Wandering Religious Poets in India, Tibet, and Japan
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This book consists of seven chapters on the subject Songs on the Road of poetry and itinerancy within the religious Songs on the Road traditions of India, Tibet, and Japan from ancient to modern times. The chapters look, each from Wandering Religious Poets in India, Tibet, and Japan a different angle, at how itinerancy is reflected in religious poetry, what are the purposes of the wanderers’ poems or songs, and how the wandering poets relate to local communities, Edholm (Eds.) af Larsson & Kristoffer Stefan sacred geography, and institutionalized religion. We encounter priest-poets in search of munificent patrons, renouncers and yogins who sing about the bliss and hardship of wandering alone in the wilderness, Hindu pilgrims and opponents of pilgrimage, antinomian Buddhist-Tantric poets from Bengal, and the originator of the haiku. We are led along roads travelled by many, as well as paths tread by few. Edited by Stefan Larsson & Kristoffer af Edholm Songs on the Road Wandering Religious Poets in India, Tibet, and Japan Edited by Stefan Larsson & Kristoffer af Edholm Published by Stockholm University Press Stockholm University SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden www.stockholmuniversitypress.se Text © The Author(s) 2021 License CC-BY 4.0 Supporting Agency (funding): Vetetenskapsrådet (The Swedish Research Council) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Grant number: Vetetenskapsrådet, projekt, 2013-1421 (”Utanför klostrets murar”) Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, projekt, P19-0419:1 (”Frihetssånger”) First published 2021 Cover Illustration: A Wandering Shaivite Ascetic with his Dog. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Northern India, Mughal dynasty. https://commons .wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_wandering_Shaivite_ascetic_with_his_dog.jpg Cover License: Public Domain Cover designed by Christina Lenz, Stockholm University Press Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (Online) ISSN: 2002-4606 ISBN (Paperback): 978-91-7635-139-0 ISBN (EPUB): 978-91-7635-137-6 ISBN (Mobi): 978-91-7635-138-3 ISBN (PDF): 978-91-7635-136-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bbi This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses /by/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This license allows for copying any part of the work for personal and commercial use, providing author attribution is clearly stated. Suggested citation: Larsson, S. and af Edholm, K. (eds.). 2021. Songs on the Road: Wandering Religious Poets in India, Tibet, and Japan. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bbi. License: CC-BY 4.0. To read the free, open access version of this book online, visit https://doi.org/10.16993/bbi or scan this QR code with your mobile device. Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion (SSCR) (ISSN 2002- 4606) is a peer-reviewed series initiated by Åke Hultkrantz in 1961. While its earlier emphasis lay in ethnographic-comparative approaches to religion, the series now covers a broader spectrum of the history of religions, including the philological study of discrete traditions, large-scale comparisons between different traditions as well as theoretical and methodological concerns in the study of cross-cultural religious categories such as ritual and myth. SSCR strives to sustain and disseminate high-quality and inno- vative research in the form of monographs and edited volumes, preferably in English, but in exceptional cases also in the French, German-, and Scandinavian languages. SSCR was previously included in the series Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis (ISSN 0562-1070). A full list of publications can be found here: http://www.erg.su.se/publikationer/skriftserier /stockholm-studies-in-comparative-religion-1.38944. Volumes still in stock can be obtained through the editors. Editorial Board All members of the Editorial board have positions at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University. Chief editor: Susanne Olsson, Professor Egil Asprem, Professor Emmanouela Grypeou, Associate Professor Philip Halldén, Senior Lecturer Peter Jackson Rova, Professor Marja-Liisa Keinänen, Associate Professor Ferdinando Sardella, Associate Professor Olof Sundqvist, Professor Titles in the series 36. Jackson, P. (ed.) 2016. Horizons of Shamanism. A Triangular Approach to the History and Anthropology of Ecstatcic Techniques. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bag 37. Rydving, H. & Olsson, S. 2016. Krig och fred i vendel- och vikingatida traditioner. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bah 38. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2017. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume I. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bak 39. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2018. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume II. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993 /bas 40. Wikström af Edholm, K., Jackson Rova, P., Nordberg, A., Sundqvist, O., & Zachrisson, T. (eds.) 2019. Myth, Materiality, and lived Religion. In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org /10.16993/bay 41. Olsson, S. 2019. The Hostages of the Northmen: From the Viking Age to the Middle Ages. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bba 42. Christoyannopoulos, A. & Adams M. S. (eds.) 2018. Essays in Anarchism & Religion: Volume III. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993 /bas 43. Larsson, S. & af Edholm, K. (eds.) 2021. Songs on the Road: Wandering Religious Poets in India, Tibet, and Japan. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi .org/10.16993/bbi Peer Review Policies Stockholm University Press ensures that all book publications are peer-reviewed. Each book proposal submitted to the Press will be sent to a dedicated Editorial Board of experts in the subject area. The full manuscript is reviewed by chapter or as a whole by at least two external and independent experts. A full descrip- tion of Stockholm University Press’ peer-review policies can be found on the website: http://www.stockholmuniversitypress.se /site/peer-review-policies/ The Editorial Board of Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion applied single-blind review during proposal and manus- cript assessment. Professor Peter Jackson Rova at the Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University stepped down momentarily from his role in the Editorial Board during the review process of the book, to avoid a conflict of interest. Recognition for reviewers Stockholm University Press and the Editorial Board would like to extend a special thanks to the reviewers who contributed to the process of editing this book. The manuscript was reviewed by: Knut A. Jacobsen, Professor, Study of Religions, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, Norway Ian Rutherford, Professor of Classics, University of Reading, UK. His research interests include religious travel and cultural contact in the ancient world. Contents Acknowledgements ix 1. Introduction 1 Stefan Larsson & Kristoffer af Edholm 2. Itinerancy and the Afterlife 15 Peter Jackson Rova 3. ‘Wander Alone Like the Rhinoceros!’: The Solitary, Itinerant Renouncer in Ancient Indian Gāthā-Poetry 35 Kristoffer af Edholm 4. Milarepa Sings Again: Tsangnyön Heruka’s ‘Songs with Parting Instructions’ 67 Stefan Larsson 5. Spiritual Localization and De-localization: Traditional and Modern Patterns in Hindu Pilgrimage 93 Heinz Werner Wessler 6. Buddhist Surrealists in Bengal 113 Per Kværne 7. The Travels and Poems of Matsuo Bashô 127 Lars Vargö Author Presentations 141 Acknowledgements The editors would like to thank the participants in the workshop “Wandering Religious Poets” held at Stockholm University in 2017, on which this book is based, Erik af Edholm for his advice in the planning of the workshop, the department of History of Religions at Stockholm University for supporting the workshop and the book, the peer reviewers, and Margot and Rune Johansson’s Foundation for financial support to publish this book. 1. Introduction Stefan Larsson & Kristoffer af Edholm Wandering religious poets – that is to say, poets for whom wande- ring is a way of life and whose poetry deals with religious themes – can be found in a variety of ancient and modern cultures. In India, Tibet, and Japan the ascetic or saint who travels from place to place has been the subject of both veneration and fear for hund- reds, or even thousands, of years, as is evident in poetry by and about such persons. In oral cultures in particular, wandering poets have played important roles as custodians of myths, lore, and reli- gious traditions, and as institutors of new ones. While for some poets travelling is a dire necessity, for others the journey functions as a spiritual quest towards a transcendent goal, or a pilgrimage involving an inner journey and spiritual transformation.1 In their introduction to Wandering Poets in Ancient Greek Culture (2009), the editors Richard Hunter & Ian Rutherford provide an overview of the phenomenon of travelling poets and poetic itinerancy (from Latin iter ‘journey, road’) in ancient Hellas. The poet, singer or rhapsodist (poiētḗs, aoidós, rhapsōidós) may have travelled to a city to get commissions, or to partake in a poetic contest, or perform in a festival at a sanctuary;2 he could also accompany his patron on a journey. Like its author travels across the land, so too should his poetry and the fame it gave to both poet and patron spread far and wide.3 In the Odyssey, the singer is a figure worthy of respect, counted among the craftsmen 1 Coleman & Elsner 1995:6. 2 Hesiodos, Works and Days 654f. 3 Pindaros, Nemean Odes 5.1–6; West 2007:40–45, 403–404. How to cite this book chapter: Larsson, S. and af Edholm, K. 2021. Introduction. In: Larsson, S. and af Edholm, K. (eds.) Songs on the Road: Wandering Religious Poets in India, Tibet, and Japan. Pp. 1–13. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bbi.a.