A Song to “The Beautiful Goddess”: Text, Ritual, and Devotion in the Apiràmi Antàti
Marissa Figlarz
Faculty of Religious Studies
McGill University, Montreal
August 31, 2009
A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts © Marissa Figlarz 2009
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Table of Contents
Abstract
Resume
Note on Transliteration
List of Figures
Acknowledgment
Introduction 11
Chapter 1 Contextualizing the Apiràmi Antàti: Form and Historical Framework 19
Chapter 2 Glimpses of ørīvidyà Tantra and Brahmanic Bhakti in the Apiràmi Antàti 38
Chapter 3 The Tirukkadaiyur Temple: Myth, Ritual, and Domestication of the Goddess 65
Conclusion 89
Appendix 1: Ethics Approval certificate, McGill University
Appendix 2: Tirukkadaiyur Temple inscriptions
Appendix 3: Figures
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Abstract
My project locates the 18th century Tamil poem Apirāmi Antāti at the interstices of popular Tamil devotion (bhakti), a form of South Indian Tantra known as Śrīvidyā, and the upper-caste (Brahmin) social, cultural, and ritual worlds that engender the text. Bringing together inter-textual, and ethnographic analysis, I argue that the simultaneous appearance of Tantric themes, alongside themes of Brahmanic domesticity in the text point towards Śrīvidyā, which integrates esoteric Tantric practice with upper-caste Brahmanic social behaviour. My linkage of the Apirāmi Antāti with Śrīvidyā is substantiated by a critical historicization of the Apirāmi Antāti that locates the text in the emergent Tamil Brahmin Tantric milieu at the Tanjavur court in the early eighteenth century. Finally, there is something about this milieu, the shrine of the Goddess, and her consort at Tirukkadaiyur that has had an enduring value for the largest group of Tamil Brahmins known as Smàrtas. Using ethnographic data, the later part of this thesis examines the contemporary appeal of this poem to upper-caste devotees of the Goddess. I discuss a rite-of-passage (saüskàra), known as ÷atàbhiùekam, which is performed at Tirukkadaiyur, and allows the poem and its Goddess to become identified with Smàrta Brahmin cultural values.
3 Résumé
Mon projet situe le poème Apirāmi Antāti à la croisée entre la dévotion populaire Tamoule (bhakti), une forme de Tantra d‟Inde du Sud connu sous le nom de Śrīvidyā, et le monde social, culturel et rituel de la caste supérieure (Brahmane) qui ont engendré le texte. En reliant une analyse intertextuelle et ethnographique, je démontre que l‟apparition simultanée de thèmes Tantrique avec des thèmes de la vie familiale Brahmanique dans le texte tend vers la Śrīvidyā, une pratique qui intègre des pratiques Tantriques ésotériques avec un comportement social de la caste supérieure Brahmanique. Mon association entre Apirāmi Antāti et Śrīvidyā est justifié par une historisation critique du Apirāmi Antāti qui situe le texte dans le milieu Tamoul Brahmane Tantrique émergent à la court de Tanjavur au début du dix-huitième siècle. Finalement, il se passe quelque chose au sujet de ce milieu, le tombeau de la déesse, et son époux à Tirukkadaiyur qui a eu une valeur durable pour le plus grand groupe de Tamouls Brahmanes appelé Smàrthas. En utilisant des données ethnographiques, la dernière partie de cette thèse examine le rappel contemporain de ce poème pour les fidèles de la caste supérieure dévoués à la déesse. Je discute du rite de passage (saüskàra), nommé ÷atàbhiùekam, qui se déroule à Tirukkadaiyur, et qui permet au poème et à sa déesse d‟être identifié aux valeurs culturelles Smàrtha Brahmanes
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Notes on Transliteration
For the most part, this thesis employs standard transliteration for Sanskrit words. For this reason, I have chosen to spell certain Tamil words in their more familiar Sanskrit form. For example, I have chosen to use the Sanskritic transliteration for Abhiràmi Bhaññar, ÷atàbhisēkam, and sumaïgalã.
With reference to Tamil texts, including the focus of this study, the Apiràmi Antàti, and other technical Tamil terms such as no•pu, I have chosen to retain their original spelling using the transliteration provided in the Tamil Lexicon.
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List of Figures 1. Amçtagate÷vara temple gopuram, Tirukkadaiyur, Tamilnadu.
2. Amçtagate÷vara temple entranceway.
3. Archway at the Amçtagate÷vara temple.
4. Amçtagate÷vara Temple tank.
5. Amçtagate÷vara Gurukkal: current head priest of the Tirukkadaiyur Amçtagate÷vara temple.
6. Popular print image of Abhiràmi on the cover of Apiràmi Antàti booklet sold at the Tirukkadaiyur temple.
7. Bronze image of Serfojī I from the Cakrapāõi temple in Kumbhakonam.
8. Memorial stone commemorating the arrival of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plutschau at Tranquebar.
9. Śatàbhiùekam: family watches as a woman feeds her husband sweets after the ceremony.
10. Couple undergoing ÷atàbhiùekam ceremony
11. Couple and daughter after having undergone ùaùñhyabdhapūrti ceremony.
12. Depiction of Śiva emerging from his linga to protect his devotee Màrkaõóeya for Yama
6 13. Popular image of Kàlasaühàramurti and his consort Abhiràmi (also known as Śrī Bālāmbāë).
7 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 University. I am truly grateful to my supervisor, Prof. Davesh Soneji for his constant encouragement as well as for the many hours we spent brainstorming, discussing and editing. I would also like to mention my sincere gratitude to Dr. B.M. Sundaram with whom I spent many mornings engaged in the translation of the text as well as its commentarial tradition.
I would like to thank my family and friends for their continual encouragement and support. Specifically, I owe a huge debt to my parents who instilled in me a love of learning.
I thank Andrew Greene for listening endlessly as I struggled to formulate my ideas, and for always assuring me it could be done.
A heartfelt thanks goes out to Roman Teisserenc for providing me a French translation for the abstract, and to Brian Demchinsky for reading and commenting on the first draft.
I would like to thank the Sashtri Indo-Canadian Institute as well as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsil for funding this research.
Finally, I thank the ladies of room 304 for helping me get through the long hours of writing and for making the benefits of graduate school far exceed academics.
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Introduction
The Apirāmi Antāti is a devotional poem composed by a Tamil poet named
Subrahmaõya, also known as Abhirāmi Bhaññar (“Abhirāmi‟s Brahmin Poet”) likely, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Dedicated to the local Tamil Goddess Abhiràmi
(“The Beautiful One”) in the village of Tirukkadaiyur, Tamilnadu, the text contains rich iconographic and ritual descriptions and employs an array of Tantric themes and conventions. The Apirāmi Antāti consists of one hundred and one verses where individual verses function as discrete, self-contained instances of meditation (Clooney 2005, 190), and is composed in the literary genre known as antāti (“end-beginning”) in which the last syllable of each verse begins the next. It has certainly become one of the most important texts for Goddess worship in modern South India, but despite its popularity, it remains a highly understudied work.
My project locates this poem at the interstices of popular Tamil devotion (bhakti), a form of South Indian Tantra known as Śrīvidyā, and the upper-caste (Brahmin) social, cultural, and ritual worlds that engender the text. Bringing together textual, inter-textual, and ethnographic methods, I argue that the simultaneous appearance of Tantric themes alongside themes of Brahmanic domesticity in the text point towards Śrīvidyā, a practice that integrates esoteric Tantric practice with upper-caste Brahmanic social behaviour. My linkage of the Apirāmi Antāti with Śrīvidyā is substantiated by a critical historicization of the Apirāmi Antāti. By locating the text in the emergent Tamil Brahmin Tantric milieu at the Tanjavur court in the eighteenth century (home to the Tantric innovator
Bhàksararàya, c. 1690-1785), I argue that we can read this work as being definitively influenced by ørīvidyà thought and practice.
9 Finally, there is something about this milieu, the shrine of the Goddess, and her consort at
Tirukkadaiyur (which was patronized by the Tanjavur court in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) that has an enduring value for the largest group of Tamil Brahmins known as Smàrtas. Using ethnographic data, I examine the contemporary appeal of this poem for upper-caste devotees of the Goddess. I discuss a rite-of-passage (saüskàra), known as ÷atàbhiùekam, which is performed by Smàrta Brahmins at Tirukkadaiyur and serves to maintain Smàrta Brahmin cultural values in line with those of ørīvidyā.
One of the major contributions of my thesis lies in its emphasis on Tamil bhakti in the context of Goddess worship, moving away from scholarly characterizations of Tamil bhakti that focus on the “Great Traditions” of øaiva and Vaiùõava religious cultures.1
Francis X. Clooney (2005) has recently translated the Apiràmi Antàti into English, but he discusses Abhiràmi largely in the context of a comparative study between cults of local Goddesses and the worship of the Virgin Mary in South India. Clooney‟s dating of the text is also problematic. He locates its composition at the court of the Marāñhā king
Serfojã II of Tanjavur (1777-1832). As I demonstrate in the first chapter of my thesis, writings of an early missionary named Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719), help us to date the poem to the reign of King Serfojī I, approximately sixty years earlier.2 This new dating of the text allows us to fully explore its relationship to South Indian Śrīvidyā
Tantra. The great Tantric innovator Bhāskararāya wrote prolifically of matters of
1 Most academic works on devotion to the Goddess have focused on religious practices in Bengal (McDermott 2001; McDaniel 2004). In the field of Tamil studies, scholars of bhakti traditions have primarily focused on the medieval sectarian literature dedicated to the two male gods, øiva and Viùõu (for example Ramanujan 1981; Narayanan 1994; Prentiss 1999; Peterson 1989 and others). Śàkta bhakti in Tamilnadu has rarely been addressed by scholars, largely because of this focus on the traditions of the øaiva and Vaiùõava bhakti saints (nàya•àrs and à×vàrs). 2 This information has been provided by Prof. William Sweetman (University of Otago, New Zealand), who is engaged in research on Ziegenbalg‟s catalogues. It has kindly been given to me by Prof. Sweetman through personal correspondence.
10 Śrīvidyà, including an extensive commentary on the Sanskrit text known as
Lalitāsahasranāma, “The Thousand names of Lalità.” This text is an appendage to the
Brahmàõóa Puràõa and has long been associated with the practice of Śrīvidyā Tantra in
South India. The fact that Abhirāmi Bhaññar and Bhāskararāya were contemporaries at the Tanjavur court speaks to the popularity of esoteric Goddess worship in the Tanjavur region. I argue that the influence from the Lalitāsahasranāma, paired with the esoteric references found in the Apirāmi Antāti and the historical period in which it emerges, clearly locate the Apirāmi Antāti as an outgrowth of Śrīvidyā tradition.
Methods and Materials
Methodologically, my project brings textual and historical sources into dialogue with oral traditions and ethnographic material. In terms of textual analysis this work provides an examination of primary sources in Tamil as well as secondary sources.
My analysis will be largely based on Francis X. Clooney‟s translation of the Apirāmi
Antāti (2005), from which all quotations for the poem are taken, unless otherwise specified. Other quotations of the Apiràmi Antàti come from translations from the original Tamil text that I have compiled with the aid of Dr. B.M. Sundaram in
Pondicherry, as well as from English translations of the Apiràmi Antàti composed by
Candaswami Kadirvel (1976) and Sundaramurthy (2000). In addition, I examine four twentieth-century Tamil commentaries on the Apirāmi Antāti, namely those by M.K.
Velpillai (1970), Pollavar N. Ramanathan (1973), P.K. Shanmukanathan (1974) and K.V.
Jagannathan (1990).
The inter-textual dimension of the project focuses on the Apirāmi Antāti‟s
11 relationship with the Sanskrit text Lalitāsahasranāma. I look at confluent identities of the
Goddess Abhiràmi and the Goddess Lalitā through an analysis of Lalitā as portrayed in the Lalitāsaharanāma and the major commentary on the text composed by Bhāskararāya in 1728 C.E. translated by R. Ananthakrishna Sastry (2002). In excavating congruent images of Lalità and Abhiràmi I also use Mã•akùisundaram Maka•‟s unique study of the similarities between these two Goddesses (2007). This comparison helps us to understand the Goddess Abhiràmi as a manifestation of Lalitā and underscores certain esoteric themes that appear throughout the Apiràmi Antàti. In order to connect the Apiràmi Antàti with the cult of Śrãvidyà, both through the character of its central deity as well as through key Tantric themes, I utilize the decisive works on Śrãvidya by Douglas Renfrew Brooks
(1990, 1992). I demonstrate how the esoteric themes of the poem coexist with Sanskritic
Brahmanic ideas, congruent with a Śrãvidyà worldview that juxtaposes Tantric ritual practice with Vedic practices.
Moving from analyses of the text itself to its contemporary uses, I have carried out ethnographic research at the Amçtaghañe÷vara temple3 in Tirukkadaiyur (Tanjavur district, Tamilnadu) in the summer of 2008, aided by funding from the Shastri Indo-
Canadian Institute.4 During a period of two months I visited the temple every weekend where I conducted interviews with the head priest, Amçtaghañe÷vara Gurukkaë, as well as the temple hymnist (otuvār) and ten devotees visiting and worshipping at the temple.5
Today, this temple is one of the most popular centres of pilgrimage in modern
Tamilnadu, as it houses both the shrine to Abhiràmi and her consort, øiva in the form of
3 See figure 1, 2, 3, 4. 4 Issues surrounding gender, family, and class in Tamilnadu are discussed in the ethnographic work by Holly Reynolds (2007), Margaret Trawick (1996), and Karin Kapadia (1998). 5 See figure 5.
12 Amçtaghañe÷vara (“Lord of the Pot of Ambrosia”). The local “establishment myth”
(sthalapuràõa) of the temple relates to øiva‟s subjugation of Yama (the god of death), in order to grant eternal youth to his child-devotee Màrkaõóeya. The Tirukkadaiyur temple, as the site on earth where this narrative is said to have occurred, has become famous throughout South India for conducting ÷atābhiùekam, a ritual of renewing wedding vows.
This rite of passage is especially prominent among the Smàrta Brahmin community, and reifies ideas about domesticity and its ritual significance. Śatàbhiùekam takes place on the husband‟s sixty-first and eighty-first birthday, and serves mainly to extend the lives of both husband and wife, in a kind of Brahmanic social ritual that consolidates the position of householders in society. This emphasis on the value of domesticity is very much in keeping with the ethos of Śrīvidyà. The purpose of this research was to connect the contemporary use of the Apiràmi Antàti and devotees conceptualization of her to the temple‟s sthalapuràõa, or origin myth, as well as to a the ritual practice of ÷atàbhiùekam.
I argue that the Apirāmi Antāti presents the Goddess in her domesticated form, drawing on these ideas of the power of domesticity for women. The idea of an all-powerful domesticated Goddess, combined with the myth of Màrkaõóeya, clearly draws contemporary Tamil women to the Tirukkadaiyur temple and the shrine of the Goddess
Abhiràmi. The social and ritual status of these women is maintained by their identities as sumaïgalãs, “auspicious married women,” and as I will demonstrate, the ritual of
÷atābhiùekam serves to reinforce the prestige of domestication for Brahmin women, and in so doing, augment its social appeal for other caste groups who seek to emulate elite social practices.
For a closer investigation of the socio-religious status of upper class Brahman
13 women in South India, my work draws from Mary Hancock‟s insightful study of the history and politics surrounding Smàrta Brahman society (1991), Hancock provides a definitive analysis of the factors that have led this community to occupy the position of
„cultural brokers‟ in Tamil Nadu, establishing social norms and providing models for other caste groups seeking social mobility (1991). Finally, the works of Holly Reynolds which discusses generally woman‟s religious roles (1980), and Vasumathi Duvvury who provides an in-depth and exclusive look at Smàrta woman‟s rituals (1991), contribute to my understanding of the performance of woman‟s rites in South India. These authors have both discussed the relationship between ritual and social power for Tamil Brahmin women. As this thesis works through a contextual, thematic and contemporary analysis the Apirāmi Antàti, the significance of this text‟s literary, and cultural religious history come to the fore. The poem‟s espousal of Śrīvidyā ideology, which plays in both Tantric and Brahmanic spheres, allows it to be popularized in contemporary South India. This work both reiterates and proliferates popular conceptions of womanhood and domesticity bringing its relevance from the eighteenth century to the present.
The first chapter of this thesis contextualizes the Apiràmi Antàti in literary and historical perspectives. I briefly provide an overview of the available hagiographic material on the poet, and discuss the literary genre antàti. The bulk of this chapter however, is committed to providing a historical framework for the production of the poem. I discuss the current dating controversy that revolves around the question of whether the Apiràmi Antàti was written during the time of King Serfojī I (1711-1727), or
King Serfojī II (1798-1832). I argue that this work is unlikely to have been composed in the time of Serfojī II, substantiating this assertion with early missionary records that show
14 the text to predate his rule. Although the text does not overtly provide historical information, certain thematic cues connect it with the tradition of Śrãvidyà. I furthur my argument for the dating of the text through an investigation of cultural production at the royal court of King Serfojī I, with a focus on the work of the Tantric commentator
Bhāskararāya. This discussion will enable us to understand the religious and historical contexts that give rise to what I will argue are the ørīvidyà dimensions of the Apirāmi
Antāti.
The second chapter provides an analysis of the Goddess Abhiràmi as conceptualized in the Apirāmi Antāti, paying close attention to the Lalitāsahasranāma‟s depiction of the Goddess Lalità Tripurasundarã. I show that their identities have been fused through the Apiràmi Antàti, which explicitly connects Abhiràmi to Lalità in name, myth, and iconography. I also discuss the universalization of Abhiràmi achieved by
Abhiràmi Bhaññar through his use of multiple epithets and diverse mythological references for the Goddess, drawing from both Pan-Indian Sanskritic Goddess traditions, and regional, South Indian ones. I focus on the issue of the “domestication” of the Tantric
Goddess, and also cull esoteric Tantric references from the text – such as those of mantra, ÷rãcakra and kuõóalinã – in order to connect the poem with the tradition of
Śrīvidyā. I will assess these descriptions of esoteric practices as described in the text in light of the inclusion criteria for “Tantric writings” laid out by Douglas Renfrew Brooks in his major work on ørīvidyà discussing the importance of a polythetic approach to the classification of texts as “Tantric” (1990).
The final chapter examines the contemporary appeal of the Abhiràmi Antàti for women in contemporary South India. This chapter discusses the importance of the
15 „auspicious‟ married woman in urban middle class Hinduism, stressing the desirability of such a position among women in the Smàrta Brahmin community. The influence wielded by Smàrta Brahmins in South India places them in a position of establishing social norms and augmenting the authority of cultural practices. In this way, the married woman‟s position in society is idealized and iconicized. This chapter contains my ethnographic work carried out at the Tirukkadaiyur temple, providing insight into the ritual of
÷atābhiùekam and how this ritual practice reifies ideas of domesticity. The idea of domesticity is central to understanding Tamil Brahmin women‟s social roles and status, and is crucial to ørīvidyà Tantra, which stresses the simultaneous practice of Tantric ritual and Brahmanic domesticity. By emphasizing Abhiràmi‟s domestic nature, the
Apiràmi Antàti is made palatable to an elite Brahmanic audience, and by extension, a larger upper class public that seeks to emulate the cultural and ideological practices of
Tamil Smàrtas.
This thesis thus investigates three dimensions of the Apiràmi Antàti: its historical background, the text itself, and its contemporary application in the context of South
Indian Goddess worship. In doing so, it highlights the interface between Tantra and bhakti, which is so often overlooked, and attempts to forge new explorations in the Tamil religious context.
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Chapter 1 Contextualizing the Apiràmi Antàti: Form and Historical Framework
An understanding of the historical context surrounding the composition of the
Apirāmi Antāti and its author, Abhirāmi Bhaññar, is necessary before we begin an in-depth analysis of the text. In this chapter, I argue for a dating of this text that places its composition at the Tanjore court during the reign of King Serfojī I, this will be substantiated with missionary records from the Dutch Tranquebar mission of 1706. This chapter includes an examination of the Tanjavur court, and the figure of Bhāskararāya in order to contextualize the text in a period of artistic/poetic proliferation and the formal royal patronage of Śrīvidyā. Due to the scarcity of sources focusing on this period, this chapter does not claim to offer a definitive dating for this text, but rather, a general historicization of the text that will help us understand the text as concurrent with the popularization of esoteric Śrīvidyā practices.
The Literary Genre Antàti
The Apirāmi Antāti is a poem containing one hundred and one verses in praise of the Goddess Abhirāmi, “The Beautiful Goddess”, and is written in the Tamil literary genre called antāti. Antāti is a form of poetry deployed by many medieval Tamil poet- saints. By using this popular genre common to bhakti writing, the author of this poem locates himself within the tradition of Tamil bhakti poets and identifies his poems with previous bhakti compositions.
Within the Apirāmi Antāti, individual verses function as discrete and self- contained instances of meditation (Clooney 190) sown together in simple and mellifluous
17 language.6 The corresponding style in English is known as anaphoric writing. These thematically varied verses are linked by the stylistic formalities of antāti, which binds them closely together although not necessarily for the purpose of narrative progression.
The word antāti is a Sanskrit compound comprising of the words anta and àdi (“end” and
“beginning”), and indicates a metrical arrangement in which the last line, word, or syllable of a verse commences the subsequent one.7 In the Apirāmi Antāti, the final syllable in the one hundred and first verse loops back and corresponds to the initial syllable in verse number one. This provides the text with a cyclical dynamic, evoking notions of continuity and uninterrupted recitation.
The antāti genre is made up of many subtypes based on length, content, sound, and verbal sequence. K. Gandhi reminds us that, “the classifications in theoretical works do not exhaust the kinds of verse-forms with Antāti” (1992, 223). As a device, antāti creates a sense of fluidity throughout the text and acts as a mnemonic aid. It is useful as a teaching instrument and allows for easy retention, an important skill in a tradition based on orality. Additionally, the authors of these antāti texts developed a tradition of beginning poetry with kāppu (an invocation), followed by avaiyañakkam (author‟s apologetic preface), and ending with nūrpayan (citation of benefits to the reader) (Gandhi
1992, 224). This aesthetic style is also modelled in the Apiràmi Antàti.
Antāti poems have been popular in Tamil literature since the early medieval period. The antāti form has been traced back as far as the Caïkam period where the
6 The content of printed editions of the Apiràmi Antàti is remarkably standard. I have not come across any variations in vocabulary, word order, or grammar in any of the editions I have examined. See figure 6. 7 The Māranalankāram commentary on Tolkāppiyam says that antāti is the repetition of elutu, acai, cīr (words), and ati (full lines) in the corrotar nilai (sequence of verses bound by successive sounds) and poruttitar nilai (sequence of verses linked by meanings) (Ghandhi 221).
18 antāti is employed through the repetition of letters, syllables, feet and lines.8 Two examples of this are the Narrinai by Kōññampalavā•ar in verse 95 (7-9) and the
Puranānūru (2. 1-5) by Muranciyūr Mutinākarāyar (Gandhi 1992, 222). 9 Later, the antāti verse genre becomes popular among poets of the bhakti period. Kamil Zvelebil tells us that the antāti has been one of the most productive forms of poetry since appearing in the bhakti period (1974, 195). The earliest poems with antāti device were in venpā form as seen in Kāraikkālammaiyār‟s Arputat Tiruvantāti (550-600AD) and the antātis of the first three Ālvārs, or Vaiùõava saints (Poykai Ālvār, Pēyālvār and
Pūtattālvār)10 (Gandhi 1992, 223). Other works of note are poems from
Māõikkavācakar‟s Tiruvācakam and the tenth section of the Śaiva canon, Tirumūlar‟s
Tirumantiram, which contains antāti portions. Additionally, the full one thousand one hundred and two verses in Nammālvār‟s Tiruvāymoli are written in an antāti form known as Antātit totai. 11 The antātis of this early period range in length from seven to one thousand one hundred verses. By mirroring the forms used by medieval Tamil Śaiva and
Vaiùõava bhakti saints, Abhirāmi Bhaññar extends the parameters of Tamil bhakti to include the worship of Devī to the traditional worship of male Gods.
The Hagiography of “Abhirāmi‟s Brahmin Poet”
The task of historicizing Abhirāmi Bhaññar is incredibly difficult as the majority of information comes to us from modern sources, such as the twentieth century
8 The metres commonly used in Antātis are: arucir, aciriya viruttam, kali viruttam, koccakak kalippa, elucir aciriya viruttam, kalinilait turai, encir aciriya, and venpa (Gandhi 1992, 225). 9 KuŸakattatuve, ku×u mi×aic cīŸàr; cīŸàrōëe, nàŸu mayirk koñicci; koñicci kaiyakattatuvē, piŸar v. 95 10 These saints are the three earliest of the Tamil Alvars and have respectively composed the antàti works: Mutal, Irantam, and Munran Tiruvantatis. 11 Antātit totai refers to a linking device occurring between two lines as opposed to ceyyul antāti which occurs between two verses.
19 commentaries. These commentaries tell us that Subrahmaõya Aiyar was born into the
Smārta Brahmin family of Amçtaliïga Aiyar in Tirukkadaiyur (Velpillai 2, and
Ramanathan 27). Tirukkadaiyur sits on the southern bank of the Kaveri River, a region traditionally associated with the Cōla country. Subrahmaõya became a scholar of both
Tamil and Sanskrit (Zvelebil 1995, 50) and was well versed in musical composition.
From a young age his devotion to the Goddess Abhirāmi was exceptional and the
Apirāmi Antāti is said to come directly from his experience of her grace. The other texts attributed to Subrahmaõya Aiyar are Kañavūr Kallavarana Pillaiyar Patiuppatt Antāti,
Kālacaïkrāmūrtti, and Apirāmi Ammai Patikam. It is significant that the Apirāmi Antāti does not recount events from Abhirāmi Bhaññar‟s life. However, narratives about his life are extremely popular among devotees of the Goddess Abhirāmi and are found at the beginning of all the commentarial works.
The following hagiography for Subramaõya Aiyar (Abhirāmi Bhaññar) is a compilation from various accounts as recounted in the commentaries of Velpillai,
Ramanathan, Shanmukanathan, and Jagannathan. All these commentaries were composed during the twentieth century. There are also some versions that vary slightly from the basic plot. For example, in one account, Abhirāmi reveals herself to the king through a dream (Clooney 251). Although I have compiled the following hagiography as a composite of the data found in available commentaries, versions of this account of the life of Abhirāmi Bhaññar are also very much a part of oral and popular tradition.
From a young age Subrahmaõya Aiyar is a devotee of the Goddess Abhirāmi, who resides in the local temple in Tirukkadaiyur. He constantly meditates on the Goddess and is often so submerged in trance that other Brahmins believe him to be either drunk or mad. One day the king, after having taken his ritual bath in Poona, visits the temple in Tirukkadaiyur. He is shown much respect by the community with the exception of Subrahmaõya who is so lost in his meditation and dazzled by the
20 image of Abhirāmi that he fails to notice the arrival of the king. The king, angered by Subrahmaõya‟s disrespect, and urged on by the Brahmin community, who charge Subrahmaõya with drunkenness and insanity, decides to test his coherence. Although the king knows full well that it is to be the new moon night of the month of Tai (January-February), he tests Subrahmaõya by asking him whether the moon will be new or full that night. Subrahmaõya is so swept up in the dazzling light that radiates from the image of the Goddess that, seeing only light, he claims there will be a full moon that evening. The king then threatens to punish him if the moon does not appear. When Subrahmaõya emerges from his meditation, he is distressed to realize the grave error he has committed. The devotee then prays to the Goddess to save him digging a pit about one yard in length, width, and depth and inside this pit building a fire.12 Suspending himself over the fire in a pot tied up with a hundred cords, he challenges the Goddess to rescue him from the King‟s punishment. Meditating on Her grace, he defends himself by extolling her power and begins to sing the Apirāmi Antāti. At each verse he cuts one of the hundred cords until, during the seventy-ninth verse, Abhirāmi reveals Herself before him. The Goddess takes off one of her earrings and hurls it into to sky where it reflects as brightly as the full moon. She then tells Subrahmaõya that She accepts his song as an act of extreme devotion. Subrahmaõya continues singing until he reaches the one hundredth and first verse of the poem. The king, seeing the glow of the Goddess‟ earring and taking it to be the moon, apologizes to Subrahmaõya and grants him the honorific title, Abhirāmi Bhaññar, “Goddess Abhirāmi‟s Brahmin Poet,” as well as eight measures of paddy per one vēli (approx. 6.74 by 3 acres) from all the lands of the village.
In the hagiographical accounts of Abhirāmi Bhaññar‟s life, the Apirāmi Antāti is generated directly from Abhirāmi Bhaññar‟s devotion to the Goddess as well as from his experience of Her grace. This idea is further reinforced by the understanding that the
Goddess accepts the poem as an act of devotion coming to his aid. As Zvelebil notes, the work exemplifies “the artistic expressions of the poet‟s spontaneous devotional feelings”
(1995, 50). The context for the production of the work itself clearly locates it as a bhakti text. Additionally, the commentator, Jaganathan likens the extreme meditative trance achieved by Abhirāmi Bhaññar to Tantric physiology of the subtle body, wherein the
Goddess, as kuõóalinã Śakti rises from the mūlādhāra cakra at the base of the spine up through to the sahasrāra cakra at the top of the head resulting in an extraordinary flow of
12 This votive act is sometimes seen as a posthumous interpolation into Subrahmaõya‟s hagiography.
21 spiritual energy. He writes, “Apirāmi Bhattar is thus pictured in the tradition as a Tantric practioner who has actualized the energy of the Goddess within the cakras” (Clooney
2005, 189). This identification of Abhirami Bhaññar as a Tantric practitioner will become more important in the following chapter of this thesis when we will discuss esoteric themes present in the poem. For now, it is important for us to note that these hagiographical sources create an image of a poet who participates in both bhakti and
Tantric traditions.
Controversy: the Dating of the Apiràmi Antàti
Despite its relatively late composition and its regional localization in
Tirukkadaiyur, the dating of this text is still cause for much debate. While most scholars agree that Abhirāmi Bhaññar lived during the court of a King Serfojī (Śarabhojī), it is disputed whether it was King Serfojī I or Serfojī II. 13 Meanwhile, some commentators have evaded the problem by pushing the poem into the „Golden Age‟ of antiquity; others simply do not mention dating at all. For example, Velpillai writes that Abhirāmi Bhaññar lived about 600 years ago (1) while K. Gandhi sites the text as emerging in the early nineteenth century (1992, 224). This dating of the poem corresponds to Clooney‟s dating, which situates the poem during the rule of Serfojī II (1798-1832) (251). This later dating of the text is prominent in current scholarship; however, there are some scholars who argue that the Apirāmi Antāti was written during the reign of the first King Serfojī (1711-
1727) approximately seventy years earlier. Most notable among these are T.N.
Ramachandran and Kamil Zvelebil. 14 Zvelebil writes that Apirāmi Bhaññar was probably a purohit of Serfojī I (1995, 50). Neither group of scholars has, as of yet, put forward
13 The name Serfojī is an anglicization. Śarabhojī comes from Śaracha, a composite animal form of Śiva. 14 This information was obtained through interview with T.N. Ramachandran at his home in Tanjavur during the summer of 2008.
22 decisive historical proof in support of their hypotheses. The fact that the information concerning both of these kings is scarce further intensifies the problem of understanding their historical contexts and accurately dating the text.
It is not surprising that scholars would understand the Apirāmi Antāti to have been composed during the reign of King Serfojī II as this is considered a high point in South
Indian cultural history15. Serfojī II collected a large number of manuscripts, and commissioned many translations as well as new works in Sanskrit, and other regional languages (Peterson 2006, 6). His collections grew so large that in order to display his large compendium of Indian language and history, he contributed significantly to the
15 King Serfojī II, the adopted son of Tuljaji, brother of Amar Singh, was sent to Madras, by the British East India Company to be educated under the German Tranquebar missionary Schwartz. His personality, was therefore a combination of both Indian heritage and German education. The British recognized the political advantage of a western educated prince, and the possibility to mold him to their will. In 1793 the Company proclaimed Serfojī as the „presumptive heir‟ to the throne (Rajayyan 1969, 104). Serfojī‟s hybrid education resulted in a life long commitment to the arts and sciences in the context of learning and cultural activity. This commitment added greatly to the history and cultural element found in modern South India. This is very important as Serfojī was greatly influence by the German educational model. Serfojī‟s particular interests in indigenous literary and cultural form, European knowledge systems, education, and scientific tradition resulted from influence he had gained as a student under the German missionaries associated with the Danish-German Protestant mission in Tranquebar near Tanjore (Peterson 2006, 94). This mission was trained within the Pietist schools and seminary founded by Francke. While Serfojī was under their influence the Halle pietists became leaders in the Enlightenment, widening the horizons of scientific learning. The Enlightenment entailed the acquisition of knowledge through direct observation or empiricism and was said to be carried out for the good of society (Nair 2005, 101). Serfojī aimed at fusing Western attitudes with Indian culture using the British missionary methodology. During this period Serfojī II oversaw a great flowering of literature and his lifelong interest in European arts and sciences, he founded free public school that provided Western education in several Indian language and tried to synthesize European and Indian systems of learning and medicine. King Serfoji II‟s contributions to education, the arts, and Indian culture were incredibly significant, under his rule Tanjore flourished as an intellectual, scientific, and artistic capital. Indira Peterson writes about Serfojī‟s interest in the visual arts such as portraiture and sculpture, as well as his fascination with western medicine, anatomy, chemistry, botany, geography as well as other systems of knowledge. Two important events took place in 1799, first, the end of the Mysore war, which had the British emerge victorious as the supreme power in the Carnatic region, and second, one year after his coronation, the company annexed Tanjavur in the „Treaty cementing the friendship and alliance between the Company and the Rajah of Tanjore and for establishing the Government of Tanjore on a permanent foundation‟ (Rajayyan, 1969, 109). True to its long and ambiguous title, this treaty left King Serfojī II with only a theoretical rule, meaning no monetary or military power. Serfojī was a young and inexperienced prince who initially tried to improve his resources but found himself the pawn of the British. Although Serfojī‟s rule was ostensible he displayed his royal lineage through visual display and personal action. He extended patronage to many temples, built chattrams, and renovated the Bçhadī÷vara temple.
23 Sarasvatī Mahal Library in Tanjavur.16 Although King Serfojī II was known for great contributions to Tamil society, in the arts, social sciences, and natural sciences he was, by and large, a product of the German missionary education coming out of Madras, a sprawling urban city. Therefore, if we take the later dating as correct, placing the composition of this poem during the reign of Serfojī II, it opens up a whole line of questioning concerning issues of modernity at the Tanjore court including Serfojī II‟s
Protestant education and his relationship with the missionary Schwartz.
Alternatively, there are also significant reasons to believe that the text predates
Serfojī II and was composed under the rule of Serfojī I.17 Undeniable religious references to certain esoteric practices emerge from a careful analysis of the Apiràmi Antàti. During this period, Tantra occupied a prominent position at the Tanjavur Maràñhà court.18 This notoriety came about in large part due to an esteemed practitioner and prolific commentator named Bhāskararāya. The Apirāmi Antāti is written in-line with these new perceptions using many ideas common to Tantric tradition that would logically flow from the kind of religious innovations ushered in by figures such as Bhāskararāya.
There is also a third possibility in the dating of this text. Due to the immensity of the missionary Ziegenbalg‟s catalogues, there is a possibility that the Apirāmi Antāti predates Serfojī I and was written during or before the period of Śàhajī. The Apiràmi
Antàti seems quite anachronistic in terms of the works composed under Śàhajī‟s patronage, which did not include any esoteric or Tantric content. Within public
16 Sarasvatī Mahal Library began as a palace library called the Sarasvatī Bhaõóàra under the rule of Raghunātha Nāyaka (c. 1600-1634), and was developed by various Marāñhā kings. Serfojī II added to it when he secured a large number of manuscripts during his pilgrimage to Benares. 17 See figure 7. 18 Other Tantric texts are recorded as having been used by the Maràñhà kings. Several of these texts are extant in the Sarasvatī Mahal library. These texts deal with the intersection between kingship and Tantra, for example the Sàmràjyalakùmī Pīñhikà (Artatrana Sarangi, 1993).
24 perception this text has been tied very closely to the rule of a King Serfojī thus, if the text predates the first Serfojī, at this point, it would be impossible to date. The rejection of the idea that this poem was actually written at an earlier date is compounded by the fact that neither Ziegenbalg, nor Bhāskararāya mention the author of this work. This gap however, could have been a result of the fact that Ziegenbalg, in 1706, during the first years of his mission in India, would have been unfamiliar with the Hindu public at Tirukkadaiyur and may not have had the opportunity or interest to meet or know the author. In the case of
Bhāskararāya, he may not have felt the need to mention Abhiràmi Bhaññar whose repute and status was less renowned than his own, or the Apirāmi Antāti, which presumably did not attain its popularity until a later time.
Despite this possibility, the close link between the text and Serfojī in the popular imagination leads us to locate its composition during the reign of the first Serfoji when we see the institutionalized patronage of Tantric works. By exploring the kingship of
Serfojī I, as well as the influence of Bhāskararāya, I attempt to describe the religious dynamics of this period that enabled the composition of a Śākta bhakti text that employs
Tantric themes. Looking at Abhiràmi Bhaññar in the context of King Serfojī I‟s patronage of poetry and the arts while simultaneously considering the religious ideas circulating during the period which gave rise to the commentaries of Bhāskararāya allows for an understanding of the socio-religious climate that served as a background for the composition of the Apirāmi Antāti. While this information seems to substantiate the claims that Abhiràmi Bhaññar should be dated to the first half of the eighteenth century, the most convincing data by far comes from the records of early missionaries in the area, specifically the writings of Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg.
25 Toward a Critical Dating of the Apirāmi Antāti: Missionary Sources
Missionaries have played an integral role in the historical development of the sub- continent. Some of their greatest contributions have taken the form of translations and records that provide accounts of political, religious and cultural events from as early as the sixteenth century. Of utmost importance to this paper are the detailed records and catalogues compiled by Ziegenbalg during his stay in South India.
Ziegenbalg and Pleutschau (at the ages of twenty four and twenty nine respectively) landed on the Southeastern coast of India in the Danish colony called Tranquebar on July ninth, 1706 (Hudson, 1).19 Nearly two hundred years after Luther had begun the
Reformation of Europe, they were the first two German Protestant missionaries to India.
Tranquebar, located to the Southeast coast of South India is also known as Tarangambadi
(lit. “the singing of the waves”) in Tamil, and is located on the eastern edge of the
Tanjore Maràñhà kingdom. The Danish East India company had rented this land from the
Kings of Tanjore for eighty-six years, since 1618 (Hudson 1). In 1706 Tranquebar had a population of eighteen thousand, occupied by white Europeans, partly white
„Portugueze‟, Moors, and, for the most part, Malabrians [Tamils] (Irschik 257 & Hudson
2).
Ziegenbalg and Pleutschau had been commissioned and financed by King
Frederick IV of Denmark, who had not, however, consulted the Directors of the Danish
East India Company in Copenhagen (Hudson 1). During that period there was high tension between the Tanjavur court and missionaries. Śàhajī is said to have harassed the
Catholic missionaries in his kingdom. In numerous accounts Śàhajī surrounded
Tranquebar with infantry, and he had previously stopped the Danish slave trade, causing
19 See figure 8.
26 a great monetary loss to the Danish company (Irschik 255). These two missionaries were therefore met with discontent, and caused anxiety to the Danish commander Hassius. He worried Śàhajī would interfere with Danish trading activites at Tranquebar, and as a result they were treated poorly by their Dutch companions (Irschik 255).
Ziegenbalg however, took a different approach to his work, taking great pains to acquaint himself with the surrounding areas, and connecting with local Hindus.
Ziegenbalg kept extensive records, including detailed accounts of the weather in
Tranquebar! He was also the author of the first connected account of Tamil literature, he wrote two works on what we would today call “Hinduism” (Geneologie der
Malabarischen Goetter and Malabarisches Heidenthum). During his stay in Tranquebar he visited the Tirukkadaiyur region and recorded information concerning the Apirāmi
Antāti. In fact, he kept a copy of the Apirāmi Antāti in his records. This information, recorded in the work of both Daniel Jeyaraj (2005) and William Sweetman, proves seminal in the dating of this text. The following is an except from Ziegenbalg‟s 1706 catalogue translated by William Sweetman
Apirāmi antāti, some songs on a Goddess named Apirāmi who is the protectress of a town called Tirukkadavūr where three large pagodas have been built together very regularly, almost in the manner of Solomon‟s temple. The first entranceway, where many idols stand, is open to all Malabarians. The second, where the biggest idols of all stand, is open only to those who have been cleansed of sins. The third is like the holy of holies and contains very small pictures. Here the only God, whom they call Parāparavastu or the being of all beings, is worshipped without pictures. I myself was once in this town and saw this, and spent a whole day there in discourse with several hundred Malabarians, Brahmans and Pandarams.
Although it is perhaps odd that Ziegenbalg makes no mention of the author of the text, who was probably still alive, not enough is known about Ziegenbalg‟s experience at
27 Tirukkadaiyur or about the life of Abhiràmi Bhaññar for this be a significant challenge to the proposed dating of the text. At any rate, Ziegenbalg‟s possession of the text confirms its use and circulation during this period. Ziegenbalg mentions the text a couple of times in his other writings but adds nothing to the above catalogue entry. Incidentally,
Ziegenblag‟s library was mostly lost soon after his death, but this text is one of a handful still present in a second catalogue of the library made in 1731. His own copy is not found in the archive at Halle and is most likely no longer extant20.
Early on in Ziegenbalg‟s visit to India, King Śàhajī is succeeded by his younger brother Serfojī I. Serfojī maintains an active and artistic courtly life patronizing artists and poets as well as the Tantric commentator Bhākararāya. That Ziegenbalg cites the
Apirāmi Antāti during this early period provides incontrovertible evidence that this poem pre-dates Serfojī II. After examining the court of King Serfojī I and the work of
Bhāskararāya the idea that this work was composed during this period follows as a natural development of the time.
The Tanjavur Court under King Serfojī I
Although there has not been a great deal of research concerning King Serfojī himself, there are some records suggesting that he was a great patron of the fine and performing arts. King Serfojī I was a descendent of the Bhonsle dynasty of Maharastra, which captured and fortified the capital of Tanjavur in 1674. They were Śaivite rulers that had been preceded by the Telugu speaking Vaiùõavite Nāyakas. King Serfojī married in the Satara family; however he never produced an heir and was eventually succeeded by his brother Tukkojī. King Serfojī closely modelled his court after that of his elder brother
20 This information and translation was kindly provided through personal correspondence with William Sweetman from the University of Otago, New Zealand, 2008.
28 King Śàhajī; thus, it is important to understand the value Śàhajī placed on artistic and poetic patronage during his rule. The Tanjavur court under King Śàhajī became renowned as a distinguished centre of scholars, poets, musicians, philosophers, grammarians, musicologists, dramatists, and exponents in many different languages (Seetha 86). The significance of Śàhajī‟s prosperous rule is that it did not end after the succession by his brother Serfojī. In fact, Serfojī exhibited great love and admiration for Sāhajī and his learning and thus continued the tradition of patronage precedented by him. Serfojī put emphasis on the patronage of arts and letters, music and dance (Seetha 1981, 86).
Distinguished poets, composers and scholars surrounded the king in his court. Two major intellectuals at his court were Jagannātha Paõóita and Rāma Paõóita. Jagannātha Paõóita writes that the king patronized many poets and was celebrated by them as „sāhitya bhoja‟, likening him to the great medieval King Bhoja who was considered the epitome of aesthetics (Srinivasan 1990, i).
Tradition describes King Serfojī I as pious and charitable; he is said to have improved the revenues of the country (Hickey 77). There is also mention that his dharmādhikāri gifted agrahāras like Mangamata in Tiruvenkkādu and
Sarabhojirajapuram in Tirukkadaiyur to Brahmin intellectuals (Subramanian 39, &
Seetha 87). His contributions to the Brahmin community at Tirukkadaiyur, of which
Abhirāmi Bhaññar was a member, thus historically connects Serfojī and the Tanjavur court with Tirukkadaiyur.
During the reign of King Serfojī there were was a major resurgence of commentary and debate surrounding the practice of Śrīvidyā. Pivotal in the discourse were the generation of great commentaries and the dissemination of Tantric philosophy
29 by Bhāskararāya. It is noteworthy that Bhāskararāya, a Vaidika Tantric, was being patronized by King Serfojī. Although there has not been very much scholarship produced on Serfojī I, and his court, it is worth questioning what led the Maràñhà king to patronize an esoteric practitioner and philosopher. The question is even more significant if we accept that Abhirāmi Bhaññar composed the Apirāmi Antāti with the purposeful insertion of Tantric themes concurrent with Śrīvidyā ideology during the same period and in the same region. Here we see Serfojī I patronizing two individuals in the process of disseminating Tantric works and ideals. This provides us with a valuable hint concerning religious trends within Serfojī‟s court and raises the possibility of a burgeoning period for esoteric practice.
Bhāskararāya
The most notable proponent of esoteric practices during the reign of Serfojī I was
Bhāskararāya. Bhāskararāya is more than merely a scholar to Tantrism; he displays mastery in grammar (vyākaraõa), ritual interpretation (mīmāüsā) and logic (nyāya), additionally writing on other, non-Tantric matters (Brooks 1990, xiii). Bhāskararāya lived and worked at the Tanjavur court and received patronage from the King. His vast influence on this period is indicative of the religious cultures promoted by the Tanjavur court during the early eighteenth century.
Bhāskararāya, also known by his religious pen name Bhāsurānandanātha
(Goudriaan 23), was born in the village of Thanuja (Vijaya district, Maharashtra) to
Gambhīrabhārati and Koõamāmba (Sastry 1988, viii). A èg Vedic Brahman, he was educated in Benares were he learned all eighteen vidyās under Nçsimha, and was initiated
30 into Śrīvidyā by his guru Śivadatta Śuklā at Surat (Sastry 1998, ix). He travelled throughout the country and is said to have made a number of pilgrimages traveling great distances within the Indian subcontinent, initiating the Rajas of his time into the practice of Śrīvidyā, building temples, and digging temple tanks. He married a woman named
Ānandī and they lived together in Benares for several years before moving to the banks of the Kaveri River (South India, Tamilnadu). Here, he established his own pūjà on the northern bank of the river, in the district of Tanjavur, at a place called Bhāskarapura.
Under the largess of Serfojī he obtained a significant land grant, which gave him tacit control over the affairs of a sizeable village (Brooks 1990, 31).21 With the patronage of the Maràñhà king, Bhāskararāya‟s work flourished between the final quarter of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries A.D. (Sastri xvii). His name is attached to at least forty-two titles, however, of these manuscripts, only eighteen are extant (Goudriaan
1981, 170). Brooks notes that of his works “the Setubandha, his independent treatise the
Varivasyārahasya, the commentaries on the Lalitàsahasranàma, and the Bhavanā and
Tripurā Upaniùad are the most widely read and definitively regarded sources in contemporary South Indian Śrīvidyā” (Brooks 1992, 41).
What is most fascinating about Bhāskararāya is the way he participates in seemingly opposing roles without understanding them as contradictory. Bhāskararāya is committed to Brahmanical “orthodoxy” while being a staunch supporter of Tantra and within the tradition, of some of its most controversial practices (Brooks 1990, xiv). While identifying himself with the so-called Kaula (or left-practice [vàmàcàra]), Bhāskararāya understands Tantra to be in-line with Vedic pronunciations. Bhāskararāya advocates the
21 Unfortunately, there are no references to Bhàskararàya in the original Maràñhi court records of the Thanjavur palace in Modi script.
31 practice of the more suspect forms of social behaviour such as the inclusion of non-twice born persons into the fold of initiates, consuming wine, and ritual sexual intercourse, for effecting genuine religious freedom. Brooks explains that, “A direct continuation from
Vedic to Tantric literature and doctrine is understood by Tantric theoreticians such as
Bhāskararāya who refer to some Upanishads as containing the principle of Tripura worship and to a èg Vedic mantra as the mystic origin of the Śrīvidyā” (Goudriaan 19).
What remains important is not the authority of the Veda, which remains largely undisputed, but rather its correct interpretation. This view of the complementary nature of
Tantra and Vedic practices is germane to this paper in that, as we will see in subsequent chapters, the same idea is found in the Apirāmi Antāti. In the Apirāmi Antāti, esoteric themes and Tantric practices are displayed alongside traditional Brahmanic ideas of domesticity falling in line with the tradition of Śrīvidyā, which Bhāskararāya both prescribes and disseminates.
Bhāskararāya‟s writings, in large part, debate the earlier works of Lakùmãdhara who reputedly served in the court of the fifteenth-century Orissan king Pratapatarudra
Gajapati and who endorsed only the arch-conservative views of the so-called samayàcàra which ardently condemned kaula practices. Lakùmãdhara, representing conservative social and religious forces, emphasizes all external practice as being a “lower” form of discipline (sàdhana) and that all rites associated with kaulism should be abandoned by the twice born. Samayàcàra tradition is characterized by its rejection of all things ostensibly objectionable to Brahmanic customs and morals22.
22 Brooks tells us that despite the Samaya faction categorizing Kaula interpretations as a violation of ethical and religious precepts of traditional Hindu law (dharma) Bhāskararāya exhibits no apologetic tendencies. Maintaining the view shared by the majority of Śakta Tantrics, he repeatedly says that Kaula elements are essential to the practice of Tantric ritual. Without these practices that may seem ethically suspect the
32 “In contemporary South India the term „kaula‟ is associated with the ritual use of the pa¤camakāras and other elements of anti-Brahmanical Tantrism.23 However, until the sixteenth century nearly all ÷akta Tantric texts refer to themselves as kaula (literally, pertaining to a „secret family‟) until Lakùmãdhara introduced the samaya Śrīvidyā tradition denigrating kaula practices and giving the term new distinctive meanings. None-the-less, until the nineteenth century Śakta/Śaiva texts use “kaula” without negative evaluation” (Brooks 1992, 19).
Even Śrīvidyā adepts who distance themselves from kaulism consider
Bhāskararāya an authoritative and influential voice in their tradition (Brooks 1990, 39).
Although there are other writers in the development of South Indian Śrīvidyā, all matters of textual interpretation and authoritative practice eventually lead to Bhāskararāya and
Lakùmãdhara (Brooks 1992, xv).
Brooks cites three main reasons why Bhāskararāya attains such renown in contemporary South India. Firstly, he is the most recent textual authority in Śrīvidyā, whose reputation for spiritual and literary achievements encompass the concerns of practitioners. Bhāskararāya can be understood to have achieved the status of a saint due to the fact that acknowledgement of his spiritual achievements are recognized as part of popular lore. Secondly, he settled in Tamilnadu in Tanjavur district in the village of
Bhāskararājapuram on property supposedly granted him by the Maràñhà ruler Serfojī connecting him with Tamilnadu and the South Indian Tantric tradition. His political patronage clearly contributed to his spiritual fame and his gifted property provided him with the arena and means to teach. His presence in South India also leads many
Tantric practitioner loses his ability to transcend the ordinary and mundane (Brooks 1990, xiv). It must however be acknowledged that Śrīvidyā does not represent a unified monolith, on the contrary, controversy continues to surround the kaula elements within the Śrīvidyā school and the proper interpretations of its teachings (Brooks 1990, xv). 23 The pa¤camakāras (five substances beginning with the sound „ma‟) are five antinomian substances associated with Kaula Tantric practice. They are: madya (alcohol), matsya (fish), māüsa (meat), mudrā (parched grain or other hallucinogens), maituna (ritualized sexual activity).
33 contemporary lineages in Tamilnadu to trace their descent from Bhāskararāya and his pupils (Brooks 1992, 41).
Bhāskararāya‟s revisiting and restructuring of Tantric kaula practices revitalizes discourses surrounding esoteric practices, specifically those of Śrīvidyā. Whether
Bhāskararāya wrote prolifically on Tantric practices in response to circulating ideas concerning Śrīvidyā, or whether he initiated a period of esoteric discourse is unknown.
His prolific writing and prominent royal patronage were influential in promoting Śrīvidyā ideals and practices, in a way they had not been during at least the preceding three centuries. The circulation of these Tantric ideas at the Tanjavur court, home to both
Bhāskararāya and Abhirāmi Bhaññar during this period, is evident when we examine the emergence of esoteric themes within the text of the Apirāmi Antāti. The connection between Bhāskararāya, Śrīvidyā, and the Apirāmi Antāti becomes even more clear with an inter-textual analysis of the Lalitāsahasranāma and Apirāmi Antāti.
As we have seen, historicizing the Apirāmi Antāti and the personage of Abhirāmi
Bhaññar necessarily requires an investigation of the Tanjavur courtly milieu, the figure of
Bhāskararāya and missionary documents. These three contexts point to the composition of the Apirāmi Antāti at the Tanjavur court during the first half of the eighteenth century.
Although the historical sources are vague and no definitive conclusion can be made about the dating of this text, the historicization of the poem to this period will help us in the interpretive task that lies ahead. The following chapter will begin with an analysis of the
Lalitāsahasranāma and the Apirāmi Antāti that showcases the overwhelming similarity between the two texts in their conceptualization of the Divine, and end with a systematic
34 description of esoteric themes within the Apirāmi Antāti that will identify it as a Tantric
Śrīvidyā text.
35
Chapter 2
Glimpses of ørīvidyà Tantra and Brahmanic Bhakti in the Apiràmi Antàti
The first section of this thesis serves to contextualize historically the composition of the Apiràmi Antàti at the Tanjavur court of King Serfojī I. This dating of the text is particularly salient because of certain Tantric ideas circulating during this period, in part due to the royal patronage of Bhàskararàya. The appearance of certain Tantric imageries in the Apiràmi Antàti reflects the prevalence of Tantric Śrīvidyà ideas circulating during this period at the Tanjavur court. In order to appreciate the Apiràmi Antàti as Tantric it is important to look at the work holistically, taking into account varying themes and images.
In general, categorizing Texts as „Tantra‟ poses certain metholodological problems, due to their inherent esoteric nature. Therefore, in order to facilitate an analysis of the Tantric elements of this work I deploy the concept of polythetic classification put forth by
Brooks. The Apiràmi Antàti depicts important ritual practices such as the use of mantra and ÷rãcakra, as well as verses that allude to kuõóalinī yoga practice. Some of these themes can be explicitly located within the text, while others, must be approached with a heavy reliance on contemporary commentaries. These contemporary commentators read the Apiràmi Antàti as a text replete with Tantric images, and these interpretations of the text help us to understand the ways in which it is understood today. In addition to these more generalized Tantric illustrations, the poem repeatedly images Abhiràmi as the
Goddess Lalità Tripurasundarã, the godhead of Śrīvidyà Tantrism. Abhiràmi‟s identification as the Goddess Lalità is stressed through both Sanskritic epithets as well as regionally localized Goddesses. This multiplicity of form emphasizes the Tantric
36 conception of Ultimate Reality as both one and many. The amalgamation of identity between Abhiràmi and Lalità is achieved through shared iconography as well as associated mythology. Abhiràmi Bhaññar‟s work intentionally represents Abhiràmi as identical with Lalità and simultaneously makes use of Tantric ritual practices, the result is that this work can be seen as emerging from a rich milieu espousing Tantric Śrīvidyà philosophy.
What is a Polythetic Classification and How is it Useful?
Differentiating between the Tantric and non-Tantric raises certain difficulties due to the esoteric and secreted nature of Tantric traditions. In his The Secret of the Three
Cities, Douglas R. Brooks advocates the use of a polythetic classification in order to help clarify the borders between what is and what is not Tantric. This type of classification is very useful in the identification of what may be a Tantric work, as it suggests a cumulative analysis of potentially Tantric elements over designating a single Tantric signifier.
Brooks poses a significant question, whether „Tantric‟ as a term for classifying certain texts, individuals, or traditions within Hinduism can be understood by resorting to a single principle of differentiation (Brooks 1990, 52). Padoux explains that like
Hinduism, „Tantrism‟ is made up of a number of groups, traditions, and texts sharing some, but not all, common elements; the sum total of these somehow differentiate Tantric from non-Tantric Hinduism. Tantrism, however, also includes practices and beliefs found in non-Tantric Hinduism (Padoux 2002, 22). „Tantric‟ as a label is therefore problematic in that it leads to the understanding of Tantra as a monothetic category. Because of the
37 diversity found within the Tantric world, understanding Tantra as a monothetic mode of classification runs the risk of seriously misunderstanding Tantric phenomena (Brooks
1990, 52). In order to understand Tantra as a diverse and encompassing set of traditions, we must refrain from limiting analyses that fail to represent its inherent multiplicity. On the other hand, if we limit our characterization to features that occur within every Tantric tradition, our category becomes so broad that it is no longer useful as a category at all.
More importantly, given the diverse and esoteric nature of Tantric works, no single aspect can be identified as existing across all Tantric traditions, while simultaneously being absent from all non-Tantric practices. The crucial point is that Tantric characteristics are not unique with respect to other Hindu forms of thought and practice.
Brooks explains that, “Since no one feature alone suffices to distinguish Tantrics from non-Tantrics, we can assert that no single differentia exists to classify a phenomenon as
„Tantric‟. Thus, monothetic classification is impossible”(Brooks 1990, 52).
Despite the fact that Tantra may not have any single defining feature it may still be possible to differentiate it from the non-Tantric. Brooks proposes a polythetic classification as a system that does just this. Jonathan Z. Smith writes that a polythetic classification occurs when, “ a large (but unspecified) number” of these properties or characteristics are possessed by a „large number‟ of class members, but no single property to be possessed by every member in the class” (1982, 4). Scholars writing on
Tantrism have defined a number of traits as being constitutive elements. For example,
Teun Goudriaan in Hindu Tantrism lists eighteen different criteria as “some constituents of Tantrism (in its wider sense)”, Goudriaan also remarks that, “The above characteristics need by no means to be present in their entirety in a Tantric text; but their boundary lines,
38 like isoglosses, tend to converge”(1979, 9). Within this model, Tantric phenomena must not possess all the defining criteria put forth under the Tantric classification, but rather, a given phenomenon must only demonstrate possession of a large number of the properties identified as either necessary or common features of the Tantric class (Brooks 1990, 54).
When taken as a whole class of phenomena, these descriptive criteria provide a definition of the Tantric vis-à-vis the non-Tantric.
Tantric imagery, being by nature secreted, poses a problem for identification and classification. Certain Tantric schools establish their own additional set of properties that serve to further distinguish them from the broader category of Tantric. In the case of
Śrīvidyà, this may be done in part by the use of the Śrīvidyà mantra, and the espoused allegiance to the deity Tripurāsundarī. Furthermore, it is important to remember that these sectarian traditions are in themselves internally polythethic, that is to say that not all members of a school possess (or must possess) all of the school‟s defining characterises
(Brooks 1990, 54). Brooks outlines how Śrivīdyà is a perfect example for the usefulness of a polythetic classification in that it shares the basic elements of Tantrism and Śakta theology while distinguishing itself from non-Tantric and non-Śakta forms of Hinduism.
At the same time, it creates a distinctive identity by providing distinctive symbolic components from generic patterns, “Śrīvidyā‟s particular forms of initiation, mantra, and yantra provide its theological identity and create a basis for understanding the sect as a bounded religious community” (Brooks 1990, 54).
This polythetic classification is therefore incredibly useful for locating the
Apiràmi Antàti within the Tantric tradition as this work fulfills a fair number of inclusion criteria, including some additional criteria that specifically relate to Tantric Śrãvidyà. The
39 following chapter looks at six of the ten criteria put forward as indicative of the
„Tantric‟nature of a text.24 This analysis of the Apiràmi Antàti is by no means exhaustive but its intention is to explore some of the ways in which contemporary commentators have interpreted the text in the direction of Śrīvidyà. It is therefore important to acknowledge the presence of such Tantric imagery in the text as it is read through these commentarial works. The text itself is subject to these commentaries, which in many cases digress from the explicit meaning of the verses and help to form some of the links between the text and Tantra that are more obscure in nature. By applying this polythetic classification to the Apiràmi Antàti we are able to classify it as a work emerging from
Tantric philosophy and practice. Further differentiation from the generic category of
Tantra as specifically Śrīvidyà is possible when the heavy reliance on the deity
Tripuràsundarī is taken into account.
A) The Apiràmi Antàti as Additional and Complementary with Vedic Tradition.
That this text articulates Vedic primacy while also alluding to Tantric rituals is interesting in that it motions towards the practice of Śrīvidyā where Tantric and
Brahmanical norms are seen as corresponding parts of the tradition. Brooks writes that,
Tantric sources are not part of the conventional canon of Hindu scriptures; rather, they are „additional‟ and esoteric, both as a canon of Hindu sources and as a class of practices, concepts, and traditions. This can be seen in the case of the Apiràmi Antàti where the
Vedas still hold a pre-eminent position yet seem to be supplemented by both Tantric and
24 Four of the proposed criteria pose a particular challenge for discussion due to the form and substance of this poem, and the occult nature of Tantric practices in general. There is a lack of supporting material discussing Abhirami Bhaññar‟s personal practice and the commentaries are somewhat limited. While there is insufficient evidence to discuss these criterion this does not prove nor negate their presence. The four elements not addressed are; the extreme emphasis on the authority of the guru, the use of antinomian substances (such as the pa¤camakara), meditative practices imaging the conjugal union of god and Goddess, and initiation practices that ignore established criteria for caste or gender.
40 bhakti practices and ideologies. Tantric schools deeply rooted in Brahmanical Hinduism prefer to understand Tantric sādhanā (discipline) as deliberately hidden within the Vedas as opposed to questioning the efficacy of such teachings. Therefore traditions like
Śrīvidyà, see their Tantric practice as issuing directly from, and in-line with, Vedic precepts. The Apiràmi Antàti falls into this framework; while it is steeped in Brahmanical norms, and upholds the Vedas as the highest of creations, it is extra-Vedic in nature arising from a richly poetic courtly culture rather than conventional scriptural sources.
Additionally, it is replete with allusions to a parallel esoteric tradition.
Śrīvidyà practitioners understand their practices to be in-line with Vedic norms.
Therefore even though this text is clearly extra-Vedic in a religio-historical sense it is seen as an addition or extension of Vedic teaching. The Apiràmi Antàti fulfills both
Tantric and Vedic understandings of Ultimate Reality by positing Abhiràmi as a
Sanskritic Goddess from whose power the Vedas are created, and whose will is therefore complementary to Vedic teachings. In the poem, Abhiràmi is credited as the essence of the Vedas, “Thou art the precious central Theme of the unwritten Vedas” (Kadirvel v.10) and there are verses that suggest their harmonizing nature “for Her radiant lotus feet, the rare Veda is the familiar rest” (Clooney 2005, v. 71). She is depicted as both encompassing and superseding the Vedas as an object of worship, “the three-eyed Lord
[Śiva], Nàràyaõa [Viùõu], Aya• [Brahmā], and the Veda too all praise tender Apiràmi”
(Clooney 2005, v. 74).
Additionally the implicit nature of many of the Tantric references suggests that a reader without proper initiation or understanding would likely pass over many of the more subtle Tantric references while still taking part in praise of the Goddess through
41 what appears to be Vedic tradition. Brooks points out therefore that Tantric texts are esoteric in two ways, firstly they conceal teachings and prevent those who do not qualify from entering the community, in another sense, they create a particular communal identity that bestows on the Tantric a sense of privilege (1990, 55).
B) The Goddess as Sound
Tantric philosophy stresses the importance of sound as divine substance, a vehicle for salvation (Beck 1993, 123). The way in which the adepts harness the creative forces of sound and language is through mantra. A Tantric mantra in the form of a syllable is actually a very compact form of the god. A single mantra may therefore focus the energy of a deity into a grosser or more bodily representation (Beck 1993, 128). Hoens‟ writes that, “a mantra is any combination of letters believed to be of divine origin and used in order to evoke divine powers and to realize a communion of man with the divine source and essence of the universe” (1979, 101). The practice of mantric meditation therefore represents a gradual regression whereby the aspirant attempts to „merge‟ with the original cosmic sound or vibration and therefore unite with the Ultimate Brahman. Wade
Wheelock discusses the difference between Vedic and Tantric mantra recitation, noting that, “The Tantric mantras take on many forms and perform many ritual functions…However, the end to which they all point is one and the same – realization of identity with the deity. At this point, the mantra is no longer a means to an end, it is a manifestation of the goal itself” (Wheelock in Beck 136). Padoux understands to the goal of mantric recitation to be liberation from the cycle of rebirth. He writes that the Tantric mantra communicates an exact consciousness of the universe in order to enable man to acquire the knowledge of the reality and by means of this to save him from
42 transmigration (saüsàra).25 In verse six, The Apiràmi Antàti mentions the Goddesses‟ mantra. If we understand the Goddess Abhirāmi to be Tripuràsundarī (this will be shown in the latter part of this chapter), perhaps the mantra refered to here is the Śrīvidyā mantra. The author describes his mental fixation with the Goddess‟s mantra, conjuring up images of repeated recitation with the words “over and again” as well as citing the supremacy of her tradition:
On my head rest Your shining lotus feet On my mind, Your holy mantra26, O lady deep red in hue Joined with your meditating devotees, Over and again I proclaim the way of Your supreme tradition (Clooney 2005, 70)
The idea of a supreme tradition is tightly linked to the fact that Abhiràmi grants liberation. This theme is consolidated in verse eight where the author writes: “You come and destroy the ties binding me” (Clooney 2005, 70), where he refers to the ties of desire binding him in saüsàra. By providing a discussion of mantra in tandem with the imagery of liberation, Abhiràmi Bhaññar highlights mantra‟s salvific qualities.
C) The Goddess as Form
The ÷rīcakra is composed of a pattern of interwoven triangles, nine in number, four of which represent the male principles (÷ivacakras) and five representing the female principles (÷akticakra identified with Śrīvidyā, Tvaritā, Pàrijàte÷varī, Tripurà, Śūlinī, and
Pa¤cabàõe÷ī). The two principles of masculine and feminine form the ultimate cause of creation and are distinguished in all composite things. The ÷rīcakra, however, shows their
25 Padoux 1994, 294 in Beck 1993, 102. 26 Sundaramurthy translates mantra as “the sacred spell of thy unique name”
43 many levels of differentiation as well as their ultimate unity in the central position or bindu. The cakra is therefore called the nava-yonyàtmakacakra constituting the nine-fold union of male-female duality (Rao 14). Tantra espouses the understanding that the whole universe is comprised of two opposite but complimentary categories (Khanna 2002, 136).
Metaphysically in Tantra, the ÷rīcakra constitutes the evolution of all the elements of nature. The presiding deity of the cakra is the Goddess Tripuràsundarī and the ÷rīcakra represents her geometric embodiment (Khanna 2002, 136). The idea of Abhiràmi residing in the ÷rīcakra evokes the image of Tripuràsundarī as well as Śrīvidyā theology:
When I see Your holy body standing forth, There‟s no seeing a shore to the joy that floods my eyes and heart- What is this knowledge that sparkles brightly in my thoughts? Was it Your idea, You who dwell amid nine bright angles? (Clooney 2005, 72)27
Another reference to the power of the ÷rīcakra is found in verse twenty-nine,28 here the poem discusses the eight yogic siddhis that can be obtained by the Tantric practitioner. Clooney has translated siddhi to mean „perfection‟, he translates,
“Perfection, divinity giving perfection”, while Candaswami Kadirvel translates siddhi to mean “the eight kinds of Siddhis (i.e., spiritual attainments of a high order including
27 Candaswami Kadirvel‟s translation makes this reference to the ÷ricakra even more explicit, “Thou are gracefully seated on the luminous Nine-cornered chakra (navakonam) of which four are siva Konams and five are Shakti Konams of varying sides and corners…On seeing Thy glowing Form with my external eyes and my mind‟s eye, the flood of my inexpressible joy has become boundless. As a result, I experience in my innermost mind the crystal clear wisdom” (v. 19, 10). Sundaramurthy translates, “O the Feminine Grace with the glowing angles nine, Dwelling in thy formless form of immense grace” (v. 19, 20). VeëiniŸa ni tirum¹iyaippàrttu e vi×iyum ne¤cum KaëiniŸa veëëam karaikaõñatillai karutti• uëë¹ TeëiniŸa ¤àam tika×kiŸatu ea tiruvuëamº OëiniŸa kºõaïkaë opatu m¹vi uŸaipavaë¹ (v. 19)
28 Cittiyum, cittitarum teyvamàkit tika×um parà cattiyum, cattita×aikkum civamum, tavammuyalvàr muttiyum, muttikku vittum, vittàki muëaittu e×unta puttiyum, puttiyi uëë¹ purakkum purattai yaŸº(v. 29)
44 superhuman actions). Similarly, the commentator Ramnathan writes that Abhiràmi is the bestower of these eight magical powers (74). This literal translation of siddhi seems to coincide with the interpretations given by Shanmukanathan whose commentary explains that these siddhis are worshiped in pūjà as they are represented in the nine enclosures of the ÷rīcakra (navàraõa) (99). Practitioners who worship the ÷rīcakra are able to attain siddhi powers, which are also said to be residing in the ÷rīcakra as forms of the deity
Tripurà. The presiding deities of the cakras are all forms of Tripurà: Tripurà,
Tripure÷varī, Tripuràsundarī, Tripuravāsinī, Tripuràkùarī, Tripuràmālinī, Tripuràsiddhi,
Tripuràmbikā, and Mahātripurasundarī. This verse works to further the identification of
Abhiràmi with Tripurà, reifying the connection between the figure and the ÷rīcakra. The commentary shows how the ÷rīcakra develops directly out of the Goddess Tripurā‟s form.
D) The Goddess as Kuõóalinī
Kuõóalinī imagery is also present within the Apiràmi Antàti, although in rather oblique references. Due to the opaque nature of these descriptions, it is almost impossible to arrive at a reading of kuõóalinī into the text without the aid of contemporary commentaries. Contemporary commentators provide exegesis of the text that draw out kuõóalinī references. In the following section we will look at two examples from the text and their accompanying commentaries to understand the role that kuõóalinī comes to play in this work.29
Kuõóalinī yoga involves activating the latent spiritual power of kuõóalinī within the individual and guiding it through the channels (nàóī) and psychophysical centres or
29 In addition to these two verses, verses 35, 48, and 50, 55 are also said to include kuõóalinī references.
45 cakras, which constitute the “subtle” human body (Brooks 1990, 56). The usual number for the body‟s main spiritual centres is six (although in Śrīvidyà these six are often extended to nine), beginning with the mūlādhāra cakra at the base of the spine and continuing up to the āj¤à cakra located between the eyebrows. The topmost centre called the “thousand-petalled lotus” (sahasradalapadma) is, technically speaking, not considered a cakra but rather the seat (pīñha) on which ÷akti (as kuõóalinī) is reunited with the already seated Śiva.
The appearance of kuõóalinī in this text is important as it serves as an example for what Padoux describes as an essential Tantric ideological aspect. That is, the Tantric vision that the cosmos is permeated by power (or powers), a vision wherein energy
(÷akti) is both cosmic and human and where microcosm and macrocosm correspond and interact (Padoux 2002, 19).
Where is the temple in which You dwell? Is it being half Your spouse? The foundation of the four recited Vedas- or their end? The white moon full of ambrosia or the lotus? My heart or the hidden ocean? O ever-changing auspicious one! (Clooney 1990, 72)30
In this verse, commentators Shanmukanathan (72) and Jagannathan (183) interpret the beginning of the Vedas as the praõava (the oükāra) and the lotus mentioned as the sahasràra cakra on top of the head. Here it is likely the imagery of the lotus along side that of ambrosia which evokes the power of kuõóalinī; in this situation, the nectar is known as kulāmçta, and pervades the body of the adept whose kuõóalinī has risen
30 UŸaikiŸa ni tirukkºvil ni k¹ëvar orupakkamº aŸaikiŸa nà maŸaiyi a ma Ÿaiyi añiyº amutam niŸaikiŸa veõ tiïkaëº ka¤camº eŸa ne¤cakamº maŸaikiŸa vàritiyº påraõàcala maïkaiy¹
46 through the cakras and resides in the sahasràra. Abhiràmi Bhaññar questions the Goddess in order to show that she is manifest in each of these realms joining the heavens and earth:
In love She gave heaven and earth to devotees who came and took refuge, And now She‟s gone Onto the head of the four-faced one, Onto His breast, jewelled and decorated with fresh honey, Onto his side, Onto the golden, bright, honeyed flower, Onto the radiant sun, Onto the moon (Clooney 2005, v. 75).31
Shanmukathan interprets this verse according to the rising and descending of kuõóalinī.
He writes that Abhiràmi is the power of kuõóalinī abiding in the mūlàdhàra (first cakra).
She rises up through suùumnà, passes all six cakras until she reaches the sahasràra becoming one with Śiva. Again she comes down to the mūlàdhàra (first cakra),
Brahmā‟s abode, climbs to the svàdhiùñhàna (second cakra) where Viùõu abides, and again reaches the “bright, golden, honeyed flower” or sahasràra cakra where she is united with Śiva, in this sense honey is understood to refer to liberation (Shanmukanathan
110). He also explains that the word used for sun (¤àyirum) refers to the maõipūra and anàhata cakras, and that signifying moon (tiïkaëum¹) refers to the vi÷uddha and àj¤à cakras.
Also of interest is that Shanmukanathan links this verse to verses 9 and 10 of the
Saundarya Laharī (109).32 These verses of the Saundarya Laharī reinforce the
31 vant¹ caraõam pukum añiyàrkku vànulakam tant¹ parivºñu tà• pºyirukkum caturmukamum paint¹ alaïkaŸ parumaõi àkamum pàkamumpoŸ cent¹• malarum alarkatir ¤àyirum tiïkaëum¹ 32 The Saundarya Lahari is a Sanskrit text central to modern Śrīvidyā practice. I t is popularly attributed to the philosopher Śaõkara. For details see Kachroo (2005). Verse 9 and 10 of the Saundarya Lahari read;
47 relationship between the cakras and the elements, and depict the subtle body as containing all the elements of the universe. Although these verses from the Saundarya
Laharī are much more explicit in their kuõóalinī imagery, the commentator links them together through his interpretation compounding the presence of kuõóalinī and its significance in the verse of the Apiràmi Antàti.
E) The Efficacy of Tantric Bhakti Practice
The Apiràmi Antàti offers us an example of a Śākta text that speaks in the language of Tamil Bhakti. As we have seen in our discussion of Abhiràmi Bhaññar‟s hagiography in the first chapter of this work, the Apiràmi Antàti is understood as a product of the author‟s direct experience of Abhiràmi‟s grace, and is accepted by her as a devotional offering. This devotional perspective pervades the entire text – it is indicated in no fewer than a quarter of its verses.33 The Apiràmi Antàti expresses bhakti themes in multiple ways, one of which is its strong emphasis on physical descriptions of Abhiràmi.
This will later be discussed in terms of iconography. Brooks writes that, “the physical
(sthūla) Goddess is also the primary focus for ritual acts of loving devotion (bhakti)”
You pierce earth in the mūlādhāra chakra, Water in the maõipura cakra, Fire in the svādhiùñàna cakra, Wind in the anàhata cakra and the ether above that, and Mind in the cakra between the brows; Thus you pierce the Kula path And then take pleasure with Your Lord. In the secrecy of the thousand-petalled lotus.You sprinkle the evolved world With a stream of nectar flowing from beneath Your feet, and From the resplendent abundance of the nectar moon You descend to Your own place, Making Yourself a serpent of three and a half coils, And there You sleep again In the cave deep within the foundation (S.L. Clooney 2005, 50)
33 Verses 2, 3, 9, 10,12, 14, 16, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 40, 44, 50, 51, 56, 57, 58, 61, 64, 69, 73, 80, 81, 82, 94, 101 (Clooney 2005).
48 (Brooks 1992, 61). Additionally, signs of localized devotion are deployed by Śrīvidyà practitioners to place Lalità Tripurasundarī within a distinctly Tamil imagination.
“ørīvidya‟s conception of Lalità‟s sthūlarūpa and her identification with local Goddesses places her squarely within Hindu devotional traditions (bhakti) or worship (pūjà) based on seeing the deity (dar÷an)” (Brooks 1992, 73). The same holds true for the Goddess
Abhiràmi. By focusing on her sthūlarūpa (anthropomorphic or physical form) the
Goddess is made more accessible through the liturgical dimensions of the text.
A shared idea in both Tantra and bhakti has been the ability to achieve liberation within this lifetime through the practice of highly potent and efficacious ritual practices.
In the Apiràmi Antàti, the author explains that devotion to Abhiràmi, even for a moment, will alleviate further rebirth: “if they place Her in their hearts even for a moment, they put aside grief- and after that can they ever again get a body, bowels, fat, blood all mixed together?” (Clooney 2005, 77) The extreme efficacy of these practices brings Tantra and bhakti together as forms of worship that enable a direct experience of God. Instances of bhakti found within the Apiràmi Antàti substantiate the idea that Abhiràmi Bhaññar‟s
Tantra is closely related to bhakti ideals and not entrenched in medieval Tantric-kaula texts. Academic writing concerning Śākta-bhakti in the Tantric milieu is virtually non- existent. Only June McDaniel provides a classification and description of the multiple modes of Śākta bhakti in her work Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls (2004). In the category of „emotional bhakti‟, she describes how the supreme devotee who fixes his/her mind on the Goddess experiences devotion with ecstasy, “when he hears her glory, tears of love flow from his eyes, his voice chokes and his hair stands on end” (McDaniel 159).
This trope, commonly used in Vaiùõava bhakti, is directly inserted into the Apiràmi
49 Antàti in verse 94: “Devotees take pleasure in worship, tears well in their eyes, hairs stand on end, like intoxicated bees they lose consciousness, their bliss, they jumble their words, and for all this people say they‟re mad: such is Apiràmi‟s religion” (Clooney
2005, 84). This type of intense devotion and direct experience of the divine is also illustrated in the work of Rāmprasād (1720-1781), a Bengali poet who dedicated his works to Kàlã and wrote of his direct experience of her as his mother. This direct experience of God found in bhakti is also, quite surprisingly, the ultimate goal in Śrīvidyà as well. The difference is that in Śrīvidyà, direct experience is brought about through ritual means that culminate in experiencing the grace of Tripuràsundarī. The liberating qualities of this direct experience of the Goddess are articulated in the Apiràmi Antāti,
“She embraces my Lord‟s side, and from now on She‟ll no longer make me be born here:
That She not make you born here either, come, see Her” (Clooney 2005, 83). The
Apiràmi Antàti thus stands squarly at the intersection of Śākta Tantra and bhakti traditions. While it may seem strange for a Śākta Tantra text to appeal to a popular devotional movement, David Kinsley suggests that the Apiràmi Antàti is not a unique instance: “despite the tendency of Śrīvidyà worship and ritual practice to remain private and esoteric, there are popular hymns to the Goddess with a strong devotional flavor”
(Kinsley 1997, 114). To that effect, this text resonates on multiple levels. It is clearly categorized as a Śākta text, expounding the creative abilities of the Goddess as Ultimate
Reality. At the same time, it can be classified as a bhakti text, issuing forth from the composer‟s own personalized devotion and deploying local bhakti rhetoric, and finally, it can be classified as a Tantric text in its invocations of esoteric themes and imagery.
50 This idea of Tantric bhakti is also intimately linked to the process of localization of Goddess figures that will be discussed towards the end of this chapter. The significance of this localization is that Śrīvidyà practices are being consciously linked to popular bhakti temples in South India, for example those of Kàmàkùī in Kā¤cipuram, and
Mīnakùī of Madurai. Through the expansion of Śrīvidyà practices and theology to localized Goddess manifestations, these local deities, who are the recipients of popular devotion, become integrated with Śrīvidyà practice and at the same time, remain part of an overarching bhakti framework.
F) The Goddess as One and Many
Throughout the Apiràmi Antàti, Abhiràmi is portrayed as Ultimate Reality. She is
Śakti, the creative power of the universe. In this work, Abhiràmi is universalized through her association and integration with other Goddesses, both of Sanskritic origin as well as localized village Goddess forms. Through the association of name and form with several
Goddesses, Abhiràmi is shown to encompass these other Goddesses within her Absolute self. Most notably, Abhiràmi is depicted as identical to Lalità Tripurasundarī, sharing her name, and mythology. Texts dealing with Tripuràsundarī often reflect on the significance of her various names, which are usually thought to hold hidden or mystical meanings.
These reflections elicit further aspects of her character and additional associations with ideas and themes in Hindu philosophy, mythology, and spiritual practice (Kinsley 1997,
120). The Apiràmi Antàti can be seen to emulate this practice, imbuing Abhiràmi with multiple names and personas from across the Hindu pantheon in an attempt to enlarge
Abhiràmi‟s sphere of influence and association. These multiple realities endow her with
51 multiple mythologies and serve to connect her to diverse Goddess traditions. Douglas R.
Brooks tells us that there are two ways in which Lalità‟s totalizing character is expressed.
Firstly, by names suggesting logical ultimacy i.e. “reality itself”, and “the great”. Second, are depictions that rely on either comparison or contrast, such as those in which other deities or beings are deemed inferior, dependent, or partial manifestations (Brooks 1992,
66). Using these same techniques, the Apiràmi Antàti achieves a „totalization‟ of
Abhiràmi, which allows her to subsume multiple other Goddesses into her identity, particularly with respect to her conflation with Tripurāsundarī.
First let us look at ways in which this text makes reference to Abhiràmi as Lalità
Tripurāsundarī by invoking her name and her mythology. Verses 2, 5, 29, 43, 54, 73, and
85, identify Abhiràmi specifically and directly as the Goddess Tripurāsundarī.
Chandraswamy Kadirvel translates, “She is Thirupura Sundari, the Presiding deity for the three cakras (sun, moon and fire)” (v. 2, 2), the author also directly addresses her in this form “My divine mother Tirupura Sundarī (Abhirami) is Goddess Parasakthi” (Kardivel v. 29, 15). Allusions to her mythology are also made with reference to Her as the “lovely one of the three cities” (Clooney 2005, 70), and “the holy body of the lady of the three cities who ends all grief”(Clooney 2005, 84). By addressing Abhirāmi directly as
Tripuràsundarī, Abhiràmi Bhaññar clearly collapses the identities of these two Goddesses into one absolute, all-encompassing figure. It should not be deemed arbitrary that this figure coincides with the central deity of the Śrīvidyā cult. Rather, I contend that this association marks the intentional linking of Abhiràmi to a larger sphere of esoteric practice. In later sections of this chapter, my analysis of the similarity in iconographic representation will also support this unity of the two goddesses.
52 The Apiràmi Antàti includes references to Abhiràmi as a manifestation of pan-
Indic Sanskritic Goddesses, such as, Umā (v. 1, 10, 30, 31), and Ambikā (v. 5, 36).
Indirectly, many verses allude to her as Pārvatī through descriptions of her as the mother of Muruka• (v. 65), and as the daughter of the mountain (v. 93, 95). These Sanskritic
Goddesses serve to universalize the figure of Abhiràmi and entrench her in Brahmanic orthodoxy. The nature of her relationship to these Sanskritic Goddess figures affixes additional authority to her persona within a Śrīvidyā setting. While she assumes the esoteric, Tantric persona of Tripuràsundarī, she is also attributed with an orthodox,
Brahmanic persona.
There are full verses within the poem dedicated solely to expounding Abhirāmi‟s multiple manifestations. These verses serve to enlarge her realm of influence and associations by enumerating her multiple forms. For example in verse 50:
“Lady, “Four-faced,” “Nàràyaõī,” “ Five arrows in Her lotus hand,” “Śāmbhavī,” “Śankarī,” “Cāmaëai,” “Wearing a garland of fine snakes wit poisonous bites,” “Cūli•ī,” “Màta•kã,” “my mother” and so on, such are the names for Her whose feet are our stronghold.
Additionally significant when considering this list of names, is that the
Lalitàsahsaranàma makes reference to each of these particular Goddesses as being identified with Lalità. For example: Caturvaktra Manoharā („having four pleasing faces‟)
(n. 505), Nārāyanī (n. 298), Pa¤catanmātra Śśāyakā („holding five arrows representing the elements‟) (n.11) Śāmbhavī (n. 122), Śaïkarī (n. 126), Śyāmābhā (n 486), Malinī (n.
455), Vārāhī (n. 76) and Śulādyāyudha Saüpannā („armed with the tridents and other weapons‟) (n. 506). Here, we can see that Abhiràmi Bhaññar does not associate the
53 Goddess Abhiràmi arbitrarily with other Goddesses, but uses particular epithets that have already been associated with Tripurà in well-known Śrīvidyā literature.
Shared Associations: Abhirāmi and local Tamil Goddesses
Association with these early Sanskritic manifestations of the divine are supplemented by connections between Abhiràmi and specific localized forms of the
Goddesses. Of interest to the Śrīvidyā tradition are Manonmani, Kàmàkùī and Mãnàkùã,
Goddesses that already hold strong associations to Lalitā Tripurāsundarã. These associations serve to reify the connection between Abhiràmi and Lalità as well as to link
Abhiràmi with significant Śrīvidyā shrines and their traditions.
Lalità‟s relationship to specific localized Goddesses is confirmed by textual sources, ritual symbols, and mythology. In verse five, Abhiràmi Bhaññar addresses
Abhiràmi as „Manonmaõi‟ (Skt. manas + maõi), this Goddess is understood as the „Jewel of the mind or heart‟, and is the Goddess who creates a static condition of meditative devotion in the hearts of devotees. This association is taken a step further because
Abhiràmi is directly said to be Manonmaõi in the Tirrukkaóaiyūr Sthalapūràõa. In the story of her origin, Abhiràmi is depicted as issuing forth from „Viùõu‟s jewels‟ (literally,
Manonmani), which were draped around Śiva‟s linga. This same epithet is applied to
Tripurà in the Lalitàsahasranàma verse 207. 34
In South India, the Goddess Tripuràsundarī is unambiguously identified with descriptions of Kàmàkùī of Kàñchipuram whose image is nearly identical to the
34 Bhàskararàya interpretation offers that “Manonmaõi is the eighth place from the centre between the eyebrows, just below the Brahmarandhra; being of that form, she is so called,” the Svacchandasaügraha says, “There is a ÷akti , the cause [of all causes], and above that comes umanī. In that centre there is no time or space, no tattva, or deity, complete freedom, purity, supremacy…This is called the ÷akti of Śiva; in it there is neither subject nor object, spotless” (Sastry 1899, 121)
54 description of Tripurà in the Lalitāsahasranāma.35 Abhiràmi also shares the same iconography as Kàmàkùī, as they both hold a sugar cane bow and flower arrows in their lowers arms. The shared iconography displayed by these three Goddesses is significant in that it relays information about their relation to one another. Through this association
Abhiràmi is linked to Kàmàkùī, who has in turn been connected with Tripurà. Indirectly this serves to compound the identification between Abhiràmi and Tripurà. The central shrine of Kàmàkùī at Kà¤chipuram features a ÷rãckara. In addition, today the Śaïkara tradition at Kà¤chipuram, controls the Kàmàkùī temple and reinforces the association of the Goddess with the interests of the Tamil Smàrta Brahmin community, which is intimately tied with the tradition of Śrãvidyà (Brooks 1992, 71). This connection with the
Smàrta Brahmin community is central in light of the final chapter of this thesis.
In addition to Kàmàkùī another important local figure in the Tamil temple tradition associated with both Lalità and Abhiràmi is Mīnàkùī of Madurai. Her associations with Śrãvidyā are recondite, as her connection with the ÷rīcakra has been part of her cult in recent times but is largely unacknowledged by the priests at the
Madurai temple. Nevertheless, the image of Mīnākùī, in her anthropomorphic form, is embossed on coins or amulets, the front of which bears a ÷rīcakra. These, along with popular prints of the Goddess standing above a ÷rīcakra are sold in shops inside and around the Madurai temple (Kinsley 1997, 114). Mīnākùī‟s connection with Śrīvidyā establishes an important principle, namely that local Goddesses need not physically resemble Tripurà nor must they be mentioned by name in ørīvidyà texts (Brooks 1992,
35 I will use the examples of Kàmàkùī and Minakùī, however there are many other Goddesses who have been brought into the fold of Śrīvidya, for example, Akhilāõóe÷varī from Trichy, who is adorned with ÷rīcakra earrings, and the shrine of ÷rīmeru at Tiruvidaimarudur, where the ÷rīcakra itself is worshiped.
55 72). This is very important, as Abhiràmi is associated with imagery traditional to Mīnākùī in the Apiràmi Antàti. Verse seventy of the Apiràmi Antàti, for example, connects
Abhiràmi to Mãnakùã saying “ I have seen her in the Katampa [kadamba] forest: in Her hand a vina sounding delightful ragas…she appears amid the clan of Matanka women”
(Clooney 2005, 81). The Kadamba forest is associated with Madurai and here, commentators Velpillai (63) and Ramanathan (118) understand this imagery to be that of the Goddess Mīnākùī of Madurai. Notably, Lalità is also said to dwell in the Kadamba forest in name 60, kadambavanavàsinī “Living in a groove of Kadamba trees”.
In the Lalitàsahasranàma, Lalità is presented as both ferocious and benign. The ferocious elements of Lalità‟s character, her depiction as a dangerous, horrific, and courageous warrior who is the consumer of the universe are common, for example, in name 89-, where she is called Vi÷vagrāsā (“she who devours the universe”).This identification serves to identify Her with the popular Goddess figures of Kàlã and Durgā.
This implicit comparison among the great Goddesses makes explicit the claim that Lalità is foremost among them. The identification of the Goddess Abhiràmi with a class of terrifyingly natured Goddesses is also made in the Apiràmi Antàti bringing with it the same identifications of power as in the Lalitàsahasranàma. Clooney translates,
“Bhairavã,” “Pa¤camã,” “Holder of the net, goad, and five arrows,” “Lofty Caõóã who consumes as Her offering the life of deceivers,” “Kàëã,” “Vairavã shining in all directions,” “Maõñalã,” “Màli•ã,” “Cūlī,” “Varàkī,” such are Her names in the flawless four Vedas that people proclaim (82).
56 Here again we find the deliberate use of terrifying Goddesses that matches those listed in the Lalitàsahasranàma.36
The Goddess Abhiràmi is thus universalized by this multiplicity of form and name, impressing upon the devotee that she is simultaneously great and particular, benign and terrifying. The large number of identities that Abhiràmi assumes is indicative of the fact that she is not exhausted by any particular form. Her identity is most often imaged as that of Tripuràsundarī, in fact, the poem gives no privilege to the name Abhiràmi ( verses
1, 25, 69, 74, 78, 79, 94, 101) using it only once more than the epithet Tripuràsundarī
(verses 2, 5, 29, 43, 54, 73, 85). Another significant aspect of the poem is that there are no specific regional or historical references in the text that point to its site of composition.
Instead, by associating Abhiràmi with Goddess forms from throughout South India the author enlarges Abhiràmi‟s realm of authority, and solidifies the existent Goddess traditions by uniting these multiple locations associated with Goddess worship. Abhiràmi is therefore used to tap into several portrayals of the Goddess, tying together a number of
Goddess cultures. This extension of her persona can be seen to parallel the rise of the
Goddess Tripurà, who essentially becomes a pan-Indian Goddess by the seventh century.
Brooks writes that,
“in those Śrīvidyā texts associated with south India… that is, Lalitàsahasranàma, Lalitopàkhyàna, and the works or ørīvidyànanda, “øaïkara”, and Bhàskararàya – there is a willingness to extend the imagery and character of Lalità Tripurāsundarī beyond the confine of her specific iconographic associations. In Tamilnadu, Sanskritic traditions identify most local Goddesses with mahàdevī and by implication with the texts that centre on Lalità Tripurasundarī” (Brooks 1992, 72). Abhiràmi Bhaññar therefore uses the poem to draw attention to multiple Goddess
36 Terrifying epithets of the Goddess that appear in both the Lalitàsahasranàma and the Apiràmi Antàti include: Bhairavī (n. 276), Rāgasvarūpa Pā÷ādhyā (n.8), Caõóikā (n. 755), Mahākālī (n. 751), Mālinī (n. 455).
57 traditions, while at the same time gaining legitimization for Abhiràmi as Ultimate Reality through her association with Lalità, pan-Indic, and localized traditions.
Shared iconography: Abhiràmi as Lalità
Ornamentation or beautification is a major element of an anthropomorphic icon and its worship. On the textual level, the Lalitàsaharanàma venerates the Goddess by providing head-to-toe descriptions that revel in the excessive and incomparable beauty of
Lalitā‟s divine persona. Lalità Tripurāsundarī‟s meditational verses (dhyàna÷loka) distil the elaborate picture drawn in the body of the Thousand Names of Lalità. Meditational verses are usually recited before and during worship of the sthūla Goddess (Brooks 1992,
62). This is particularly interesting, as we shall see that the sthūla form of Lalità corresponds to that of Abhiràmi. The beginning of the Lalitàsasranàma provides us with a detailed account of her iconography while verses 13-51 allow for meditation on the
Goddess‟s physical beauty. The Apiràmi Antàti also spends a great deal of time emphasizing the Goddesses‟ physical beauty, often using the exact same wording as the
Lalitàsahasranàma. What is most fascinating, however, is that the Apiràmi Antàti provides a description of Abhiràmi‟s iconography that is identical to that of
Tripuràsundarī. The Lalitàsahasranàma tells us that,
She is bright like a thousand rising suns (n. 6), with four arms (n. 7), the noose represents desire (n. 8), the goad represents wrath (n. 9), the sugarcane-bow represents the mind (n. 10), and the arrows the five subtle elements (n. 11)37...whose radiance fill the whole universe and whose red colour, mostly expressed in terms of similes with flowers, is suggestive of beauty and erotic attractiveness (Wilke 2002, 123).
37 Ananthakrishna Sastry‟s translation of the Lalitàsahasranàma with Bhàskararàya‟s commentary writes, “the Kàdimata says: “The arrows are of three kinds- gross, subtle and supreme; the gross are flowers, the subtle are the mantras, and the supreme are the vàsanàs. The gross arrows are five flowers…”” He then goes on to explain how the weapons described in verses 8-11 contain the weapon mantras (1899, 49).
58 Brooks‟ also provides a description of Tripuràsundarī, found in the Lalitāsaharanāma:
“I contemplate the Goddess who is red [in color or dress and] bears [in her four hands‟ the noose, the goad, the flower arrows and the bow [of sugarcane], [She who] with [her] lustre envelopes the [twelve siddhis] beginning with the power to be minute” (Brooks 1992, 62).
The Apiràmi Antàti‟s descriptions of Abhiràmi‟s iconography also makes mention of her having a red color, and holding the noose (net), goad, cane bow, and flower arrows. A summary of these verses yields;
“In Your red lotus hands are Your cane bow and flower arrows” (Clooney 205, v.62), “She has a Kañampu-flower garland, five arrows and a cane bow for weapons”
(Clooney 2005, 82), “In every direction I see Her net and goad” (Clooney 2005, 84),
“Mother, our tender Apiràmi …the color of a pomegranate flower. She protects the whole world at once; in Her lovely hands are the net, goad, cane bow” (Clooney 2005 v. 101).
Most convincing are verses were Abhiràmi is addressed directly as Tripuràsundarī and her description is identical. For example:
The mighty weapons of Pasam and Ankusam in the sacred hands of Thirupura Sundari (who hath dispelled all my grief); Her five arrows of fresh flowers around which the winged bees swarm and buzz; the bow of sugar-cane; Her sacred body; slender hip, breasts covered by corset and pasted with sweet smelling Kumkum fluid…Oh, how grand is this Vision! (Candaswami Kadirvel 1976, v. 39)
In addition to her iconography another impressive aspect of the Apiràmi Antàti are descriptions of Abhiràmi‟s physical beauty. In the last verse, she is described as thin waisted and having heavy breasts covered in Kumkum paste.
What is remarkable is the way certain verses or images of Abhiràmi seem to have been taken directly from description of Lalitā in the Lalitàsahasranàma. For example, the
Apiràmi Antàti says, “Your delicate waist is burdened by breasts like jewelled caskets”
59 (Clooney 2005, 67), the Lalitàsahasranàma writes, “ Her golden belt supports her waist which bends under the burden of her breasts” (Sastry 1899, n. 36).
Meenaksi Sundaram Mohan has carried out a verse by verse comparison of the Apiràmi
Antàti and the Lalitāsahasranāma. In these two texts, both Goddesses are described as having sparkling white teeth (v. 9, n. 28), being always youthful (v.13, n. 358, 430, 470), wearing Kañamba flowers (v.26, n. 323), having very black hair (v. 53, n.184), wearing a pearl necklace (v.53, n. 32), three eyes (v. 53, n. 477, 453, 762). The list of comparisons is extensive. It is evident that in both songs the Goddess is described as the striking personification of beauty.
In addition to similar physical descriptors, both Goddesses are attributed the same powers. Some examples include, destroying sin (v. 8, n. 354, 811), granting liberation and bliss (v.10, n. 737, 736, 838, 839, 625, 926, 729, 252), occupying Siva‟s left half (v.
17, n. 861), and surpassing the power held by the three gods (v. 25, n. 607, 975).
This in-depth analysis of the attributes of Lalitā in the Lalitàsahasranàma, and those of Abhiràmi in the Apiràmi Antàti, reveal that the two goddesses share the same identity. Abhiràmi Bhaññar was doubtlessly inspired by the Lalitàsahasranàma, from which he borrowed many description of the Goddess. He constructs a „joint identity‟ for
Abhiràmi imbuing her with all the characteristics of Tripuràsundarī. This association with the identity of Lalità, who is central to esoteric Śrīvidyà worship, places Abhiràmi squarely within the Śrīvidyà tradition.
In conclusion, the Apiràmi Antāti provides a rich textual lens through which to view emergent Tantric Śrīvidyà ideas and practices. If we examine the Apirāmi Antāti through Douglas Renfrew Brooks‟ polythetic classification, while it does not explicitly
60 exhibit all Tantric classifiers (for example the use of antinomian substances), it does provide a place for a significant number of Tantric practices and ideas. Namely, it functions as an extra-Vedic text that invokes the use of mantra and ÷rãcakra for the purpose of envisioning the Goddess. Additionally, it is understood to prescribe the use of kuõóalinī yoga in meditative practice. Worship of the Goddess Abhiràmi is shown to be powerful and effective enabling liberation within this lifetime and freeing the devotee from future re-births. Finally, Abhiràmi is understood to be one and many, embodying microcosm and macrocosm. In South India this multiplicity can be seen through her association with multiple local goddesses, one the one hand and with the Goddess Lalità
Tripuràsundarī on the other. The final identification is two fold. Not only does it enrich her identity as a pan-Indic Goddess but serves to associate Abhiràmi with the Tantric
Śrīvidyā tradition which holds Lalità to be the foremost Ultimate Reality. This Tantric location of the text is confirmed by the fact that contemporary commentators such as
Shanmukanathan, Ramnathan, and Jagannathan38 interpret Abhiràmi Bhaññar as being a
Tantric practitioner and read examples of Tantric sādhanā although sometimes implicit, in the text. This interpretation is significant in that it informs us about the modes of transmission and reception of the text today and the place it occupies in the contemporary public imagination. That these commentators find it necessary to read the text through a
Tantric lens is significant in identifying it as an outgrowth of a local Tantric-bhakti tradition. In the modern period, the Apiràmi Antàti has grown in popularity, appealing to elite urban Smàrta Brahmins, who are also the „keepers‟ of Śrīvidyā practice. The next chapter discusses why this poem has captured the popular religious imagination, and how
38 As discussed in the previous chapter (20), Jagannathan draws on Tantric physiology when he recounts Abhiràmi‟s advanced spiritual state (Clooney 2005, 188).
61 its popularization at the temple in Tirukkadaiyur has lead to the reification of social norms concerning womanhood, and domesticity.
62 Chapter 3
The Tirukkadaiyur Temple: Myth, Ritual, and Domestication of the Goddess
Sumaïgalã sukhakarã suveùàóhyà suvàsinã Suvàsinyarcanaprãtà÷obhanà ÷uddhamànasà
“Sumaïgalã (auspicious woman), who bestows happiness, who is beautifully attired, suvāsinī (married woman), pleased by the worship of married women, radiant in all directions, ever pure in mind” (Lalitāsahasranāma v. 177-178) \ vavviya pàkattu iŸaivarum nãyum maki×tirukkum cevviyum uïkaë tirumaõak kºlamum cintaiyuëë¹ avviyum tãrttu eai àõñapoŸpàtamum àkivantu vevviya kàla emel varumpºtu veëiniŸkav¹
“You are the Lord‟s left half, so may the loveliness in which both of you delight and Your auspicious wedding design too, come and end my wayward mind, may your shining feet rule me” (Apiràmi Antàti v. 18)
The Apiràmi Antàti presents richness in iconography, mythology, and its deployment of Tamil bhakti and Tantric practices and conventions. Paramount among its many ideas are those that portray the Goddess as wife and mother. These domesticated attributes combined with the esoteric themes of the text, discussed in the previous chapter, reinforce the poem‟s espousal of a Śrīvidyā world-view, where traditional
Smàrta Brahmin ideas concerning womanhood are brought into conversation with Tantric ritual. It is this depiction of a domesticated Goddess that has enabled the Apiràmi Antàti to become popular in the contemporary South Indian context, partially because it appeals to traditional upper-caste social values concerning womanhood, marriage, and domesticity. This poem, connected to the temple at Tirukkadaiyur, shares its localization with the ritual practice of ÷atàbhiùekam, the ritual remarriage of couples, a samskāra, or
63 rite-of-passage celebrated almost exclusively in South India. This ritual echoes the emphasis on domesticity found within the text, serving as a rite whose main function is to prolong married life. By mirroring ideas found within normative Brahmanic Hinduism, the Apiràmi Antàti and the ritual of ÷atàbhiùekam reiterate the importance of the domestic role for women and are used today by various caste groups to gain social mobility by emulating the practices of the Brahman middle-class.
Abhiràmi as Wife and Mother
At the outset of the Apiràmi Antàti, the Goddess is depicted in association with her familial relationships. The poem begins by introducing Abhiràmi as a thoroughly domesticated Goddess, we are informed that she, as Umà, is half of her husband Śiva, the king of Tillai (Chidambaram). She is depicted as a consort and connected to the most holy of Śiva temples in South India. This domestic and geographic association endows her with prestige and additionally serves as a reminder of her position vis-à-vis one of the great Gods of Hinduism. The third line of the introduction tells us that she is the mother of Gaõe÷a. Clooney‟s translation reads, “Umà is half the king of Tillai, the holy city adorned with konrai garlands and campaka garlands; may her dark bodied son Gaõapati hold ever firm in my mind” (69).39 This kàppu or invocatory verse serves to establish family relations, but its significance is not exhausted in familial imagery. Instead,
Abhiràmi is intimately linked to various benevolent manifestations of the Goddess. By being addressed as “Umà”, who generally represents love and self sacrifice and who is often seen as an interlocutor between devotees and Śiva, as a mother would intervene
39 Tàramar koŸaiyum caõpakamàlaiyum càttum tillai ūrartam pàkattu umaimainta¹ ulak¹×um peŸŸa cir apiràmi antàti eppºtumen cintaiyuëë¹ làramar m¹ik kaõapaty¹ niŸkak kaññuraiy¹.
64 between a child and his father, and “Pàrvatã”, the model wife who observed severe penance to attract Śiva as her husband, Abhiràmi is associated with two epithets of Śiva‟s spouse who is understood as benign and domesticated. As with the Goddess Lalitā,
Abhirāmi, despite her inherent auspicious power, is never fully severed from her consort
øiva; instead she is identified with Umà/Pàrvatī, and other consorts of the ascetic god.
Her association with Umà/PàrvatãŚ concretizes her identity as a beneficent married
Goddess. The depiction of Abhiràmi as a manifestation of Lalità is significant in that
Lalità is understood, among Śrãvidyà practitioners, to be both the Godhead acting as the recipient of Tantric worship, but also as the paragon of an ideal wife, exhibiting all the desirable attributes of womanhood found within Brahmanic Hinduism. This powerful- yet-domesticated persona, the fine balance of Tantric power and wifely devotion depicted through the figures of Lalità and Abhiràmi, is illustrative of Śrãvidyà‟s associations with
Brahmanic Hinduism. In the Apiràmi Antàti, Lalità‟s attributes are transferred to
Abhiràmi, casting her in the image of a powerful Tantric Goddess whose power is circumscribed by orthodox Brahmin prescriptions of womanhood.
Indeed, perhaps the most pervasive image of Abhiràmi in the Apiràmi Antàti is her role as wife; she is never separated from her husband Śiva and is referred to numerous times as being his left half. Stylistically, the author gives emphasis to this by mentioning Śiva in almost every second verse. Śiva is mentioned with regard to Abhiràmi in no less than 45 verses of this poem. The persistent image of Abhiràmi with her husband can be seen for example in verse 39, “You live at the side of him,” and verse 41,
“She‟s come here with Her splendid husband” these verses are positioned alongside others that make reference to her married status for example verse 18, “Your auspicious
65 wedding design…” which stresses Abhiràmi‟s role as wife, associating her with the ideal upper-caste Hindu woman, the sumaïgalã.
Lalità too is portrayed as an ideal Hindu woman conforming to Sanskritic standards. Being the supreme deity does not prevent her from being a dutiful and obedient wife, and “auspicious one” (sumaïgalã) who fulfills both domestic roles as well as the social expectations of Brahmanic tradition. She is called “saubhàgyavatã,” the
“prosperous” or the “bountiful,” because as wife and mother she confers on others the blessings of prosperity and life-giving auspiciousness (÷rī) (Brooks 1992, 61).
Brooks writes that Lalità‟s mythological character rarely deviates from the picture of an ideal embodiment of conventional values. Lalità Tripurasundarī is queen of the universe; She is a loving and stern mother to her children, and a beautiful and cooperative wife to her husband. In short, she is the archetypal sumaïgalã, the wholly dharmic embodiment of the feminine (Brooks 1990, 98). The Lalitàsahasranàma calls attention to these attributes in several of her epithets. She is depicted in both her role as chaste wife (n
128) and as being devoted to her husband (n.320). Brooks writes that it is in this role that she most clearly displays her second characteristic: auspiciousness (÷rī or maïgalà),
“Lalità embodies auspiciousness (n 967.), which implies her life-giving roles of mother (n. 457) and wife... This particular auspiciousness emphasizes the transfer of power to others, especially to her husband. As the paradigm of the married female or suvàsinī (n. 970) who confers blessing by fulfilling her assigned roles as loyal wife (n. 820) and mother, she is called sumaïgalī (n.967)” (Brooks 1992, 65). As previously mentioned, Abhiràmi is imaged not only in her role as an ideal wife but also as a maternal figure. Abhiràmi Bhaññar accomplishes this in multiple ways. First, he explores her maternal position with regard to Gaõe÷a and Muruka•. Her creation of
Muruka• is used almost mockingly to show her supremacy over Śiva‟s austerities.
66 The great ascetic Lord incinerated Desire‟s body and his bow- but after that didn‟t You still make with Him a wise son with twelve slender hands and six faces? (Clooney 2005, 80)
kakamum vàum puvaamum kàõa viŸkàma aïkam taka•am mu•ceyta tavapperumàrumàŸkut tañakkaiyum cem muka•umun nà•kirumūŸeat tºŸiya mūtaŸivi makau muõñàyataŸº valli nã ceyta vallapam¹
Even in this moment of triumph for the Goddess, her victory comes in the form of a domestic achievement, namely, in mothering a son. Abhiràmi Bhaññar also portrays the
Goddess as mother and creator of the universe addressing her in verse 22 as, “Mother to the gods, Brahmà and all the rest”40 and in verse 12, he attributes her with the creation of the cosmos, “O Mother blossoming forth seven worlds”.41 Finally, he addresses her as the mother of her devotees, and more precisely, as his mother. In fact, the poet addresses her directly as “mother” in verses 2, 9, 12, 16, 25, 33, 44, 61, 73, and 101. In verse 33 for example, he writes, “When I call you “Mother,” at that moment come running”.42
The power of maternal creation exemplified by the Goddess appears in many forms. The mother‟s breast milk is perhaps the most important example of a bodily fluid that is understood as a tangible expression of such love. In Tamil contexts, a mother‟s milk is regarded as the emotional outpouring of a mother‟s love for her child. These feelings of love are transmitted through the milk to the child. Thus, the imagery of milk is used to convey the emotion of maternal love.43 The Apiràmi Antàti makes use of this maternal imagery in verse 9 where Abhiràmi‟s life-giving abilities are referred to in terms of nourishing an infant, “Your breasts grew larger than golden hills with milk for the
40 “pirama mutalàya t¹varaip peŸŸa amm¹” 41 “e• amm¹ puvi ¹×um pūttava×¹” 42 “a••aiy¹ e•pa• ºñivant¹” 43 On the significance of breast milk in Tamilnadu see Egnor 1980, 20 and Sumathi Ramaswamy 1997.
67 crying child…come, O Mother, stand right here, before me!” Similarly, in the
Lalitàsahasranàma, Lalità is described as the „Mistress of All‟, „Mother of the World‟, and „Mother of the Vedas‟, she is often associated with the earth itself and is said both to create and uphold it. Related to her nature as the power underlying vigour and growth is her association with nourishment and food.
Abhiràmi Bhaññar, descending from an elite Smàrta Brahmin background grounded in Tanjavur courtly culture, wrote the Apiràmi Antàti in a manner that seems to conform to the pervasive ideas concerning womanhood and domesticity in his time.
Evidence of these ideas can be found in the Strãdharmapaddhati by Tryambakayajvan, most likely the minister to two of the Maràñhà kings of Thanjavur (Śàhajī and Serfojī I) points to ideas concerning womanhood that were held during the Tanjavur courtly period of the eighteenth century.44 This text provides us with remarkable insight into the daily routines of upper class orthodox Hindu women at the Thanjavur court. The text reveals how orthodox pandits imagined normative female behavior, in relation to serving one‟s husband. Serfojī‟s mother, Dãpàmbā, is also said to have commissioned works on strãdharma during this period, circulating orthodox prescriptions of womanhood among the social elite. The Apiràmi Antàti finds itself couched in the worldview expressed during the courtly rule of Serfojī and to some extent, resonates even today with orthodox
Brahminic ideals of womanhood. The wide appeal of this poem to contemporary Hindu communities raises an important question appropriately posed by Holly Reynolds, “why do [Brahmin] woman opt for Goddesses such as Laksmi who are paragons of wifeliness, purity, and benevolence, instead of ammans who are independent, passionate, and
44 The text of Stridharmapaddhati has been analyzed by Julia Leslie (1989). Also, an entire poem dedicated to Dãpàmbā, called Dãpàmbà Māhātmya was composed in Sanskrit.
68 capricious?”(Reynolds 44) The answer to this question lies within urban upper/middle- class Tamil Brahmin conceptions of womanhood, and the social and ritual importance placed on marriage and domesticity in these influential social circles.
The Contemporary Significance of Domesticity
Women from urban middle-class Smàrta Brahmin communities in India have traditionally undertaken a category of rituals that serve to safeguard and thus prolong the lives of their husbands. These rites accent the cultural value placed on domesticity and marriage. In order to demonstrate how the Apiràmi Antàti works in conjunction with pre- existing notions of domesticity to promote married life, I will examine ÷atàbhiùekam, the ritual remarriage of couples.45 The ritual of ÷atàbhiùekam takes place at Tirukkadaiyur, the site of the composition of the Apiràmi Antàti and present day shrine to the Goddess
Abhiràmi. I will argue that ÷atàbhiùekam should be considered within the same category as Brahmanic rites such as the well-known women‟s ritual fasts, vratas or nº•pus, which preserve an auspicious domestic state for the wife. Although ÷atàbhiùekam differs from women‟s ritual fasting because both husband and wife participate in it together, fundamentally it serves the same end – namely, to prolong a married status for the woman. Smàrtas, also known as Aiyars, are a community with roots in Tamil-, Telugu-, and Kannada-speaking areas of peninsular South Asia, and constitute one of the largest
Brahmin communities in all of India. The strong influence wielded by Smàrta Brahmins in South India as „cultural brokers‟ (Hancock 1999) has lead to the practice of traditionally Brahmin rites, such as ÷atàbhiùekam, by a variety of caste groups. Other
45 See figures 9, 10, 11.
69 non-Brahmin caste groups, such as Mutaliyàrs, Ceññiyars, and V¹ëāëars emulate Smàrta
Brahmin rituals, echo their ideas concerning ideal womanhood, and reiterate the emphasis on the domestic roles of women in their communities as well.
In order to understand the way these rituals and social ideas are constructed, I begin with some comments on the social and religious significance of marriage, as well as the ritually prominent position occupied by married women in urban middle-class
Brahmin society. This will lead to a discussion of certain rites of passage linked to ideas of womanhood and domesticity in contemporary Tamil Nadu, South India. Finally, I discuss ethnographic research I conducted in the summer of 2008 in Tirukkadaiyur concerning the performance of ÷atàbhiùekam. Understanding these rituals provides a pathway into the complex world of women‟s rituals that serve to construct and dramatize the notion of domesticity as auspicious.
Sumaïgalã as a Tamil Social, Cultural and Ritual Category
The ideal upper caste Brahmin woman in Tamilnadu is the sumaïgalã, literally, the “auspicious one.” This auspiciousness is grounded in two social presences in her life: that of the husband and of children.46 The former is generally understood as more auspicious than the latter. The married woman is usually accorded an almost unconditional auspiciousness, and her power is conceived as being basically benevolent
(Reynolds 1980, 36). The married woman thus comes to occupy the highest position, both socially as well as ritually. The construction of a married woman as auspicious
46 Vasumathi Duvvury writes that marriage in universally considered as the most important ritual in the life of a Hindu, especially a woman, she is keen to point out however, that while marriage is central to the status and integration of a woman into her community her full incorporation hinges on her achieving motherhood, especially the birth of a son (Duvvury 5-6). This idea does not diminish the importance of marriage as a rite but instead, augments the emphasis on domesticity, which is inclusive of both wifely and maternal roles.
70 comes, in part, from the idea that women are seen to possess ÷akti, or creative power.
This power is incredibly potent, and among orthodox Smàrta Brahmins, it is believed that at puberty it can become dangerous and unpredictable if a woman is not under the control of a husband. A married woman‟s power, on the other hand, is seen as subdued and benevolent in nature. Holly Reynolds calls attention to the fact that the term sumaïgalã does not only refer to a biological and social status, but also and more importantly, “to a particular mode of female being, characterized by [the] beneficent and benevolent uses of power” (Reynolds 1980, 38). This power relies not on the woman independently but rather on woman in relation to others, particularly to her husband and children. This point is crucial in understanding the tenuous position occupied by a wife in Hindu middle-class society who is economically dependent on her husband. Reynolds provides an illustration of this relationship from contemporary South India. During a South Indian wedding ceremony the husband attaches a tàli (marriage thread) around the neck of his new wife marking her as a sumaïgalã. This action makes explicit that the husband controls the auspiciousness of his wife because he confers sumaïgalã status upon her at marriage and he deprives her of it at his death (1991, 45-46). In an effort to „keep her tàli strong‟, a woman not only altruistically seeks to keep her husband alive, but she also attempts to keep hold of her own power or ÷akti (Reynolds 1980, 50). Reynolds writes that, “Women are credited with the power (÷akti) to control and alter the course of events in order to save their husbands from death and to provide their families with wealth, health, and prosperity. Some say that the power of the married woman is so great, in fact, that no being, animate or inanimate, human or divine, can match it” (Reynolds 1980, 35).
Marriage and the birth of a son thus ensure that her powers will remain under male
71 control. This ritual potency held by woman can be seen in many different ways, one example is the poññu, in fact, “some Hindu women believe that placing a poññu on their forehead has a positive impact on the length of life of her husband, present or future”
(Nagarajan 2007, 91).
As a model of womanhood, the married woman bears recognizable marks that announce her auspicious state. Mary Hancock draws a perfect image of a devoted socially respectable woman, one whose bearing is modest, whose hair is neatly plaited, dressed in silk, wearing gold bangles, and wedding necklace (tāli), she is ornamented with a poññu and daubs of kuïkumam, these woman are described as “Lakùmã-like” (lañcumikaramàka) and having living husbands encompass the highest levels of auspiciousness (maïkalam)
(Hancock 1999, 103). The privileges and high status granted to a sumaïgalã, as well as the reverence towards her at her death, point undoubtedly towards a culture that greatly emphasizes domesticity. While the status of a married woman is promoted in orthodox
Tamil Brahmin society, the widow is disparaged. In fact, the idea of a married woman as auspicious and socially upright is perhaps best illustrated by the contrast in status held by the widow in traditional Hindu orthodoxy.
The word „widow‟ (vitavai) is most often associated with capricious power; and represents the most inauspicious of all things to orthodox Brahmins (Reynolds 36).
Widows are, for the most part, considered outside the sphere of ritual practice. By becoming an amaïgalã (inauspicious woman), she is no longer considered a part of the normal female world. In her ethnography of contemporary Smārta Brahmin women‟s rites-of-passage, Vasumathi Duvvury notes that, “To live and die a sumangali…is the
72 greatest ambition of women and their major fear is becoming a widow” (227).
Widowhood must therefore be, at all cost, avoided.
The significance Brahmanic middle class society places on the married woman is best depicted through the direct worship of the married woman. This temporary deification of married women in ritual practice compounds positive associations with sumaïgalãhood and furthers women‟s desires to maintain their social and ritual status.
The veneration of women is seen occurring in Brahmanic orthodoxy as well as in more radical esoteric traditions.
On the Veneration of Women
The veneration of woman occurs in both Brahmanic and Tantric milieus. Within
Brahmanic context the worship of women takes a Sanskritically acceptable form as the veneration of the married woman. This ritual (suvàsinã pūjà), where the devotee asks for the blessing of both present and ancestral sumaïgalãs, highlights the married woman‟s auspicious nature. The worship of women is also extended to the worship of auspicious young girls, being virgins, they represent all aspects of purity. Within a Tantric context, the worship of women includes that of the virgin but extends to all manner of woman and takes on a distinctly antinomian form. These rituals include highly sexualized practices such as yoni pūjā and serve primarily as a means for the adept to harness the power of
÷akti. Śrïvidyà, which straddles the boundaries as both esoteric and Brahmanic in origin has interwoven these two forms for worshiping women. Here, the ritual substance consists of worship oriented towards the married woman with the aim of harnessing her auspicious power.
73 Within a normative Brahmanic context, the worship of women is most often directed towards married women. Two epithets for this form of worship are suvàsinī pūjà and sumaïgalã pràrthanà. In suvàsinī pūjà, nine sumaïgalãs are offered food, henna, bangles, and ārati is performed before them. This ritual is very much part of Smàrta religious culture and is very much a part of modern Śrïvidyà, as will be discussed in a subsequent section. These rituals, which fall under the category of sumaïgalã pūjà, pay tribute to married women in connection to the past sumaïgalīs of any given lineage. Vasumathi
Duvvury explains that sumaïgalã prārthanā is the worship of a group of sumaïgalãs (the number fluctuates from function to function) and one young virgin girl (kanyà po••u) who are understood to collectively represent one‟s dead auspicious ancestors. These women are fed, presented with flowers, tàmbūla [Betel leaves], dakùiõà [money], and small auspicious items such as bangles, small mirrors etc… (133). Sumaïgalã pràrthanà can be conducted on any auspicious day during the week before a marriage celebration, but is also performed before upanayana and sīmantonnayana (a rite performed in the husband‟s house by his family during a woman‟s first pregnancy), and during the performance of nº•pus such as Varalakùmã nº•pu. Duvvury gives the following account of this ritual:
The sumangalis and the kanya ponnu were first given tumeric to apply to their feet and water to wash their feet. Then they were asked to sit down on planks in the puja room, then in front of each of the invited guests. P served food on the leaves starting from the leaves in the puja room. Next, all the members of P‟s family – men, sumangalis, and children, threw akshada (rice mixed with turmeric powder, used for all auspicious ceremonies), kumkum, turmeric powder, and flowers on the sari and blouse and the long skirt and blouse, prostrated themselves in front of them, calling out names of the dead sumangalis and praying to all the dead sumangalis and virgin girls in their lineage and seeking their blessings (ashirvada) to ensure that the performance of the marriage will proceed as planned and also entreating them to bless the bride and bridegroom with wealth and children… (135)
74 Duvvury notes that although women are the main participants in this ritual, one should not forget that men are still critical players. It is, after all because of them that these women are considered sumaïgalãs (136). This point is significant as it calls attention to the fact that it is the position of these women as sumaïgalãs that makes them worthy of worship in this context.
Another occasional form of worship directed toward women is kumàrã pūjà, this is the worship of young girls as embodiments of the Goddess. This ritual is performed within a variety of contexts, the most common example occurring during Navaràtrī, where the rite feeds into a discourse surrounding purity and the young girl‟s inactive sexuality.47 During this festival, young girls are looked upon and worshipped as incarnations of the Goddess Durgà, and after the worship is complete, the girl blesses the devotee who has performed the ceremony (Khanna 119).
The identification of a young girl as the embodiment of the Goddess has traditionally been connected with the tradition of Śrīvidyà. Through the identification of a female child as the manifestation of the Goddess, Goddess worship transcends from the divine into the mundane world. During my ethnographic interviews at the Amçtagate÷vara temple, the temple otuvar recounted two popular stories of women devotees who encountered the Goddess in this form. These stories connect the worship of Abhiràmi with the tradition of Śrīvidyà where the Goddess is often worshiped as a young girl called
Bālātripurā.48
47 For more on themes of purity in kumàrã pūjà in northweatern India, see Erndl, Kathleen. Victory to the Mother: the Hindu Goddess of Northwest India in Myth, Ritual, and Symbol. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. 48 For more information on visions of the Goddess as a young girl see Corinne Dempsey (2005).
75 In the first story, a wealthy woman from Bombay had bought herself two new sarees for the festival of Navarātrī, on returning home she saw a young girl outside her home.
The girl asked “you have two sarees, where is mine” the woman immediately understood that she was speaking with the Goddess and that she had neglected her duties as a devotee. She gave the child one of the sarees and arranged to make a pilgrimage to
Tirukkadaiyur to worship Abhiràmi. The second story, which takes place in Chennai, surrounds the disappearance of a young girl. Her parents, overwhelmed with grief, went to visit an astrologer while the police searched for her. The astrologer told them to make an offering to the Goddess Abhiràmi. After making this offering, the parents encountered a young girl who told them to go home and see their daughter. The parents rushed home to find the police had returned their child. The final experience was told to me directly during one of my interviews with a woman named Lakshmi who I will discuss later in this chapter in relation to ÷atàbhiùekam. Lakshmi‟s experience confirms the power held by young girls seen as manifestations of the divine. She told of how she had been feeling very confused with her life, this brought her to the local Kàmàkùī temple where she prayed to Abhiràmi. As she prayed she said out loud “Abhiràmi, where are you, where is
Abhiràmi?”A couple nearby holding a baby girl turned to her, and motioning to the child said “here is Abhiràmi”. Lakshmi instantly understood that this was a vision of the
Goddess and her confusion dissipated.
Ultimately the encounters of these women with young girls they recognized as being the Goddess stress the power of Abhiràmi in the roles of both mother and child. She is therefore conflated with the problems and anxieties of real women. These stories create a
76 connection between the Goddess and living females, further imbricating the worship of
Abhiràmi in the language of domesticity, childhood and maternity.
This emphasis on domesticity can also clearly be seen in an urban contemporary
Śrïvidyà context, here, the socially normative worship of the married woman is enjoined to more radical sexualized elements belonging to Tantric tradition.49 These radical practices are glossed with a more domesticated worship, that of suvàsinī pūjà, popularly undertaken by Smàrta Brahmin Śrïvidyà practitioners. Here the domestic rites of suvāsinī pūjā veil the transgressive elements of Tantric ritual. The Tantric undercurrents are therefore only recognizable to the initiate. The ritual performance of suvàsinī pūjà within
Śrïvidyà is imbued with a Tantric dimension by envisioning the subject of worship as the physical embodiment of Lalità. As part of this ritual, the image of the Goddess is worshiped and her power is visualized as being symbolically transferred to the woman designated as the suvàsinã. The women who receive this ceremonial worship, are empowered by the Goddess, and then bless the worshiper. In doing this, the tradition stresses the importance of domesticity, and places positive value on the sumaïgalã. In this
49 The worship of women within the Tantric context takes a radically sexualized orientation. Women in Śàkta Tantra receive special consideration in the textual tradition: The Kulàrõava Tantra offers prescriptive ideas about the veneration of woman stating that, “Kçùõà§÷uka, Kçùõavarõà, Manoharà and young virgins should be worshipped like Deities” (213). The Kubjika Tantra outlines worshipping both one‟s own wife and the wives of others as Goddesses, repeating mantras 108 times and seeing the woman as the symbolic form in which the Goddess dwells. In the case of kumàrã pūjà, which is often performed during the nine day festival of Durgà pūjà it details the worship of young virgins, primarily girls ranging from one to sixteen years, such worship is said to grant all the devotees‟ wishes (McDaniel 2007, 161). Another Tantric text, the Guptasàdhanà Tantra, speaks of the nine types of virgin girls who may incarnate the Goddess, being the actress, prostitute, Brahmin woman, low-caste woman, wives of washermen and barbers, and daughters of a kàpàlika (skull carrying) ascetic, cowherds, or garland maker (McDaniel 2007, 161). The main differentiation between Tantric kumàrã pūjà and its brahmanic counterpart is that in Tantric practice this type of worship focuses on the young girl‟s sexual potential as opposed to her purity. For the adept, it provides an opportunity to harness the young girl‟s potential sexual power.
77 reinterpretation of Tantric ritual, instead of the harnessing of sexual power, a power commonly found in Tantra, the adept elicits transference of auspiciousness.
This ritual accentuates the position of the married woman within society as the woman worthy of worship. Madhu Khanna writes that this short spell of „Goddesshood‟ imbues women‟s lives with sacred meaning (119). The meaning of such ritual shifts within the context of Śrïvidyà provides a sanitized middle ground between Brahmanic orthodoxy and the sexualization of esoteric practices. This practice is therefore sufficiently accessible, and can be transported into popular culture. The effect of this type of worship is that it reinforces the status of the married woman as desirable and helps us understand social and religious incentives that cause women to undertake rituals in order to safeguard their married status.
Nº•pu as a means of Protecting Married Life
Vijaya Nagarajan remarks that, “it is traditionally the woman who is understood to be responsible for death, primarily the death of her husband (Nagarajan 2007, 87).”
Therefore a class of women‟s rituals, whose intention is to extend the life of the woman‟s husband, has evolved thus ensuring her status as a married woman. One example of this is the performance of nº•pu by married women. Holly Reynolds describes nº•pu as
“rituals of fasting, worship, praise, and mythic re-enactment that women perform without male involvement” (Reynolds 1980, 50). Leslie Orr records inscriptions of the performances of such rites as early as the tenth-century (Orr 2007, 110).
Sàvitrã or Karañaiyàr nº•pu is a vow that is purely a woman‟s rite in the sense that the participants and ritual specialists are exclusively women, it is observed at the
78 threshold between the months of Màci and Païku•i (approximately March and April).
This ritual, revolving around the protection of the husband, finds its origins in the myth of Sàvitrã. Sàvitrã insists on marrying Satyavàn even though she has been warned he will die one year after their wedding. In preparation, Sàvitrã undertakes rigorous penance as the day approaches. When Satyavàn dies, Sāvitrī follows Yama, lord of death, refusing to leave her husband. Her devotion and intelligence ultimately convince Yama to return her husband to life. Along similar lines, the ritual I will be focusing on for the remainder of this paper also focuses on themes of longevity, and shares a parallel thematic narrative with that of Sàvitrã nº•pu.
In Tamil Nadu, ÷atàbhiùekam („ literally, hundreth consecration‟) has been connected to the temple of Śiva in his form as Amçtaghate÷vara (“Lord of the Pot of
Ambrosia”). Devotees at the temple explain the connection between the temple and the ritual of ÷atàbhisekam by recounting a myth that echoes with the story of Sàvitrã and
Satyavàn as well as belies the importance of the Goddess Abhiràmi in connection to the
÷atàbhiùekam ritual. This myth is significant in that a striking parallel to this narrative of
Sàvitrã occurs in the context of the performance of the ÷atàbhiùekam ritual as well as in that it connects that cosmic Goddess Abhiràmi with her localized form demonstrating the essential power she wield on behalf of her devotees.
Màrkaõóeya, a young boy, was predestined to die on his seventeenth birthday.
The boy was devoted to Śiva and one year before his appointed death undertook a pilgrimage leading to Tirukkadaiyur where Yama came to end his life. Màrkaõóeya pledges loyalty to the Śivalinga at Tirukkadaiyur and Śiva emerges, killing Yama and granting Màrkaõóeya eternal youth. For this act, Śiva is given the epithet Kàlasaühàra,
79 “Death of Death”.50 These myths share both narrative and ritual parallels. Thematically, they are based on rescue from untimely death, in the case of Sāvitrī, by a wife for her husband, and in the case of Màrkaõóeya, by Śiva for his devotee. In both cases the interceptor emerges victorious.
In addition to these links with longevity, there are two ways that Goddess
Abhiràmi figures into this myth. Firstly some retellings suggest that when Màrkaõóeya grasped the liïgam and prayed for salvation from Yama‟s noose, it was the Goddess
Abhiràmi who intervened on his behalf. David Shulman, in his article „Notes on the
Kalantaka myth at Tirukkadavur‟ writes that, “The Goddess Abhiràmasundarã cried to her lord to save her beloved (anpa•) and destroy Yama” (268). The other popular telling of this myth involves the association of the Goddess as Śiva‟s left half. This embodiment of the Goddess as part of the God, a form popularly known as Ardhanàrã÷vara, is frequently referred to in the Apiràmi Antàti. In the myth, Śiva uses his left foot to kick Yama, thus the Goddess is popularly recognized as the force that killed Yama. Both these readings are interesting as they conceive of the Goddess as the motivating power behind Śiva‟s actions. In this way, the Goddess, who is not Sanskritically connected to the Màrkaõóeya myth, is credited with being the main catalyst in the story and takes on many of the same associations attributed to Kàlasaühàra. Of poignant significance is the second phase of the myth: Bhūmidevã, the earth embodied, is overburdened because with death‟s death all things cease dying, she goes with Viùõu with Màrkaõóeya and the other Gods to ask Śiva to reincarnate Yama. In Shulman‟s retelling of the myth based on the Tirukkadaiyur
Sthalapuràõa, “Śiva stretched forth his left foot, which is part of Śakti, and, calling “ O
50 See figure 12.
80 destroyer!” touched the corpse of Death. Yama awoke as if from sleep” (271). The
Goddess, recognized as Śiva‟s left foot, is paradoxically credited with revitalizing the life of death himself.51 She features in this myth as the main impetus behind each pivotal action, and displays her ability in securing a long life for Màrkaõóeya, overcoming death, and then saving Yama‟s life. She therefore becomes a main agent in the story as well as a main objective of people‟s devotion as they undergo the ÷atàbhiùekam ritual.
The remainder of this chapter will focus on the meanings of ÷atàbhiùekam to devotees at the Tirukkadaiyur temple and their connections with the Goddess. The information is based on ethnographic interviews I conducted at Tirukkadaiyur during the summer of 2008.
Śatàbhiùekam:
Although reasons for the performance of ÷atàbhiùekam at Tirukkadaiyur are still obscure, the fact remains that thousands of people visit this site to take part in this ritual practice. The association between the Màrkaõóeya myth and the ritual performance is not clear but one informant suggested that because Màrkaõóeya was sixteen years old when he was granted eternal youth, ÷atàbhiùekam is performed in the sixty-first year, thus inverting the number. Despite the convenience of such an explanation, this understanding did not seem to be widespread. Most people interviewed did make the connection between the myth and the ritual but few attempted to elucidate such connection. Although
÷atàbiùekam is an extremely popular and fast-growing ritual, its neglect in scholarly writings on Hindu rites-of-passage is rather surprising. “Śatàbiùekam” serves as an umbrella term, referring both to itself as well as to ùaùñyabdapūrti, the “completion of
51 See figure 13.
81 sixty years”. The practice of ùaùñyabdapūrti is mentioned in P.V. Kane‟s History of
Dharmaֈstra, and he connects this ritual with both the Laws of Manu and the
Viùõudharmasūtra (757).52 Strictly speaking, ùaùñyabdapūrti is the ritual remarriage of a couple on the husband‟s sixty-first birthday, while ÷atàbhiùhekam takes place on the husband‟s eighty-first birthday. The service is conducted by Brahmin priests and constitutes a full marriage ceremony including the sacred fire and the retying of the tàli by the husband on his wife. One woman said the reason for ÷atàbiùekam was to prolong married life, “In general they are praying to prolong the lives of both the wife and the husband, but also the wife can be praying for her husband--mostly it is to stay together as a couple.” The Tirukkadaiyur temple currently performs more than fifty marriage ceremonies a day. Visitors come from all over Tamil Nadu, and in some cases from cities as far as Bangalore, Chennai, and Bombay.
Why has this ritual become so important among contemporary South Indian
Hindus? The answer is two-fold. First, this rite reflects the high value placed on domesticity, as well as the prominent position occupied by the householder in urban middle-class Brahmin society. This ritual reiterates issues surrounding womanhood and echoes both a celebration of the ideal of the married woman and animates the potential fear or anxieties surrounding widowhood. The second reason for its growing popularity is found in its origins as a Smàrta Brahmin ritual, and the position occupied by the Smàrta
Brahmin community as representatives of elite culture.
52 Kane writes that, “ when a person, male or female, of any caste completed sixty years, there was the possibility that he may die soon, or that he may lose his mother or father or his wife or sons or that various disease may affect him; for removing this danger a ÷ànti is prescribed in order that he may enjoy a long life, be free from all calamities and for his complete prosperity. This is called úaùñyabdapūrti or Ugraratha÷ànti” (757).
82 At Tirukkadaiyur, ÷atàbhiùekam dramatizes a number of social, religious, and deeply existential concerns. For example, Lakshmi who had performed a sixty-first remarriage ceremony explained that when she was married to her husband he was forty- four and she was seventeen. After raising two daughters, she was very worried that something would happen to her husband. She also mentioned that she no longer had a father, a fact that seemed to add to her anxiety. This anxiety over the longevity of her husband brought the couple to Tirukkadaiyur to worship the Goddess Abhiràmi and renew their wedding vows. When asked why they prayed to Abhiràmi to prolong their lives when Kàlasaühāra had been the one who killed Yama, she replied that if
Kàlasaühàra has the power to elongate your life, then Abhiràmi has twice as much power.53 It is worth pointing out that the maintenance of their householder status hinges on both their continued existence, however, from her explanation we can understand that it was her anxiety over his death in particular, made worse by the fact that she had neither father nor male heirs to look after her, that provided the impetus to perform
÷atàbhiùekam. This anxiety therefore emerges as a gendered experience. Another male informant, Radja Vingadessin, expressed that he felt one of the main reasons why a woman would want to perform ÷atàbhiùhekam is to guard her marriage: “one of the main reasons the woman wants to perform ÷atàbhiùhekam is to protect her marriage. By elongating her and her husband‟s life as a married couple she protects herself from becoming a widow, she wants to make sure she remains a sumaïgalã, so that her husband does not lose his life before her”. Another interviewee, when asked why he thought people perform ÷atàbhiùekam said, “we are giving importance to married life, to husband
53 Of the devotees who did not directly implicate the Goddess Apiràmi during their narration of the Màrkaõóeya myth the majority of them, none the less, supplied such responses when asked what connection Apiràmi had with the ritual of Śatābhiùekam.
83 and wife.” These expressions re-emphasize the societal importance placed on remaining a sumaïgalã, and speak directly to a woman‟s fears of the loss of her husband, and with him, her class identity.
Today, the practice of ÷atàbhiùhekam has transcended its origins as a Smàrta
Brahmin ritual. Although still performed in Smàrta circles, it is now performed by a variety of caste groups and religious denominations. The influence of this practice is such that it is felt in multiple social spheres. The head priest the temple Amçtagate÷vara
Gurukkal said, “nowadays all the people from several communities like to come here, even people from other religions are coming and praying here” This statement was corroborated when I met two Christian girls at the temple. They said they were visiting the Goddess, but declined to be interviewed as they said they didn‟t know anything about the ritual because they were Christians. The popularization of this ritual can be, at least in part, attributed to the fact that multiple caste groups seek to emulate Smàrta Brahmin practices, which to some degree establish class norms. Mary Hancock provides an in- depth historio-political account of how Smàrta Brahmins ascended to their current position as „cultural brokers,‟ wielding immense religious and social power and influence. The term “cultural broker” was first coined in the work of anthropologist
Milton Singer, who argued that Smàrtas were among the culture brokers who disseminated Sanskritic Hinduism regionally and transregionally, incorporating localized, orally transmitted, little traditions into a composite “great Tradition” (Hancock 1999, 6).
More recently, Smàrtas have developed a discourse on national culture that has been influential in Indian cultural politics and in the production of scholarly knowledge about
South Asia (Hancock 1999, 67). Mary Hancock goes so far as to identify normative
84 images of womanhood, domesticity, and tradition at the heart of self-representation and nationalism in South India, as largely constructed by the discourses produced by the
Tamil Smàrta Brahmin community (Hancock 1999, 10).
In fact, the Smàrta community is so influential that their authority extends past their immediate community and penetrates other caste groups – especially middle-caste business communities such as Cettiyars and Mutaliyārs – that seek to emulate Brahmin elite cultural practices in order to gain social mobility through these caches. This religious and cultural emulation can be seen today at Tirukkadaiyur, where it is no longer just Smàrtas who are practicing the ritual of ÷atàbhiùekam.
Women performing such rites as ÷atàbhiùekam, which re-emphasizes the place of the married woman in middle-class society, or nº•pu, which exemplifies the idea that a woman‟s ritual actions exert control over her husband‟s well-being, fortify social structures related to ideas of elite womanhood. Craddock writes that, “Ritualization creates a spatial/temporal environment in which an individual embodies and enacts structures of personal and social meaning within a perceived field of possibility”
(Craddock 2007, 135). These rituals consolidate ideas surrounding womanhood and domesticity and articulate a class and caste-based hierarchy of status. In her work on
Hindu women‟s rituals in contemporary North India, Tracy Pintchman notes that people who participate in ritual practices become embedded in larger communities that maintain particular social norms and values (Pintchman 2007, 5). Such is also the case here, where participants actively perpetuate ideas surrounding womanhood and marriage, reifying favourable inclinations towards domesticity. These structures of domesticity animate texts such as the Apiràmi Antàti and add to their popular appeal.
85 Today the Apiràmi Antàti is recited at Tirukkadaiyur, in addition to a variety of other Goddess temples throughout India and the Tamil Diaspora, during the six daily pūjàs. Its prominent position alongside Tēvàram is illustrative of its elevated position in public religion as well as its popular appeal. That the Apiràmi Antàti is associated with the temple at Tirukkadaiyur, where the myth of Màrkaõóeya is most consistently said to have taken place (Shulman 1988, 267), and which today celebrates a vibrant tradition of
÷atàbhiùekam, gives emphasis to themes of longevity, and the importance of normative married life in Hindu society. Śatàbhiùekam echoes the emphasis on domesticity found in the Apiràmi Antàti and reiterates the importance of the domesticated female. This depiction both appeals to, and strengthens traditional social upper caste values concerning womanhood. Although the Apiràmi Antàti can be read as a Tantric text, it is, to be sure, a
Brahmanically-domesticated and devotionally-sweetened Tantrism.
86 Conclusion This thesis investigates three dimenations of the Apirāmi Antāti: its historical background, the text itself, and its contemporary application in the context of South
Indian Goddess Worship. In doing so, it highlights the interface between Tantra and bhakti, which is so often overlooked, and attempts to forge new explorations in the study of Tamil Religion. The text‟s relationship with Śrīvidyā Tantra can be discussed in terms of three main occurrences. First, we can observe the simultaneous appearance of Tantric themes alongside themes of Brahmanic domesticity in the text. Second, this connection to
Śrīvidyā can be furthered in light of a critical historicization of the Apirāmi Antāti, which locates the text in the emergent Tamil Brahmin milieu at the Tanjavur court in the eighteenth century, alongside the works of Bhāskararāya. Finally, there is something about this work, the shrine of the Goddess, and her consort at Tirukadaiyur (which was patronized by the Tanjavur court in the eighteenth century) that has an enduring value for the largest group of Tamil Brahmns known as Smārtas. The community also happens to be one that has bolstered the practice of Śrīvidyā and therefore reinforces the text‟s connection to Śrīvidyā through a shared community of adherents.
The first two chapters of this thesis served to analyze the text and its relationship to Śrīvidyā. The first chapter, examined the hagiography of the author, dating the text to the period of Serfojī I, and looking at contemporary literary compositions from the
Tanjavur court during the early eighteenth century. The fact that Abhirāmi Bhaññar and
Bhāskararāya were contemporaries at the Tanjavur court, speaks to the popularity of
Goddess worship during this period. Looking at the Lalitāsahasranāma, on which
Bhāskararāya generously commented, in tandem with the Apirāmi Antāti, provides us with a concrete example of the shape given to Śrīvidyā during this period.
87 The second chapter analyzed the text itself, paying close attention to Tantric themes such as ÷rīcakra, and kuõóalinī. In order to establish the Apirāmi Antāti as a
Tantric work, I used Douglas R. Brooks‟ idea of a polythetic classification. Of key interest in this chapter were the ways contemporary commentators read the text as a
Tantric work, replete with esoteric references. I demonstrated hoe these esoteric themes of the poem coexist with Sanskritic Brahmanic ideas that are congruent with a Śrīvidyā worldview, juxtaposing Tantric ritual practice with Vedic practices.
The third chapter of this thesis offered and investigation of the social and religious milieu in which this text continues to be of importance. This chapter focused on the relationship between the Smārta Brahmin community, who are in the position of establishing social norms and augmenting the authority of cultural practices, and the practice of ÷atābhiùekam at the Tirukkadaiyur temple, where the text is localized. The practice of ÷atābhiùekamreifies the importance of domesticity for the urban middle-class elite and therefore inflects the continued importance that is places on the Apirāmi Antāti, which skilfully meanders through a vast range of Tantric themes and Brahmanic social norms.
Through an examination of the historical, and religious background of the text as well as its contemporary usages, we can understand the Apirāmi Antāti to be located at the interstices of popular Tamil devotion (bhakti), South Indian Śrīvidyā, and the upper- caste (Brahmin) social, cultural, and ritual worlds that engender the text.
88 Appendix 1
89 Appendix 2 Tirrukadaiyur Temple Inscriptions
The Amçtagate÷vara temple contains inscriptions dating back to the period of
Rājarāja I in the tenth century. The most common donation to the temple comes as the provisions of lamps. Often these lamps are referred to as perpetual lamps (nandā viëakku) to be burnt in the shrine of a particular deity. For example, in 996 A.D. during the reign of
Rājarāja Cō×a I an individual is recorded to have donated a fixed amount of paddy annually for the maintenance of three lamps before certain shrines (TJ 1246).54 Another common donation to the temple is that of land, made tax-free by the king, as well as money given directly to the temple. Thus, the temple must have been in possession of a fair amount of land resources and economic wealth.
Aside from the registration of gifts given to the temple, which make up the mass of inscriptions, some historical information can be gleaned from analyzing the inscription to find certain trends. In this way a chronology of the rulers of this region can be established. For example, the bulk of inscriptions found at the Tirukkadaiyur temple range from approximately the ninth to thirteenth century, stretching through the Cō×a period and into the subsequent Pāõóya dynasty. The most numerous temple inscriptions are found during the periods of Rājarāja I (985-1016), Rājarāja II (1146-1173),
Kulottuïga 111 (1178-1218), and Rājarāja III (1216-1256). Additionally, Cºla inscriptions are found dating chronologically from Rājendra I, Rājādhirāja I, Kulottuïga
I, Vikramacō×adeva, Kulottuïgacō×adeva (Kulottunga II ?), Rājarāja II, Rājādhirāja II,
54 TJ. will be used as the abbreviation for A Topographical list of Inscriptions in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala states compiled by T.V. Mahalingam, the number refers to the inscription in question. See bibliography for full bibliographic reference.
90 Kulotuïga III, and Rājarāja III. Pāõóya inscriptions were made under Perumāë Sundara
Pāõóya, Maravarman Kula÷ekhara I (1268-1308), Vīrapāõóyadeva, and
Kō•eri•maikoõóa.
The first inscriptions appear during the reign of Rājarāja Cō×a I who is credited with beginning the great cultural burgeoning that took place during the years of the Cō×a period. Historical data tells us that Rājarāja crowned himself king in the year 985 A.D. and continued to rule for the subsequent thirty years. Under his rule the Cō×a kingdom grew into an expansive and efficiently organized and administered empire rich in resources and possessing a strong military and Navy (Sastri 180). Rājarāja‟s military strength is found inscribed on the east base of the temple shrine in Tirukkadaiyur which mention his conquests of Śālai, Gangapādi, Nulambapadi, Kadigai[va]li (sic) and Vēngai- nādu in 999 A.D. (TJ.: 1247) as well as Kandalur-Salai, Vengainadu, Kadigaivali,
Gangapadi, Nulambapadi, and Kudamalainadu in 1000 A.D. (TJ.: 1250).
The Cō×a period inscriptions end during the rule of Rājarāja II shortly after
Kulotuïga III who is considered the last of the great Cō×a Monarchs (Sastri 196). Of interest in the inscriptions under Kulottuïga III is the title bestowed upon him “who having taken Madurai was pleased to take the crowned head of the Pandya Land”. This honorarium seems to accurately describe the king‟s rule, which was coloured with success, both military and architectural endeavours. His successor Rājarāja III, however, did not maintain this position against the Pāõóya‟s who finally succeed in overtaking the
Cº×as in the thirteenth century bringing an end to Cº×a rule.
The number of inscriptions found during the Cº×a period signifies that under their patronage the Tirukkadaiyur temple underwent a period of effluences. The continued
91 inscriptions, however inconsistent, found during the first part of Pāõóyan rule may point to the importance Tirukkadaiyur played in the lives and minds of the people. Temples provided the central social and religious influences of the time and were places where religious and royal messages could be relayed to the laity. In this context, the inscriptions under Maravarman Kula÷ekhara I (1268-1308) recorded his rule for prosperity but also announced his greatness in a public forum. In the year of his coronation there is reference to the king as “ [He] who was pleased to take every country.”(TJ.: 1291). Of religious interest, the majority of gifts donated to the temple, as noted in the inscriptions, are recorded as being donated to the Kālakālad¹va shrine. This deity, specified most often as the receptor for gifts, seems to have been the most popular deity in the temple complex.
When the religious focus of this temple shifted from one predominantly focused on Śiva, to a Goddess temple where the Goddess Abhiràmi played a central role is unknown.
None the less, such a switch undoubtedly occurred.
Other later inscriptions are found from the Vijayanagara period, during the rule of
Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529). This is significant because they are found at the temple after a significant lag in inscriptions of approximately 200 years. These inscriptions mention renovations carried out at the temple during this period as well as suitable donations of land in order to secure the daily recitation of the Vedas. Following this, the inscriptions at Tirukkadaiyur stop completely.
92
Appendix 3 Figures
Figure 1
Amçtagate÷vara Temple Gopuram, Tirukkadaiyur, Tamilnadu.
(Photo by Davesh Soneji)
93
Figure 2
Amçtagate÷vara temple entranceway, Tirukkadaiyur
(Photo by Davesh Soneji)
94
Figure 3
Archway at the Amçtagate÷vara temple, Tirukkadaiyur
(Photo by author)
95
Figure 4
Amçtagate÷vara Temple tank, Tirukkadaiyur
(Photo by author)
96
Figure 5
Amçtagate÷vara Gurukkal: current head priest of the Tirukkadaiyur Amçtagate÷vara
temple
(Photo by author)
97
Figure 6
Popular print image of Apiràmi on the cover of Apiràmi Antàti booklet sold at the Tirukkadaiyur temple
98
Figure 7
Bronze image of Serfojī I from the Cakrapāõi Temple in Kumbhakonam, Tamilnadu
(Photo by Davesh Soneji)
99
Figure 8
Memorial stone commemorating the arrival of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich
Plutschau at Tranquebar, Tamilnadu
(Photo by author)
100
Figure 9
Family watches as a woman feeds her husband sweets after the ÷atàbhiùekam ceremony, Tirukkadaiyur (Photo by author)
101
Figure 10
Couple undergoing ÷atàbhiùekam ceremony, Tirukkadaiyur
(Photo by author)
102
Figure 11
Couple and daughter after having undergone ùaùñhyabdhapūrti ceremony, Tirukkadaiyur
(Photo by author)
103
Figure 12
Depiction of Śiva emerging from his linga to protect his devotee Mārkaõóeya for Yama (Photo by Davesh Soneji)
104
Figure 13
Popular image of Kālasaühāramurti and his consort Apiràmi (also known as Śrī Bālāmbāë)
105
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