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 1 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66105-5 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-66105-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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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 2 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 4 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. 5 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. 8 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.