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Sources for Reconstructing Ancient Forms of Siva Worship∗

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Sources for Reconstructing Ancient Forms of Siva Worship∗ Sources for Reconstructing Ancient Forms of Siva´ Worship∗ Siva´ Caturmukha The myth of Tilottam¯a In chapter 203 of the Adiparvan¯ of the Mah¯abh¯arata we are told that, in order to kill the Asuras Sunda and Upasunda, who could only be killed by each other, Vi´svakarman, ordered by Brahm¯a,creates a woman of unparallelled beauty. The Grandfather tells her to go to the two demons and to seduce them in order that they may kill one and other in their rivalry over her. This beauty, named Tilottam¯a,promises to do so and takes her leave of the gods by making a circumambulation. Among those gods is Bhagavat Mahe´svara, who sits to the south (scil. of Brahm¯a)with his face turned east, whereas the gods sit to the north (of him) and the r..sis all around (see below Textual Sources No. 2 (TS 2) v. 21). Only Indra and Bhagavat Sth¯an. u (i.e. Mahe´svara) are able to preserve their composure, but the latter’s excessive desire to watch her (dras..tu- k¯amasyac¯atyartham. ) leads to the coming forth of three more faces (mukha), one directed towards the south, which is possessed of curling lashes (a˜ncita- paks.m¯antam), one to the west and one to the north, the latter two not further qualified (TS 2 vv. 22–24). In this way Sth¯an. u Mah¯adeva became four-faced (caturmukhah. ). Indra, on the other hand, issues forth eyes on all sides up to a thousand (TS 2 vv. 25–26). The curling eyelashes apart, the myth in this form does not yet refer to dif- ferent aspects of Siva´ that are represented by these faces, but his qualification of ‘Post’ (sth¯an. u) may hint at his ithyphallic nature. That the appellation ‘Sth¯an. u’ may have a phallic connotation emerges from the ambiguous and rather obscure nirukti in MBh 7.173.92 (TS 5 v. 92): ‘Because he burns (/de- stroys) when standing erect, and, because his standing (erect) is the arising of the vital breath, and, because his phallus is always standing, therefore is he known as “Post”.’ 1 The myth of Tilottam¯ais taken up in the Anu´s¯asanaparvan, where signif- icant iconographic features are added. An allusion to his ithyphallic nature ∗ The first version of this article was published in Grimal, Fran¸cois(ed.), Les sources et le temps/ Sources and Time. A colloquium. Institut fran¸caisde Pondich´ery, EFEO, Pondich´ery2001. pp. 397–412. Publications du d´epartement d’indologie 91. 1 The same verse with variant readings is found in MBh 13.146.10. 489 Hans Teye Bakker - 9789004412071 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 02:25:57AM via free access 490 Hans Bakker is absent here. Instead it is explained how Siva´ assumed a quadruple form (caturm¯urtitva), which may not be exactly equivalent to ‘a form with four heads’ (TS 7 vv. 3–6). Wherever she with beautiful teeth (i.e. Tilottam¯a)came into my vicinity, there, O Goddess, emerged a lovely head of mine. Wishing to watch her, I assumed a quadruple form with the help of yoga. Having become four-faced, while showing my own yoga, I exercise sovereignty (indratva) with my eastern face, with my northern one I sport (ram¯ami) with you, O blameless one (Um¯a);my western face is gentle (saumya) and conveys happiness to all living beings; my southern face, which has a terrifying appearance and is fierce (raudra), destroys the creatures. Translating this description into iconography, we may tentatively infer that the main head, which faces east, has the stern countenance of the yogin, that the southern face expresses√ the ferocious (ugra) aspect, that the northern face ex- presses delight( ram), whereas the western benevolent (saumya) face, which bestows happiness to the world, may have, by virtue of this function, a regal appearance, which may be symbolized by the turban (us.n.¯ı. s a), although the text does not explicitly specify this headgear. The Mah¯abh¯arata text seems to assign these four aspects—asceticism (yogin), ferociousness (ugra/raudra), benevolence (saumya) towards the world (i.e. us.n.¯ı. s in), and delight—to an an- thropomorphic form of Siva´ Mahe´svara, who describes himself further as pos- sessed of matted hair (jat.ila), celibate (brahmac¯arin), with the Pin¯akabow in his hand, and with a lustrous throat, ´sr¯ıkan. .tha (TS 7 vv. 7–8). It is this quartet of aspects that seems to underly, admittedly with some variations, the early sculptural representations of Siva,´ no matter whether we are concerned with a caturmukhali˙nga (aniconic) or with an anthropomorphic image. This may be illustrated by some early examples. Images of Siva´ in his quadruple form In the statue found in Bhita, datable around the beginning of the Common Era, 2 Siva’s´ main characteristic, viz. his ascetic, i.e. yogin nature, is repre- sented by the central anthropomorphic figure, who is provided with matted locks (jat.ila) and penis erectus (Plate 109). Unlike his description in the Mah¯abh¯arata quoted above this central figure does not carry the bow Pin¯aka, but rather seems to conform to devotional demands in that he carries the vessel (kala´sa) of amr.ta in his left hand, while the right hand seems to be raised in abhayamudr¯a. 3 This main deity is further characterized by four distinctive aspects symbol- ized by a ‘girdle’ of four heads around his waist, only partly in conformity with the Mah¯abh¯arata description. One of the heads clearly represents 2 Kreisel 1986, 54 f.; Abb. A 1a–f; State Museum Lucknow H 4. 3 Kreisel 1986, 57. Cf. the Siva´ image found in Rishikesh: Kreisel 1986, 89 f. Abb. 70; Srinivasan 1997, 223, Pl. 17.10; Bakker 2014, 181 Plate 19. Hans Teye Bakker - 9789004412071 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 02:25:57AM via free access 25 / Sources for Reconstructing Ancient Forms of Siva´ Worship 491 his ferocious aspect (ugra) and may therefore be directed towards the south, which would entail that the main central figure is facing southwest. 4 The head to the left of the ugra face— i.e. the one directed towards the east, if the main image faces southwest—is de- scribed by Kreisel in Die Siva-Bildwerke´ der Mathur¯a-Kunst as follows. Als einziger der H¨aupterist er ohne Ohr- und Halsschmuck dargestellt. Der Haar- ansatz ist nur als leichte Aufw¨olbung erkenn- bar, das offenbar kurzgeschorene Haar liegt ohne Zeichnung glatt am Sch¨adel—sofern nicht ein Kahlkopf (mun. d. a) gemeint ist. Die schmucklose Darstellung l¨aßtauf den aske- tischen Charakter dieses Kopfes schließen, allerdings in einem anderen Sinne als beim ekstatischen Yogin. 5 The ‘ecstatic yogin’ differs from the ‘as- cetic’ one, according to Kreisel; with the latter ‘scheint der gelehrte brahmani- sche Asket, wahrscheinlich der—nicht not- wendig jugendliche—keusche Brahmac¯arin oder Sam. ny¯asin gemeint zu sein’ (ibid.). Kreisel and others consequently arrive at a fivefold scheme, which is supposed to un- derly the Bhita sculpture. Plate 109 However, the differentiation of the yogin Image found in Bhita into two forms within the context of a spa- tial ramification fails in the Mah¯abh¯arata description and in any other early text and it may hence be doubtful whether a fivefold scheme really informed the early sculptures. The image seems rather to express the idea of one central deity not counted as an aspect, a deity who is possessed of or shaped by four aspects, the ones specified in the Mah¯abh¯arata, of which the yogin aspect in the present image is symbolized by the head of the sam. ny¯asin/ mun. d. in, which is facing east in case of a southwestern orientation of the main deity. 6 4 If the main figure faces east, the ugra head would face northeast, which is not plausible See below, p. 507. 5 Kreisel 1986, 58. 6 This orientation of the Bhita sculpture is based on the assumption that the ugra head faces south. Kreisel op. cit. 60 f. takes as the most likely direction of the main figure the south, which entails that the four heads are facing the intermediate quarters. Kreisel explains this unusual orientation by the hypothesis, earlier proposed by J.N. Banerjea 1935, 36 ff., that the Bhita sculpture represents an ancestor monument (Kreisel 1986, 55, 60). This assumption would not be contradicted, but rather reinforced, by an orientation Hans Teye Bakker - 9789004412071 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 02:25:57AM via free access 492 Hans Bakker The aspects represented by the remaining two heads of the Bhita sculpture, described by Kreisel as saumya and us.n.¯ı. s in, agree with the two other aspects assigned to Mahe´svara in the quoted Mah¯abh¯arata passage, if we are allowed to equate the face qualified as saumya by Kreisel with the one that in the Mah¯abh¯arata is said to sport with Um¯a(ram¯ami). The relation to the quar- ters remains problematic however; evidently the orientation of the us.n.¯ı. s in and saumya faces were not yet fixed. On the basis of the text one would expect that the head with which he sports with Um¯a(said to face north), is placed opposite of the ugra face (said to face south), which position in the Bhita sculpture, how- ever, is occupied by the turbaned head, which, according to our interpretation of the Mah¯abh¯arata text, should face west.
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