1

This is a pre-print version of a chapter published in ‘Yoginī’ in South Asia: interdisciplinary approaches (2013:117-129) ed. István Keul, Routledge London & NY; please refer to the final published version if quoting.

The yoginīs of the Bayon

By Peter D. Sharrock, SOAS, London University

The Vajrayāna, Buddhism’s third Tantric vehicle, played an important role in the state cultus under King Jayavarman VII of Cambodia early in the 13th century. This claim will be tested here by analysis of the changes to temple decoration at the time the Bayon, Cambodia’s first Buddhist state temple was built. A key discrimination concerns differences between the so-called or flying goddesses in temple reliefs and the celestial dancers that cluster in large numbers at the entrances to the Bayon and which dominate large, pillared halls inserted late into this king’s other temples. Flying apsaras in Khmer temples bear little special meaning beyond indicating that the edifices where they are found are stone constructions built to house the gods among men. But dancing yoginīs would indicate an esoteric Buddhist cult of the Vajrayāna. This paper argues that the sacred dancers function on an exoteric level in new sacred dance rituals was allied to the bhakti devotional cults then sweeping India, while at the same time they function on an esoteric level and project a yoginī-Hevajra cult. The discrimination is based on the postures and attitudes of the Khmer temple dancers and on their abundance in prominent temple locations. The dance postures of the Bayon dancers show kinship with those of the eight yoginīs that whirl around the supreme tantric deity Hevajra in late ‘Bayon style’ mandala bronzes. The emphatic use of a motif of dancing goddesses on the Bayon is unprecedented in Khmer temple decoration, and yet this is what we might anticipate in a cult of Hevajra, a fierce deity of the Vajrayāna who worked through the intercession of ascetic goddesses or yoginīs. Further, large halls adorned with similar dancers were inserted late into the king’s other temples, in an update package that suggests a cultic shift. This, and further concurrent evidence, appears to entitles us to infer a royal Hevajra cult, and therefore to propose a revaluation of the creed of the Bayon temple and the deity in its enigmatic giant face towers.

The traces of Tantric Buddhism in the material record of the ancient Khmer Empire have been interpreted as arising from an elitist minority cult that did not impact the mainstream Mahāyāna Buddhism of the rituals performed in the Bayon. This paper counter this with the claim that the Vajrayāna flowered as the state cult at the late high point of the empire in the early 1200s, less than a century before the country turned to the Pali Theravāda Buddhist vehicle and the country entered a long and slow decline into the modern era. The few scholars who have studied this late efflorescence of the Khmer Vajrayāna have judged it a background phenomenon in which elements of Tantrism were absorbed by a liberal and syncretic court, or as incapable of elucidation in the absence of textual support. But I find that the threads of material evidence from Khmer religious art entwine logically and link into the circumstantial evidence of the international medieval Buddhist scene of the period, and oblige us to consider whether a Tantric cult of Hevajra was at the core of the last phase of the state religion. The main material evidence is a series of bronze statuettes of 2

Hevajra, along with bronze libation conches, vajras and bells and other ritual paraphernalia. The question to settle is how high up the royal agenda this cult went.

The Bayon entrances have large entablature friezes and pillar engravings of thousands of vigorous, wide-eyed dancers.

Plate 1 Entablature of dancers in the Bayon entrances

Historians have generally considered these dancers to be apsaras with no special or specific meaning. Yet before the Bayon such figures never appeared with such insistence and in such numbers in Cambodia. So why were all the approaches to the new state temple suddenly enwrapped in challenging and sometimes almost fierce female deities in a way unprecedented in Khmer temple architecture? An abundance of female deities could be anticipated in a Hevajra cult, but not in a Bodhisattvayana cult dominated by Avalokiteshvara. The Hevajra- was perhaps the first of a new class of 'Mother' that gave a strong female orientation to its mandalas.1 Mandalas are cosmic diagrams that define an intelligible order among the host of celestial beings of the Vajrayānist cosmos and play central roles in consecration ceremonies. The female dominance of the Hevajra mandala is what distinguishes it from the earlier male-dominated 'Father' Tantras, the Sarvatathāgata-tattvasaṃgrahatantra (STTS) and the Guhyasamājatantra.2 From a contemporary

1 ‘The Hevajra-tantra…is characterized chiefly by female deities. All of the fifteen deities composing its basic mandala structure are feminine beings.’ Ray, R (1973:372) ‘Mandala’ symbolism in tantric Buddhism Chicago University 2 The dates of the major Buddhist Tantras are unknown, but from style, doctrinal evolution and other internal evidence, David Snellgrove, translator of the Hevajra-tantra, proposes they were written in this order: Mañjuśrīmulakalpatantra, 3

Chinese report we glean a picture of a short-lived period when women were prominent in the temple rituals in Angkor, only to be excluded decades later. This comes from a somewhat remote observer who singles out the special role of women, mantras and magic in Khmer Buddhism. The 1225 chronicle of Zhao Ru-Gua, the Chinese Superintendent of Maritime Trade in Canton, was based on hearsay rather than visits to the countries whose goods he taxed at the northern end of the maritime trade route, but his testimony contains a precious and unique glimpse of what was taking place in Jayavarman’s temples:

[In Chen-la, i.e. Cambodia] the people are devout Buddhists. In the temples there are 300 women; they dance and offer food to the Buddha. They are called a-nan [Skt. ānanda (bliss)]. …The incantations of the Buddhist and Taoist [Śaiva yogin] priests have magical powers.3

Calling the women ‘blisses’ may link them to the four ‘blisses’ that an adept aims to attain in executing a system of meditation and yogic sex, the highest of which is said to be ‘free of passion and nonpassion.’4

Yoginī cults are ancient, obscure, occult and little studied. In Indic religions, yoginīs and dākiṇīs have for millennia been associated with tree spirits, the Vedic mātṛkā s or mothers, and witchcraft. They seem to have originated as Indian village goddesses. Their power must have been exceptional, for they were eventually (probably in the ninth century in northern India) elevated to the status of minor goddesses in the orthodox Brahmanical and Buddhist folds, under tantric rubrics.5 Giuseppe Tucci characterises the centuries when the Tantras developed in both Hinduism and Buddhism as an extended period when trade opened channels to unsettling ideas from afar -- from Rome, India, Iran and China – and at the same time provoked a keen investigation of all local cults.6 The first extended modern study of the Hindu cult of yoginīs was by Vidya Dehejia, who toured India’s provincial museums to decipher difficult texts in cryptic language (sandhyābhāṣā or twilight language). Unravelling the mysteries of the yoginīs proved difficult, not only because of the rarity and obscurity of the texts, but also because it was an insistent part of the tradition that the Tantras be performed and transmitted orally from guru to initiate.7 The cults were practised in circular, unroofed temples

Sarvatathāgata-tattvasangrahatantra, Guhyasamājatantra, Hevajratantra. Snellgrove, David L.(1957:216) Buddhist Himālaya Cassirer Oxford 3 Translated by F. Hirth and W.Rockhill (1911:53) Chau Ju-kua: his work on the Chinese and Arab trade in the 12th and 13th centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chi. Imperial Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg (inserted notes by Firth). 4 Elizabeth English (2002:92) Vajrayoginī, her visualizations, rituals and forms Wisdom Publications, Boston 5 This is one conclusion of Vidya Dehejia’s extensive study of tantric Hindu texts and temple sites in her 1986 cult and temples, a tantric tradition National Museum, New Delhi. 6 ‘The Tantras may in fact be best defined as the expression of Indian gnosis, slowly elaborated, by a spontaneous ripening of indigenous currents of thought and under occasional influences from outside, in one of those periods when the ups and downs of history and commercial relations brought India closer to the Roman-Hellenistic, Iranian and Chinese civilizations. This process is slow and unfolds through those centuries which saw deep changes in the ancient religions and philosophies; foreign ideas planted the seeds of new urges and doubts, the development of vast empires united people, hitherto isolated and hostile…the beliefs of barbarians and primitive populations were investigated with keen curiosity.’ Tucci, G. (1949:210) Tibetan painted scrolls La Libreria dello Stato, Roma 7 Dehejia relates that she decided against being initiated into an extant cult because she would have been prevented from publishing the resulting occult knowledge. ‘While I considered the possibility of taking such a 4

on the edge of towns or villages from about the ninth century. They drew on the prehistoric Vedic cult of the mothers (mātṛkās) who are described in the Mahābhārata (4th century BC to 4th AD) as youthful and beautiful but with sharp teeth and nails. They originated in some way in the Vedic gods of power -- Agni, Yama, Rudra, Varuṇa, Indra and Brahmā. Dehejia says they resemble apsaras in form, but not in substance, because they inhabit the earth not the heavens.8 The -like traits of the yoginīs or mātṛkās only veil their earth-bound ferocity. Indeed, Dehejia found in the Śrīmatotaratantra that a preliminary to ‘corpse meditation’ śavasādhana (in which ritual maithuna or copulation takes place naked on a corpse surrounded by a circle of mātṛkās) was the enthused beheading of the corpse.9 Cannibalism followed. In Dehejia’s photograph of the royal Yogini temple at Shadol, the yoginī Śrī Bhānavī holds a severed head by its hair in one hand and a knife in the other. Her attendants gnaw on a human hand. In Nepal and Tibet, icons of the naked tantric goddesses have fangs and bloodied mouths and trample on corpses.

Conceptually then, the difference between a yoginī and an aspara is great. Madeleine Giteau describes Cambodian Vajrayoginīs as having ‘energy which is both terrible and frenetic’,10 yet nobody would say Cambodian yoginīs are as terrible as those of Tibet. In comparison with their Tibetan sisters, the Khmer yoginīs dancing in a mandala around Hevajra are vigorous but restrained. Khmer religious art conventions are generally reserved and we do not find in Angkor the explicit sexuality and gore of the Indic traditions that flowed uncensored into Nepal and Tibet. In the Tibetan tradition a wild and ferocious Hevajra is normally depicted at the centre of his mandala in sexual union with his partner Nairātmya (‘she who is the absence of the notion of selfhood’), but in Cambodia Hevajra always dances alone in the ardhaparyaṅka position. In Khmer temples the signs of a ferocious god can be subtle. Hiram Woodward points to the sweet-natured, Bodhisattva-like features of one of the bronze Hevajras in the Bangkok Museum as demonstrating that in Khmer art ‘there need be no greater facial indication of Hevajra’s fierce aspect than open eyes.’11 Such iconographic restraint in Cambodia contributes to the difficulty in distinguishing between yoginīs and apsaras. Jean Boisselier noted they were often confused at the temple at Phimai, 300 km northwest of Angkor, but still part of the Khmer empire:

step, I soon realised that this would not be a practicable solution, since in north India (in contrast to the south) such initiation would involve not only participation in rites of a decidedly dubious nature, but also the swearing of an oath of secrecy regarding all information imparted after initiation.’ (Dehejia 1986:ii) 8 ‘In form they are said to resemble the apsaras, those beautiful celestial maidens; in speed like Vayu, god of the wind; in their lustre like Agni, god of fire; in strength like Indra. But the Matrkas dwell in the trees, at crossroads, in caves, in the cemetery, on mountains. They are described as having melodious voices and speaking different languages, indicating their varied tribal origin.’ Dehejia 1986:67 9 ‘The corpse must be a beautiful one, not injured in any way, and not defaced or marked in any manner. All its limbs must be intact and it should be sweet-smelling…Bathe the corpse to the accompaniment of mantras and smear it with Kashmir sandalwood paste. Then establish the śava in the centre of the mandala and recite the Bhairava mantra. All this must be done in the middle of the night. Oh sādhaka performing this rite, be strong- minded, courageous and free from all doubts. Hold the head of the corpse and, with enthusiasm and disregarding the protruding tongue, cut off the head in one single stroke so that it falls to the ground.’ Dehejia 1986:68 10 Giteau, M (1997:121) Khmer art, the civilisation of Angkor Somogy, Paris 11 Woodward 1981:57 5

The yoginī, ḍākiṇī and yogin appear …in the lintels and pilasters of Phimai and as statues and bronzes, where they are often mistaken, despite their characteristic gestures, for Apsaras.12

Yoginīs in Phimai: apsaras in Angkor Wàt Fortunately benchmarks for distinguishing between these Khmer goddesses were set in the two great 12th century temples built before the Bayon. Phimai, opened in 1108, provides a benchmark for yoginīs, and Angkor Wat, built shortly afterwards, sets standards for apsaras. One of the lintels of Phimai’s central sanctuary features individuated yoginīs bearing specific attributes, with musicians, who accompany Saṃvara, a tantric Heruka deity like Hevajra, who dances on corpses while splitting open an elephant hide representing illusion. The yoginīs dancing beside Saṃvara in Phimai have a springing stride as they dance on corpses of Hindu gods and their eyes are wide-open and confident.

Plate 2 yoginīs at Phimai temple

The Phimai dancers are by no means mere decorative accompaniment to ceremonies; they appear as part of the principal deity. They are the key intercessors with adherents of a Vajrayana cult whose principal deities in this case are Saṃvara, Hevajra, Vajrasattva and Vajrapāni. In meditation and

12 Boisselier (1966:305) Asie du Sud-est: le Cambodge Picard, Paris 6

initiations they help tāntrikas tear themselves away from the phenomenal world and lead them through often terrifying experiences with the aim of eventually seeing the world through the eyes of a Buddha. Each initiate identifies closely with a particular yoginī and the goddesses are identifiable by the animals, fish or other attributes they carry. Like Saṃvara they trample on the corpses of Hindu and Vedic deities that symbolise the passions, prejudices and misconceptions the cult adherents leave behind. The ferocity and power of the Phimai dancers, who seem to project the power required for achieving such major transformations, is conveyed by staring, hypnotic eyes and their tautly-braced bodies. As an iconographic code, this is of course muted compared with the severed heads and cannibalism of Indian yoginīs.

If we now consider the reliefs of Angkor Wat, carved three decades later, we find Phimai-style dancing goddesses, standing devatā and traditional Khmer temple flying apsaras. This Hindu foundation dedicated to Vishnu is renowned for the 1,800 standing devatā that populate the walls of its inner sanctuaries. These goddesses stand in groups are dressed in jewellery and courtly attire and are probably have a śakti-energising function for rituals. Their long sarongs, elaborate hair and serene, static postures clearly differentiate them from the third group of goddesses flying apsaras. The flying nymphs wear short sampots and glide above the famous Churning of the Ocean of Milk bas-relief in the eastern gallery. These are the original apsaras in Sanskrit from apsŗi ‘moving in the waters’), whose name recalls their birth during the original Churning of the Ocean of Milk.13 These apsaras have their trailing foot facing upwards in the convention that indicates flight. After their birth their role in mythology is the minor and somewhat fluffy one of beautifying heavenly space and clustering in awe around the major gods.

The Phimai-style celestial dancers found in Angkor Wat are also dressed in minimal sampots like the flying nymphs of the Churning, but they are dancing on the ground.

13 Cœdès, G. (1923 :30) ’Bronzes khmèrs’ Artibus Asiae Paris

7

Plate 3 Celestial dancers in Angkor Wat’s cruciform sanctuary

These goddesses dance with downcast eyes in a frieze around the large, pillared cruciform sanctuary and may link this temple, where Vaiṣṇavism was revived in Cambodia after 400 years of royal Śaiva cults, with India’s contemporary bhakti movement, pioneered by the sage Ramanuja, which added large, open, pillared maṇḍapa halls for ritual dance. Similar but smaller dancers appear in the western gallery of the temple. They seem to reproduce the dance tradition started in Buddhist Phimai and take it into a Vaiṣṇava context in Angkor Wat.

Back to the Bayon

The dancing goddesses that prominently enwrap the outer facades of the Bayon in huge numbers recall the Phimai and Angkor Wat figures, which are now returned to a Buddhist context. The Bayon alone, in its pristine state, had some 6250 of these challenging goddesses on the pillars and gopuras leading to its sacred spaces, according to my estimate. Many of the entablature friezes of the entrances have collapsed with time, and the sandstone blocks bearing their image lie in piles beside the walls, but the original total of dancers can be calculated from the eight gopuras, the two rows of pillars outside the outer gallery and the internal lintels. In their dance of violent energy, they have one foot landing on, or about to leap from, the ground or a lotus flower, and the other foot pulled up against the opposite thigh. This ardhaparyaṅkāsana position, with one knee bent and the other leg retracted, is also the standard iconographic posture of Hevajra. Louis Frédéric cites the dancers on the pillars of the Bayon as the classical Khmer demonstration of Hevajra’s ardhaparyaṅkāsana, where one leg supports the full weight of the body in a position Frédéric views as more like ‘fierce trampling’ than dancing.14 George Coedès’ eye was also caught by the distinctiveness, and for him

14 ‘Ardhaparyanka: this is a much more common dancing attitude, especially in Tibet and in Khmer art. It is typical in Tibet and China of certain goddesses or such as Vajravarahi, Simhavaktra, of Hevajra and, 8

lack of grace, shared by bronze Khmer Yogini statuettes in Bangkok and the Bayon dancers; but he then blurs the taxonomy by calling them all apsaras:

Apsaras: les nymphes célestes, nées du barattement de l’océan de lait, sont abondamment représentées sur les monuments, soit debout, dans des poses qui veulent être gracieuses, soit dansant. C’est cette dernière attitude qu’elles prennent quand elles sont traitées en bronze (pl. XIX). On notera la resemblance entre ces statuettes et les Apsaras des bas-reliefs (Bayon, Galeries intérieures, nos 21, 49 ; Galeries extérieures, no 12.)15

Apsara or yoginī?

J.J. Boeles in his analysis of two bronze yoginīs found in Thailand, defined the criteria for identifying as (1) having a third eye, (2) having special attributes or mudras, (3) having an angry expression and (4) dancing on corpses. 16 The female presences that ‘badge’ the pillars of the Bayon, Preah Khan and Bantéay Kdei hold no attributes, sometimes have a third eye, do not smile but have challenging open eyes, and dance on the ground or on lotus flowers, not on corpses. According to Boeles’ definition, the goddesses on the Bayon walls should not be classed as the named yoginīs with specific powers, roles and attributes, who inhabit the central palace of the Hevajra maṇḍala. And yet their posture and stare, and their third eyes, recall yoginīs and not apsaras.

Why do the Bayon goddesses seem closer to yoginīs than apsaras? ‘Bayon style’ yoginīs that are without question identifiable as such are those which dance around Hevajra in the maṇḍala bronzes. These wear (a) five of the six yoginī ‘seals’ or symbolic adornments prescribed in the Hevajratantra (tiara, ear-rings, necklace, bracelets, girdle but not the ‘apron of bones’, which is unknown in Cambodia) – and remarkably, so do the flying Angkor Wat apsaras. (b) Like Hevajra, the yoginīs encircling him usually have a third ‘vajra’ eye (a variable in Hindu and Buddhist yoginīs) and many, but not all, of the Bayon dancers have third eyes. (c) The bodies of Hevajra’s yoginīs are braced with the vigour of a transformational dance that signifies powerful meditation in a bearing that is concentrated and alert; their shoulders are pulled back and their breasts thrust forward. The power of the icon is concentrated in the explosive tension of the legs -- the ardhaparyaṅkāsana in a powerful spring. (d)Their eyes, whether two or three, are staring and challenging and seem charged with special knowledge; (e) when they smile, their smiles are assertive, not decorative. (f) They are far from the paradigm of powerful stillness in meditation behind lowered lids of the principal deities of the preceding phase of Jayavarman’s Lokeśvara-dominated pantheon. The Hevajra-tantra says ‘the dance symbolises meditation’ -- one that has clearly become dangerous and violent.17

especially in Cambodia, of certain Apsaras (note: pillars of the Bayon, Angkor).’ Frédéric, L. 1995:57 Buddhism Flammarion, Paris 15 Cœdès 1923:30. 16 ‘Quite a number of other bronze figures of yoginīs from Cambodia and Thailand have been published. All of them, as well as those we have been studying, have characteristics to distinguish them from that other class of heavenly dancers, the Apsaras. It may be a third eye, or a specific attribute or mudra, or something else. The Apsaras may wear some sort of ornaments, but most often they wear rather different ones: they never have an angry expression; and they never dance on corpses.’ (Boeles, J.J. (1966) ‘Two Yoginis of Hevajra from Thailand’ Essays offered to G.H. Luce Eds. Ba Shin and J. Boisselier, Artibus Asiae, Ascona pp. 14-29

17 Hevajra-tantra I.vi.11 9

This radical change in the pose of meditation between the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas with lowered eyes and the proliferating fiery, open-eyed goddesses of tantric meditation evinces the presence of a new iconographic standard in Angkor. In the ardhaparyaṅkāsana position, Hevajra and the Yoginis spiral upwards from the corpses of the samsaric passions of the phenomenal world in a dance of symbolic transfiguration. In tantric initiations, like those described in the sekoddeśtīkā, Vajrapāṇi takes possession of the adept who dances and sings with gestures that mimic the wrathful deity.18 The Hevajratantra instructs the women who perform the yoginī role to ‘…perform the vajra-song and dance. They partake of the sacrament of five kinds of flesh [animal and human] and consecrated wine. The yogin embraces each member of the circle and finally unites with his partner at the centre.’19

In the discrete world of Khmer iconography, the sudden, concerted appearance of the wide-eyed deities of the Bayon face towers, the emergence of ‘wrathful’ Hevajra ceremonial bronzes and the staring Bayon dancers can only reflect a cultic shift at court. Wide open eyes and third vajra eyes suddenly became the hallmark of the last Bayon period, when the final carving of the Bayon was undertaken.

Cult projectors

The almost total absence of documents from ancient Cambodia makes the identification of deities far less precise than in Tibet. There is little variation between the Bayon dancers. Rather than standing as central, individual goddesses, with specific attributes and specific functions, their placement around the Bayon seems to project the whole cult rather than a specific or narrow role. They are more like the unnamed yoginīs who are the consorts of the gods in the outer circles of tantric mandalas, or the unnamed 16 yoginīs who surround Nairātmya and the 64 who surround eight Mothers. But there can be little doubt that project a major role for dance in temple rituals, and the rituals were in part at least apparently based on the Tantras. When the Bayon goddesses appear with musicians in two panels in the southeast corner pavilion of the temple, instead of holding attributes, they snap their fingers in the gesture the Yoginis of the Cakrasaṃvaratantra make to symbolise cutting the ties of evil passions.20 A further indicator of the Yogini ritual role is the flower garlands they hold. Consecrations like those defined in the Hevajratantra approach a climax when a string of flowers is thrown into the mandala and a vajra-bond is formed between the initiate and the deity of the sector where the garland falls. 21 In India and Tibet, yoginīs brought the garlands for the ceremonies and scooped up the coloured powder used to painstakingly construct finely detailed

18 Mircea Eliade (1954:228) Le Yoga: immortalité et liberté, who goes on to comment: « Par ce rite, les forces de l’inconscient envahissent le disciple, qui, en les affrontant, ‘brûle’ toute peur et toute timidité. Il invoque ensuite, surtout au moyen des mudrā, les cinq divinités paisible, les des cinq Tathâgata, et retrouve le calme. » 19 Snellgrove, D (1957:206) Buddhist Himālaya Cassirer Oxford 20 ‘They repeat a syllable of the mantra of the four-faced deity and as each Pada [syllable] is repeated they make a snapping sound with the finger and thumb of the left hand. By these means they let him [the adept] think that he has expelled all mischievous spirits.’ Dawa Samdup, Lama Kazi (1923:12-13) Cakraśamvara-tantra 21 Snellgrove 1957:73 10

mandalas after consecrations. Their presence was indispensable in a Hevajra cult. Snellgrove said women capable of playing the role ‘congregated at the great places of pilgrimage.’22 John Blofeld records from his research among today’s Tibetan community in North India that ‘it is usual for an adept to take to himself one of the as his personal symbol of communication with divine wisdom; by uniting with her, he penetrates to the true meaning of doctrines too profound to yield their secrets at the everyday level of consciousness….In metaphysical terms a man’s Dakini is the universal urge to Enlightenment as it acts in him.’23 The brief period when Zhao Ru-Gua reported a significant female role in Angkorian temple ceremonies seems to be related to all these signs of a Hevajra cult.

The 6250 Bayon goddesses

Outside the four axial and four corner gopuras stand two rows of pillars carved with sets of two or three dancers, framed in polylobate niches. The niches give the groups of dancers the form of a badge or logo, permanently projecting a message related to the rituals performed inside. The large gopuras are dominated by the sets of three, one metre high, deeply-carved dancers who stare down from all sides. Their faces are stern and their eyes bracket all who approach, as though warning the uninitiated against intrusion. One of their roles could indeed be the protection of cultic secrets. Secrets (yoginīguhye), and their protection, were the stock in trade of post-ninth century orthodox tantric Yoginis.24 Piatigorsky characterises the fierce Vajrayoginī of Tibet as ‘the protectress of the hidden knowledge and the keeper of the secrets of Tantrism.’25 The Bayon dancers may have such a role, like the protective yoginīs painted on the wooden covers of palm-leaf manuscripts of Tibetan tantric Buddhist works.26

What was behind the change?

There was a politico-religious agenda behind all the major changes in Jayavarman’s temple art, so the innovation of surrounding the Bayon with goddesses suggests a shift in Jayavarman’s Buddhism.27 Petrological measurements of magnetic susceptibility indicate that the outer gallery walls and gopuras of the Bayon were constructed from later shipments of stone than the inner gallery and central sanctuary. Thus the last phase of the Bayon covers the raising of the 4.5m platform around the sanctuary (which reversed what Philippe Stern called the earlier

22 At the Sakya Monastery where Hevajra was first introduced to Tibet in 1073, the great Yogin Nāropa was said to have eight consorts as well as his wife so he always had on hand the entourage needed to perform this Tantra. (Snellgrove 1957:200) 23 John Blofeld (1970:114) The way of power: a practical guide to the tantric mysticism of Tibet Allen & Unwin, London 24 Dehejia 1986:32 25 in Ashencaen 1995:7 The mirror of mind: Art of Vajrayana Buddhism Spink, London 26 Maxwell, T.S. (1997:185) The Gods of Asia Oxford 27 Jayavarman always used symbolic forms in his temple art to underpin the political messages he was propounding. The first phase of his reign was one of consolidation and community-building and was symbolised in a syncretic and conservative Buddhist triad of the Buddha, Prajnaparamita and Lokeśvara, which seemed designed to assert Buddhism as the state religion, but to avoid alienating the vast, entrenchedŚaiva aristocracy implanted by 350 years of state Śaivism; the second phase of imperial expansion was symbolised in a more unique and assertive cult of Lokeśvara – effectively a compassionate and compliant Śiva of Buddhism -- whose large, powerful icons were distributed to the major cities and brought annually in replica to Angkor in an empire-wide spring festival. 11

’Lokeshvarisation’ of Jayavarman’s monuments by ignominiously obscuring magnificent carved pediments of Lokeśvara), the carving of the faces on the towers, and what I will call the ‘Yoginīfication’ of all entrances and approaches. The final construction and decoration phase of the Bayon thus included all the parts of the temple that fit best with the late ‘yoginī’ or ‘supreme yoga’ Tantras.

We can imagine ourselves, phenomenologically, entering Jayavarman’s great stone palace of the gods, leaving behind the battles and everyday scenes on the Bayon’s walls and being challenged on all sides by these wide-eyed female presences seeming to invite us to experience another world. As emblems of the potency of the other world, they challenge us to an awareness of the numinous forces within. The yoginīs of the Vajrayāna were the only means of reaching the supreme bliss of Buddhahood.28 Where Angkor Wat has the grandeur of a superbly decorated kingly residence, the Bayon is a temple whose mystical, unearthly atmosphere has been remarked down the years by visitors. The challenge in the eyes of the Bayon gopura goddesses leads us, as through the metaphor of a maṇḍala, from the phenomenal world of the outer gallery reliefs into the sphere of the cosmic powers manifested in the mysterious giant face towers above us.

‘Salles aux danseuses’

More powerful goddesses motifs appeared simultaneously in Jayavarman VII’s other new temples. Jayavarman’s temples all had a large, pillared room added that was set on the axis leading to the central sanctuary, and was decorated with lively friezes of dancers. French architectural scholars used the non-committal term ‘salles aux danseuses’ to describe them, and leave their purpose unexplained. Yet temple dedication stones from early in the reign show that large troupes of hundreds of dancers were attached to each temple. But other dedication stelae, which would have thrown light on a late cultic shift, have not survived. They may have been destroyed as part of the systematic defacement of Jayavarman’s temples, unrecorded in writing, which appears to have been ordered by a Śaiva successor.29 The ‘hall with dancers’ of Banteay Chhmar temple was the largest space under a corbelled roof built in the period.

A recent petrological study of the temples’ sandstone blocks by Olivier Cunin and Etsuo Uchida produced identical measurements of 1.22x10-3 SI Unit readings of magnetic susceptibility in the sandstone of the ‘halls with dancers’ at Ta Prohm and Preah Khan. This suggests they were built at the same time and from the same quarry shipment. Why were these halls given so much space, at such expense, in all the king’s new temples? A new series of dance rituals seems to be the only possible explanation. The update package to the lesser temples, undertaken at the same time that

28 'In the caryā-songs we find frequent reference to this female force variously called the Candālī , Dombi, Savarī, Yoginī etc…This Yoginī or Sahaja-damsel should not be confused with the woman of flesh and blood, associated with the actual yogic practices; she is but an internal force of the nature of vacuity (śūnyatā) or essencelessness (nairātmyā) and great bliss residing in the different plexuses in different stages of yogic practice.' Shashibhusan Dasgupta (1962:99) Obscure religious cults Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta 29 Thousands of Mahayana images (one estimate is 45,000) were roughly chiselled off Jayavarman VII’s temples, probably in a Brahmanical reaction under the Saiva King Jayavarma-parmesvara who in 1327 raised a śivalinga in the Bayon and turned it to Brahmanical ritual. 12

construction work on the goddess-enveloped Bayon was being completed, was on a scale that reinforces the impression of a late move in the state creed from esoteric to more exoteric status.

The large number of bronze Hevajra libation conches in museum collections and on the art market suggests they were cast to meet the demand created by a high volume of consecrations associated with the Hevajratantra. Moreover, outside the new halls with dancers, are spacious, uncovered new terraces capable of accommodating many more participants. The terraces are surrounded by balustrades showing Garuḍa embracing Nāgas, an icon which in tantric Buddhism represents Vajrapāṇi protecting new converts to the faith. Although tantric Buddhism was esoteric, with its secrets passed down for generations between master and pupil, it was also deeply and overtly engaged in politics. Its consecrations were at times staged on a massive scale that challenged the political and military leadership, as well as the monks, to demonstrate their commitment to the Buddha, the emperor and the state.30 The imperial records of tantric Buddhism in Tang China show such events could last for many days and were funded by the emperor.31

A large-scale public ritual purpose is the most likely explanation for the late raising of a 4.5m platform in the shape of a Greek cross around the Bayon’s towering central sanctuary. Space may also have been made for privileged participants, queuing for consecration, by the dismantling of 16 ‘salles de passage’ in the courtyard between the Bayon inner and outer galleries. These halls had earlier housed icons of Lokeśvara and other deities that were brought from cities across the empire for an annual spring festival of allegiance in the capital. In the huge open space around the temple, aprons and terraces were laid out in the east and space was available on the other sides to accommodate many thousands of participants or on-lookers, who could at least view major ceremonies performed on the elevated platform. Indeed, the architectural concept of the un-walled, open Bayon, with a highly visible central ceremonial platform, seems aimed at immediately engaging the people rather than distancing them from state rituals performed behind high walls, as in Angkor Wàt. Bernard-Philippe Groslier saw the last modifications to the Bayon – the carved outer gallery, the raised platform and the face towers – as exoteric means to engage the people in the king’s new cult:

His religious fervour was unequalled and burned like a flame in this crowned old man who would reign into his nineties…As well as the order and prosperity of the kingdom, he seemed to take to heart the wellbeing of each of his subjects. We witness an eruption into the sanctuaries, formerly jealously reserved for the king and his entourage…It is not only the close or distant relatives of the king who partake of these privileges; they are extended to all…the temples of Jayavarman VII become veritable pantheons.32

30 For example, in the eight century in Tang China, tantric Buddhist patriarch Amoghavarja conducted an abhiṣeka in which he ‘converted in succession hundreds, thousands, and myriads of people.’ Chou Yi-liang (1945:280) ‘Tantrism in China’ Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8 Cambridge Mass. 31 In 768 Amoghavajra celebrated a ceremony that lasted 14 days. ‘The eunuch attendants, the ministers, and all the commanders of the imperial army were ordered by the emperor to receive abhiseka at the ceremony. Altogether more than 5,000 monks and laymen attended.’ Orlando, Raffaello (1981: 147) A study of Chinese documents concerning the life of the tantric Buddhist patriarch Amoghavajra (A.D. 705-774) Princeton 32 Bernard Philippe Groslier (1956:153) Hommes et pierres Arthaud, Paris

13

The Bayon with its raised central platform, and the other temples with their new Yogini halls and Vajrapani terraces, seem custom-made for a vast, month-long Indra-abhiṣeka due to a Buddhist emperor on making foreign acquisitions (re-conquest of Cham provinces in 1203).

The proliferation of yoginīs in the entrances to the Bayon, along with the large group of bronze Hevajra maṇḍalas, the high output of Hevajra-stamped ritual paraphernalia, and the last structural changes to the Bayon and the other temples marked with the yoginī emblem, constitute cumulative and coherent grounds for arguing that the balance of evidence has moved in favour of seeing a shift to a large and well-orchestrated royal Hevajra cult late in Jayavarman’s reign.

______

List of Plates by author:

Plate 1: Entablature of dancers in the Bayon entrances

Plate 2: yoginīs at Phimai temple

Plate 3: Celestial dancers in Angkor Wat’s cruciform sanctuary

Works cited:

Ashencaen, D. and L. (1995) The mirror of mind: Art of Vajrayana Buddhism Spink, London

Blofeld, J. (1970) The way of power: a practical guide to the tantric mysticism of Tibet Allen & Unwin, London

Boeles, J.J. (1966) ‘Two Yoginis of Hevajra from Thailand’ Essays offered to G.H. Luce Eds. Ba Shin and J. Boisselier, Artibus Asiae, Ascona, pp. 14-29

Boisselier, J.(1966) Asie du Sud-est: le Cambodge Picard, Paris

Chou Yi-liang (1945:280) ‘Tantrism in China’ Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8 Cambridge Mass.

Cœdès, G. (1923) Bronzes khmèrs Artibus Asiae Paris

Dasgupta, S. (1962) Obscure religious cults Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta

Dawa Samdup, Lama Kazi (1923) Cakraśaṃvaratantra

Dehejia, V. (1986) Yoginī cult and temples, a tantric tradition National Museum, New Delhi

Eliade, M. (1954) Le Yoga: immortalité et liberté Eliade Payot, Paris 14

English, E. (2002) Vajrayoginī, her visualizations, rituals and forms Wisdom Publications, Boston

Frédéric, L. (1995) Buddhism Flammarion, Paris

Giteau, M. (1997) Khmer art, the civilisation of Angkor Somogy, Paris

Groslier, B.P. (1956) Hommes et pierres Arthaud, Paris

Hirth, F. and Rockhill, W. (1911) Chau Ju-kua: his work on the Chinese and Arab trade in the 12th and 13th centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chi Imperial Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg

Maxwell, T.S. (1997) The Gods of Asia Oxford

Orlando, R.O. (1981) A study of Chinese documents concerning the life of the tantric Buddhist patriarch Amoghavajra (A.D. 705-774) Princeton

Ray, R. (1973) ‘Mandala’ symbolism in tantric Buddhism Chicago University

Snellgrove, D. L. (1957) Buddhist Himālaya Cassirer Oxford