Visions of Grace: Svarūpa Imagery and Veneration in the Puṣṭimārga Sampradāya
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Visions of Grace: Svarūpa Imagery and Veneration in the Puṣṭimārga Sampradāya THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ankur Vijay Desai Graduate Program in History of Art The Ohio State University 2011 Master's Examination Committee: Susan L. Huntington, Advisor John C. Huntington Copyright by Ankur Vijay Desai 2011 Abstract Founded by the Vaiṣṇava theologian Śrī Vallabhācārya (ca.1472-1530), the Puṣṭimārga Sampradāya („path of grace sect‟) was an integral facet of the Bhaktī culture that fluoresced under the social and political upheavals of northern India from the sixteenth century onwards. Within this vibrant milieu of Kṛṣṇa-centric veneration, Vallabha sought to articulate a fresh mode of devotional practice that rejected the trappings of Vedic asceticism and strict ritual injunction. As an alternative, he propounded a lifestyle of worldly involvement centered on the pursuit of Kṛṣṇa‟s divine grace by rendering unbounded sevā („service‟) unto him. Such new forms of devotional expression were bolstered by Vallabha, and other Vaiṣṇava luminaries, through the establishment of miraculous svarūpa („self-manifest form‟) images that were revealed throughout the landscape of Kṛṣṇa‟s mythic homeland of Vraja. The svarūpa image of the deity Kṛṣṇa as Śrīnāthji, revealed by Vallabha and central to his doctrine of grace, became the focus of lavish and aesthetically charged adoration that served as a significant template for derivative forms of Kṛṣṇa devotion. Concurrent with the fervent veneration of the svarūpa of Śrīnāthji, hagiographic texts of the Puṣṭimārga Sampradāya relate the miraculous discoveries and subsequent establishment of several other sacred self-manifest forms of Kṛṣṇa. While sectarian literature presents these other forms as deities exclusive to the Vallabha lineage, the multiplicity of Kṛṣṇa‟s forms and the physical dissemination of these images across the ii landscape of northern and western India resulted in a bond between the sect‟s cultic images and new locations and polities outside the legendary heartland of Vraja. Such geographic bonds, compounded with the historical shifting of the svarūpas, not only explicates the lives of these images as sculpted objects, but also how they serve as sites of negotiation, both affirming power and reciprocally affirmed through ritual veneration. This thesis explores svarūpa veneration within the Puṣṭimārga Sampradāya by outlining the beginnings of its historical development and the creation of its extended network. In addition to this is the focused examination of svarūpa images as expressed in sculpted and painted works of the sect. By analyzing such works, as well as related hagiographic texts, this study contextualizes the significance of svarūpa images within the broader continuum of Vaiṣṇava art. Lastly, this thesis presents the aesthetic and theoretical methods of svarūpa veneration and how such praxis emanating from Vallabha‟s ontology engenders Puṣṭimārga adherents to breach the boundaries of the laukika („mundane‟) realm and Kṛṣṇa‟s alaukika („transcendent‟) realm of grace. iii To my family. iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Susan L. Huntington, for offering guidance and gracious assistance with the writing process, as well as her keen insight into the broader issues that this research has exposed. For my time spent abroad researching this subject, I express deep gratitude to Shriman Bade Mukhiyaji Narhari P. Thakar, Mukhiyaji Indravadan, and Siddheshwar Thakar of Nathadwara for taking time out of their priestly duties to answer my questions. I also give thanks to the priests of the Kalyanraiji Haveli in Baroda. Finally, I would like to thank my family for all their support and encouragement. v Vita 2008................................................................B.F.A Painting/Art History, Kansas City Art Institute 2009 to present ...............................................M.A. / Ph.D. Program, History of Art, The Ohio State University 2009 to present ...............................................Graduate Research Associate, History of Art Department, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: History of Art vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Vallabha‟s Vision of Grace and the Nascence of Svarūpa Sevā ..................... 12 Chapter 2: The Iconography and History of Puṣṭimārga Svarūpas .................................. 30 Chapter 3: Created Eternities: Aesthetic Vision and Svarūpa Sevā ................................. 52 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 68 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 71 Appendix A: Figures ......................................................................................................... 75 Appendix B: Image Credits ............................................................................................ 107 vii List of Figures Figure 1. Śrī Vallabhācārya .............................................................................................. 75 Figure 2. The Birth of Śrī Vallabhācārya, Mahāprabhu Prāgatyā .................................. 76 Figure 3. Svarūpa image of Śrīnāthji ............................................................................... 77 Figure 4. Vallabhācārya receiving Śrīnāthji from Mount Govardhana ........................... 78 Figure 5. Kṛṣṇa Govardhana ............................................................................................ 79 Figure 6. Śrīnāthji‟s flight to Nathadwara ....................................................................... 80 Figure 7. Tilakāyat Govardhanalālji ................................................................................ 81 Figure 8. Śrīnāthji‟s havelī ............................................................................................... 82 Figure 9. CatūrbhujaViṣṇu .............................................................................................. 83 Figure 10. Nava-nīdhi svarūpas and their centers ........................................................... 84 Figure 11. Nava-nīdhi svarūpa darśana .......................................................................... 85 Figure 12. Śrī Mathureśji ................................................................................................. 86 Figure 13. The appearance of Śrī Mathureśji ................................................................... 87 Figure 14. Śrī Dvārkādhīśji .............................................................................................. 88 Figure 15. Svarūpa of Śrī Gokulnāthaji ........................................................................... 89 Figure 16. Govardhana Kṛṣṇa with four arms .................................................................. 90 Figure 17. Photograph of stone image of Śrī Dvārikādhīśji of Dwarka .......................... 91 Figure 18. Photograph of Śrī Dvārikādhīśji of Dwarka in adornment ............................. 92 viii Figure 19. Svarūpa of Śrī Kalyāṇrāiji from Baroda ........................................................ 93 Figure 20. Maharāna Jawan Singh of Mewar performing pūja of Śrī Jagdīśji ................. 94 Figure 21. Photograph of Śrī Jagdīśji in adornment ........................................................ 95 Figure 22. Śrī Raṇchodrāiji of Dakor ............................................................................... 96 Figure 23. Saptasvarūpa Mahotsava ................................................................................ 97 Figure 24. Gvāl lilā ........................................................................................................... 98 Figure 25. Sevā rituals at Nathdwara ................................................................................ 99 Figure 26. Tipara ornament ............................................................................................ 100 Figure 27. Padukas for a deity ........................................................................................ 101 Figure 28. Toys for Kṛṣṇa ............................................................................................... 102 Figure 29. Venugopāla pichhvāi ..................................................................................... 103 Figure 30. Śrīnāthji ......................................................................................................... 104 Figure 31. Vasaṇta pichhvāi ..........................................................................................