Monumentalizing Tantra: The Multiple Identities of the Hamses'varl Devi Temple and the Bansberia Zamlndari Mohini Datta-Ray Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal February 16, 2008 A thesis submitted to McGill University in Partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Mohini Datta-Ray 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-51369-9 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-51369-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Table of Contents Abstract Resume Note on Transliteration List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 Land and Legacy: Toward a History of the Bansberia Raj Chapter 2 Monumentalizing Tantra: The Hamses'vaiT Devi Temple Chapter 3 "Honouring" Goddesses: Land, Temples, and Titles in Colonial Bengal Chapter 4 Legislating Rituals, Remembering Rituals: Memory and Puja in Colonial and Contemporary Bansberia Conclusion Appendix 1: Ethics Approval Certificate, McGill University Appendix 2: Images Abstract This thesis examines the complex interplay between colonial modernity and Sakta (goddess-centered) devotion in the context of an elite family of zammddrs (landholders) in Bengal. One consequence of colonialism in Bengal was the efflorescence of overt Sakta religiosity among Bengal's elite. Religious practice, supposedly "protected" by the colonial order, became the site where indigenous elites expressed political will and, to an extent, resisted foreign domination. I argue that the zamindars of Bansberia in the Hugh district of Bengal were creative agents, engaging and resisting the various cultural ruptures represented by colonial rule in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Employing analyses of archival material, contemporary ethnography, and architectural style, this thesis is an ethnohistory of a modern zammdari-kingdom that locates its political voice in an emblematic Sakta-Tantric temple. It demonstrates the powerful relationship between religion and politics in colonial Bengal and discusses the implications of this strong association in the contemporary context. Resume Cette these examine les enjeux complexes entre la modernite coloniale et la devotion theiste Sakta — concentree sur la deesse — dans le contexte d'une elite famille de proprietaries fonciers du Bengale, les zamindars. Une consequence du colonialisme au Bengale etait 1'efflorescence de la religiosite Sakta qui se manifestait chez l'elite du Bengale. La pratique religieuse, soi-disant « protegee » de 1'oppression du regime colonial, est devenue le milieu d'expression a la fois de la volonte politique des elites indigenes, et a un certain point, de la resistance contre la domination etrangere. Je propose dans ce memoire que les zamindars de Bansberia, dans la region du Hugh au Bengale etaient des acteurs creatifs qui s'impliquaient a la resistance et a l'engagement contre les ruptures culturelles que representaient le regime colonial des XVIIIlfeme et XIXl6me siecles. Les methodes d'analyse employees incorporent les documents archivaux, l'ethnographie contemporaine, et un examen du style d'architecture; ceci est une etude ethno-historique d'un royaume zamindari dans lequel 1'expression emblematique de la voix politique fut un temple tantrique. Ce memoire est une demonstration du rapport percutant entre la religion et la vie politique au Bengale a l'epoque coloniale; c'est aussi un expose de comment ce meme rapport se manifeste dans le contexte contemporain. Note on Transliteration For the most part, this thesis employs standard transliteration for Sanskrit and Bengali words. I have chosen to retain common or official transliterations of personal names. Thus, Nrisinghadeb instead of Nrsinghadeva, Rani Sankari instead of Rani Sahkarl, Rameswar instead of RamesVara. Similarly, family names and titles are rendered the same way - Debroy instead of Devaraya, and Ray-Mahasay instead of Raya-Mahasaya. Place names are usually rendered with modern spellings, with the exception of Calcutta for which I have used the anglicized (colonial) spelling throughout, and Banaras, which I do not refer to as Varanasi. I have also retained the original spellings of certain terms that enter legal discourse, such as debattar (debutter), sanad, and sebait, which have obscure Sanskrit and Farsi etymologies. They are more easily recognizable with their colonial spellings, and these spellings are also used in contemporary Indian legal contexts. List of Figures 1. Portrait of Raja Nrisinghadeb Ray Mahasay (1741-1802), chop taraf 'home, Bansberia 2. Hamses'varl Devi Temple, Bansberia, Hugh District, West Bengal 3. Detail of Hamsesvari Devi Temple, Bansberia 4. Image of Hamses'varl Devi inside the temple at Bansberia 5a. The Ananta Vasudeva Temple, Bansberia 5b. The new image of Visnu currently worshipped inside the Ananta Vasudeva temple 6. Image of Durga-Mahisamardim (Svayambhava Mahisamardini), currently housed in the Hamses'varl Devi temple. 7. Tapan Thakur Chattopadhyay, current Head Priest of the Bansberia temple 8. Wooden ladders representing the nddis, ida and pingala that run through the vertical axis of the temple, as seen from the second floor 9. The "trick stairway" representing the "danger zone" in the andhata cakra that prevents the sddhaka from reaching the visuddha cakra. 10. The stairs that lead from the visuddha to the ajnd cakra, on the fifth level (third floor) 11. The peak of the highest ratna is adorned with a metal image of the sun inside a yantra that resembles the Ke&i-yantra 12. Hamsesvari Devi seated on a twelve-petal lotus emerging from Siva's heart. The Siva image itself lies atop a KalT-yantra mounted on a thousand-petal lotus pedestal 13. Image of Hamsesvari Devi with Kali mask, adorned for Kali pujd, 2006 14. Basan Thakur entering the Hamsesvari Devi shrine holding the severed head of the sacrificial goat on Kali pujd night. The head is placed at the feet of Hams'esvaiT-as-Kall 15. Pandal at Durgapujd celebrations in Bansberia, 2006 Goat sacrifice (bali) for Durga/?w/a in front of the Durga pandal, sponsored by the choto taraf 'house, Bansberia, 2006 The bali-pitha outside the entrance to the HamsesVari Devi temple. During Durga puja, sacrifices are performed here in the name of Durga-Mahisamardinl Images of the choto taraf 'home, the only remaining intact property of the Debroy family in Bansberia Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support of several very kind and generous people. Firstly I would like to thank the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill and express my utter gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Davesh Soneji. His constant encouragement, unwavering patience and breadth of knowledge have been truly indispensable. Thank you to members of the Debroy family, both in Bansberia and in.Bangalore. They were willing to answer any question I posed of them, no matter how bizarre or how mundane, and spent hours of their valuable time sharing their memories and family records with me. I am humbled by your kindness, your hospitality and your love. The priests of the Hamsesvari Devi mandir allowed me access to their beautiful temple and took precious time out of very busy days to help me navigate ritual life in Bansberia. Anil Thakur and Tapan Thakur especially granted me long and detailed interviews while Basan Thakur and Jesu were kind enough to always point out that which they knew I would find interesting. My parents have always been cheerleaders for any project I have undertaken and this is no exception. I thank them for all the support they have given me and for their enthusiastic reading of especially painful early drafts. I thank my brother for his sense of humour and his encyclopedic memory; both have come in very handy during this process. Samip Mallick has helped with this endeavour in more ways that I can list here. Thank you for always assuring me it can be done and then helping me figure out how it will be. This project is as much yours as it is mine. Heartfelt thanks go out to Jordan Arseneault for providing me a French translation for the abstract and for always making me laugh. And finally I would like to thank my constant inspiration, my grandmother Arati Debroy who traveled all the way to West Bengal so that we could be roommates and co- adventurers.