budris, substitute or sym bolic offerings. The use o f actual blood to propitiate the G odd ess w ou ld be polluting fo r the N am budri, so he must use substitutes. Indeed, the N am budris say that, whereas lower-caste groups use substances, the N am b u dri uses mantras.

Festivals The H indu year, using the lunar calendar, is punctuated b y a num ber o f religious festivals (utsava), some o f w h ich are pan-Indian, others o f w hich are local. D urin g festivals, w hich are often particular to specific tem ples, thousands o f people line the streets to w itness the procession o f the tem ­ ple icon (m urti) on a carriage (ratha) pulled through the tow n b y som e­ times hundreds o f men. There is a fam ous festival at the Jagannatha temple in Puri, during w hich an enorm ous cart and icon is pulled through the processional street (the English w o rd ‘juggernaut’ comes from this cart). The icon is often accom panied b y a procession o f decorated elephants, horses and h oly men (sadhu) often in a carnival atmosphere. To witness the icon is to have the auspicious ‘visio n ’ (darsana) o f the deity and so to receive its blessing. The processed icon is sometimes distinct from the cen­ tral icon installed in the temple, and used on ly on festival occasions or w hen the deity circum am bulates the temple. The principal, pan -H in du festivals are: 211

An introduction to Hinduism - Krsna Jayänti. This falls in the month of Sravana (July-August) and celebrates Krsna’s birthday. - Rakhi Bandhan. The full moon day of Sravana during which girls tie coloured threads around their brothers’ wrists. - Ganesa Catürthi. The festival during Bhadrapada (August-September), sacred to elephant-headed Ganesa, Lord of Beginnings and Obstacles. - Dassera. This is a holiday during Asvina (September-October) which marks the end of the monsoon. The first nine days are called navardtri (‘nine nights’) at the end of which time the festival to the Goddess, the Durgâ-püjâ, occurs, especially in Bengal. The tenth day of the festival also celebrates the victory of Räma and his monkey army over the demon Rävana. - D ivâlï or Dipâvalî. The festival of light during Asvina, celebrated throughout the Hindu world with lamps placed in windows and around doors or floated down rivers, and gifts exchanged.

*

- Siva Rätri. The festival sacred to Siva during Marga (Novem ber-Decem ber), celebrated especially by Saivas. - Holi. The spring festival in Phälguna (February-M arch), characterized by often robustious behaviour, during which people drench each other in water and coloured powder. O ther festivals, though not as popular as the above, are nevertheless celebrated b y large num bers o f people. O f these the N äga Pancam I in south India is popular, during w hich snakes are fed and w orshipped, and the spring festival, Vasant, in the north, w hen w om en and girls w ear bright yello w dresses. M ore local festivals also occur such as the ‘dancepossession’ festivals o f the teyyam deities in Kerala.

Pilgrimage Pilgrim age is integral to H induism and in m odern times, w ith the develop­ ment o f good com m unication system s across the vast expanse o f India, has becom e ve ry popular. A pilgrim age is a tirtha yatra, a jo u rn ey to a h oly place, referred to as a ‘fo rd ’ (tirtha), a place fo r ‘crossing o ver’ , where the divine w orld touches or meets the human w orld . T he tirtha is a place where the transcendent com es to earth, w here the higher realms meet the low^er, the sacred meets the everyday. A tirtha is therefore a point o f m edi­ ation between tw o realms. Pilgrim ages are especially auspicious w hen undertaken during a temple festival, such as the annual procession o f the 212

Hindu ritual Lo rdjagan nâth aat Puri. A t such places 11indus can rid themselves o f ($in* (papa) or accumulated karma, fulfil a vow (v ra ta ), or sim ply enjoy the transforming experience o f the pilgrim age. D uring the period o f the p il­ grimage there is a tendency fo r caste restrictions to fall aw ay (though p er­ haps never w h olly) and for people to relate to a collective identity characterized b y ideals o f equality and com m union.22 There are m any pilgrim age centres in India, some are pan-H indu, such as the city o f Varanasi or the temple o f K an ya K u m àrï at India’s southern tip, while others have m ore local or regional interest, such as the temple o f G u ru vayu r in Kerala m entioned above. Tow ns and cities sacred to a par­ ticular deity - such as A yod h ya, the birthplace and capital o f Ràm a - or which have arisen at the confluence o f sacred rivers - such as A llahabad at the confluence o f the G anges, the Y am una and the m ythical Sarasvatï - are extrem ely popular pilgrim age centres. Traditionally there are seven sacred cities w hich are the object o f pilgrim age, A yo d h ya, M athura, H ardw ar, Varanasi, U jjain, D w arka and Kanchipuram . Sacred rivers are themselves places o f pilgrim age, particularly the G anges, rising in the H im alayas and flow ing dow n to the sea in West Bengal; the Yam una, also rising in the H im alayas and joining the G anges; the G od avari rising in M aharashtra and flow ing through A ndh ra Pradesh; and the K averi, flow in g from Karnataka through Tamilnadu. Tow ns located along the banks o f these rivers tend to attract pilgrim s, particularly the h oly cities, along the Ganges, o f Varanasi, A llahabad (or Prayaga), H ard w ar and, further up the river, Badrinath and Kedarnath. The actual source o f the Ganges, a little further than Kedarnath at G om ukha, attracts m any pilgrim s in spite o f its inaccessibility. O ther im portant pilgrim age centres are M athura (K rsn a’s birthplace), Vrndavana

(K rsn a’s forest home) and, in the south,

Kanchipuram . There are also traditionally fo u r sacred abodes (dh am a) at the fo u r ‘ com pass points’ o f India: Badrinath in the north, Puri on the east coast, Ram eshw aram in the south and D w ark a on the west coast. It is v e ry auspicious to perform the dham a y a tra, the pilgrim age to all four centres in a clockw ise direction, and so, according to some H indus, attain salvation. VARANASI

Varanasi or Benares is perhaps the m ost im portant and fam ous city fo r H indus, fam ous fo r its ghats, the steps going dow n into the G anges, along w hich pilgrim s bathe and along w h ich bodies are cremated. Indeed

213

An introduction to Hinduism to die in Kasi, another name for this city sacred to Siva, is to attain libera­ tion (m oksa) upon death. O f all pilgrim age centres, Varanasi is perhaps the m ost popular. Varanasi is regarded as the centre, not on ly o f India, but o f the cosm os. A ll the gods are gathered there and all pilgrim age places united in the one. H ere is a city w hich is m ore than just an urban centre; a place w hich embraces all places, w hich is a sym bol o f a L o rd w h o em braces all phenomena. Varanasi is the great cremation ground (m ahasm asana) w hich reflects the crem ation ground w hich is the universe.23 KUMBHA MELA

K u m b h a M elas are festivals, especially sacred to h o ly men and w om en, held at A llahabad, U jjain , H ard w ar and N asik . The most im portant is held at A llahabad every tw elve years, a cycle that is related to the m ovem ent o f the planet Jupiter. D urin g the festival, pilgrim s and renouncers process into the river G anges to bathe. The naked naga sadhus, covered in ashes and w ith matted hair, lead the procession, fo llo w ed b y other orders o f ascetics, and fin ally b y ordinary householders.24 These pilgrim ages attract huge crow ds and during the Allahabad K u m bha M ela in 1989 an estimated 15 m illion pilgrim s came to bathe in the river. SABARIMALAI

L et us look at one last example from Sabarim alai in the western G hats o f Kerala. H ere there is a temple to the god A iyap p an , the son o f Siva and M ohini, a female form o f Visnu. This pilgrim age occurs during M argali (D ecem ber-Janu ary)

and

traditionally

takes

fo rty-o n e

days.

The

A iyap p an cult is predom inantly male, m ainly yo u n g men, though prepubescent girls and post-m enopausal w om en are allow ed to undertake the pilgrim age. The pilgrim s w ear black - though some w ear ochre - and fo l­ lo w a strict regime o f abstention from sex, alcohol, and the eating o f meat and eggs fo r the fo rty-o n e-d ay period o f the festival. F o r the duration o f the festival, the pilgrim becomes a renouncer, undergoing a sym bolic funeral at his initiation b y a guru on the eve o f the pilgrim age. U p o n reach­ ing the temple, the pilgrim smashes a coconut upon one o f the eighteen steps o f the temple, a sym bol o f the dissolution o f him self into A iyap p an .25 The pilgrim should undertake the pilgrim age each year, smashing a coconut on each successive step until all eighteen have been covered. 214

Hindu ritual

A stro lo g y There is a deep belief in H induism that human life is influenced b y the movements o f the planets and astrology is o f vital importance in determining an auspicious time, even dow n to the correct hour, to undertake rituals. It is im portant in determ ining the times o f pilgrim age, festivals, marriage, and in determ ining marriage partners. The science o f astrology (jyotisa) com prises one o f the Vedârigas,26 the texts developing various aspects o f vedic know ledge, designed or used at first to determine the co r­ rect time fo r sacrificing. The astrologer (jyotisi) is a v e ry significant figure in the lives o f H indus w h o make m ajor decisions guided b y his advice. Pilgrim s to Varanasi, fo r example, w ill consult astrologers seated on the steps leading into the G anges, and the parents o f m any children w ill have their infants’ horoscope draw n up shortly after birth. These w ill be con ­ sulted at all im portant occasions in the ch ild’s life to help determine auspi­ cious times fo r rites o f passage.

jv-vS

s

-, b

Private ritual The kinds o fp ü jâ w e have so far described occur w ithin the public realm o f the temple or fam ily shrine, notw ithstanding the element o f privacy in the w orship o f the deity b y the priest behind a screen. These rituals are p ro p i­ tiatory and in return the com m unity receives the blessing o f the deity in the form o f its darsana, pra sâda, and the hope that the deity w ill protect and guide them. Some H indus, how ever, perform rituals fo r the sake o f spiritual salvation, w hich is conceptualized in a variety o f w ays. These seekers after w isdom and liberation from the material w orld o f suffering m ight be initiated into one o f the great traditions o f H induism , such as a Saiva tradition w hose w orsh ip is focused on the god Siva, a Vaisnava tradi­ tion w hose w orsh ip is focused on Visnu or one o f his incarnations, or a Sâkta tradition w hose focus is the G odd ess in one o f her manifestations. T he genre o f texts w hich form the scriptural basis o f m any o f these tradi­ tions are the Agam as and Tantras already discussed. A devotee w ithin such a tradition, the Saiva Siddhânta devotee described b y Richard D avis fo r exam ple,27 w ou ld o ffer privatepüjâs to his chosen deity (,ista-devatâ), perform ed alone before the deity’s icon each day, w hile at the same time maintaining a public ritual life, attending the temple and fam ily shrine, and generally fulfilling his household obliga­ tions. Such devotees are generally male, though w om en are not necessarily

2 I5

j

An introduction to Hinduism

Hindu ritual

excluded from initiation into these traditions. The private rituals incum

^i aphies describing them. A lt H iltebeitel cites an early ethnography b y Sir

bent upon the initiate for the purposes o f spiritual salvation an

Walter E llio t in 1829 and he himself witnessed and recorded a buffalo sac-

su pererogatory and do not replace his public ritual obligations. Having

1 ifice at G ingee in Tamilnadu in 1984. H ere the main recipient o f the sacri­

perform ed the correct private rituals, the devotee hopes to attain spiritual

fice is the goddess K am alakkanni, ‘ Lotus M aiden’ , w hose small temple is

salvation either during his lifetime or upon death, depending upon which specific tradition he is initiated into.

half-way up a steep incline to the G ingee R o y a l Fort. She is joined in the

W hile internalized ritual has been the practice o f the few - the virtuosi

The sacrifice occurs at the end o f the ten-day festival and involves the

•¿acrifice b y tw o o f her seven sisters, K aliyam m an and M ariyam m an.

dedicated to the task o f liberation and/or the gaining o f spiritual pow er

co-ordination o f the three temples and a com m ittee w h o organize it, made

the m ajority o f H indus on ly practice regularpujas, in hom e and temple, ol

up m ainly o f a caste called Vanniyars, w h o are Sudras but w h o claim

the kind p revio u sly described. A n ancient and im portant form o f H indu

ksatriya origins. D urin g the celebrations, tw o buffalos are sacrificed to

w orsh ip, w h ich has tended to be m arginalized in m ore recent years with

the goddess in the public cult and a num ber o f cocks and male goats are

the popularization o f ideas about non-violence and the pervasiveness o f a

sacrificed in private cults, b y individuals or individual fam ilies. T h e actual

brahm anical id eo lo gy w hich stresses vegetarianism , is sacrifice. Sacrifice

sacrifice is perform ed b y the P araiyar caste, U ntouchables or H arijans.

refers to a ritual in w hich an animal is killed, usually b y low -caste groups,

The goddesses Kam alakkanni and K aliyam m an are brought in the form o f

and presented as an offering, usually to a blood-dem anding goddess. The

their em blems, a trident and a pot respectively. T h e y w ill meet their sister

practice is w idespread at village level, though Brahm ans w ou ld generally

M ariyam m an later, but in the meantime they are accom panied b y the

not perform sacrifice, unless during a special vedic srauta ritual, because of the death p ollu tion associated w ith it.

fierce male d eity V irappan: one o f the P araiyars w h o is possessed b y the

Sacrifice

god. The first buffalo is led to a clearing b y a tree outside the R o y a l F o rt, sprinkled w ith w ater and its head daubed w ith red and yello w turm eric

A s w e have seen, there are tw o kinds o f offerings made to deities, ‘vegetar­

powder. T h e buffalo is th row n to its side, its legs tied above the h oof, and it

ian’ offerings o f fruit, vegetables, rice and so on, w h ich all deities accept,

is beheaded b y a num ber o f strokes o f a large knife. B u ffalos have tradi­

and, in contrast, non-vegetarian offerings or the sacrifice o f animals (ball),

tionally been beheaded, though B errem an records a buffalo sacrifice in

I I w h ich o n ly som e hot deities accept. A nim al sacrifice has alw ays been an

N epal during w hich the victim was hacked to death w ith sw ords and

| »im portant dim ension in the history o f H indu traditions. T h ough often

knives.28 In E llio t’s 1829 record, reported b y H iltebeitel, a leg o f the b u f­

fro w n ed upon w ithin m odern H induism , the sacrifice o f fo w ls, goats and

falo is cut o ff and placed in its m outh. Such ritual hum iliation o f the victim

som etim es buffalos is an integral part o f the w orsh ip and appeasement o f

is a com m on theme in sacrifice in w hich am bivalent attitudes are displayed

certain deities, n otably the ferocious, violent o r hot goddesses such as

tow ards the victim w h o, on the one hand, is sacred and so should be

M ariyam m an and K ali. Indeed sacrifice o f buffalos is connected w ith

treated w ith reverence, yet, on the other hand, is the victim o f m assive

ro y al p o w e r and the village buffalo sacrifice can be seen to reflect the

violence and is sacred o n ly because it is to be killed.29 A t G ingee, the head

grand, ro yal sacrifices to the G oddess during her ‘ten d a y ’ festival (das sera).

is first rem oved from the sacrificial scene and then head and b o d y taken to

W hile fo w ls, goats and sheep are frequently offered (m ostly fow ls) to

jum p upon the bloodstained ground and w om en smear the b u ffalo ’s blood

ferocious male and female deities, buffalo sacrifice o n ly v e ry rarely occurs,

on their foreheads as a tilak m ark. Th e representatives o f the goddesses

the H arijan colony. Villagers w h o have becom e possessed b y the goddess

due largely to its prohibition b y the Indian governm ent since 1947.

and V irappan (those bearing their em blems) dance, intoxicated, on the

H ow ever, on occasion, buffalo sacrifices to the G odd ess do occur during

place o f the sacrifice, reflecting, suggests H iltebeitel, the intoxication o f

the autum n ‘ten d a y ’ festival or D urga Puja, w hich celebrates her v icto ry

the G o dd ess upon slaying the buffalo dem on. A second buffalo sacrifice

over the b uffalo dem on. Because buffalo sacrifices are rare, so are ethno-

occurs at a different location en route to the H arijan co lo n y and the b o d y

216

217

An introduction to Hinduism is taken aw ay as before to where the meat will be divided. In the meantime the tw o goddesses, Kam alakkanni and Kaliyam m an, meet their sistei M ariyam m an, w h o is carried from her temple in the form o f a pot. Here there is jo y fu l celebration, for the sisters have not been together since the previous y e a r’s festival.30 O n ly the G odd ess or one o f her form s accepts buffalo sacrifices. Such sacrifices are a w a y in w hich the village or com m unity can contact the G odd ess and, furtherm ore, they reflect the social hierarchy. The sacrifice at one level represents the com m unity itself w ith the G oddess at the top. This social stratification is reflected in the offerings to the G oddess during the festival. W ithin the ‘private cults’ o f individual families, vegetarian offerings are offered to the G oddess and consum ed as blessed food (prasada) b y the Brahm ans. F o w ls and goats offered to her b y meat-eating castes, the Sudras, are sim ilarly consum ed as blessed food, w hile the untouchable castes consum e the buffalo’s meat in their village. Its offal and blood are offered to the dem onic beings on the village boundary.31 The buffalo sacrifice reflects the H indu cosm os w ith the divine being at the top o f the scale, in this case the G oddess w h o can absorb the im purity of blood-sacrifice; the Brahm ans offering and consum ing o n ly vegetarian fo od next; the low er-ranking meat-eating castes b elow them; w ith the h igh ly polluting H arijans below them. The dem ons are classified here even below the H arijans.

M yth and sacrifice The violence dem onstrated towards the buffalo victim reflects the v io ­ lence o f the G oddess tow ards the buffalo dem on, a violence w hich is, at the same time, a p u rifyin g power. T h rou gh perform ing sacrifice, the don or or com m unity is purified: the sacrificial victim becom es a substitute fo r the donor or com m unity and, as it w ere, transform s the sins o f the com m unity or donor into the blessing o f the G oddess. The sacrificial v ic­ tim is, at a deeper level, a substitute fo r the hum an don or or sacrificer, or perhaps the com m unity as a w hole. We do possess texts w hich refer to a human sacrifice in the Indian traditions, but such a practice m ay never have actually occurred, existing on ly as an ideal or possibility.32 This iden­ tification o f sacrificial victim w ith sacrificer is reflected in a num ber o f H indu m yths, m ost notably in the m yth, recorded in the D evim d h d tm y a , o f D urga slaying and decapitating M ahisasura, w h o is depicted iconographically as both buffalo and human form in one. The other notable

Hindu ritual myth which suggests this identification is i lit* myth of 1 )aksa in which Siva beheads him. It is clear that D aksa, the instigator of the sacrifice, is identi­ fied w ith the sacrificial victim, and, as O T la h e rty observes, through destroying the sacrifice, Siva, as V lrabhadra, is in fact com pleting the sacri­ fice b y killing D aksa, w ho has becom e the sacrificial victim .33

Ritual purity C entral to H indu rituals is the idea o f purity. A n yo n e undertaking a ritual, or having a ritual perform ed on their behalf, should be as free from p o llu ­ tion as possible. The natural functions o f the b o d y and b o dily products (all bodily fluids, hair and nail clippings) are polluting fo r the H indu, w h o needs to p u rify him self each day in the ritual m orning ablution. There are also graver form s o f pollution caused b y death and grieving, menstruation and birth and during these times a person w o u ld be polluted and so excluded from certain activities such as entering a temple. Indeed, tradi­ tionally w om en were excluded from cooking during m enstruation to p re­ vent pollution being spread to the rest o f the family. In the presence o f the divine at a temple or before the household shrine, the H indu must be in a state o f ritual purity, w hich means that pollution (mala) has been eradi­ cated as far as possible. There are limits to w hich this is possible o f course, and certain classes o f people might never be able to be rid o f the pollution w hich accrues to their bodies due to their social group; a low -caste person w ou ld not be allow ed w ithin the household shrine during the N am b u d ri’s p iijd to Raktesvarl. Sim ilarly, on ly the Brahm an priest is allowed into the inner sanctum o f the deity in the temple. The scale o f p u rity and pollution differentiates individuals from each other, men from w om en and high caste from lo w caste. A part from every day pollution caused through the b o d y and inadvertent contact w ith p o l­ luting substances, there is a deeper level o f pu rity and pollution w hich is generally regarded as a property o f the body, as a b odily substance. The highest caste, the Brahm ans, have a pure b o d ily substance w hile the lo w er castes have im pure b od ily substance, w ith the U ntouchables being the most polluted. Because o f their state o f constant pollution due to the su b ­ stance o f the bodies they are born w ith, the U ntouchables are often fo r­ bidden entry to H indu temples or shrines w hich are administered b y Brahm ans, though such discrim ination is n ow illegal in India. Yet, despite this legislation, low -caste H indus and foreigners are frequently excluded from temples because o f their polluting properties w hich w ou ld anger the 219

K

An introduction to Hinduism deity. The scale of purity and pollution is an organizing principle and co n ­ straint w hich controls the regulation o f bodies in social space in H induism . H indu ritual not only expresses w orship to a deity (or asks for protection or appeases the deity), it also makes statements about group identity, b y stating, im plicitly and explicitly, not o n ly w h o can be included in any particular rite, but also, as w e have seen w ith rites o f passage, w ho is excluded from those rites.34

Ritual and possession A n im portant aspect o f public ritual during festivals is possession (avesa) b y the deities o f the temples w hich are the focus o f celebration. This usu­ ally occurs am ong lower-caste groups and is often integral to the ritual process. A s the divine presence occupies and possesses the icon (murti) in the temple, so the divine can occupy and enter the b o d y o f his or her devo­ tee. The possessed person becomes a m anifestation o f the divine, their b o d y paralleling the d eity’s icon (vig ra h a , m urti). Possession in a ritual context b y the deity should be regarded as a blessing and auspicious, though, o f course, possession b y a ghost or dem onic presence w ou ld be inauspicious and require exorcism b y a ritual specialist. A person might becom e possessed b y the deity regularly on the occasion o f the festival and might even becom e a ‘priest’ or ‘priestess’ o f the god.35 Ritual possession occurs m ost strikingly in festivals, such as those o f the teyyam deities o f Kerala. These lower-caste festivals occur throughout the M alabar region at innum erable shrines w hich house the teyyam deities in the form o f icons or sw ords. D urin g the festival the deity w ill possess a teyyam dancer w h o is beautifully adorned as the god, elaborately decora­ ted w ith headdress and face paint (see plates 19 and 20), w ho dances around the shrine com pound, giving darsanam to the onlookers. There is an electric atm osphere during these festivals, as the teyyam dances accom ­ panied b y the intense, rapid drum -beats o f his associates. The festival lasts for about tw o days, w ith each deity being perform ed in turn b y a dancer specifically designated to perform that particular deity on the occasion o f the festival. H e begins his dance b y an altar, w here chickens w ill be sacri­ ficed and alcohol offered, and a m irror is held up to him. U p o n seeing his reflection he becom es possessed b y the deity he is enacting. B efore the teyyam shrine he sings or chants in M alayalam , a series o f laudations to the deity, praising the deity first in the third person, then in the second person and finally the first person, indicating that the possession is com plete. The 220

Hindu ritual teyyam dances with sw ords and shields taken from the shrine, sym b o li­ cally attacking the high-spirited crow d. Th e teyyam sometimes marches out o f the com pound through the streets o f the tow n to the local temple, paralleling the processional march o f a tem ple icon, w here he demands the attention o f the higher-caste officiant inside. T he teyyam is refused entry, though sometimes there is an exchange o f ritual offerings, and returns to the teyyam shrine giving darsanam to people on the w a y and entering some houses and so blessing them. This pattern o f knocking at the temple door and being refused entry expresses a hierarchical relationship between the high-caste, pan-H indu, cool deity installed in the temple and the low -caste, local, hot, teyyam . A lth ou gh there is a clear distinction between the high deity and the teyyam , the teyyam s, w hile never losing their fierce nature, are nevertheless often identified w ith the high deities. F o r example, the teyyam Visnum urti, at a shrine in the small tow n o f N ileshw aram , is identified w ith N arasim ha, the ferocious incarnation o f Visnu. The example o f the teyyam illustrates h ow possession, as R ich Freem ans extensive study has show n, is a socially and culturally defined phenom enon. The possessed ritual dancer acts in a ritually determ ined way. The im portant point is that possession is culturally determ ined and is not prim arily about the inner state o f consciousness o f the perform er. A lth ough the perform er m ay im provise to som e extent, the ritual songs he perform s about the teyyam fo llo w a standard pattern. Freem an observes: ‘possession in T eyyam is a fundam entally ritual activity, that is, it is char­ acterized b y a highly form alized set o f behaviours and beliefs w hich ow e little to individual m otivations and dispositions’ .36

R itual and m antra O ne o f the m ost striking features o f all H indu ritual is the repetition o f sacred form ulae, usually in Sanskrit, w h ich accom pany ritual acts. These are mantras. M antra has been n otoriou sly difficult to define, but ve ry b road ly refers to sentences, phrases, or w ord s, m ostly though not exclu­ sively in Sanskrit, in verse and in prose, w h ich are recited or chanted fo r ritual and soteriological purposes.37 In the orth od ox vedic tradition they have been used to evoke deities, fo r protection, and to m agically affect the w o rld , and in tantric traditions they are themselves regarded as deities, or as em bodying the p ow er or energy (sakti) o f a deity. M antras can be uttered audibly and loudly,38 they can be w hispered (a level w hich is often 221

An introduction to Hinduism regarded as higher than the clearly vocalized mantra) and they can he uttered p u rely m entally, or in silence regarded as the highest level.39 Of particular im portance is the idea that a mantra is given orally b y the teacher or guru, the master o f m antra-know ledge, to the student; the guru em pow ers the mantra, gives the w ords force or energy, in a w a y which parallels the icon o f a deity in a temple being em pow ered or brought to life. M antras are central to the ritual traditions o f H induism and, indeed, H indu traditions can sometimes be defined or delineated b y the mantras they use: mantras fo r Visnu or his incarnations w ill be repeated by Vaisnavas, mantras fo r Siva w ill be repeated b y Saivas and so on. The most fam ous vedic mantra is the G ayatri: ‘ O m bhur, bhuva, sva,/tat savitur varenyam /bhargo devasya dhlm ahi/dhiyo y o nah pracod ayat’ , w hich can be loo sely translated as (O ra, earth, atmosphere, and sky. M ay w e contem ­ plate the desirable radiance o f the god Savitr; m ay he impel our th ou gh ts/40 This is taught to you ng Brahm ans during their sacred thread cerem ony (upanayana) and is thereafter uttered every m orning at sunrise b y orth odox Brahm ans. M antras often com bine ‘ seed syllables’ (bija), sound units based on Sanskrit p h o nolo gy but w hich are not m eaningful, w ith meaningful phrases. F o r example, ‘ O m namah sivaya hum ’ contains a m eaningful ele­ ment, ‘ hom age to Siva’ (namah sivaya), and the bijas om and hum w hich are sem antically empty. The m ost fam ous seed mantra is om. First appear­ ing in the Atharva Veda Samhita, O m becom es identified w ith absolute reality (brahman) in the Taittiriya Upanisad,41 w ith the structure o f the cosm os in the Mandukya Upanisad,42 and finds a place in all o f H indu rit­ ual, from vedic sacrifice to daily puja in the temple. It is regarded as the m ost sacred sound in the Veda and, as D erm ot K illin g ly has observed, rep­ resents or encapsulates the entire vedic corpus, being accepted as sacred even outside the H indu fold in Buddhism and Sikhism .43 W hile om is not sem antically m eaningful, it is revered as the sound o f the absolute w hich manifests the cosm os, the essence o f the Veda.

Summary F rom the examples that have been given, w e can see that within H induism there is a w ide range o f ritual practices w hich focus on deities, each distinct to its tradition and region, yet at the same time displaying features w hich can be found throughout H induism from K erala to the U S A . H indus per-

Hindu ritual I form rituals o f sacrifice and puja to propitiate deities and receive blessings, and some H indus perform private rituals for the purposes o f salvation (mukti) and to experience the pleasures o f higher w orlds or heavens (bh u kti). Ritual provides continuity o f tradition through the generations, arguably conveys im plicit H indu values, and sets the parameters fo r the H indu’s sense o f identity.

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Fro m the earliest times, alongside system s o f ritual and soteriologies using yo ga and meditation, elaborate and often h igh ly sophisticated doctrinal schemes and m etaphysical speculation developed w ithin H induism . The term ‘p h iloso p h y’ has often been used to describe these system s. W hile there are undoubted sim ilarities between traditional H indu thinking and m odern western philosophy, what traditional H in du thinkers do w ould on ly be partially recognized in contem porary departm ents o f ph ilosoph y in western universities. Alternatively, w hile the term ‘th eo lo g y’ conveys not o n ly the system atic and transcendent aspects o f H in du thought, but also emphasizes its exegetical nature, some schools are atheistic and not concerned w ith a ‘theos’ . B oth terms w ill be used in the fo llo w in g exposi­ tion as appropriate. The Sanskrit terms generally translated as ‘ph iloso ­ p h y ’ or ‘th eology’ are darsana, a system o f thought expressed through a tradition o f com mentaries upon fundam ental texts, and anviksiki, analysis or ‘investigative science’ w ithin the field o f vedic know ledge, particularly used w ith reference to logic (nyaya)} The term darsana, derived from a verb root drs\ ‘to see’ , has the im plication o f ‘v ie w ’ or even ‘v isio n ’ o f the w o rld and is used not on ly to refer to orthodox (astika) system s o f H indu belief, system s acknow ledging the Veda as revelation, but also to the het­ erodox (;nastika) view s o f Jainism , Buddhism and M aterialism (Lokayata). The term darsana is also used in a quite different sense to refer to the reli­ gious act o f gazing upon a temple icon or a living saint. Th e orthodox darsanas have codified their teachings into aphorism s called sutras (‘ threads’) w hich are often too condensed to be understood 224

/ 1indu theology and philosophy w ithout the use o f a com m entary (bhasya). These com mentaries form the exegetical expression o f the tradition and in turn have sub-com m entaries and glosses written on them. It is in the com m entarial literature that refined debates and technical refutations o f rival schools are to be found. These debates have often been sharp and intellectually rigorous and resist some m odern H indu attempts to collapse the real differences between the various darsanas, or to see them as com plem entary aspects o f a single sy s­ tem. G eneral features o f orthodox H indu darsanas can be sum m arized as follow s. T hey: - assume the revelation of the Veda; - claim to have liberation (moksa) as their purpose; - are exegetical in nature, being expressed prim arily through commentaries and sub-commentaries on revelation (the Upanisads) and on prim ary texts called Sütras, which form the scriptural source of philosophical/theological schools; - assume a transcendent reality beyond the contingencies of the human condition; - offer systematic explanations and interpretations; - are concerned with ideas about the structure of the body, the nature of matter and the functioning of consciousness. These general features can be seen in relation to the central questions and concerns o f H indu thought, particularly on tology or the nature o f being, and epistem ology, the theory o f know ledge. Q uestions o f on to lo gy have been intim ately connected w ith the ph ilosoph y or theology o f lan­ guage, particularly the relation between language, consciousness and being, w hile epistem ological questions have been concerned w ith valid means o f cognition and methods o f logic and inference. In debating these issues the darsanas develop a com m on term inology, particularly regarding the six means or methods o f valid know ledge (pram dna): nam ely percep­ tion (pratyaksa), inference (anum dna), verbal authority (.sab d a ), analogy (,upam dna), presum ption (,arthdpatti), and non-apprehension (a b h a v a ). The different darsanas accepted all or some o f these means o f know ledge. W hile the flow erin g o f H indu ph ilosoph y and theology occurs between the seventh and seventeenth centuries

ce,

the origins o f p h ilo ­

sophical speculation go back to the Veda. F o llo w in g Frauw allner and H albfass, the h istory o f Indian ph iloso ph y can be broken dow n into the fo llo w in g broad periods:

225

An introduction to Hinduism - presystematic thought in the Vedas, Upanisads, Epics and early Buddhist texts; - the classical systems of speculation in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism; - the theologies of the theistic schools of the Vaisnavas and Saivas, which become important during the second millennium c e ; - modern Indian philosophy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which responds to western philosophy.2

Early, presystematic speculation O ne o f the earliest texts w hich demonstrates a sense o f m etaphysical spec­ ulation is a hym n in the Rg Veda w hich asks a series o f questions about the origin o f things, particularly about whether in the beginning there was existence (sat) or non-existence (asat). A lth ou gh the terms sat and asat m ay not have had a technical, philosophical meaning in these early texts, the hym n displays a rem arkable sense o f w on d er and intellectual sophisti­ cation in considering a state prior to existence or non-existence and beyond death or im m ortality. The text concludes w ith some irony: ‘W hence this creation has arisen - perhaps it form ed itself, or perhaps it did not - the one w h o looks dow n on it, in the highest heaven, on ly he know s - or perhaps he does not kn ow .’3 M ore system atic speculation begins w ith the U panisads. O f particular note is chapter 6 o f the

Chandogya Upanisad in w hich the teacher U ddalaka A ru n i, one o f the earliest theologians, instructs his son w h o has returned home, conceited, after studying the Veda fo r twelve years. U ddalaka tells him that existence

(sat) is identified w ith brahman as the foundation o f the cosm os and the essence o f all beings.4 O f particular im portance are vedic speculations about the nature o f lan­ guage, w hich prefigure a theme and school o f thought w hich develops at a later period. The Rg Veda contains hym ns to the p o w er o f speech (vac) w hich is treated as a goddess w h o makes men w ise.5 Th rough speech, w hich is the prim e medium o f the vedic seers, truth is revealed and the truth o f speech is a power. In the Upanisads speech is identified w ith the absolute brahman from w hich appearances, names and their form s, are manifested. The relation between the unm anifest brahman and the w o rld o f m ultiplicity is through the cosmic sound o f the mantra aum.6 The text says that as all leaves are held together b y a stalk, so all sound is held together b y aum? 22 6

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theology and philosophy

Language and Hindu theology A n y understanding of H indu theology has to begin with language and com m unication. Revelation is a com m unication to hum anity through the seers, expressed in language, specifically the ‘perfected’ language o f Sanskrit. The injunctions o f the Veda are in language, and the theological com mentarial traditions are expressed through language. Language, fo r the vedic H indu, inspires, clarifies, and reveals truth and meaning and so is the starting point o f theological investigation (brahmajijnasa). Language is a fundam ental concern o f H indu th eology and assumes and uses a long tradition o f linguistic analysis. This tradition can be traced back to the ‘limbs o f the Veda’ or Vedangas, the auxiliary sciences in which Brahm ans w ou ld be trained, w hich ensure the correct transm ission o f the Veda through time and the correct perform ance o f rituals. O f the six Vedangas (listed on p. 53), gram m ar (vyakarana) and etym olo gy (nirukta) are directly concerned w ith language as an abstract system , while pronuncia­ tion (.slksa) and p ro so d y (chandas) are concerned w ith its expression. The science o f gram m ar (vyakarana) developed into an independent tradition, itself regarded as a darsana, and provided the inspiration and analytical precision for schools m ore directly concerned w ith theological topics. THE GRAMMARIANS

A highly sophisticated science o f language developed astonishingly early in India, from at least the fifth century

b c e

,

and provided the inspiration fo r

m odern linguistics through the study o f Sanskrit and the translation into European languages o f some o f its key texts during the nineteenth century. The earliest H indu linguist w e have record of, Panini (c. fifth century bce

), in his ‘E igh t C hapters’ (Astadhyayi) produced a descriptive analyti­

cal gram m ar o f Sanskrit, covering the analysis o f phonem es, suffixes, sen­ tences, the rules o f w o rd com bination (sandhi), and the form ation o f verbal roots. This w o rk has yet to be surpassed and a deeper understand­ ing o f it has on ly occurred w ith the developm ent o f m odern linguistics in the West. A lth ou gh there is little o f direct theological concern in the 4,000 Sutras o f the text, it is the standard reference w o rk against w hich later language is measured and w hich is the reference point fo r later interpreta­ tions o f the vedic texts. It also provides the basis fo r the grammatical school w hich did have theological, as w ell as m ore strictly philosophical, concerns. 227

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L A N G U A G E , C O N S f c l O U S N KSS A N D H E I N G

W ith Bhartrhari (fifth century c e ) , the leading thinker o f the Gram m arian school, gram m ar is transform ed in the service o f theology. Bhartrhari sees gram m ar as being fundam entally concerned w ith the nature o f existence and, ultim ately, about the quest for liberation. The analysis o f language becom es not m erely a task in itself, or a task to ensure the correct transm is­ sion o f the Veda, but a path or door leading to liberation, a means o f release from transm igration: the im m ortal brahman becom es kn ow n through the purification o f the w o rd w hich occurs through the study o f gramm ar.8 The study and use o f ‘correct’ form s o f language produce a force o f success or fortune w hich m oves the student aw ay from im pure (i.e. incorrect) speech tendencies, tow ards the pure goal o f the vision o f the absolute. Th rou gh language, and specifically through its precise and deep under­ standing, humans are saved. This is to elevate language to a very high status indeed. Bhartrhari iden­ tifies absolute reality w ith purified language and relates the im pure w orld o f hum an transaction to the pure, timeless absolute through the medium o f language. A bsolu te being does not stand outside or beyond language, but its essence is language. Language is the link between being as timeless, unitary, im personal stasis and being as contingent, tim e-bound and partic­ ularized experience. The term Bhartrhari uses fo r the absolute identified w ith language is the ‘ sound absolute’ or ‘w o rd absolute’ (.sabdabrahman), an o n tology w hich cannot be apprehended due to ignorance (avidya ). Ignorance clouds our vision o f the sound absolute, though this ignorance itself is a m anifestation o f that absolute, created b y the p o w er o f time. F rom a pure, non-sequential, unmanifested state w hich Bhartrhari calls ‘the seeing’ (pasyanti), the sound absolute m anifests in a subtle mode in w hich the p ow er o f time begins to function, creating space, sequence, and apprehended b y humans as thought. This mental level is the ‘ m iddle’ realm (madhyama), characterized b y the pow ers o f time (which is p ri­ m ary) and space. In the final phase o f vaikhari, the sound absolute is fu lly extended and the pow er o f time manifests d iversity and causal relation­ ships: time is the force w hich constrains all events in the universe and is expressed in the sequence o f ordinary human language.9 Language, in its manifested modes o f mental (madhyama) and gross (vaikhari) speech, is driven and differentiated b y time, but its source is the timeless, transcen­ dent and purified ‘language’ as pure being. 228

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This tripartite division o f language and existence is furtherm ore related by Bhartrhari to the im portant ‘disclosure theory* o f meaning (sphota). The level o f vaikhari vac is the level o f the uttered sentence, w hich is understood in a flash o f com prehension or intuition (pratibha): meaning is apprehended as a sudden gestalt. This flash o f understanding is the disclo­ sure (sphota) of the meaning o f the sentence as a com plete integral unit. Those ignorant o f a particular language break a sentence up into w ords and phonem es, but for a native speaker understanding occurs in a direct unitary w ay, as a person perceives a painting as a w h ole and not as a collec­ tion o f lines and colo u rs.10 Sphota is the bursting forth o f the m eaning o f a sentence, or book, or poem ; a revelation, as it w ere, from a m ore subtle level w hich has its prim ary ground in the sound absolute. This absolute, know ledge o f w hich is an ‘ intuition’ (pratibha), is the ultimate goal, as w ell as source, o f language. Theories about language are also theories about consciousness to w hich it is intim ately connected. Various terms fo r consciousness - cit, citta, caitanya, samvit - are the focal point o f a num ber o f Indian philosophical and theological system s, m ost notably the consciousness-only (Vijnanavada) school o f Buddhism and the R ecognition (Pratyabhijna) school o f K ashm ir Saivism. Yet the question o f consciousness is present in all Indian philosophical system s to some degree, particularly its relation to language and its relation to being. Indeed m any schools, notably K ashm ir Saivism and A dvaita Vedanta, identify purified or absolute consciousness w ith being. This purified consciousness is sometimes thought to be beyond language, w hile everyday com m unicative language, w hich expresses desire, prevents consciousness from realizing its true ineffable nature. F o r the Gram m arians language is the distinguishing feature o f human con ­ sciousness w hich, at its deepest level, is identical w ith being. W hile not agreeing w ith the G ram m arians, all schools o f Indian thought respond in some w a y to the Gram m arian school, participating in the debate about language, its relation to consciousness and being, and using a shared p h ilo ­ sophical term inology.

The one and the many A p art from a concern w ith language and its relation to being, H indu the­ ologies have been interested in the relation o f ‘the one’ to ‘the m an y’ . That is, H indu revelation and yogic experience refer to an absolute reality w hich is unitary and w ithou t second, yet experience o f the w orld tells us 229

An introduction to Hinduism that existence is m anifold and diverse. What is the relation between this unique one and the diversified many? Some I lindu theologies maintain that the relation is one o f identity, the absolute is ultim ately identical with the m any and difference is m erely illusory; some say that the relation is of difference and that the one and the m any are quite ontologically distinct; w hile others maintain that both identity and difference are true o f the rela­ tion between the one and the m any.11 H indu theologies arrive at different positions w ith regard to this fundam ental question. The question o f being is related to the epistem ological question o f cau­ sation. H indu theories o f causation can be b road ly categorized into tw o. O ne theory, the satkaryavada theory, maintains that the effect is p re-exis­ tent in the cause, as a pot (the effect) pre-exists in the clay (the material cause) - the other, the asatkaryavada theory, that the effect does not pre­ exist in the cause. The satkaryavada th eory can itself be divided into a the­ o ry w hich maintained that the effect is a real transform ation (parinama) o f the cause, and a th eory w hich maintains that the effect is not a transform a­ tion, but a mere appearance o f the cause (vivarta) in a certain w ay, as a man sees silver coins in the sand but discovers that they are shells. That is, the shells are the cause o f the effect (the perception o f silver) but the effect is not a real transform ation o f substance. The Buddhists maintain that the effect is not pre-existent in the cause (and ultim ately deconstruct the idea o f causation), w hile the Sam khya school holds that effects are real trans­ form ations o f substance. The A dvaita tradition rejects these view s; fo r them there can on ly be an apparent transform ation o f substance, there being in reality o n ly the single substance o f brahman.

The commentarial tradition The m ost notable feature o f Indian theology and ph iloso ph y is that it is expressed prim arily through com mentaries and sub-com m entaries on sacred texts. A lth ou gh there are some independent philosophical texts apart from the terse Sutra literature w hich stands at the beginning o f a com m entarial tradition - the traditions are p rim arily exegetical. Sutras are short condensed aphorism s w hich sum m arize the teachings o f a school. Indeed, the aim o f w riting com mentaries is to bring out the meaning o f these aphorism s, to reveal w hat is already there in the earlier text, to illu ­ minate its truth and not to say som ething new or original (though, o f course, the com mentaries inevitably do). A com m entary (Jbhasya) is an explanation - often extensive - o f the Sutras, w hile there are also shorter

23°

/ 11mlh theology ami philosophy explanations or glosses (vrtti) and further explanations of commentaries (varttika). A n author might also com pose an auto-com m entary on verses which he him self has com posed. The com m entaries reveal a vibrant and living tradition w ith creative reading and interpretation at its heart; com ­ mentaries are, in the w ords o f Francis C loon ey, ‘ not signs o f decay or decline o f the original genius o f a tradition, its reduction to w ords, mere scholasticism ; they are the blossom ing and fruition o f that original genius’ .12 These intellectual traditions becom e codified, b y the m edieval period, into a standard list o f six orth od ox system s, the saddarsanas, though there are im portant schools, n otably the Jain s and Buddhists, outside o f this scheme. In his ‘ C om pendium o f A ll Philosophies’ , the

Sarvadarsanasamgraha, M adhava (c. 134 0 c e ) does not refer to the term ‘ six darsanas’ but discusses the ideas o f sixteen philosophical schools, including the im portant theological schools o f m onistic, or Kashm ir, and dualistic, or Siddhanta, Saivism . It must be rem em bered that the system o f the six darsanas is a codification and an attempt to make coherent, w ithin the sphere o f vedic orthodoxy, traditions o f rigorous philosophical debate w hich have m arked differences between them, yet w hich share a com m on term inology and a com m on com m entarial style. W hile the authors w ithin some o f the schools share m any view s in com m on, it should not be taken fo r granted that all thinkers w ithin a darsana share the same opinions. Indeed the school o f Vedanta, for example, covers a w ide range o f diver­ gent view s, though b y the late medieval period there is a tendency, w ithin Vedanta, to synthesize view s and integrate divergent opinions into a hier­ archical scheme w ith Vedanta at the apex. The six orth odox systems are: - Samkhya, the ‘enumeration’ school which posited a dualism between matter (prakrti) and the self {purusa), both of which are real, though ontologically distinct; - Yoga, the school of Patarijali which assumes the metaphysics of Samkhya; - Mlmamsa, the tradition of vedic exegesis which assumes the reality of the many; - Vedanta, the tradition which develops from the Upanisads and which argues for the reality of the one and, in one of its forms, denies the reality of the many; - N yaya, the school of logic;

231

An introduction to Hinduism - Vaisesika, the atomist school, associated with N yaya, which assumes the reality of the many; the constituents of existence do not arise from a shared source - rather, each phenomenon is distinct and separate. These are often coupled together into three groups, nam ely Sam khyaY oga, N yaya-V aisesika, and M lm am sa-Vedanta, fo r both historical and conceptual reasons: Sam khya is the theoretical substrate o f C lassical Yoga; Vedanta is a continuation o f M lm am sa; and N y a y a , logic, is used in the m etaphysical speculations o f Vaisesika. I w ill here describe the Sam khya and Vedanta schools as these are the m ost im portant w ith regard to the w id er religious traditions, N y a y a and Vaisesika being schools o f a m ore technical nature, concerned w ith categories o f being, language and logic.

Samkhya T he Sam khya system is the oldest system atic p h iloso p h y to have emerged in the H indu tradition and is enorm ously influential on later theological schools, especially tantric Saivism and the Pancaratra. Indeed, other schools o f Indian thought, such as N y a y a and Vedanta, developed during the early centuries o f the com m on era partly due to polem ical reactions to Sam khya philosophy. T he term sam khya, w hich means ‘ enum eration’ or ‘ calculation’ , has tw o senses: one a general sense used in renouncer tradi­ tions, including Jain ism and Buddhism , to denote the enum eration and categorization o f elements w hich com prise the cosm os; the other a m ore specific sense to refer to the Sam khya philosophical system w hich devel­ oped a tradition o f com m entaries upon its k ey texts and is the backdrop to Patanjali’s Yoga. These uses are chronological: the earlier, general ten­ dency to categorize the cosm os and human p sych ology, w hich might be called P roto-Sam kh ya, occurs very early in renouncer traditions, from at least the ninth to the third centuries b c e , w hile the system atic philosophy, K arika Sam khya, develops fairly late from about the fourth century c e .13 PROTO-SAMKHYA

In the general sense o f the enum eration o f the elements or constituents o f the cosm os, Sam khya-like speculations are found in early Jain , Buddhist and H indu texts. H ow ever, rather than seeing Sam khyan speculations arising out o f Jain and Buddhist contexts, it is p ro b ab ly m ore accurate to see the Jain , Buddhist and early brahmanical speculations, including m ed­ ical speculation, arising out o f a com m on ideological context in w hich Sam khya-like enum eration o f the categories o f experience is central. 232

I lin d a theology an d philosophy i self (purusa)

i matter (prakrti) 3 higher mind (buddhi) 4 ego (ahamkara)

5 mind (manas) senses

organs of

subtle

gross

action

elements

elemei

6 hearing

ii

speaking

1 6 sound

21 space

7 touching

12 grasping

17 touch

22 air

8 seeing

13 walking

18 form

23 fire

9 tasting

14 excreting

19 taste

24 water

15 procreating

20 smell

25 earth

io smelling

Figure 8 The tw enty-five Sam khya tattvas

There are striking parallels between the later Sam khya philosophy, m ed­ ical system s or A yurveda, and Buddhist system s, particularly the A bhidharm a and Yogacara Buddhism . Indeed, Isvarakrsna, an exponent o f the philosophical tradition, begins his treatise on Sam khya w ith the idea o f life as suffering ( H e p ro b ab ly also w rote the com m entary on G audapada’s K a rik a to the M an du k ya U panisad and the com m entary on the B h a g a v a d G ita , though there is not universal agreement on this. Gaudapada is Sankara's gu ru s guru w h om Sankara calls his suprem e teacher (param aguru). G audapada was in flu ­ enced b y Buddhism and his K arikas are even quoted b y the Buddhist philosopher Bhavaviveka. G enerally, however, the A dvaita tradition is ve ry opposed to Buddhism and Sankara is vehem ent in his attack on B uddhist ‘ heresy5w hich rejects the Veda. A part from the theological co m ­ mentaries, Sankara is attributed b y the A dvaita and Sri V id ya traditions w ith 240

the

authorship

of

a fam ous

hym n

to

the

G odd ess,

the

/ lindu theology and philosophy Saundaryalahari. Sankara s authorship of some of this text is accepted by its translator N orm an B row n , and it is certainly possible for a H indu the­ ologian to have com posed both erudite com m entaries and a devotional lit­ erature, as Bharati has pointed out.27 san kara ’s t h e o l o g y

In his com mentaries Sankara develops a th eology in w hich he tries to establish that spiritual ignorance (a v id y a ) or illusion (maya) is caused b y the superim position (adhyasa) o f w hat is not the self onto the self. A ll know ledge is distorted b y superim position or projection, w hich prevents us from seeing our true nature as the self’s (atm ans) pure subjectivity, o ntologically identical w ith the absolute (brahm an). In order to realize the truth o f the identity o f the self w ith the absolute, a person must develop discrim ination. D iscrim ination allow s fo r a person to distinguish the self from w hat is not the self, true being from objects, and know ledge ( v id y a jn a n a ) from ignorance (avidya). This is the withdraw al or disso lv­ ing o f projection, as w hen a man w alking on a beach sees silver coins but then discovers that they are shells, or sees a snake in the corner o f a house, but then, upon inspection, finds it to be a rope. Sankara opens his com ­ m entary on the B rahm a Sutra w ith the follow ing: It is a matter of fact that the object and subject, whose respective spheres are the notion of the ‘yo u ’ and the ‘I ’, and which are opposed to each other as much as darkness and light, cannot be identified, and nor can their respective attributes. Hence it follows that it is wrong to superimpose upon the subject, whose nature is awareness (cit) and which has for its sphere the notion of ‘ P, the object and its attributes whose sphere is the notion of the ‘not-I’. And vice-versa [it is wrong to] superimpose the subject and its attributes on the object.28 This opening passage sums up a central point o f Sankara’s thought and gives a flavour o f his terse com m entarial style. Superim position o f the self on w hat is not the self, and w hat is not the self on the self, is the natural propensity o f ignorant consciousness. The rem oval o f superim position is the rem oval o f ignorance and the realization o f the self (atman) as the w it­ nessing subject identical w ith brahm an. Such know ledge is liberation (moksa). Sankara’s enterprise is to show how his ad va ita interpretation o f sacred scriptures is correct. It is a method o f reading the texts and so gaining know ledge o f revelation’s truth: the process is one o f hearing (sravana), 241

A n introduction to I Zimin ism thinking (m an an a) and reflecting or meditating (niclhiclhyasana). While the idea o f m ystical experience (anubhava), which has been stressed in recent times in the West, is im portant for Sankara as the goal to which rev­ elation leads, he is p rim arily concerned with the correct interpretation o f scripture and the refutation o f what he regards as false views. There is no reference in his w o rk s to any personal religious experience nor to the experience o f the ancient sages. The Veda, o f course, is not thought to be o f hum an authorship so personal experience is here irrelevant.29 The sacred scriptures can be divided into sections dealing w ith action (ka rm aka n d a) and

sections

about

know ledge

(jn a n a k an da).

The

M im am sa maintains that sections about action, that is ritual action, are o f prim ary im portance because injunctions to perform dharm a are the cen­ tral purpose o f the Veda. Sankara, on the other hand, maintains that the know ledge sections are o f greater im portance, fo r liberation is the Veda’s central message, and o n ly know ledge leads to liberation. N o action can discrim inate the self from w hat is not the self, o n ly know ledge can achieve this, as silver is suddenly seen to be shell. This liberating know ledge is referred to in the ‘ great sayings’ (m ahavakya) o f the Upanisads, nam ely: ‘ I am the absolute’ (aham brahmasmi)\ ‘ this self is the absolute’ (ayam atm a brah m a); ‘ everything is indeed the absolute’ (sarvam khalu idam b rah m a); and ‘yo u are that’ (tattvamasi). To realize the existential force o f these claims is to be liberated and to distinguish between pure being and w o rld ly phenomena. This is not like the heaven o f the M im am sakas, fo r liberation is not a future state or goal w hich can be achieved; it can on ly be w oken up to. H avin g said this, Sankara does make concessions to the idea o f devotion (bhakti) to a personal L o rd (Isvara) as a lo w er level o f know ledge. B rah m a n , in its timeless essence as identical w ith the self, is beyond all predicates and qualities (nirguna), but in its tem poral m ode as the L o rd it has attributes (saguna), and so can be approached through devotion as an object o f consciousness. To see the absolute as the L o rd is to maintain a distinction between self and absolute, w hich is to retain a vestige o f ign o ­ rance w hich must finally be transcended. If reality is one, all distinctions must be illusory. LA T E R ADVAITA

A fte r Sankara there are a num ber o f im portant A dvaita theologians w ho com posed texts in the com mentarial tradition, w o rk in g out theological 242

/ Undu theology and philosophy and philosophical problem s incipient in earlier Advaita texts, and responding to opponents in other schools. M andanamisra, mentioned above, is an older contem porary o f Sankara w ho is a M lmamsa theologian w ho converted to A dvaita. H e m ay or m ay not be the same as the A dvaitin Suresvara. Vacaspatim isra (tenth century) w rote com mentaries on A dvaita texts as w ell as on other darsanas, and Sri H arsa (c. 11 5 0 c e ) developed a form o f reductio a d absurdum argum ent to show the inherent contradictions in all propositions about the w o rld (particularly N y a y a propositions). T hrough this method o f argum ent he brings out the unde­ sirable consequences o f his opponents’ positions. This system o f argu­ mentation is essentially the same as that o f the Buddhist philosopher N agarju n a.30

Visistadvaita Vedanta W ith the developm ent o f theism in the great tradition o f Vaisnavism , the m onistic reading o f sacred scripture is resisted. The great theologian and hierarch o f the Sri Vaisnava com m unity, Ram anuja (see pp. 13 6 -7 ), com ­ poses a com m entary, the S ri B hasya, on the B rahm a Sutra, and a com m en­ tary on the G ita , to refute the m onism o f Sankara. H e also com poses a brief independent w o rk , the Vedanta Sam graha .31 In these w o rk s he argues vehem ently against Sankara’s m onistic reading o f sacred scripture, expressing him self forcefu lly and asserting that the A dvaita position is against reason, against the firm understanding o f the meaning o f language, and goes against the scriptures. The A dvaitins, to hold such groundless opinions, must be plagued b y the im pressions o f beginningless sin (papa)\32 Ram anuja’s interpretation o f Vedanta is called ‘ Q ualified N o n D ualism ’ (visistadvaita) and articulates a form o f Vaisnava th eology w hich came from Ram anuja’s grand-teacher N atham uni to his ow n teacher Yam una: a th eology w hich draw s upon the w ide textual resources o f the Epics, Puranas and even Pancaratra literature. L ik e Sankara and the M im am sakas, Ram anuja is concerned w ith exege­ sis, the careful reading o f scripture in order to arrive at an understanding of G o d and his relation to the plural w orld . Sankara had maintained that in reading a sacred text there are tw o levels o f truth in operation, one con ­ cerned with the higher truth o f the u nity o f b rah m an , the other low er level representing brahm an as a personal L o rd . Ram anuja rejects this distinc­ tion, arguing that all passages o f sacred scripture must be taken as equal w ith each other; it is not m ethodologically sound to divide up scripture in

¿43

An introduction to Hinduism this way. If w e reject this tw o-levels-of-truth theory with regard to sacred texts, then w e see, argues Ram anuja, that scripture testifies to a supreme soul, the brah m an , as the essence o f the universe and the inner soul o f all finite souls, w h o is yet also a personal being. A p art from the problem o f h ow to interpret scripture, the main theo­ logical concerns o f Ram anuja are the nature o f the absolute, or G o d , and the relations betw een the absolute, the finite self and the w o rld .33 W ith Sankara, Ram anuja agrees that brahm an is the one perfect reality w hich in itself is unchanging. H ow ever, he rejects San karas idea that the w o rld o f m anifold experience is illusion (m aya) caused through ignorance, and he rejects the idea that the L o rd as a personal being is a lo w er level o f truth than the im personal absolute. Rather, both the one and the m any are real; the m any being the one’s m anifold mode o f expression. G o d fo r Ram anuja has tw o aspects or sides. O ne is the suprem e aspect o f G o d in his inner nature or essence (.svarupa), the other is his outer nature or accessibility (saulabhya). The essence o f G o d has five attributes - o f truth (satya), know ledge (jn a n a ), infinity, jo y and p u rity - w hile the accessibility o f G o d is show n in the modes o f m ercy and love, generosity, affection and parental love. The L o rd also has beauty (saundarya) in both his essence and in his w o rld ly incarnations, the avataras. H um ans com e into contact w ith G o d ’s nature through the accessibility o f his love - a theology w ith western parallels in G re g o ry Palam as’ distinction between G o d ’s essence and his energy. The individual self (jiva) is distinct from G o d yet participates in G o d w h o is its essence and inner controller (antaryam in) and w ithout w h om it w ou ld not exist. The relationship between the self and G o d is one o f insep­ arability, the self is w h o lly dependent upon G o d fo r its being. B oth the self and the w orld participate in G o d ’s existence, yet are distinct from , w hile w h o lly depending on, him. The relationship betw een G o d and the self and the w o rld is expressed in a fam ous analogy that the universe, com prising conscious selves (at) and unconscious matter (24" 8. 28 Ibid. pp. 19-20. 29 Ibid. pp. 80-1. 30 Ath.V. 11.5 . 31 Gonda, Change and Continuity in Indian Religion (1965 N ew Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, reprint 1985), p. 285. 32 Ibid. 3 .1-2 . 33 Ibid. 6.8. D oniger’s translation, The Law s o f M anu, p. 117 . 34 Manu 6.13; 6.23-4. 35 Ibid. 3.77-8; 12.86. 36 Ibid. 1.88. 37 Ibid. 6.43-4; 5738 L. Dumont, ‘World Renunciation in Indian Religions’, in Homo Hierarchicus, pp. 267-86. 39 Manu 3.60. 40 Biardeau, Hinduism. The Anthropology o f a Civilization (N ew Delhi: O xford University Press, 1989), p. 50. 41 Manu 5.147-8. 42 Ibid. 5.165-6. 43 Leslie, ‘Suttee or Satl: Victim or Victor?’, in Leslie (ed.), Roles and Rituals fo r H indu Women (London: Pinter Publishers, 1991), pp. 17 5 -9 1. See also H aw ley (ed.), Satl, the Blessing and the Curse: The Burning o f Wives in India (N ew York, O xford: O xford University Press, 1994). 44 Leslie, The Perfect Wife: The Orthodox H indu Woman According to the Strldharm apaddhati o f Tryam bakayajvan, O xford University South Asian Series (Delhi: O xford U niversity Press, 1989), pp. 30 5-16 . 45 Fuller, The Cam phor Flame, pp. 106-27. A lso Dirks, The H ollow Crow n.

283

Notes to pages bti-77 46 R V 1.32 .15 . O ’Flaherty s translation, /'he Rig Veda, p. 15 1. 47 R V 10 .17 } ; Ath.V. 6.87—8. 48 Gupta and Gom brich, ‘ Kings, Power and the Goddess’, South Asia Research, 6.2 (1986), pp. 123-38. 49 M anu 7.5-7. D oniger’s translation, The Law s o f M anu, p. 128. 50 Inden, Im agining In d ia , p. 228. 51 Stein, Peasant, State ¿maf Society in M edieval South India (Delhi: O xford U niversity Press, 1980), pp. 22, 264. 52 Inden, ‘ Kings and Omens’, in Carman and Marglin (eds.), Purity and Auspiciousness in Indian Society (Leiden: Brill, 1985), p. 38. 53 Kantorowicz, The King's Two Bodies (Princeton University Press, 1957). 54 Ath.V. 3.4.2. 55 M anu 7.35. 56 Ibid. 7.12-2 4 . 57 L. Dumont, H om o Hierarchicus, pp. 97-108. 58 Heesterman, The Inner Conflict o f Tradition, p. 7. 59 Ibid. p. 9. 60 See Inden’s review of Heesterman’s The In n er Conflict o f Tradition: Inden, ‘Tradition Against Itself’, American Ethnologist, 13.4 (1986), pp. 762-75. 61 Dirks, The H ollow C row n, p. 249.

4 Yoga and renunciation 1 YS 2.15. 2 Bronkhorst, The Two Traditions o f Meditation in Ancient India (Delhi: M L B D , 1993), pp. 68-1 n . 3 Masefield, D ivin e Revelation in Pali Buddhism (London: Allen & Unwin, 1986), p. 160. 4 The hymn reads: Long-hair holds fire, holds the drug, holds sky and earth. Lon g­ hair reveals everything, so that everyone can see the sun. Lon g­ hair declares the light. These ascetics, swathed in wind, put dirty red rags on. When gods enter them, they ride with the rush of the wind. ‘C razy with asceticism, we have mounted the wind. O ur bodies are all you mere mortals can see.’ 284

Notes to pages yH-Hi He sails through the air, looking down on all shapes below. The ascetic is friend to this god and that god, devoted to what is well done. The stallion of the wind, friend of gales, lashed on by gods - the ascetic lives in the two seas, on the east and on the west. He moves with the motion of heavenly girls and youths, of wild beasts. Long-hair, reading their minds, is their sweet, their most exciting friend. The wind has churned it up; Kunamnama prepared it for him. Long-hair drinks from the cup, sharing the drug with Rudra. O ’Flaherty, The R ig Veda, pp. 137-8. If Kunamnama is a hunch-backed goddess, we have here perhaps a precursor of the ‘crooked’ tan trie goddess Kubjika. 5 Staal, Exploring Mysticism, pp. 185-7. 6 Werner, ‘Yoga and the Rg Veda: A n Interpretation of the Kesin H ym n’, Religious Studies, 13 (1976), pp. 289-93. 7 R V 1 . 11 4 . 8 Heesterman, The Broken World o f Sacrifice, pp. 178-9. On the Vratyas generally see Eliade, Yoga: Im m ortality and Freedom (Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 10 3-4 ; Feuerstein, Yoga, The Technology o f Ecstasy (Wellingborough: Crucible, 1989), pp. 1 1 1 - 1 4 ; Hauer, D er Vratya, vol 1: D ie Vratya als nichtbrahmanische Kultgenossenschaften arischer H erkunft (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 1927); Heesterman, ‘Vratya and Sacrifice’, Indo-Iranian Jo u rn al, 6 (1962), pp. 1-3 7 . 9 Eliade, Yoga, p. 103. 10 Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism , pp. 57-8. 1 1 Wheatley, The Pivot o f the Four Quarters (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 19 71), p. 8. See also Eck ‘The C ity as Sacred Centre’, in B. Smith and H. B. Reynolds (eds.), The City as Sacred Centre: Essays on Six Asian Contexts (Leiden, N ew York and Cologne: Brill, 1987). 12 Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism , pp. 5 1-8 ; Olivelle, The Samnydsa Upanisads, pp. 30-3. 13 B. S. Turner, Religion and Social Theory (London: S A G E Publications, 1991), p. 163. 14 Gokhale, ‘The Early Buddhist Elite’, Jo u rn a l o f Indian History, 42.2 (1965), pp. 391-402.

285

Notes to pages N2-9 15 Gom brich, Theravada Buddhism , pp. jN 9. 1 6 Sutta Nipata 3.9. 17 For the Ajlvikas see Basham, History and Doctrines o f the Ajivikas (Delhi: M L B D , 1981). For the Jains, see Dundas, The Jains (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1992). For the materialists, see Chattopadhyaya, Lokayata (N ew Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1959)18 Thapar, Interpreting Early In dia, p. 63. 19 Bronkhorst, The Two Traditions o f M editation, pp. 45-53. 20 B A U 6.5.1-4. 21 Ibid. 1 .1 .1 - 2 . 22 Ch.U. 1.1.9 -10 . Translation by Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads, pp. 3 3 1- 3 . 23 Staal, Rules Without M eaning, pp. 117 -2 0 . 24 Sat.Br. 10 .2 .5 .11. 25 B A U 4 .1.1-7 . 26 Ch.U. 6 .13 .1-3 . 27 Ibid. 1.12 .1- 5 . 28 Tait.Up. 3.6.1 and 3.8.1. Translation by Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads, pp. 557, 149, 150. 29 R V 10.16. 30 For a discussion of this debate and papers presenting various viewpoints, see O ’Flaherty (ed.), Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions (Berkeley and Los Angeles: U niversity of California Press, 1980). A lso Boyer, ‘Etude sur Porigine de la doctrine du samsara’, Jo u rn al Asiatique, 2 (1901), 451-99. 31 B A U 3.2.13. 32 Ibid. 4.4.3. 33 Svet.U. 5.7. 34 Heesterman, The Inner Conflict o f Tradition, p. 40. 35 Ibid. p. 34. 36 M anu 2.87-100; 6.42-9. 37 Biardeau, H induism , the Anthropology o f a C ivilization, p. 159. See also Biardeau and Malamoud, L e Sacrifice dans Vlnde ancienne (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1976). 38 L. Dumont, H om o Hierarchicus, p. 272. 286

Notes to pages tiy-107

39 Inden, Imagining India, p, 203. 40 Olivclle, Samnyasa Upanisadst p. 21. 41 B A U 4 .5 .1-2 , in Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads, p. 281. 42 Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism , p. 107. 43 Vis.Smrt. 96.12. 44 Nar.U. in Olivelle, Samnyasa Upanisads, pp. 19 1-2 . 45 Olivelle, Samnyasa Upanisads, p. 94. 46 For a brief though clear account see Hartsuiker, Sadhus, H oly Men o f India (London: Thames and Hudson, 1993), pp. 3 1-5 . 47 ZL4£ /4.4.23. 48 Kat.U. 2 .3 .10 - n . 49 Ibid. 1.3.3-9. 50 Svet.U. 2.8-14. 51 Mait.U. 2 .7 -3 .1- 2 ; 6.18. 52 r e 1.2. 53 Svatmarama, T&e Hathayogapradipika (Madras: The A dyar Library Research Centre, 1972). 54 See Silburn, K undalini, Press, 1988).

Energy from the Depths (Albany: S U N Y

55 Tait.U. 1.6 .1. 56 Hat. Yog. 3.32-8. 57 /¿¿¿/. 3.42. 58 Ibid. 4.65-102. 59 Juergensmeyer, Radhasoam i Reality, T&e Logz’c 0/

Modern Faith

(Princeton University Press, 1991), 9 0 -1. 60 r e 3.16-49. 61 F 5 bhdsya 1.45.

5 Narrative traditions and early Vaisnavism 1 Mahabharata, Critical Edition with Pratika In dex, 28 vols. (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1923-72). A n English translation of this edition was initiated by Van Buitenen, of which three volumes have appeared. Van Buitenen, The Mahabharata. 2 Mbh. 3.52-79. 3 Ibid. 1.68-72.

287

Notes to pages ¡07-16 4 Van Buitenen, The Bhagavadgita, p. 3. 5 There are several editions and translations of the Rdmdyana in India. A recent translation based on the Välmiki text is under the general editorship of Robert R Goldman: Goldman (ed.), The Rdmdyana o f Vdlmiki: A n Epic o f Ancient In dia, vol. 1: Balakdnda (Princeton U niversity Press, 1984); Pollock, vol. 11: Ayodhyäkända (Princeton University Press, 1986); Pollock, vol. 1 1 1 : Aranyakdnda (Princeton University Press, 1991). 6 P. Richman (ed.), M any Rdmayanas (Delhi: O xford University Press, 1991). 7 Ananda Ashram in N ew York State, for example, stage regular productions of the Rdmdyana. 8 Scheckner, The Future o f Ritual (London and N ew York: Routledge, I 993X PP- * 3i~83. 9 Whalling, The Rise o f the Religious Significance o f Ram a (Delhi: M L B D , 1980). 10 Hardy, Viraha B hakti (Delhi: O xford University Press, 1983), p. 86. A lso Hacker, Prahldda, Werden und Wandlungen einer Idealgestalt, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 13 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, i960). A lso Bailey, ‘ On the Object of Study in Puränic Research; Three Recent Books on the Puränas’, R ev iew o f the Asian Studies Association o f Australia, 10.3 (1987), pp. 10 6 -14. 1 1 Vis. Pur. 1.30 -2. 12 See Hardy, The Religious Culture o f India: Pow er; L o ve and Wisdom (Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 29. 13 Vis.Pur. 2.214; M anu 1.37-40. For an account of Indian cosmologies see Gombrich, ‘Ancient Indian C osm ology', in Blacker and Loewe (eds.), Ancient Cosmologies (London: George Allen and Unwin, I 975X PP- n o -4 2 . 14 Vis.Pur. 3; 4 .21-4 . 15 R V 9 1.2 2 .16 -2 1. 16 Ibid. 1.154. 17 Vay.Pur. 2.36.74-86. 18 Bh.G . 4.7. Translation by van Buitenen, The Bhagavadgitd, p. 87. 19 Mat.Pur. 1 . 1 1 —34; 2 .1- 19 (from the Sat.Br. 1.8 .1.1-6 ).

288

Notes to pages / 16 -2 7 10 Vis.Pur. 1.4 .3 - 11,2 5 - 9 ,4 5 - 9 . 21 Hardy, The Religious Culture of India, pp. 299-301. 22 Vis.Pur. 1.4 .17; 1.19.80; 5.9.28. 23 Hardy, Viraha Bhakti, pp. 17 -18 and passim. 24 Ast. 4.3.98. 25 M ahaniddesa, vol. 1, ed. de la Vallée Poussin (London: Pali Text Society, 1916) 89, 92. 26 Bh.G. 10.37. 27 Mahhhas. 4.3.98. 28 See Hardy, Viraha Bhakti, pp. 18 -19 . 29 Ch.U. 3 .117.6 . 30 Bh.G . 1 1 .2 1 , 24, 3 1. 31 Sat.Br. 12.3.4; 13.6.1. 32 Manu 1.10 . 33 Mbh. 12 .34 1. 34 Mahnar.U. 201-69. 3 5 Tawney (trs.), Som adeva’s Kathâ Saritsâgara, or Ocean o f Streams o f Story, ed. Penzer, 10 vols. (1924-8; Delhi: M L B D , reprint 1968), 5 4 .19 ,2 1-3 . 36 Sat.Br. 13.6 .1. 37 Mbh. 12.337, 63-4. 3 8 See Schrader, Introduction to the Pâncardtra and the Ahirbudhnya Samhitâ, (Madras: A dyar Library and Research Centre, reprint 1973), pp.

23-4.

39 See Neeval, Yamuna's Vedanta and Pâncarâtra: Integrating the Classical with the Popular (Montana: Scholar’s Press, 1977). 40 Jay.Sam . 4.8. 41 Bh.G . 2 .2 1-2 . Translation by van Buitenen, The Bhagavadgïtâ, pp.

75- 742 Bh.G . 2 .3 1-3 . 43 Ibid. 4.9-23. 44 Ibid. 11.5 -4 9 . 45 Ibid. 9.33. 46 Ibid. 18.54-5, 65. 47 Ibid. 3.3; 13.5-19 289

Notes to pages 12H-40 6 The love of Visnu 1 Zvelebil, The Smile o f M ur ugan (Leiden: Brill, 1973), pp. 13 1-5 4 . 2 Ibid. p. 4; Hardy, Viraha Bhakti, pp. 12 4 -3 1. 3 Kailasapathy, Tamil H eroic Poetry (Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 258-64. 4

Ibid. pp. 6 3 - 4 .

5 Hardy, Viraha Bhakti, p. 14 1. 6 Parpola, Deciphering the Indus Script, pp. 225-32. 7 The twelve are: Poykai, Putam, Pey, Tiruppan, Tirumalicai, Tontaratippoti, Kulacekaran, Periyalvar, Antal, Tirumarikai, Nammalvar and Maturakavi. 8 See Meenakshi, ‘Andal: She Who Rules’, Manushi, Tenth Anniversary Issue: Women Bhakta Poets, 50-2 (Delhi: Manushi Trust, 1989), pp. 34-8. 9 Tyagisananda, Aphorisms on the Gospel o f D ivin e L o ve or the N arada Bhakti Sutras (Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1972), pp. 82-3. 10 Fuller, The Cam phor Flame, p. 165. 1 1 Neeval, Yamuna's Vedanta and Pancaratra, ch. 1. 12 For an account of Nammalvar and the place of his text in the Sri Vaisnava tradition, see Carman and Narayanan, The Tamil Veda (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1989). 13 Mumme, ‘Haunted by Sankaras Ghost: The Srivaisnava Interpretation of Bhagavad Gita 18.66’, in Timm (ed.), Texts in Context: Traditional Hermeneutics in South Asia (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1992), pp. 69-84. 14 Stoler-Miller, L o ve Song o f the D ark L o rd (N ew York: Columbia University Press, 1977). 15 For some good translations of these poets see Bhattacharya, L o ve Songs o f Chandidas (London; Allen and Unwin, 1967); Bhattacharya, L o ve Songs o f Vidyapati (London: Allen and Unwin, 1963); Dim ock & Levertov, In Praise o f Krishna: Songs from the Bengali (N ew York: Anchor Books, 1967). 16 Bhattacharya, L o ve Songs o f Chandidas, p. 107. 17 Majumdar, Caitanya: His L ife and Doctrine (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1969). 18 Siegel, Sacred and Profane Dimensions o f L o ve in Indian Traditions as Exem plified in The Gltagovinda o f Jayad eva (O xford University Press, 1978), pp. 137-77. 290

Noirs to pages 140-6 19 For an account of the Sahajiyas and the hauls, see Dasgupta, Obscure Religious Cults (Calcutta: M ukhopadhyay, 1969); Dimock, The Place o f the H idden Moon (Chicago University Press, 1966). 20 Bon Maharaj (trs.), The Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu vol. 1 (Vrindaban: Institute of Oriental Philosophy, 1965). 21 See Joshi, Le rituel de la dévotion krsnaite (Pondicherry: Institut Français d’Indologie, 1959), pp. 32-3. 22 Haberman, Acting as a Way o f Salvation: A Study o f Ràgânuga Bhakti (N ew York and O xford: O xford U niversity Press, 1988), pp. 87-93. 23 Barz, The Bhakti Sect ofVallabhdcarya (Faridabad: Thompson Press, 1 976). 24 Williams, The N e w Face o f H induism , the Swam inarayan Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1984). 25 Wilson (trs.), The L o ve o f Krishna: The Krsnakarnamrta o f Lilasuka Bilvam angala (Leiden: Brill, 1973). 26 See Deleury, The Cult o f Vitoba (Poona: Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, i960); Ranade, Mysticism in India: The Poet-Saints o f Maharashtra (Albany: S U N Y Press, reprint 1983). 27 Tulpe (trs.), Jn an eshw ar’s Gita: A Rendering o f the Jnaneshw ari (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1989). 28 For an excellent personal account of the pilgrimage see Karve, ‘On the Road: A Maharashtrian Pilgrimage’, in Zelliott & Bernsten (eds.), Essays on Religion in Maharashtra (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1988). A lso Fuller, The Cam phor Flame, pp. 2 10 -14 . 29 For an account of Raidas, see Callewaert & Friedlander, The L ife and Works o f Raidas (Delhi: Manohar, 1992). 30 Vaudeville, Kabir, vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974). 31 Hess & Singh, The Bijak o f K abir (San Francisco: N orth Point Press, 1 9 8 3 ) , p. 42 .

32 Van der Veer, Gods on Earth: The M anagement o f Religious Experience and Identity in a North Indian Pilgrimage Centre (London: Athlone, 1988). Fuller, The Cam phor Flame, pp. 163-9. 33 Hill, The H oly Lake o f the Acts o f Ram a, an English translation o f Tulsi D as’s Ramacaritmanasa (Calcutta: O xford University Press, 1952).

291

Notes topages 14 6 -5 6

34 Lamb, ‘ Personalizing Ram ayan: Ramnamis and Their Use of the Ramacaritmanas\ in Richman, M any Ram ay anas, p. 237. 35 Scheckner, The Future o f R itual, pp. 13 1-8 3 .

7 Saiva and tantric religion 1 See Madan, Non-renunciation (Delhi: O xford University Press, 1 9 8 7 ) , pp. 1 7 - 4 7 .

2 Benedict, Patterns o f Culture ( 19 3 4 ; London: RKP, reprint 1 9 7 1 ) , pp. 56-8. 3 Siva-Purana, trs. A Board of Scholars (Delhi: A IT M , 1970) 2.16 -43. 4 O ’Flaherty, Asceticism and Eroticism in the M ythology o f Siva (Oxford U niversity Press, 1973). Reissued as Siva, the Erotic Ascetic (N ew York: O xford University Press, 1981). 5 The linga is often described as an ‘aniconic’ representation, meaning that it is not a human representation. The linga can therefore be described as an ‘aniconic icon’ in the sense of ‘icon’ as a ‘spiritualization5 of a physical form. 6 Tait.Sam. 4 .5 .1 ; Vaj.Sam. 16 .1 - 6 6 . 7

Ja b .U . 3.66.

8 See G o n d a , ‘T h e Satarudriya\ in N a g a to m i, M a tila l and M a sso n (eds.), Sanskrit and Indian Studies: Essays in H onour o f D aniel H. H. Ingalls (D o rd re c h t: R e id e l, 19 79 ), p p . 7 5 - 9 1 . 9 Svet.U. 6.23. 10 Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, Saivism and M inor Religious Systems (19 13 ; N ew Delhi: Asian Educational Services, reprint 1983), p. 165. 1 1 Sribha. 2.2.37. 12 Kur.Pur. 1.14.30 ; 1.20.69. 13 Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions’; A . Sanderson, ‘Purity and Power Am ong the Brahmans of Kashm ir’, in Carrithers, Collins and Lukes (eds.), The Category o f the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy, History (Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 190-8. 14 Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions,’ pp. 664-90. 15 Mbh. santiparvan 349.64. 16 Chakraborti, Pasupata-sutram with Pancartha-bhasya o f Kaundinya. 17 Kur.Pur. 1.5 1.10 . 18 Pas.Su. 1.9.

292

N otes to pages 15 6 -6 6

19 Kur.Pur. 1.14.30; 1.20.69. 20 Pas.Su. 4.1-24 . 2 1 Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions*, pp. 665-6. 22 Manu 11.7 3 . 23 O ’Flaherty, Siva, the Erotic Ascetic, pp. 12 3-2 7 . Kramrisch, The Presence o f Siva (Princeton University Press, 1981), pp. 259-65. 24 Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions’, pp. 667-9. 25 Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism : Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors (London: Serindia Publications, 1987), pp. 152-60. 26 On the obscure terminological symbolism or ‘intentional language’ (sandhabhâsa) of the Tantras see Bharati, The Tantric Tradition (London: Rider, 1970), pp. 164-84. 27 One text which does is the M rgendrâgama. See Brunner-Lachaux, Mrgendrâgama: section des rites et section du comportement (Pondicherry: Institut Français d’ Indologie, 1985). 28 Bharati, The Tantric Tradition, p. 27: ‘tantric sadhana follows a single pattern, Vajrayâna Buddhist and Hindu tantric sadhana is indistinguishable, in spite of the immense disparity between the two philosophies’ . 29 Norm an, The Elder's Verses, vol. 11 (London: Luzac, 19 71), p. 123. 30 Brunner, ‘U n Tantra du nord: le Netra Tantra’, Bulletin de VEcole française d'Extrêm e-O rient, 61 (1974), pp. 125-96. 31 Sanderson, ‘Purity and Pow er’, pp. 19 0 -216 ; D yczkow ski, The Doctrine o f Vibration (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1987), pp. 14 - 17 . 32 D yczkow ski, The Canon o f the Saivâgam a and the Kubjikâtantras o f the Western Kaula Tradition (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1988), pp. 3 1- 2 . 33 S an d e rso n , ‘ S aivism and the T an tric T ra d itio n s ’ , p. 668.

34 Brunner-Lachaux, Somasambhupaddhati, 3 vols. (Pondicherry: Institut Français d’Indologie, 1963, 1968, 1977). See also Davis, R itual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshipping Siva in M edieval India (Princeton University Press, 1991). 35 Sp.Nir. p. 50. 36 S a n d e rso n , ‘ S aivism and the T an tric T ra d itio n s ’ , p. 668.

37 Parry, ‘The Aghori Ascetics of Benares’, in Burghardt and Cantille (eds.), Indian Religion (London: Curzon, 1985), pp. 51-78 ; Parry, ‘Sacrificial Death and the Necrophagus Ascetic’, in Parry and Bloch (eds), D eath and the Regeneration o f L ife (Cambridge University 293

Notes to pages 166-74 Press, 1982); Parry, Death in Banaras (Cambridge University Press, i 994)> PP- 2 J I - 7 1 / 1 38 See Padoux, L e Coeur de la Yogini. Yogimhrdaya a v e c le commentaire D ipika d ’Am rtananda (Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, 1994), pp. 8-10. 39 F or both forms of Trika ritual see Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions’, pp. 672-74; Sanderson, ‘Mandala and the Agamic Identity of the Trika of Kashm ir’, in Padoux (ed.), Mantras et diagrammes rituels dans VHindouisme (Paris: C N R S , 1986), pp. 169-207; Flood, Body and Cosmology in Kashmir Saivism (San Francisco: Mellen Research U niversity Press, 1993), pp. 269-301. 40 Madan, T h e ideology of the Householder among the Kashmiri Pandits’, in Madan (ed.), Way o f L ife, King, Householder; Renouncer (Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1982), pp. 223-49. For a modern exponent of the Pratyabhijna, see Lakshman Jee, Kashm ir Saivism: The Secret Supreme (Albany: Universal Saiva Trust, 1988). 41 Peterson, Poems to S iva, The Hymns o f the Tamil Saints (Princeton University Press, 1989), pp. 13 -14 . 42 Feudalism as a model for understanding south Asia has, however, been questioned. See Stein, Peasant, State and Society in M edieval South India. 43 Zvelebil, The Smile o f M urugan,pp. 185-95. 44 For an account of Kerala Tantrism see Unni, ‘ Introduction’, in Ganapati Sastri (ed.), Tantra Samuccaya o fN arayan a (Delhi: N ag Publishers, 1990), pp. 1-7 5 . 45 Ramanujan, Speaking o f Siva (Harmonds worth: Penguin, 1973), p. 134. 46 Turner, The R itual Process (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), pp. 80-154. 47 Ramanujan, Speaking o f Siva , pp. 6 1-5 . 8 The Goddess and Sakta traditions 1 Gross, ‘Hindu Female Deities as a Resource for the Contem porary Rediscovery of the Goddess’, Jou rn al o f the American Academ y o f Religion, 46.3 (1978), pp. 269-92. 2 O ’Flaherty, Women, Androgynes and O ther M ythical Beasts, p. 91. For a very good general account of the Goddess and goddesses, see Kinsley, H indu Goddesses: Visions o f the Fem inine in the H indu Religious Tradition (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of

294

Notes to pages ¡7 5 -^ 7 California Press, 1986). See also N, N. IllutU i h.iryya, History of the Sakta Religion (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1974); Payne, The Saktas (Calcutta: Y M C A Publ ishing I louse, 1933). 3 O ’Flaherty, Women, Androgynes and O ther Mythical Beasts, p. 91. 4 Vijnanananda (trs.), The Srim ad D evi Bhagavatam , Sacred Books of the Hindus 26 (N ew Delhi: Oriental Books, reprint 1977). See C . M. Brown, The Triumph o f the Goddess: Canonical Models and Theological Visions o f the D evi-B hagavata Purana (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1990), for a comparison of the myth in other Puranas. 5 R V 1 .113 .19 ; 2.27.1; 7.60.5; 8.47.9. 6 Sat.Br. 2.2.1.19 ; 3.2.3.6. 7 R V 10.59. 8 Sat.Br. 5.2.3.3. 9 K in sle y , H indu Goddesses, pp. 107-9; I 52“ 510 Hiltebeitel, The Cult o f D raupadl, vol. 1 (University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 318. 1 1 Dbh.Pur. v.23.60. See C. M. Brown, The Triumph o f the Goddess, p.

119 .

12 Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions’, pp. 674-8. 13 Goudriaan and Gupta, H indu Tantric and Sakta Literature (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981), pp. 79-80. 14 D yczkow ski, The Canon o f the Saivdgam a, pp. 87-92. 15 Sanderson, ‘Saivism and the Tantric Traditions’, p. 687. 16 Ibid. p. 689; Goudriaan and Gupta, H indu Tantric and Sakta Literature, pp. 59-64. 17 Goudriaan and Gupta, H indu Tantric and Sakta Literature, pp. 64-8. This text was made comparatively famous by an early British exponent and scholar of Tantrism, Arthur Avalon (alias Sir John Woodroffe), who published it in his Tantrik Texts series (no. 8, Madras: Ganesh & Co., 1918). 18 Sastri and Srinivasa Ayyangar (trs.), Saundaryalahari o f Sri Sam kara-Bhagavatpada (Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1 977)5 Shastri, The Lalitasaharanama with the Sauhhagyahhaskarahhasya o f Bhaskararaya (Bombay: N irnaya Sagar, 1935). A lso see Brooks, The Secret o f the Three Cities: An Introduction to Sakta Hinduism (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1990).

2 95

Notes to pages 1 tij-9 4

19 Sec Bharati, H indu Views and Ways and the H m du-M uslim Interface (Santa Barbara: R ossE rickson, 1982), pp. 23-40. 20 Sanderson, ‘The Visualization of the Deities of the Trika’, in Padoux (éd.), LTm age D ivin e: culte et méditation dans l'Hindouism e (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1990), pp. 80-2. 21 Padoux, Vâc, the Concept o f the Word in Selected H indu Tantras (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1990), pp. 105-24. 22 O ’Flaherty, The Law s o f M anu (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991) 10.88. 23 TA 29.97-8. 24 Brooks, The Secret o f the Three Cities, p. 28. 25 Sanderson, ‘Purity and Pow er’, pp. 190-8. 26 Eliade, Yoga, p. 258. 27 BA U 4.3.21: ‘A s a man embraced by his beloved knows neither the outer nor the inner, so a man embraced by the essence of wisdom knows neither the outer nor the inner/ (M y translation.) 28 See Bharati, The Tantric Tradition, pp. 236-40. 29 This picture of the socially subordinate role of women has been recently challenged with regard to Buddhist Tantra. See Shaw, Passionate Enlightenm ent: Women in Tantric Buddhism (Princeton University Press, 1994). 30 Sanderson, ‘Purity and Pow er’, p. 202; Gupta, ‘Women in the Saiva/Sàkta Ethos’, in Leslie, Roles and Rituals fo r H indu Women, pp. 19 3 -2 10 . 31 Kau. 16 .7-10 . 32 Dasgupta, Obscure Religious Cults’, Dimock, The Place o f the H idden Moon. 33 Das, ‘Problematic Aspects of the Sexual Rituals of the Bauls of Bengal’, Jo u rn al o f the American Oriental Society, 112 .3 (1992), pp. 388-432. 34 O ’Flaherty, H indu Myths (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975), pp. 2 5 0 -1. 35 K B T , p . 24. 36 Pocock, Body, M ind and Wealth: A Study o f B e lie f and Practice in an Indian Village (Oxford: Blackwell, 1973), p. 42; Eliade, Yoga, pp. 349- 5°296

Nates ta pages 19 4 - 2 10 37 Fuller, The Cam phor Flame, pp. 91 1. 38 Babb, The D ivine Hierarchy (New York: Colum bia University Press, 1975), p. 128. 39 Hiltebeitel, The Cult o f Draupadi.

9 Hindu ritual 1 Staal, Rules Without M eaning .

2 Ap.Gr.S. 1 . 1 . 1 1 . 3 Manu 2.9. 4 Turner, The Forest o f Symbols (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1970), p. 93. 5 For this reason Pierre Bourdieu has referred to rites of passage as ‘rites of institution’ . Bourdieu, Language and Sym bolic Power, pp. 117 -2 6 . 6 See D u v v u r y , Play , Symbolism and Ritual: A Study o f Tamil Brahman

Womens Rites o f Passage ( N e w Y o r k : P e te r L a n g , 19 9 1) . 7 Manu 2.16; 26; 29. P an d ey , H indu Samskaras (D e lh i: M L B D , 1969). 8 Duvvury, Play, Symbolism and Ritual, p. 182. 9 As.Gr.S. 1.19 .1- 7 ; M anu 2.36. 10 M anu 2.67. 1 1 L e slie , Roles and Rituals fo r H indu Women, p . 1.

12 Duvvury, Play, Symbolism and Ritual, p. 229. 13 Manu 3 .4 - 5 .

14 L. Dumont, H om o Hierarchicus, p. 119 . 15 Ibid. p. n o . 16 Parry, D eath in Banaras, pp. 15 1-9 0 . 1 7 K n ip e , ‘ Sap in d ik a ran a: T h e H in d u R ite o f E n t r y in to H e a v e n ’ , in R e y n o ld s and W au gh (eds.), Religious Encounters with Death ( U n iv e rs ity P a rk : P e n n sy lv a n ia State U n iv e r s it y P re ss, 19 7 7 ), p p.

111-2 4 . 18 See F re e m a n , Purity and Violence: Sacred P ow er in the Teyyam

Worship o f M alabar, P h .D . d isse rta tio n (P h ilad e lp h ia: U n iv e r s it y o f P e n n sy lv a n ia , 1 9 9 1) , p p . 1 1 3 - 1 4 .

19 See O ’Flaherty, Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, pp. x v iii- x x , 3 - 3 7 .

20 Fuller, The Cam phor Flam e, pp. 64-6. 297

Notes to pages 2 ¡0 - 2 1 21 See Vaidyanathan, Sri Krishna: The Lord o/ ( ¡uruvayur (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1992). 22 See V. Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-structure (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), pp. 80-154. 23 See Eck, Banaras: City o f Light (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984). 24 F or a first-hand account of the Kumbha Mela in 1959 see Bharati, The Ochre Robe (Santa Barbara: Ross Erikson, 1980), pp. 22 8 -31. 25 Daniel, F lu id Signs, pp. 245-78. 26 Pingree,Jyotihsdstra. Astral and Mathematical Literature, A H istory of Indian Literature 4 (Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981). 27 Davis, R itu al in an Oscillating Universe, pp. 10 1-9 . 28 Berreman, H indus o f the Himalayas: Ethnography and Change, 2nd edn (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: U niversity of California Press, 1972), pp. 378- 929 Girard, Violence and the Sacred, p. 1. 30 Hiltebeitel, ‘O n the Handling of the Meat, and Related Matters, in Two South Indian Buffalo Sacrifices’, L'U om o, 9.1/2 (1985), pp. V i - 9931 Hiltebeitel, ‘O n the Handling of the Meat, and Related Matters’, p. 19 1. 32 Lincoln, M yth, Cosmos and Society: Indo-European Themes o f Creation and Destruction (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1986), p. 186. 33 O ’Flaherty, O ther People's Myths: The C ave o f Echoes, (N ew York: Macmillan, 1988), p. 99. 34 Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, pp. 117 -2 6 . 35 See Obeyesekere, Medusa's H air (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1984) for an account of possession as both cultural formation and an expression of personal biography. 36 Freeman, ‘Performing Possession: Ritual and Consciousness in the Teyyam C om plex’, in Bruckner, Lutze and M alik (eds.), Flags o f Flame; Studies in South Asian Folk Culture (N ew Delhi, Manohar Publishers, 1993), p. 116 . 37 See Alper (ed.), Understanding Mantras (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1989), PP- 3" 538 Ap.S.S. 2 4 .1.8 -15 .

298

Notes to pages 22 2-34 39

Manu 2.8 5.

40 R V 3.62.10. 41 Tait.Up. 1.8. 42

M andukya Upanisad 1 in Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads , pp. 6 9 3 - 7 0 5 .

43 Killingly, ‘ Om: the sacred syllable in the Veda’, in Lipner (ed.), A N et Cast Wide: Investigations into Indian Thought In M emory o f D a v id Friedm an (Newcastle upon Tyne: Grevatt and Grevatt, 1987), p. 14.

10 Hindu theology and philosophy 1 Halbfass, India and Europe, A n Essay in Understanding (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1988), pp. 263-86. 2

Ibid. p. 3 5 .

3 R V 10.129. Translation by O Tlaherty, The R ig Veda, pp. 25-6. 4 Ch.U. 6 .1.1-2 . Translation by Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads, p p . 4 4 7 -9 . 5 R V 10 .125. 6 Ch.U. 2.23.3; ^•I -3- See Coward and Raja, The Philosophy o f the Grammarians, Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies (Princeton University Press, 1990), pp. 10 1-5 . 7 Ch.U. 2.23.3. 8 Vakpad. 1 .1 3 1 . 9 C ow ard and Raja, The Philosophy o f the Grammarians, pp. 4 0 -1. 10 Ibid. pp. 1 0 - 1 1 . See also Coward, The Sphota Theory o f Language (Delhi: M L B D , 1986); Raja, Indian Theories o f Meaning (Madras: A dyar Library and Research Centre, 1963), pp. 95-148. 1 1 On these three positions see Pereira, H indu Theology: Themes, Texts and Structures (Delhi: M L B D , reprint 1991), pp. 37-40. 12 Clooney, Theology A fter Vedanta: A n Experim ent in Comparative Theology (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1993), p. 21. 13 See Larson and Bhattacharya, Sam khya; A Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy (Delhi: M L B D , 1987), pp. 3 -4 1. 14 Ch.U. 7.25; 6.2-4. 15 Bh.G . 7.4. 16 Sam.Kar. 20 -1. 17 Ibid. 62-4.

299

Notes to pages 2 3 6 -4 1 18 Rukmani, Yogavdrttika of Vijñdnabhikfu, vol. 1 (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1981), pp. 9 -12 . 19 See Clooney, Theology A fter Vedanta, pp. 23-30. 20 Jha, Purva Mimdmsa in Its Sources (Bañaras Hindu University Press, 1942). There are English translations by Jha of Kumárila Bhattas Slokavdrtika (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1907) and Kumárila s Tantravdrtika, 2 vols. (Delhi: M L B D , reprint 1983). 21 Halbfass, Tradition and Reflection, p. 32. 22 Clooney, Thinking Ritually; Rediscovering the Pürva Mimdmsa o f Ja im in i (Vienna: De N obili Research Library, 1990), p. 192. 23 Raja, Indian Theories o f M eaning, pp. 15 1- 7 3 . 24 See Clooney, ‘Binding the Text, Vedanta as Philosophy and Com m entary’, in Rimm (ed.), Texts in Context, Traditional Hermeneutics in South Asia (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1992), pp. 47-68; Halbfass, H um an Reason and Vedic Revelation in the Philosophy o f Sankara, Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 9, (Reinbeck: Verlag fiir Orientalistische Fachpublikation, 1983); Murty, Revelation and Reason in A dvaita Vedanta (Delhi: M L B D , 1974). 25 Potter, A dvaita Vedanta Up to Samkara and his Pupils, Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies 3 (Delhi: M L B D , 1981), p. 6. 26 Ibid. p. 116 . F or translations into English of the Brahm a Sütra Bhasya, see Thibaut, Vedanta Sütras, SBE 34, 38 (Delhi: A V F Books, 1987); Gambirananda, Brahmasütrabhasya (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1965). 27 Bharati, H indu Views and Ways and the H indu-M uslim Interface, pp. 23-40. N . Brown, The Saundaryalahari or Flood o f Beauty (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1958). 28 B SB 1.1 in Thibaut, Vedanta Sutras, p. 3 (with some amendment of the translation). 29 See Halbfass, Tradition and Reflection, p. 302. 30 Granoff, Philosophy and Argum ent in Late Vedanta (Boston and London: Reidel, 1978). See Dasgupta, History o f Indian Philosophy, vol. 11 (1922; Delhi: M L B D , 1988) for a history of the later Advaitins. 31 Thibaut, The Vedanta Sütras with Comm entary by Ram anuja, SBE 48 (Delhi: M L B D , reprint 1976); Van Buitenen, Ram anuja on the Bhagavadgita: A Condensed Rendering o f his Gitabhdsya with Copious Notes and an Introduction (Delhi: M L B D , 1974); Van

300

Notts to pages 2 4 3 -5 2 Buitenen, Ramanuja's Vedantasa nig rah a (Poona: Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, 1 956). 32 Thibaut, The Vedanta Sutras with Comm entary by Ram anuja, p. 436. 33 For Ramanujas theology see Carman, The Theology o f Ram anuja: An Essay in Interreligious Understanding (N ew Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1974). 34 See Hunt Overzee, The Body D ivin e, The Sym bol o f the Body in the Work o f Teilhard de Chardin and Ram anuja (Cambridge University Press, 1992). 35 See Dasgupta, History o f Indian Philosophy, vol. 11, pp. 175-9. 3 6 The A nuvyâkhyâna is translated into French by Siauve, La voie vers la connaissance de D ieu selon VAnuvyâkhyâna de M adhva (Pondicherry: Institut Français dTndologie, 1957). The Gïtà commentary is translated into English by Rau, The Bhagavad Gïtâ and Commentaries According to S ri M adw acharya’s Bhàsyas (Madras: Minerva Press, 1906). 37 Rau, The Bhagavad Gïtâ and Commentaries, pp. vii-xviii. 38 For a thorough account of Madhva’s teaching see Dasgupta, A History o f Indian Philosophy, vol. iv , pp. 10 1-2 0 3 . 39 For Saiva Siddhânta theology see Dunuwila, Saiva Siddhânta Theology (Delhi: M L B D , 1985); Dasgupta, A History o f Indian Philosophy, vol. v ; Dhavam ony L o ve o f G o d according to Saiva Siddhânta (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 19 71). F or Kashmir Saiva theology see D yczkow ski, The Doctrine o f Vibration, and The Stanzas on Vibration (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1992). 40 See Flood, Body and Cosmology in Kashm ir Saivism , pp. 5 5-74. 41 See Masson and Patwardhan, Sântarasa and Abhinavagupta's Philosophy o f Aesthetics (Poona: Deccan College 1969); Gnoli, The Aesthetic Experience According to A bhinavagupta, Serie Orientale Roma 9 (Rome: Is M E O , 1956). 42 See, for example, Chatterjee (ed.), Contemporary Indian Philosophy (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1974). 43 Radhakrishnan, Eastern Religions A n d Western Thought (Oxford University Press, 1939), pp. 20 -1.

11 Hinduism and the modern world 1 For an account of R o y and his w ork see Craw ford, Ram Mohan R oy: Social, Political and Religious Reform in Nineteenth Century India 301

Notes to pages (New York: Paragon House, 1987); Killingly, Rammohun Roy in H indu and Christian Tradition: The /’cape Lectures 1990. Newcastle upon Tyne: Grevatt and Grevatt, 1993. 2 Kopf, The Brahm o Samäj and the Shaping o f the M odern Indian M ind (Princeton University Press, 1978). 3 Collet, The L ife and Letters o f Raja Rammohan R oy (Calcutta: Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, 1962), p. 471. 4 Richards (ed.), A Sourcebook o f M odern H induism (London and Dublin: Curzon Press, 1985), p. 56. 5 For an account of Ramakrishna’s life see Müller, Räm akrishna, His Life and Sayings (London: Longmans, Green and C o., 1900); Nikhilananda, The Gospel o f Sri Rämakrishna (N ew York: Rämakrishna-Vivekänanda Center, 1980); and H ixon, Great Swan (Boston: Shambala, 1993). For an interesting, if somewhat reductionistic, psychological analysis of Rämakrishna, see Sil, Räm akrishna Paramahamsa, A Psychological Profile (Leiden: Brill, 1 991). 6 See Bharati, ‘The Hindu Renaissance and its Apologetic Pattern’, Jou rn al o f Asian Studies, 29.2 (1970), pp. 267-87; also Bharati, The Ochre R obe, p. 116 . 7 See Sharpe, Western Images o f the B hagavad Gita (London: Duckworth, 1985), p. 68. 8 Gandhi, A n Autobiography or The Story o f M y Experiments with Truth (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982). The standard biography of Gandhi in eight volumes is Tendulkar, M ahatma: L ife and Work o f Mohandas Karam chand G andhi (Bombay: V. K. Javeri, 19 5 1-4 ). For a one-volume biography see Fischer, The L ife o f M ahatma G andhi (Bombay: Bharatya Vidya Bhavon, 1959). 9 Quoted in Richards, The Philosophy o f G an dhi (London and Dublin: Curzon Press, 1982), p. 48. 10

Bharati, H indu Views and Ways and the H indu-M uslim Interface, pp. 1 7 - 1 8 .

1 1 On origins of the Mahä Sabhä see Gordon, ‘The Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress, 19 15 to 1926’, M odern Asian Studies, 9.2 (1975), pp. 14 5 -7 1. 12 See Anderson and Damle, The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayam sevak Sangh and H indu Revivalism (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987).

302

Notts to pages 263-69 13 Graham, H indu Nationalism and Indian Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. iN. 14 For an account of the Jana SaAgh and BJP see ibid. 15 See, for example, the graphic accounts of Shiv Sena violence in Manushi, 74-5 (1993), pp. 22-32. 16 Guardian, 7 December 1992, p. 22. 17 See Manushi, 79 (Novem ber-Decem ber 1994). 18 Gold, ‘Rational Action and Uncontrolled Violence: Explaining Hindu Communalism’, Religion, 22 (1991), pp. 357-76. A lso Gold, ‘Organized Hinduism: From Vedic Truth to Hindu N urture’, in Martz and A ppleby (eds.), Fundamentalisms O bserved (University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 531-9 3. 19 Nesbitt and Jackson, ‘Sketches of Formal Hindu N urture’, in H ayward (ed.), World Religions in Education: Religions in Britain, SH A P Mailing (London: Commission for Racial Equality, 1986), p. 25. 20 Knott, ‘Hinduism in Britain’, in H ayw ard (ed.) World Religions in Education: Religions in Britain, S H A P Mailing (London: Commission for Racial Equality, 1986), p. 10. 21 For studies of Hindus in diaspora, see, for example, Knott, Hinduism in Leeds (University of Leeds Press, 1986); Vertovec, H indu Trinidad (London: Macmillan, 1992). 22

See Kumar, The History o f Doing: An Illustrated Account o f M ovements fo r Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1990 (London: Verso Press, 1994).

23 Bharati, ‘The Hindu Renaissance and Its Apologetic Patterns’, p. 273. 24 Roth and Bothlingk, St. Petersburg Worterbuch (Delhi: M L B D , reprint 1991). 25 Lanman, A Sanskrit Reader; Text and Vocabulary and Notes (Massachussets: Harvard University Press, 1884). 26 See Staal (ed.), A R eader on the Sanskrit Grammarians (Cambridge, Mass., and London: M IT Press, 1973), pp. 138-272. 27 Williams, Parameswara-jnyana-goshti: A D ialogue o f the Know ledge o f the Supreme L ord in which are compared the claims o f Christianity and H induism (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Co., 1856). 28 For an excellent account of western scholarship and India, see Halbfass, India and Europe. 29

Ibid. p. 10 2 .

3°3

Notes to pages 2 6 9 -7 2

30 Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols and the Anti Christ (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968) pp. 56-9. 3 1 For an account of the influence of the East on Jung, see Coward, Ju n g and Eastern Thought (Albany: S U N Y Press, 1984). 32 Melton, ‘The Attitude of Americans Toward Hinduism from 1883 to 1983 with Special Reference to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (unpublished paper, 1985); Riepe, The Philosophy o f India and Its Impact on American Thought (Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1970). 33 Jayakar,/. Krishnamurti: A Biography (Delhi: Penguin, 1987). 34 See for example Capra, The Tao o f Physics - A n Exploration o f the Parallels Between M odern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (London: Flamingo Paperback, 1983). 35 Ghose, The L ife D ivin e (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1973); Ghose, Synthesis o f Yoga (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 19 71); Ghose, On H im self Com piled from Notes and Letters (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1972). 36 M iller and M iller (eds.), The Spiritual Teaching o f Ram ana Maharshi (Boulder and London: Shambala, 1972), pp. 3 -14 . 37 Yogananda, The Autobiography o f a Yogi (London: Rider and Co., 1950). 38 J. Johnson, The Path o f the Masters: The Science o f Surat Shabd Yoga (Beas: Radha Soami Satsang, 1975). See also Juergensmeyer, Radhasoam i Reality. 39 The literature put out by these movements and teachers is vast, though there are comparatively few scholarly studies. On Rajneesh see Thompson and Heelas, The Way o f the H eart (Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1986). On Hare Krsna see Knott, M y Sweet L ord (Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1986). For Anandamayima see Das Gupta, The M other As R evealled to M e (Banaras: Shree Anandamayi Sangha, 1954). For the Maharishi, see Eban (ed.), M aharishi the Guru. The Story o f M aharishi Mahesh Yogi (Bombay: Pearl Publications, 1968). Accounts of some of these groups can be found in Barker (ed.), N e w Religious Movements: A Perspective fo r Understanding Society (N ew York: Mellen, 1982); Needham, The N e w Religions (N ew York: Crossroad Press, 1984); Hardy, ‘H o w “ Indian” are the new Indian Religions?’, Religion Today. A Jou rn al o f Contemporary Religions, 1.2/3 (O ct.-D ec. 1984), pp. 15 -16 . On the idea of ‘holy madness’ in the teaching and life of many western gurus see Feuerstein, H oly Madness (N ew York: Arkana, 1990). 304

Plate i A Saiva holy man by the Kanyakum arl Temple, Tamilnadu

Plate 2 A mythical representation o f Patanjali, the Gram m arian and possibly the author o f the Yoga Su tra, as half man, half serpent. Siva gave him this boon so that he would not crush insects with his feet. From the Siva N ataraja Temple, Cidam baram , Tamilnadu

P late 4 Lord Krsna with Radha. A popular representation

Plate j L ord Siva the ascetic. A popular representation

P late 6 Siva Nataraja, the Dancing Siva. Bronze, c. 1 100 c e

Plate 7 A Siva liñga covered in petals, Cidam baram

Plate 8 Lord Ganesa This unusual twelfth- or thirteenth-century representation from O rissa, shows him with five heads, with his Sakti seated upon his knee

I___________________________________________________________________________

Plate 9 The Goddess D urga slaying the buffalo demon. Siva Nataraja Temple, Cidam baram

Plate 10 The ferocious Goddess Cam unda seated upon a corpse. O rissa, eighth or ninth century c e

Plate

ii

Hanuman, the monkey-god

Plate 12 The Descent o f the Goddess Ganga or A rju na’s Penance, Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu, seventh century c e In this rock carving we can see an ascetic (Arjuna?) practising austerity (tapas) and representations o f various divine beings, including N agas in the Ganges itself

.

Plate 13 The Kapalesvari Temple, Madras

Plate 15 A young girl offering a flower to Lord Krsna’s footprint

Plate 16 A serpent (naga) shrine, Bhagamandala, Karnataka

Plate iy Teyyam Shrine housing three teyyam deities, Nileshwaram , Kerala

Plate 1 8 Teyyam Shrine, housing the two teyyam deities. Kerala

Plate 20 The teyyam deity Visnumurti

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327

Index As'valayana Grhya Sütra 38, 204 As'valayana Srauta Sütra 38, 30, Asvins 47 Atharvasiras Upanisad 15 5 Atharva Veda Samhitä 36, 37, 42, 79, 222 atimärga 155, 158, 162 ätman see also self 85, 86, 95, 241, 260 Aurangzeb 143 auspicious, the 15 auspiciousness 66-7 Australia 5, 266 avatar a 1 15 - 17 , 118 of Siva 156 Avesta 30 avestan 27 Ayodhya 108, 264, 265 Ayurveda 233 Babji Masj id 264-5 Badrinath 92, 213, 240 Balaräma 116 , 117 , 120 Bali 114 , 116 bandhu 36, 48, 75 Banerjee, R. D. 24 Basava 17 1, 172 Baudhäyana 38, 54, 55 Bauls 140, 191 Beatles, the 271 Bechert, Heinz 20 belief(s) 6, 7, 12, 199, 258, 264 about life after death 207-8 Benedict, Ruth 149 Bengali 27 Bengali Vaisnavism 135, 138-41 Berger, Peter 9 Berreman, G. D. 217 Besant, Annie 270 Besnagar inscription 119 Bhagavad Gita 14, 96, 107, 115 , 119 , 124-7, 136, 137, 143, 239, 240 Gandhi influenced by 259 Madhva’s commentary on 245 Sämkhya in 234 Sankara’s commentary on 240 Bhagavän 103, 114 , 124 Bhägavata(s) 119, 123-4 Bhägavata Pur ana n o , 120, 133, 140, 181 Madhva’s commentary on 245 Bhagavatl 103, 114 Bhairava 16 1, 162, 165 bhakti 11,9 6 , 103, 113 , 125, 130, 13 1, 132, ‘ 135, 138, 139, 143, 144, 173 as rejection of formal religion 13 1 ecstatic 132 in Saiva Siddhänta 162, 168-71 in Svetäsvatara-Upanisad 153 poetry 136

330

Sankara’s view of 242 Tamil culture and 129; see also Bhagavata(s), Bengali Vaisnavism, Caitanya, Sri Vaisnavasa Bhakti Sütra 133 bhakti-yoga 126, 137 Bhaktivedânta Swami Prabhupada 272 Bhandarkar Oriental Institute 105 Bhàratï 240 Bharati, Agehananda 187, 241, 367 Bharaty Vidya Bhavan 267 Bhârgava family 105, 106 Bhartrhari 228-9 Bhàskararàya 190 Bhattacharya, K. C. 248 Bhàvaviveka 240 Bhavisya Pur ana n o Bhiksâyatana 157 Bhïma 106 blooga 155 Bhojadeva 162, 247 Bhrgu 105 bhür 45, 222 bhuvas 45, 222 Biardeau, Madeleine 18, 65, 88, 89 bija 1 1 1 Bilvamangala 142 bindu 188 birth rites 200, 202, 203 BJP 263-4 Blavatsky, Madame 270 bliss 85 blood offerings 18, 165, 183-4, 208, 216 substitute blood 210 Bloomfield, L. 268 Boar avatar a 116 body 48-9, 57, 65, 77, 188-9 as chariot 95 corresponds to cosmos 48 creation of divine 160 creation of in next world 207 identified with om 84 in bhakti 133 in Ramanuja’s theology 244; see also esoteric anatomy, Kundalim Boethlink, O. and R. Roth 268 Bohm, David 270 Bourdieu, Pierre 10, 201 Brahma n o , 115 , 150, 157, 176, 179 Brahma Purâna n o Brahma Sütra 125, 139, 14 1, 154-5 Madhva’s commentary on 245 Ramanuja’s commentary on 243 Sankara’s commentary on 240 brahmacàrin 13, 62, 63 brahmacdrya; see also celibacy 62, 65, 156, 190, 260

Index Brahman(s) passim àsramas and 62-j attitudes to sex 65-6 from cosmic man 48 ideal of 58-9, 62, 64 in class hierarchy 58-61 in Kerala 41, 54, 210 king and 72-4 overseer of vedic rites 42 renouncer and 87-8 true 82 Untouchable and 61 brahman 84-5, 10 1, 126, 133, 226, 228,230, 236,239 identified with Kali 257 in Ramanuja 243, 244, 245 in Sankara 241, 242 Brâhmana(s)/Brâhmana literature 36, 37, 38, 47-8, 54, 87, 179, 200 asceticism in 94 continuation in Upanisads 83 Goddess in 179 Brahmânda Purâna n o brahmanicide 157, 165 Brahmanism 77, 90, 189 Brahmanization 148; see Sanskritization Brahmavaivarta Purâna n o Brahmo Samâj 252, 253-4, 257 Brahui 27 Brhadâranyaka Upanisad 38, 40, 44, 51, 83, 84, 86,90,94, 153, 190 Sankara’s commentary on 240 Brhaspati 45 Britain, Hindus in 6, 266 Brooks, Peter 105 Brown, N. 241 Buddha 20, 30, 61, 81, 82, 116 buddhi 233, 234, 235 Buddhism 17, 20, 48, 51, 76, 77, 81, 82, 86, 90, 92, 130, 13 1, 170, 224, 229, 232 Abhidharma 233 Buddhist Tantras 158 influence on Sankara 240 M ahàyànai59 Yogâcàra/Vijnanavàda 229, 233 Theravâda 119 , 161 Vajrayâna 159 Caitanya 135, 139 cakra 98, 99, 100, 186 cakravârtin 68 Calcutta, Kàlï temple at 182, 192 Campantar 169 camphor flame 209 Càmundà 177, 182 „ Candidas 138 Candragupta, King 52

Candragupta Maurya 52, 1 1 9 Candala 61

Carikam literature 129 -31, 180 caste/caste system 12, 58-61, 72, 73, 89, 135, 16 1,2 5 5 , 260 Goddess worship and 190, 191 rejected by bhakti 143, 169 causation, theories of 230 celibacy; see also brahmacarya 63, 65, 81, 190 Chalukyas 113 , 170 Chandogya Upanisad 40, 83, 119 , 153, 226, 233 Chinmayananda, Swami 272 Cholas 1 13 , 129, 169, 170 Christianity 6, 253, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259 Cidambaram 129, 170 Cidvilasananda, Swamini 272 Clive of India 250 Clooney, F. 231, 236, 237 Colebrooke, T. 268 colonialism 6, 19, 249 commentary, commentaries 230-1 communal religion 13 communalism 264-5 Congress Party 261, 263, 264 consciousness 94, 97, 167, 225, 228, 247 identified with Kali 168, 185-6 cosmology 48-9, 70, 10 1, m - 1 3 cremation ground 207, 214 cremation-ground asceticism 16 1, 165, 167, 17 1, 185-6 Cultural Studies 19 Cultural transformation thesis 32-3 Cuntarar 169 custom, as source of dharma 58 Da Avabhäsa Kalki 272 Dädü 144 Dädüpanthis 144 Daksa 46, 149-50, 192, 199, 219 Dalits; see also Untouchables 59, 261 datida 71 darsana (system of theology) 224 six darsanas 2 31-2 darsana/darsanam (vision of deity) 209, 210, 2 1 1, 220, 221, 224 Dasanämi(s) 92-3, 148, 240 Dasaratha 108 Däsas 34, 45 Dassera 196, 212, 216 Dattätreya 116 Davis, Richard 215 death; see also Yam'a 9, 13, 46, 92, 202, . 206-8 debts, three 13,'64 Deists 252 .

331

Index Delhi Sultanate 161 deva 13, 40, 44-7, 64, 66 devadàsï 21 o Devï 17, 174, 175-8, 18 1, 186 myth of; see also Goddess, the 175-6 Devïbhâgavata Pur ana 175, 18 1, 192 Devïmdhdtmya 175, 176, 18 1, 182 dharma n - 1 2 , 1 7, passim as cosmic principle 57 context-sensitivity of 57-8 definition of 52-3 gender roles and 65-6 idea of 52-3 in Bhagavad Gita 125-6 in Jaimini 236, 237 in Epics 105-7, I09 of king 67-9, 7 1-2 sources of 53-4 Dharma 105, 107 Dharma Castra 53, 55, 56-7, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 157, 200, 202, 254 Dharma Sütra 53, 54, 55-7, 68, 200 Dhrtaràstra 106, 107 Dhruva 46 diaspora, Hindu 266-7 dïksà 87, 122, 134 nirvana 164 samaya\ 164 see also initiation Dionysian cultures 149 Dirks, N. 73, 74 Diti 179 Divàlï/Dipàvalï 212 Draupadï 106, 107, 196 Dravidian culture 23, 31, 32, 50, 142, 196 Dravidian languages 27, 29, 31, 33, 34, 128 Dravidians 50, 87 duhkha\ see also suffering 76, 81 Dumézil, Georges 49 Dumont, Louis 61, 64, 72, 73, 89, 206 Durgâ 18, 30, 175-7, 180, 18 1, 182 blood offered to 183-4 identified with Ânandamàyï 272 identified with Kotravai 129 in Britain 266 Durgâ Püjâ 18 1, 196, 212, 216 -18 Durkheim, Emile 8, 48, 265 Duryodhana 106, 107 D uw ury, V. K. 205 Dvaita 239, 245-6 Dwarf avatdra 116 Dwarka 92, 119, 213 Dyaus 45, 47 earth 45, 233 Earth Goddess 47, 108, 116 , 179 East India Company 251 ecstasy 132, 149

332

Kkanti Vaijnavw ¿45 Eknath 143 Elamite seals 29 Eliade, Mircea 48 Elliot, Sir Walter 217 Ellora 182 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 269 emotion 133, 138 Epics 1 1 , 56, 103, 104-9, I27> 2 54 erotic mysticism 139, 141 eroticism 139, 141 esoteric anatomy 98-100 Europe 199, 266 exegesis; see also Mimamsa 231, 236 Existentialism 248 exorcism 160, 161 Fa-hsien 61 festivals 178, 195, 196, 2 1 1 - 1 2 , 215, 220 Fiji 25 5 fire-sticks 48 Fish avatdra 116 five fire sacrifice 91 five Ms 189-9 folk religion 130, 205 Frauwallner, E. 225 Freeman, R. 221 Fuller, Chris 7 1, 209 funeral rites 203, 206-8 Gandharva marriage 60 Gandharvas 112 Gandhi, Indira 263, 264 Gandhi, M. 259-61, 262, 265, 266, 267 Ganesa 14, n o , 113 , 15 1, 17 1, 266 Ganesa Caturthi 212 Ganges 80, 86, 15 1, 213, 214, 240 Ganges basin 129 Garuda 115 , 245 Garuda Pur ana n o Gaudapada 240 Gaudiya Vaisnavism see Bengali Vaisnavism Gautama 55 Gautama Dharma Sastra 202 Gautama Dharma Sutra 53 gdyatri mantra 204, 222 gender roles 12, 65-6, 109 Gheranda Samhita 98 Ghose, Aurobindo 270-1 ghosts 206-7 Gilgamesh 30 Gingee Royal Fort 217 Ginsberg, Alan 271 Gitagovinda 138 Godavari 213 Goddess, the passim sacred sites of 192-3

Index sacrificc to 183-4 tantric worship of 1H4-93 tooth and breast goddesses 174 traditions of 180 village goddesses 193-6 worshipped by king 68 Godse, N. 261 Gombrich, Richard 13, 20, 80, 81 gopi(s) 120, 14 1, 142 Gorakhnath 98 Gosvamins 140 grace 93, 125, 126, 137, 14 1, 144, 145, 153, 156, 163, 195, 2 11, 246 gramadevata 198 Grammarian School 227-9, 2 4 ^ great sayings 242 great tradition 128 Greek invasions 51 grhastha see householder grhya rites 41, 52, 200 Grhya Sutras 54, 55, 67, 200, 201 Guha, Ranajit 39 Guhyakall/Guhyesvari 166, 186 Gujerati 27 guna 59, n o , 234-5 Gupta period/dynasty 51, 52, 54, 56, 109, n o , 123, 124, 154 guru 18, 62, 10 1, 134, 142, 153, 159, 189, 222, 240 in West 269-73 gurukula 255 Guruvayur 210, 2 11 Guruvayurappan 210

of bliss 85 of patronage 170 of tantric systems 159 Hiltebeitel, Alf 196, 217 Hindi 27, 144, 146, 255 Hindu Mahàsabhà 262 Hindu Renaissance 250-1 Hindu State 52, 262 Hindu trinity 116 , 15 1 Hinduism coherence of 88, 200 defined 6-8 Global 250, 265-8, 273 origins of 23-4, 50 pupillary succession 134 western construction of 19-20 Hindutva 262 Hiranyakasipu 116 Hiranyakesin 38, 54 historiography 20-1 Holi 212 homa 40, 209 homology 48-9 homosexuality 60 horse sacrifice 22, 44, 52, 83 botr priest 42, 79 householder passim attitudes to renouncers 148 attitudes to sex 65 king as ideal 67-8 renouncers and 64, 87-90 human sacrifice 41, 52, 184, 218

Halbfass, W. 60, 225 Hanuman 108, 145 Harappa 24, 25, 27 Hardwar 213 Hardy, F. 130 Hare Krsna movement 139, 272-3 Hare Krsna mantra 141 Harijans; see Untouchables 59, 217, 260 Harivamsa 120 Hastings, Warren 124 hatha-yoga 96-100 Hathayogapradipika 98 Hayagriva 116 heaven 45, 46, 115 , 208, 237 Heesterman, J. 64, 72-3, 74, 87, 88, 89 Hegel, F. 269 Heliodorus 119 hell 64, 112 Herder, J. G. 269 hermit see vanaprastha Hesse, H. 269 hierarchy, caste/social 57, 59-61, 218 cosmic 58, 112 , 160, 188-9

icon of deity 10, 14, 115 , 118 , 132, 15 1, 194, 208, 209, 210, 2 11, 215, 220, 221 immortality 46 Inden, Ronald 19-20, 32, 69, 70, 73 India 5, 112 , 250, 256, 258, 261, 262, 265, 266, 267, 268, 272 individualism 80-1 Indo-European people 23 ideology 31 languages 27, 31 Indology 19, 24, 268, 269 Indra 30, 45, 46, 47, 50, 68, 100, 176 Indus valley civilization 24-30 language 27, 33 script 27, 29, 33 temple rituals 28 initiation; see also dïksâ and upanayana 58, 62, 203, 204-5 Isanasivagurudeva-paddhati 17 1 Islam 145, 251, 255, 256, 257, 259 ista-devatà 215 Isvarakrsna 234 Itihâsa Purana\ see also Epics 104

333

Index Jagannäth 14, 114 , 139, 210, 2 11, 213 Jaimini 236, 237, 239 Jainism 17, 48, 76, 81, 82, 86, 90, 91, 102, 13 1, 170, 224, 232 non-violence of 261 speculation of 232 Tantras of 15 8 Jajmäni system 72 Jalandhara 193 Jamison, S. 40 Jana Sangh 263 Janabai 144 Janaka 84, 108 Janakpur 135, 145 jap a 141 Jarrige, Jean-Fran^oise 25 Jätakas 61 jäti; see caste 58-61 Jayadeva 138 Jayadrathayämala 185 Jayäkhya Samhitä 122 Jesus Christ 257 jiva 208, 244 jivanm ukti 92 jnäna 81, 82, 94, 96 jnäna-yoga 127 Jnänesvara 143, 144 Johnson, J. 271 Jones, Sir William 56, 268 Judaism 6, 259 Jung, C. G. 269 jurisprudence 67 Kablr 135, 144, 145 Kablrpanthis 144 Kaikeyi 108 Kailäsa, Mount 151 kaivalya 97, 234 Kälämukha(s) 15 2 ,15 4 , 155, 157-8, 172 Kälasamkarsini 168, 186 Kalhana 21 Kali 16 1, 165, 177, 179, 180, 18 1, 182, 184, 185, 193, 197, 216, 256, 257 cults of 185-6 twelve Kalis 186 Kalibangan 25, 28 Kälika Pur ana 192 Källkula 185, 186 Käliyamman 217, 218 Kalki 112 , 116 Kalpa Sutras 53, 54, 236 käma 17, 65, 140, 205 Käma Sästra 6 5 Kärria Sutra 65 Kamalakkanni 217, 218 Kämikägama 209 Kampan 107

334

Kanchipuram 92, 1K5, 240 K.imsk.i 52 Kannada 27 Kantorowicz, E. H. 70 Kanya Kumârï 180, 192, 213 Kàpàlika(s) 152, 164-6 karma, karma 6, 76, 85-6, 93, 96, 102, 112 , 125, 157, 163, 213 karma-yoga 126 Karnataka 172 Kashmir Saivism 16 1, 166-8, 187 theology of 247-8 Katha Upanisad 45, 233 Kâthaka Samhitâ 37 Kathasaritsâgara 121 Kaula traditions 166 Kaundinya 156 Kauravas 106, 107, 125 Kausitaki Aranyaka, Brâhmana and Upanisad 39 Kautilya 68, 69 Kaveri 15, 178, 213 basin of 129 Kâvya 132, 138 Kedarnath 213 Kerala 92, 93, 128, 16 1, 194, 209, 210, 212, 214, 220, 239, 251 Tantrism in 171 Késin 77-8, 94 Killingly, D. 222 king, the passim contrasted with Brahman 72-4 function of 7 1-2 two bodies 70-1 kingship rituals of 199 sacral 67-74 Klein, Jean 272 Knott, Kim 266 Korravai 180 Kosala 80 Kotravai 129 Krama 166 Krishnamurti, J. 270 Krsna 105, 107, 116 , 1 17 - 2 1, 123, 124, 125, 126 and Ràdhà 135, 139 bhakti towards 13 8-41 worship of 14 1, 142, 2 10 - 11 Krsna-GopSla 117 , 120, 138 Krsna Jayanti 212 Krsnaism 117 Ksatriya/Rajanya(s) 48, 49, 58, 59, 61, 68, i °5 Ksemarâja 168, 247 Ksemendra 161 Kubera 68, 176, 207

Index Kubjiká 99, 166, 185, 186 Kubjikdmata- /'antra 186, 193 kula 1 66 Kulesvara and Kulesvari 166 kumdri-püjd 185 Kumárila Bhatta 236 Kumbha Mela 214 Kunamnama 77 Kundalinl 96, 99, 100, 160, 167, 189 yoga of 99-100 Kurrna Purana n o Kuruksetra 106 Kusána dynasty 51 Lakoff, George 7 Laksamana 108 Laksmi 115 , 12 1, 159, 178, 187, 194, 197 Laksmi Tantra 122 Laksmldhara 190 Lákula Pásupatas 157-8 Lakulisa 156 Lalitasahsranama 187 Lalla Ded 145 language 227-9, 232, 238 Lanman, C. R. 268 laya-yoga 96 Leslie, J. 204 liberation; see also moksa 13, 64, 76-7, 86, 93, 102, 225 lila 113 , 139, 142 liñga 29, 15 1, 154, 17 1, 172, 254 Liñga Purana 110 , 154 Liñgayat(s) 158, 169, 17 1-2 Lokácarya Pillai 245 Lokáyata 224 Lothal 25 love 129, 138-9 in union and in separation 140 types of in Tamil poetry 129-30 Lozowick, Lee 272 Mádhava 231, 247 Madhu and Kaitabha 181 Madhva 124, 133, 245-6 Madurai 129, 209 Mágadha 80, 103 magical powers 10 1-2 , 155, 160, 191 Mahdbhdrata 32, 68, 96, 104, 105-7, 119 , 120, 12 1, 122, 149, 180 Saiva ascetics in 154 Mahádévyakka 172 Mahámáyá 181 Mahamud of Ghazni 161 Mahanardyana Upanisad 114 , 12 0 -1, 153 Mahánubhava Sampradáya 142 Maharashtra 142 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 124, 271

mahavrata 79, 157, 165 Mahesvaras 15 5 Mahisasura 175, 176, 181, 218 maithuna 189, 190 Maitrayani Samhita 37 Maitrayani Upanisad 95 mala 163 Malayalam 27, 220, 251 Mammalapuram 182 Manasa 183 mandala 160, 167 Mandanamisra 240 Mandukya Upanisad 240 Manikkavacakar 169 Manipravala 136 mantra 36, 47, 123, 157, 160, 162, 165, 167, 187, 209, 221-2 mantra-yoga 96 Mantramarga 162, 187 mantravadam 171 Manu the first man 116 Manu/Manu Smrti 53, 56, 60, 61, 63, 64, 189, 201, 202 attitude to women 65 influence on Nietzche 269 on the king 68 Manusbi 267 Marathi 143 Mariyamman 18, 178, 194, 195, 216, 218 Markandeya Purana n o , 175, 181 marriage 200, 203, 205-6 Marshall, Sir John 24 Maruts 45, 46 Matas, Aguilar i 49 Mathura 13 1, 213 Matrka(s) 180, 182 Matsya Purana n o Matsyendranath 98 Mauryan dynasty 51 maya 14 1, 145, 163 Ramanuja’s doctrine of 244 Sankara’s doctrine of 241 Mayon 13 1 mediation 14 -16 meditation 76, 82, 83, 94, 95, 97, 100, 102, 157, 189, 224, 271 Megasthenes 119 Mehta, J. C. 248 Menander 51 Mergarh 25, 178 Meru, Mount 112 Mlmamsa 53, 55, 199, 231, 236-8 Mimamsakas 239, 242 Mimamsd Sutra z}6, 238, 239 Mlnaksi 209 Mirabai 144 missionaries 268

335

Index Mitra 45, 47 modernity 19 Mohenjo-Daro 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 178 Mohinl 214 moksa 13, 64, 81, 86, 123, 155, 214, 225, 237 in Sankara 241 monasteries 92 monasticism 90, 92 Monier-Williams, Monier 268 Mother, the 271 Mozoomdar, P. C. 269 mudra 160, 189 Mudvalan 129 Mughals 129, 250 Muktabai 144 Muktánanda 272 mukti 223 Müller, Max 37, 39, 45, 268 muni 77, 78 murti\ see also icon of deity 115 , 2 11 Murukan 29, 129, 130, 148 Müválakulicámundí 194-5 Mysore, Maharaj of 71 mystical experience 9, 43, 81, 242 mysticism 43 mythology 14, 44, 104-5, Naciketas 95 nada 100, 188 nadi 98 Naga PañcamI 212 Nágárjuna 243 Nagas (ascetics) 93 Nagas (snakes) 112 Nakula 106 Nambudri Brahmans 41, 42, 43, 54, 16 1-2 , 17 1, 183, 206, 2 10 - 1 1, 219, 240 Námdev 143 Nammálvár 13 1, 132, 136 Nampi Antar Nampi 169 Nának 144 Nandi 151 Narada Bhakti Sütra 133 Narada Smrti 56, 57 Narasimha 116 , 221 Náráyana 117 , 118 , 120 -1 Náráyana Guru 251 Náráyániya of the Mahabhdrata 12 1, 122 narrative traditions 103-7 ndstika 82, 224 Natarája, Siva 151 Nátha yoga 98, 144 Nath Yogis 98, 100 Náthamuni 136 nationalism, Hindu 261, 262-5 Navarátri 71, 196, 212, 254 Náyanárs 13 1, 145, 168, 169, 170 -1

33

Nehru, J. 7

Neo-Vedánta 259, 272 Neolithic Period 24, 25, 33 Netra Tantra 161 New Age 273 Nietzche, F. 149, 269 Nimbárka 133, 134 nirguna 142, 144, 242 Nirrti 45, 179 nirvana 81 Nityánanda 272 Nityánanda Institute 272 Nityasodasikárnava 187 Nobili, Robert de 268 non-attachment 126 non-violence 97 numinous experience 9 nyasa 167, 210 N yáya 231, 232, 243, 248 nyaya 224 O ’Flaherty, W. Doniger 150, 174, 219 Olivelle, Patrick 62, 88, 89 om or aum 83, 84, 222 oral tradition 35, 109, 159 Orientalism 248 Orientalists 8 Oriya 27 orthogenetic theory of renunciation 87 orthopraxy 12, 58 ,92,149,175,182,185, 205 Otto, Rudolf 9 padapatha 39 Paddhatis 209 Padma Pur ana n o painted grey ware 32, 33 Pakistan 256, 261 Palavas 113 Pall canon 119 Páñcarátra 118 , 12 1-2 , 135, 232 Samhitás 122, 136, 158 pañedyatana puja 113 , 181 Pandarpur135, 143 Pándavas 106, 107, 125, 196 Pandeyas 113 Pándu 106, 125 Pánini 119, 154, 227 papa 53, 86, 213 Paraiyar 217 Paramesvara 167 parampard 16, 134 Parasuráma 116 Parpóla, A. 27, 29, 33, 34, 130 Parry, J. P. 207 Parthian kings 154 Parvati 150, 15 1, 159, 178, 180 pasa 163, 247

Index pasu 163,247 Pâsupatas 154, 15 5-8 Pâsupata Sütra 15 6, 162 Pasupati 28, 152 Patanjali, the Grammarian 82, 119, 154 Patanjali, the yogin 76, 95, 96, 97, 98, 10 1, 232 pati 163, 247 Pauskara Samhitâ 122 Payyanur 210 phenomenology 10, 248 philosophy 10, 224, 225, 248 pilgrimage 104, 109, 143, 192, 2 12 -14 Pillan 245 pinda offerings 207 pith a 192-3 pitrloka see ancestors, world of ‘pizza effect’ 267-8, 272 Plasey, battle of 250 polarity 160 Poliakov, L. 31, 32 pollution 49, 57, 149, 206, 219 polytheism 14 possession/possession states 130, 16 1, 165, 194, 195, 220-1 possession cults 148 Prabhâkara 236 Pradyumna 12 1, 122 Prajâpati 45, 63 prakrti 97, 177, 19 1, 231, 233, 234, 236, 246 pramana(s) 225, 238 prâna 84, 98 prânâgnihotra 84 prânâyâma 79, 95, 97, 98 prapatti 137 prasâda 209, 215 pratibhâ 229 Pratyabhijnâ school 167-8, 247-8 prema 139 prema-hhakti; see also love 143 pretaloka 207 Prometheus 46 prototype theory 7 Prsni 46 Prthivi; see also Earth Goddess 179 Prthu 112 Pudukkottai 73-4 püjâ 103, 123, 132, 155, 160, 165, 170, 193, 200, 2 0 8 -11, 219, 222 in home 208-9 in temple 209-10 private 2 15 -16 püjâri/pücâri 17 1, 209 Punjab 144 Àrya Samàj in 256 partition of 261 Punjabi 144

puram 129 Purana(s) 1 1 , 2 1 , 56, 103, 104, 109-13, 114 , 150 Goddess in 175-6, 179, 180, 181, 182 Saiva 154-5 Sakta 175 Vaisnava 110 Puri 92, 139, 210, 2 1 1, 213, 240 purity 49, 57, 59, 89, 219-20 auspiciousness and 66-7 purpose of life 65 Pururavas 48 Purusa (Cosmic Man) 48-9, 120 purusa 231, 233, 234, 235 Purusa Sukta 48 Purusottama 118 , 126 Purvamimdmsa Sutra 236 Pusan 45, 47 pusti marga 141 Qualified Non-Dualism see visistadvaita Radha 120, 135, 138, 139, 140, 142, 178 Radhakrishnan, S. 249 Radhasoami 7, 10 1, 271 Radhavallabhis 142 raganuga hhakti 141 Raidas 144 Raidasis 144 raja-yoga 96-8 rajas n o , 234, 235 Rajneesh, Bhagavan Shree 272 Rakhi Bandhan 212 Raktesvari 183, 210, 2 11, 219 Rama 66, 107, 108-9, 116 , 135, 145, 146 BJP and 264-5 cult of 145-6 Slta and 66, 108, 145 Ramakrishna 256-7 Ramakrishna Mission 258 Ramana Maharshi 271 Ramananda 145 Ramanandi order 135, 145 Ramanuja 124, 133, 135, 136, 137, 145, 155 theology of 243-5 Ramdyana 66, 104, 107-9, I 35> J45 Ramdas 143 Rameshwaram 93, 213 Ramllla 108, 135, 146 rajasiiya 44 rasa 141 Rashtrakutas 113 Ravana 108, 146, 212 reason 252-3 re-death 95 reincarnation 6, 76, 82, 85-6, 102, 207, 208 rejected by Ram Mohan R oy 252

337

Index religion 6, 8, 9, 13 religious studies 10 Renfrew, Colin 27, 33 renouncer(s) 13, 17, 62, 63, 65, 76, 81, 82, 83, 134, 149, 201, 202, 207 Brahman and 87-8 householder and 76-7 renunciation 13, 74, 75, 76, 81, 82, 83, 102 origins of 87-90, 148 orthodox 90-3, 148 rite of 9 1-2, 207 revelation n , 35, 36, 158, 159, 162, 224, 225, 227, 229, 237, 241, 247, 249 R g Veda/Rg-Veda Samhita 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 46, 48, 50, 60, 77, 86, 15 1, 152, 154, 178, 226 rites of passage 79, 200-8 ritual passim 6, 13, 14 autonomy of 208 identity and 198-200 internalization of 83-4, 2 15 -16 language and 200 prior to theology 199 ritual purity 30, 55, 65, 219-20 tantric 159-60, 167-8, 184-92 vedic see also puja, rites of passage, 40-4 sacrifice, srauta ritual Roy, Ram Mohan 250, 2 5 1-3 , 273 rsi n , 35 RSS 262-3, 264 Tta 45, 47, 49 Rudi 272 Rudra/Rudra-Siva45, 46, 47, 77, 78, i n ,

I 5I - 3> *54> 156, 157. 158

Rudras 46 Rupagosvamin 140-1

Sahara 236 Sabarimalai 214 sab da 100, 145, 188 sabdabrahman 228 sach khand 145 sacred, the 8-9, 14 -15 , 49 sacred thread 204 sacrifice 26, 36, 37, 40-4, 49, 183-4, 216 -19 cathartic function of 44 Mlmamsa idea of 237 of buffalos 2 16 -18 of Daksa 150 of self 84 Sadasiva 163, 166 sadhaka 163, 164, 188 sadhana 92, 156, 160, 167 sadhu(s) 92, 2 11, 214 sadhvi(s) 92 Sadyojoti 162, 247 saguna 142, 144, 242

338

Sahadeva 106 Sahajiya(s) 140, 191 Sai Baba, Satya 272 Saivas 154, 155 Saiva theology 246-8 Saivism 17, 92, 117 , 147, 149, 154-8, 16 2 -71, 173 formation of 154 puranic; 154-5 see also Kapalika(s), Kashmir Saivism, Lirigayat(s), Saiva Siddhanta Saiva Siddhanta 152, 162-4, 168-71 ritual of 163-4 theology of 247 Saka dynasty 51 kings 154 sakha see vedic schools Sakhl Bhavas 142 Sakta tradition(s) 17, 175 pith as 192-3 Tantras 184-5, J 86, 187 Tantrism 184-93 theology; see also Sri Vidya 180 s'akti6S, 140, 149, 15 1, 153, 160, 166, 175, 177, 178, 18 1, 191 Sakyas 80 salagrama 132 samadhi 76, 95, 97, 98, 19 1, 257, 258, 271 tomb of saint 92, 207 Sama Veda/Sama Veda Samhita 36, 42, 43,

8.3

samhitapatha 39 Samkarsana 120, 12 1, 122 Samkhya 97, 122, 125, 133, 231, 232-6 Samkhya Karika 234 samnyasa see renunciation Samnyasa Upanisads 91 sampradaya{s) 16, 118 , 134, 239 Vaisnava 134-5 samsara\ see reincarnation samskara 64, 201, 202, 206 sanatana dharma n - 1 2 , 255 Sanchi 180 Sanderson, A. 155, 157, 158 Sanjaya 107 Sankara 92, 124, 127, 155, 187, 239-41, 243, 244 influence on R oy 252 theology of 241-2 Sarikhayana Srauta Sutra 38, 39 Sanskrit n , 27, 30, 33 alphabet as deity 178 commentaries 56, 230-1 devotional poetry in 133 language of gods 249 language of Veda 37 study of 268

Index Sanskritization 1 8, 128, 129, 148, 177 sant 135 Sant tradition(s) 135, 142, 143, 144-5 santdna 134 Santos! Ma 18, 177 sapindikarana rite 207 Sarasvatl 178, 179, 182 river 213 Sarasvati, Dayánanda 23, 254-6 sarvodaya 260 Satapatha Brahmana 40, 45, 48, 120, 121 Satarudriya 152, 155 Sati 150, 192-3 sati 66, 193, 251, 252 satsang 142 sattva n o , 234, 235 Sattvata Samhita 122 Satvatas 119 satya 85, 260 satyagraha 260 satyaloka 112 Saundaryalahari 187, 241 Savitr 47, 222 Sawan Singh 271 Schelling, F. W. J. 269 Schlegel, F. 269 Schopenhauer, A. 269 self 81, 84, 91 control of 64 Madhva’s view of 246 Ramanuja’s view of 244 Saiva view of 247 Sámkhya view of 234 Sankara’s view of 241 Yoga view of 235 semen 48, 65, 191 Sen, K. C. 253 Sesa i n , 115 , 12 1 seva 137 sex control of 63, 65 in ritual 79, 140, 159, 165, 168, 190-1 outside marriage 60 Schaffer, J. 33 Shiv Sena 264 Siddha(s) 170 tradition 96 Siddhasiddhanta Paddhati 98 siddhi see magical powers Sikhism 135, 142, 144, 222 Sikhs 144, 261 Sita 66, 108, 109, 135, 145, 146, 178 általa 178, 195-6 Siva 14, 17, 28-9, 78, 92, 93, 1 10, i n , 115 , 116 , 149, 150 -1 temples of 114 , 254 Siva Pur ana n o , 154

Siva Samhita 98 Siva Sutra 167 sivadvaita 246 Sivaji 143 sivaloka 155 Sivananda 272 Sivaratri 2 1 2 Sivasasana 149, 155

Skanda 29, n o , 129, 130, 148, 15 1 Skanda Purana n o Smart, Ninian 10 Smarta(s) 17, 56, 113 , 134, 137, 143, 154, 156, 158, 159, 165, 168 Smith, J. Z. 7, 9 smrti 17, 36, 53, 54, 56, 104, 134, 200 social ethics 52, 57, 60 society, vedic 49-50 Soma 30, 40, 42, 43-4, 45, 46, 54, 68, 78 Somananda 167, 247 Somasambhu 164 soteriology; see also liberation 13, 64, 86, 201 South Africa 5,259, 266 south-east Asia 199, 266 sphota theory of meaning 229 sraddha rites 207 Sramana(s) 76, 87 traditions 77, 81-2, 94, 102 Sratua(s) 113 , 159 srauta ritual 4 1-3 , 47, 52, 54, 84, 87, 199, 200, 216 Srauta Sutras 38, 39, 41, 54-5, 87 Sri 115 , 13 1, 159, 187 Sri Harsa 243 SriVaisnavas 12 1, 132, 133, 134, 135-8, 148,

*43

Sri Vidya 166, 175, 185, 186, 187-92, 240 sricakra 187, 188 srikula 180, 185 Sririgeri 92, 240 Sarikaracarya of 18 5 Srirarigam 129, 132, 135, 136 sruti n , 36, 40, 54, 104 Staal, Frits 12, 39, 41, 43, 54, 55, 200 status 67 steatite seals 28-9 Stein, B. 69 stridharma/stnsvadharma 65, 109, 140 stnsvabhdva 176 suddhadvaita 141 suddhi rite 256 Sudra(s) 49, 58, 59, 60, 61, 72, 143, 237 suffering 76, 77, 81, 82, 233 Sufism 144, 251 Sugriva 108 suicide 180 Sunga dynasty 51

339

in d e x superimposition 241 Suris 50

Surya 17, 47,68, 113 , 179 Tantras of 15 8 sutra 224 sutra literature 36, 54, 230 Svacchandabhairava 161 Svacchandabhairava Tantra 165 svadharma 58, 65, 126 Svetaketu 85 ¿vetasvatara Upanisad 86, 95, 96, 153, 154,

233

Swaminarayan 142 movement 142

Thorcau, I i. 1). 269 three worlds 45 tilak 30, 208, 217 tirtha 15, 212 Tirumâl 129 Tirumurai 169 Tirupati temple 123 Tolkâppiyam 128 Tolstoy, L. 259 Tortoise avatar a 116 tradition, models of 16 Trika 166-8 Tripura Upanisad 187 Tripurasundari 166, 187, 188, 189, 197 Tryam baka 66

Taittiriya Samhita 37, 38, 39, 47, 152 Taittiriya school 123 Taittiriya Upanisad 38, 85, 100, 222, 240 Tagore, D. 253 Tagore, R. 2 53 tamas 110 , 234, 235 Tamil 1 1 , 27, 103, 128, 133, 136 culture 129 -31 Tamil Veda 13 1- 2 Tamilnadu 73, 108, 114 , 129, 132, 135, 162, 168, 170, 182, 196, 209, 213, 217 Tanjavur 114 , 129 Tantra(s) 122, 134, 149, 158 -61, 164, 165,

167

Goddess worship in 184-9 social basis of 16 1-2 Tantraloka 167 Tantraraja Tantra 187, 189 Tantrasamuccaya 171 tantrika 113 , 123, 159, 161 Tantris 16 1-2 , 171 Tantrism 96, 159, 16 1, 184, 19 1, 193 influence on Aurobindo 270 left-hand 189-92 right-hand 190 tapas 63, 76, 8 1,9 3, 94 tattva 12 2, 233, 234 Telegu 27 temple 28, 122, 13 1 architecture 160 temple cities 1 13 - 1 4 ritual; see also festivals 132, 138, 170, 17 1, 2 0 9 -11, 219 Terikalai 137, 245 teyyam 194-5, 220-1 Thakkery, Bal 264 Thapar, Romila 82 theology 17, 19, 44, 47-9, 67-9, 80, 85, 124, 13 1, 135, 136-9, 139 -4 1, 153, 162-4, 167, 224-32, 238, 241, 244, 246, 247-8 ritual and 199 Theosophy/Theosophical Society 270

340

Tukàràm 134, 143 tulasï plant 141 Tulsidas 108, 146 Turner, Victor 172, 201 twice-born 49, 58, 90, 207 Uddâlaka Âruni 85, 226 Uddayana 193 Udgâtr priest 42, 43 Ujjain 213 Umâ 159, 180 Unitarian Association 269 Untouchable(s) 59, 61, 134, 219, 256 emancipation of 261 Upadesasahari 240 upanayana 48, 59, 62, 203, 204-5, 222 girl’s equivalent 205 Upanisads 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 51, 75, 78, 79, 82, 83-6, 87, 90, 94, 95, 96, 97, 125, 130, 153, 225, 226, 233, 239, 240, 242,

2 52

Upapurânas 109 upâsana 137 urbanization 51, 80-1 Urdu 27 Urvasi 48 USA 5, 222, 266, 271 Usas 45, 179 vâc 84, 182, 226, 229 vaidhi bhakti 141 vaidika 171 Vaikhânasa 123 Vaikhânasasmârta Sutra 123 vaikuntha 115 , 123, 137, 155 Vaisesika school 232, 238 Vaisnavas 115 , 117 , 12 1, 123, 13 1, 226 Vaisnavism 17, 103, 117 -2 7 , 132-46; later tradition 132-5 Vaisya(s) 49, 59 Vajasaneyi Samhita 37, 152 Vallabha 133, 141

Index Välmlki 107, 146 Vämakesvara l'antra 187 Vämana Puräna 110 vanaprastha 62, 63, 202 Vanniyars 217 Varanasi 108, 146, 157, 166, 204, 2 13 -14 , 240 Varkhari Panth 143 varna 12, 49, 58-61, 62, 126 varnäsrama-dharma 12, 56, 58-64, 103, 128, 155, 165 BJP understanding of 262, 264 diaspora Hindus and 266 Gandhi’s understanding of 260 Varuna 45, 47, 68 Vasistha 5 5 Vasudeva 117 , 118 , 119, 12 1, 122, 123, 124 Vasudeva-Krsna 118 , 119 -20 , 123 Vasugupta 167 Vatakalai 137, 245 Vatsyäyana 65 Vayu 45, 47, 68, 108 Veda 1 1, 35-40, 127, 146, 184, 222, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 255, 265 ascetics in 77-80 contrasted with Tantra 15 8-9 deities of 44-7 Goddess in 178-9 rejection of 76 source of dharma 53 structure of 36-7 Vedängas 53 ,2 15 , 227 Vedanta 17, 83, 124, 136, 185, 229, 231, 232, 235, 236, 238-46, 247, 248, 258, 259, 266, 269, 270 Vedanta Society 258, 267 Vedäntadesika 137, 245 v e d i42 vedic mythology 44-7 vedic schools 39-40 vedic theology 47-9 vegetarianism 6, 259 VH P 263, 264 vidhi 53, 64, 237 vidyä 82 Vidyäpati 120, 138 vidyapitha 165 Vijayanagara 71, 80, 183 Vijnänaväda 229 Vlrabhadra 150, 192, 219 viraha bhakti 132, 140 Virappan 217 Virasaiva(s) see Lingayat(s) visistädvaita 136, 239, 243-5, 255 Visnu 17, 21, 45, 68, 92, 102, 103, 104, 108,

1 10, i l l , 112 , 113 , 114 -17 , 118 , 120, 12 1, 123, 124, 127, 128, 132, 135, 136, 137, 140, 14 1, 15 1, 17 1, 174, 176, 179, 18 1, 215, 221, 265 as Mohini 214 identified with Mudvalan 129 hacks Satis body 192 Visnu Purdna n o , i n , 117 , 120 Visnu Smrti 59, 91 Visnumurti 221 Visnusvamis 142 Vithoba 143, 144 cult of 135, 142-4 Vivekananda 256, 257-9 vrata 156 Vratyas 79, 80, 94 Vrndavana 120, 135, 138, 213 Vrtra 46 Vyasa 35, 101 vyuha(s) 12 1, 122 war 129 Warrior class see Ksatriya Wasson, R. Gordon 43 West Indies 5, 266 Wheatley, Paul 80 Whitney, W. D. 268 Wilkins, Charles 124, 268 Williams, Rowland 269 Wilson, H. H. 268 Wittgenstein, L. 246 women’s movement 20, 267 World Parliament of Religions 258 Yadavas 119 yajamana 40, 72, 87, 237 yajna 40, 5 5 Yajnavalkya 84, 85, 90 Yajnavalkya Smrti 56, 57 Yajur-Veda Samhita 36, 37, 42 black Yajur Veda 95, 123, 152 Yama 46, 68, 95, 207 Yamuna 122, 136, 243 Yamuna, river 119 , 213 y antra 160, 178, 187, 188 yoga 13, 75>8 l>93-I0 2 > I2 7> J 33> M 7» 153, 160, 224 Yoga school 231, 235-6 Yoga Sutra 96 Yogananda 271 yogini 166 Yoginihrdaya 187 yoni 178, 193 Yudhisthira 106, 107 yuga(s) 1 1 2 - 13 , 116 yupa 42

341