Re‐Appraisal of Text, Tradition and Temple: Contemplation in Socio‐Ethno‐Cultural Trend of Odishan Un‐known Kamā ‐sutrā Colophons

Santosh Kumar Mallik1

1. Department of History, Nayagarh Autonomous College, Utkal University, Nayagarh, Odisha, India (Email: [email protected])

Received: 24 July 2017; Revised: 02 September 2017; Accepted: 11 October 2017 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5 (2017): 391‐402

Abstract: This essay explores the notion of textual tradition in Odia unknown Kamsutra and its proper understanding through the medieval illustrated manuscripts and several colophon; which is dealing with the behavioural activities of ‘royal family members’ or ‘particular individuals’ generally related to t he ‘sexual activities.’ Such as the process of any creativeness ‘monumental activities’ or may be the production of any art form for the public sphere as well as for individual interest, these large numbers of manuscript played a significant role to reframe the ideas. As per the assumption of economic‐historian clearly point out that; the surplus of revenue mostly converts to the ‘pleasure’ (?) and ‘passion’ (?) through the various way; it may be the literary/illustrated manuscript played a important role to producing such ‘erotic literature’ which are painted/scribed in palm leaf rather than construction of gigantic traditional temple style Odisha. There are some cultural inquisitiveness persons of the royal family, rich class community has more or less associated with the development of cultural legacy, which one chiefly the production of the sexual related literature, paintings, sculpture, and the engraving or illustrated manuscript as the medium of representation for the public ‘or’ individual. In essence of the courtly culture in medieval period their patrons donated for enriching the literature as well as illustrated manuscript tradition in portable form like palm leaf. This is basically observed in Odisha the form of pothi or tala patara pothi’s .These described about the sensual pleasure as well as the nayaka and nayika played the important role basically from mythic character and they performed as several sexual‐poses or ‘bandha’. This essay highlights the theme of courtly culture and its member’s behaviour regarding sexuality. The outstanding contribution of classical literatures and erotic illustrated manuscript’s idea; how touched the public sphere and in the later stage became more important like Kamasutra, which is only restrict in the higher class community and how these Odia manuscript became a passionate for every sphere basically the commoner or mass.

Keywords: Sexual Behavior, Erotic Fantasy, Erotic Icons, Illustrated Manuscript, Literature, Odia Colophon, Kings

Introduction This essay is about medieval Odishan courts and the activities of its members and every individual’s reflection in illustrated manuscript. It approaches the court from a ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5: 2017

broadly conceived ‘social history’ perspective. That is, it seeks to understand medieval Odishan courts first and foremost as societies, logical social formations composed of individuals whose relationships were governed by particular codes of behavior and modes of thought (Ali 2006). Its primary concern will be with courtly culture – and in particular the emphasis in courtly sources on beauty, refinement and love. It will place these themes, however, within the context of the court as a social institution, focusing on its organization and structure, protocol and the relational dynamics of its members (Ali 2006). Ultimately, this approach hopes to add something to our knowledge of both the sociology of early Indian courts as well as their impressive cultural achievements (Ali 2006) in Odishan context.

Michel Foucault’s contribution to the study of manners has been less direct, partly because he never took up the topic directly, and partly because his approach is less assimilable to normative historical and sociological inquiry (Arditi 1998; Bryson 1998). In his uncompleted History of Sexuality, Foucault began to develop his ideas about pre‐ bourgeois forms of discipline in the West. Foucault concluded that it would not suffice to follow the threads of pre‐bourgeois notions of ‘flesh’ and ‘desire’ which sexuality itself had tried to lay claim to. Instead, it was necessary to begin with the larger ethical frameworks in which sex had always been placed‐not merely around interdictions regarding sex itself, but its place in a larger sense of now individuals should constitute relations with themselves and others (Foucault 1980 and 1985).

Sheldon Pollock has recently provided a more sophisticated approach to the relationship between aesthetics and power which distances itself from theories of legitimating and ideology (Pollock S. 1998). In a number of important articles Pollock has attempted to theorize the relationship of Sanskrit kavya and political power in South Asia. He begins with the important promise that the massive and sophisticated corpus of Sanskrit literary culture which suddenly appeared in the second to fourth centuries of the Common Era in India and quickly and volubly spread over a vast geographical space ‐ usually treated as a self‐evident expression of classical ‘culture’ ‐ actually a historically produced phenomenon in dire need of some account, explanation and analysis. Pollock argues that Sanskrit, through the medium of kavya, came to define a global cultural formation or ‘cosmopolitan’ that at once transcended political boundaries and religious affiliations, uniting intellectuals and their masters in a common aesthetic culture which stretched across a wide geographical expanse.

Imperial Influence in Odishan Context Odisha had a thousand‐year‐old temple‐building tradition where the “Odia builders and sculptors built like giants and finished as jewellers” (Mohapatra 1995). On faceless, cold stubborn stones the anonymous artists carved out myriad delicate images and patterns pulsating with life. From the stone to the seasoned palm leaf, from the chisel to the lekhana or iron stylus, it seems to have been only another step, a different but parallel endeavour (Mohapatra 1995). One hallmark of Odishan culture has been to treat all art‐creations‐literary, performing and visual‐as integral to each other. Forms

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Mallik 2017: 391‐402 and figures that were carved on stone were also etched on palm leaf; they were described in words and the words were set to music which accompanied the dance‐ forms (Mohapatra 1995). The main finding of Odishan traditional culture this remarkable continuity and integration of the literary, visual and performing art‐forms.

The Gupta imperial structure survived, often tenuously, until the middle of the sixth century. Its gradual collapse, under both internal and external pressures, saw an even larger wave of royal families appear on the historical record, each issuing grants of land and naming their ancestors. The earliest records of some of these families, like the Aulikaras of Mandasor, the Maitrakas of Valabhi, the Panduvamsins in Mekala, the kings of Sarabhapura, and the Maukharis of Kanauj, suggest that they had once been subordinate to the Guptas, and asserted independence after their collapse. Other families, like the Kalacuris in Malwa, the Gurjara kings of western India, the Vardhanas or Pusyabhutis of Sthanvlsvara, the kings of Gauda and Vanga, the eastern Gangas in central Odisha at Kaliriganagara, the Sailodbhavas in Korigoda, and the Manas in Odra, appeared for the first time. In the Gupta period, possibly Odisha was part of the Gutpa Empire. As Sanskrit literature was patronized by the Guptas, Odisha also must have witnessed production of Sanskrit work on palm leaf. Several grants were given during the rule of the Mathara, the Sailodbhavas, the Bhaumakaras, the Somavamsi and Bhanjas and all of these grants are narrated in Sanskrit both in poetry and prose. Before rendering them in copper plates it would have been considered necessary to get them done on palm leaf for approval of the patron king.

The basic intention of the Odishan illustrate colophon in the court of king and noble person identified the prestigious job and the surplus of the economy engaged in the scribed the colophon, it may be related to kings life, kavyas, form of eroticism descriptions, local kamasutra, tantric, philosophy, literature, and shilpa etc,. Important manuscripts are also preserved in mathas, temples, palaces of kings, Bhagabata Tungis and with Zamindars, Brahmin pandit and Karana families and some others are preserved in the state museum of Odisha. The essay relocates the theory of Pollock and the interpretation of the Kavyas and its implication of the medieval kings, such type of procedure are happened in the Odisha during the medieval time frame. The regulatory of the social dilemma and the concept of sexual theme became the part of the literary as well as the production of courtly culture. The literature became standardized to the patrons of the king or rich class community who were passionate of the sexuality and sexual behavior in the courtly atmosphere. Whereas, they lived a social hierarchy system and the surplus of revenue, which one convert and it’s consume in the production of manuscript tradition, which are based on the social themes including the erotic fantasy. There are large number of illustrated manuscript on palm leaf are found throughout Odisha. Those manuscripts are divided into religious and secular on the basis of subject and theme. The dynamics of courtly life in India as well in Odisha have held remarkably little interest for scholars of Indian history and literature and, barring a handful of important articles on early medieval and Mughal courts, there is very little secondary literature on the subject (Gopal 1964; Inden 1981; Chattopadhyaya 1994).

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The Ganga period witnessed the prosperous of Sanskrit literature and humble beginning of Odia literature. Many works were produced during their time. All those work could have given a boost to writing on the palm leaf. Odia literature rose to its climax during the rule of the Suryavamsi Gajapatis. Works on religious and secular subject were produced during Gajapati rule and gained popularity among the general public and for the general mass copy were produced on palm leaf manuscript. Hence all the above circumstances show that palm leaf manuscript is an age old tradition in Odisha.

In the classical Sanskrit literature designed the term “Passion” is never‐ending and immeasurable. Basically it is the purpose of “creation” it may be relationship with the common strategy of sexual passion. This ever burning primordial flame embedded in the innermost recesses of heart permeates the whole of human existence (Malla 2008). All human being has immortal passion (Malla 2008) and that passion only imbedded with the sexual pleasure which one opinion by Michel Foucault. Passion holds up the bottom of the universe and genius paints up its roof. There is none that is not passion’s slave (Malla 2008). Passion can understand as per instance bee to the blossom, moth to the flame, man to the woman, each to his passion (Malla 2008). It is the passion that does and undoes everything passion defies definition and deters any determinate description. But the nature of the human spirit is such that it aspires to give color and sound to what is primordial; give it a consummate shape ready to be shared by the receptive (Malla 2008). Pure art is, therefore nothing but the art of naming the un‐ nameable. The greater the passion, the greater is the force of the medium of art, it is the intensity within, the intensity to expand and to express, which sustains the energy in the symbiosis between the artist and his art (Malla 2008). In the pre‐technology era, passion, both raw and refined, was also a vital source of life. As per the previous discussion in Odisha the passion only restricted in the upper class community and the king’s family, which one practiced in their courtly culture, those are reflected not in the region of Odisha it became standardized living style all over the pan Indian context. Henceforth the scholars like Elias and Foucault idea should implement in the context of Odisha and its medieval period.

Concerns around courtly sociability have recently been raised by historians writing on the “history of manners”, inspired at least in part by the eminent scholars Norbert Elias and Michel Foucault (Bryson 1998; Arditi 1998; Bremmer J and Roodenburg H. 1991; Ali 2006). Elias emphasised that the behaviours of men and women at court had to be understood with reference to the specific conditions of life there ‐ chiefly, the fact that the court was nothing other than the extended household of the king (Ali 2006). Here the courtier’s most intimate life and his ‘career’ were confined to a single field of operation. Appearance, outward bearing and manners, considered mere ‘externals’ in bourgeois society, were the means through which the people of the court secured their livelihoods. From this perspective, the courtier’s preoccupation with appearance and good form was not an intrinsic superficiality, as its bourgeois critics assumed it to be, but was rational behaviour suited to a particular social environment (Elias 1983; Ali

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2006). It is only when these practices were delinked from their social moorings, when professional opportunities were freed from the yoke of feudal and courtly hierarchies, that such social accoutrements took on a potentially ‘superficial’, or ‘hollow’, aspect (Habermas 1999; Ali 2006).

In the absence of intelligent tools, nature itself offered permanent media for generating and recording works of enduring art in Odishan courtly culture through the form of illustrated manuscript. The illustrated palm leaf is one such classic and inspired medium which gave the etchers a surface to work with, a surface as dignified to the scribe as is a block of flawless Carrere marble to a sculptor (Malla 2008). The art of scribing and painting on the palm leaf sprang into the highly cultured air of Odisha around the 10th Century AD. It gave the rest of India an unthought‐of page hardly more than an inch and a half in width and a few more inches in length in a rectangular format (Malla 2007). But that looked as big as the sky and the Odishan artists began splashing it with the colors and contours of the universal urge to unite, to be, and to perpetuate.

Passion met passion, and soon the palm leaf became a veritable treasure trove of the innermost cravings and desires of man and his mate (Malla 2007). Predictable or sublime, sheer artistry sketched the theme of passion on leaves that left little to intellect upon but invited to just delve in and feel the heat. The numerous illustrated manuscripts in the collection of the Odisha State Museum embody the rich artistic tradition of the state (Malla 2007). It contains a large number of illustrated text both plain and painted from which this paper culled only eight picturesque kavyas and its impact in the society and the courtly activates (Malla 2007). It is not for the mere creation of beauties, but what are shining diamond‐like in these are the crystallization of love and mysticism and the manifestation of subtlest philosophical and spiritual thinking (Malla 2008). Illustrated works like Gita Govinda, Ushavilasa, Amarusatakam, Kumudakanta Chautisha, Rasika Haravali, Bidagdha Madhava and Chausathi Ratibandha are tributes to a tradition that celebrated joys of the flesh, the stirrings of anticipation, the moist moments, the heat and the rain and all those go on in erotic’s (Malla 2008). One may call such a collection a spreadsheet of nature in full sensual sentience. This precious collection offers a window into the soul of a State down the centuries (Malla 2008). The main propose of these manuscripts output of the medieval courtly culture in Odisha which one deliberately showing the prestigious of king and his patronage towards the scribed of the manuscript (Panigrahi 1981). The surplus of the economy reflects in the form of construction of the temple in Odisha as a big tradition from 6th Century AD to 14th Century AD as highly ornamented and stylistic development. In the period of manuscript and scribed happening in 12th century and the surplus economy divert for this purpose. The prestige and power of king or patron of manuscript reflect in the producing such type of local kamasutra or regional kamasutra for the hierarchy system of the society those are enjoyed by the upper class and the courtly associated people. These are clearly description in the form of Odia literature such as “Odia Riti Jugiya Sahitya”, and the philanthropists are Upendra Bhanja,

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Dinakrushan, Abhimanuya Samanta Simhara and so many Odia intelligentsia group enriched the literature as the parameter of Erotic theme.

Figure 1: Gita Govinda, Catalogue No. Ext. /166 (Courtesy: Descriptive Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts, p. 38)

Gita Govinda The Gita Govinda (Malla 2007) (Catalogue No. Ext. /166) of Jayadev (Figure 1), 12th Century, is a classic essay on the twinges of Radha in waiting for reunion with her eternal lover, Krishna. Radha’s reveries as consort to Krishna are movingly narrated in verbal icons of sheer sensuous detail. This manuscript describes about the story of Radha and Krishna with the time of sting of Radha, who became keenly interested on Krishna’s love, which one scribed and painted in Gitagovinda which one illustrated format and commentator by Dhananjaya. Whereas description of the sexual life of Krishna and Radha, the basic purpose of the privileged sexual behavior in the courtly tradition through the name of Hindu god and goddess. Because that time producing format of the any fine art product as well as literary activities also referenced the Hindu mythic individuals, those are merely active in the purpose of sexual behavior like produced of Gita Govinda. This manuscript is counting among the finest flowers of Odishan art as well as Indian context. The approach of the artists to the theme might vary, from grace and submissive reverence to the joyous celebration of love (Malla B.2007). This manuscript has something of both such as devotional streak serves as a firm stratum, as it were, on which the painter, life the poet raises structures that are rapturous and blissful (Malla 2007). The line is firm and crisp, and discreet colouring keeps adding to the filigree of feeling that the verses possess when, at the very beginning, Nanda urges Radha to take Krishna home, for the sky has turned threatening and the night might frighten the young body, the painter, knowing full well that on the way home the secret passions of Radha and Krishna are going to

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Mallik 2017: 391‐402 unfold on the banks of the Yamuna, prominently renders Krishna as a really small boy compared to Radha who towers above him. In the very next folio, however, everything is going to fall into place, even in respect of the scale of their bodies, and it does (Malla 2007). It is as if the artist knows how to play with situations, much in the manner of the great poet himself. This is the way the illustrations, in which the painter attempts to parallel the work of the poet precede in this fine manuscript.

Figure 2: Kumudaknata Chutisa, Catalogue No. Ext. /139 (Courtesy: Descriptive Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts, p. 92, Fig. 2)

Figure 3: Kumudaknata Chutisa, Catalogue No. Ext. /139 (Courtesy: Descriptive Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts, p. 92, Fig. 2)

Kumuda Kanta Chautisha In the 19th Century, Narayana Das created Kumudakanta Chutisha, (Malla 2007) (Catalogue No. Ext. /139), a masterpiece on love in its entire splendor between Radha and Krishna (Figures 2 and 3). Each of the 34 stanzas is a tribute to a love‐lock that pans deep and across the floors of abiding passion. The manuscript depicts the

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attractive color illustrations. The manuscript depicts the colour illustrations. Some erotic figures of Radha and Krishna have been decorated here. Krishna is black and Radha is white as presented in the manuscript.

Figure 4: Ushaabhilasha/ Ushaharana, Catalogue No. Ext. /315 (Courtesy: Ushabilasha, Ed. Sitakanta Mohapatra, p. 27‐Chanda 4 & p. 34 Chanda 7)

Figure 5: Ushaabhilasha/ Ushaharana, Catalogue No. Ext. /315 (Courtesy: Ushabilasha, Ed. Sitakanta Mohapatra, p. 27‐Chanda 4 & p. 34 Chanda 7)

Ushavilasha Sishu Sankar Das’s Ushavilasa, (Malla 2007) (Catalogue No. Ext. /315) a 16th Century epic, has been amongst the most inspiring pictorial love story of Usha and Aniruddha (Figures 4 and 5). Rainbows of passion and burning desire in its rawness power this sachitra pothi. The poem has rich visual imagery and the act of painting is an integral part of its narrative. The protagonists Usha and Aniruddha are presented as ideal medieval nayaka and nayika; the former is both dhira (gentle, patient) and udatta (impassioned) and the latter is mugdha (the charmed one, the tranced), She is not only a paragon of beauty; the elegance and charm of her physical features are described through a number of conventional flower metaphors; she is also well‐versed in the arts including the game of dice. Aniruddha is a great hero, the charming prince who is

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Mallik 2017: 391‐402 extremely handsome and the true inheritor of the clan of the Yadus. Their love and eventual marriage is in the pattern of Yayati marrying Sharmistha and Bhima marrying Hidimba both from the clan of demons.

Amarushatakam Amarusatakam (Malla 2007) (Catalogue No. Ext. /388) of Amaru (or Amaruka) is a stand‐alone as perhaps the most vivid graphic representation of la amorthat celebrates the ideal conjugal courtship sans inhibition. It depicts the joy of love or Sambhog Sringar in all its richness and variety (Figure 6). If Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra is the most famous theoretical and scientific treatise on love, Amarushataka is its most beautiful and graphic exemplification in the poetic form.

Figure 6: Amarusatkama, Catalogue No. Ext. /388 (Courtesy: Passion on Palm‐leaf, Ed. B. Malla)

Rasika Haravali Rasika Harabali (Malla 2007) (Catalogue No. Ext. /40) of Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, 18th Century, is an erotic delight (Figure 7). Rarer would be a source which depicted a woman (the title heroine) not only in bodily detail but also the voluptuousness behind strokes of desire, dream, fantasy, fear, both pre‐puberty and post. The poet seems to have given importance to Bipralambha Sringar in this long poem. This is one of the important Kavyas of the famous poet Kavi Samrat Upendra Bhanja. This Kavya is completely imaginary in nature for which the theme of the Kavya is consisting pictures of different lilas, roaming of garden, exchange of letters of the nayaka and nayika.

Figure 7: Rasika‐Haravali, Catalogue No. Ext. /40 (Courtesy: Manuscript Section, Odisha State Museum, Bhubaneswar)

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Bidagdha Madhava Roopa Goswami’s 16th Century classic, Bidagdha Madhava (Malla 2007), (Catalogue No. Ext. /310) is literally a drama of the agony and ecstasy of the jugalbandi of Krishna and Radha, the symbolic union of Purusa and Prakriti (Figure 8). Pournarnasi plays the bridge. However it differs in many ways from the theme of the narrative framework of the more famous Gita Govinda notably by the introduction of characters representing the moral impediments to the union of Radha and Krishna. The story of the poem is ideal for visual representation. Although we have only one copy of the illustrated manuscript in the Orissa State Museum, it is rare in its pictorial quality. Although not coloured, the pictures are remarkable for their sharp features of the human characters as also for the most beautiful depiction of nature. It is interesting to note that long before the modern concept of cartoons had emerged, the artists of Odisha had mastered the art of depicting characters in exact proportions in leaf after leaf so that even persons who could not read the scripts could easily fathom the feelings and the events depicted in the pictures. This is perhaps the strongest point of the illustrated manuscript of Bidagdha Madhava, a few leaves of which are presented in this section. The theme of Bidagdha Madhava is completely Krishnas love story with Radha & other Gopis. The names of Krishna, Radha, Pouranarnasi, Visakha, Lalita etc are mentioned in the manuscript.

Figure 8: Bidagadhamadhava, Catalogue No. Ext. /310 (Courtesy: Manuscript Section, Odisha State Museum, Bhubaneswar)

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Chausathi Ratibandha Chausathi Ratibandha (Malla 2007), (Catalogue No. Ext. /310) or the sixty‐four positions for erotic postures, is a unique treatise on complete sensuous gratification (Figure 9). Nrupati Gopal Bhanja’s 18th Century creation is illustrative and explanatory as Rati and Kandarpa, the twin symbols of the ultimate male and female, give credence to the reality of the bandhas. Towards the end it provides a valuable manual for maintaining a sound sexual relationship in conjugal life along with the use of different medicinal and aromatic herbs. Sixty four mode of love are depicted in seventeen leaves and figures of Rati and Kandarpa are carved in a separate leaf. Other palm leaves are full of poetic literature on Kamasutra. The illustrations are only in line drawing.

Figure 9: Chausathi Ratibandha, Catalogue No. Ext. /328 (Courtesy: Manuscript Section, Odisha State Museum, Bhubaneswar)

Conclusion This bunch of erotica on palm leaf along with the delightful colours creates such magnificence and beauty that any observer is appreciative to consider and think for many hours. This is not created for the mere surveillance of the predictable techniques of painting, but our main purpose in the creation of such an artistic work is the elevation of the viewers mind to the subtlest world of mysticism, one beyond the material world (Malla 2008). Watching a passionate painting on palm leaf is not important, but the immersion of beauty and love and finally the ascension into the world of supreme bliss or sexual pleasure through the light of its understanding is more significant (Malla 2008). These paintings bear delicate hints of the pleasant and delightful breezes of passion and beauty. Passion on palm leaf painting is a living tradition in Odisha with marked brilliance. However, it is an extremely difficult task to translate kavyas into painting which have been continued source of knowledge for our textual understanding and a constant joy to see again and again (Panigrahi 1981). Art lovers, connoisseurs and critics alike have been astonished by the display of a mode of art that is rich and textured as it has been sourced from the core of being (Malla 2008). The tradition of legacy and distinguishes not the poet’s but the painter’s intentions and

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achievements as well as scriber in the produced such like manuscript with the essences of courtly culture and sexual behavior.

Acknowledgements I am very grateful to my supervisor Prof. (Dr). Y.S. Alone, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, to allow me for publishing this essay from my PhD work. I am also indebted to intelligent fellows like Prof. (Dr). Naman P. Ahuja, Prof. (Dr). Kavita Singh, SAA/VSA/JNU, New Delhi, Dr. Jagannath Prasad Das (Eminent Literary person and Freelancer Art Historian, Former IAS Officer, Huzkhas, New Delhi), Dr. Bhagayalipi Malla, Curator, Manuscript Section, Odisha State Museum and Director Odisha State Archives, Bhubaneswar, for discussing several times for enriching this write‐up.

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