THE UNIVERSE oscillates. It comes and goes, emerges and disappears. This is a basic cosmological tenet for many schools of Hindu thought: the uni verse as we know it undergoes an endless cycle of creations and destruc tions. Within each cycle, the cosmos begins as an undifferentiated “some thing” from which evolves, in orderly sequence, the multiplicity of creation that we see all around us. In time the cosmos exhausts itself, and all this multiplicity merges once again into its undifferentiated source. A period of cessation or sleep follows, and then the cosmos begins its evolution again in the next cycle. In this way, our universe oscillates between moments of creation and destruction, evolution and involution, activity and quietude, expansion and contraction.
For Śaivas, this pulsation does not confine itself to cosmogonic motion. Rather, it is a ubiquitous principle of a dynamic universe, governing all creation. Cyclical phenomena such as the alternation of day and night, the recurring phases of the moon, and the annual succession of the seasons all exemplify the cosmic pattern of oscillation. So too the sequence of bodily births and deaths through which each human soul transmigrates forms part of the larger cycle of creation and destruction that characterizes the Śaiva world.
Śaiva daily worship also echoes the rhythm of the oscillating universe. The paired concepts of “emission” (srsti) and “reabsorption” (samhara), with which Saivite cosmology describes the movements of the oscillating uni verse, are embedded as an organizing logic in the patterning of worship. As I will show in this chapter, the Śaiva worshiper repeatedly enacts in his ritual performance the motions of emission and reabsorption, which are at the same time the activities Siva himself performs to animate the cosmos.
EMISSION AND REABSORPTION
According to Śaiva philosophy, Siva performs five fundamental activities (pancakrtya) that shape and activate the universe. Of these, the two highest activities relate primarily to the soul: he “veils” (Jirobhdva) the true nature of things from bound souls, and he grants “grace” (anugraha) to souls when they are ready for it, liberating them from their bondage. (I will focus on these activities in the next chapter.) His other three activities—emission, maintenance (sthiti), and reabsorption—bring about the complex evolutions
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe - 43
and involutions of the substantive worlds in which souls reside. Mainte nance denotes an activity of stabilization or stasis, whereby Siva enables things to stay temporarily as they are. As such, it does not figure promi nently in the dynamic cosmology of Śaiva siddhanta. Siva acts on substance primarily through his paired activities of emission and reabsoiption, which set in motion the oscillations of our ever-fluctuating world. Through these interventions, Siva acts as the ultimate instrumental cause (nimitta)—
though not as material cause (upadana)—of all cosmic movement. diva’s five fundamental activities are made most visibly apparent to a human audience in the famous iconic form of Siva as the Dancing Lord (nataraja), developed by South Indian artisans during the Cola period and heavily patronized by Cola rulers.1 (Rajaraja made the Dancing Lord Siva the central processional deity of his great temple in Thanjavur, for exam ple.) Here Siva elegantly dances within a flaming hoop, his matted hair swirling outward as he crushes underfoot a demon and raises his other foot aloft. (See Plate 1.) As Tamil exegetes have explained, the demon below is Apasmara, ignorance, and Siva’s raised foot grants grace. His right hand extended in the gesture of “fear not” indicates his activity of maintenance or protection. The circle with its flames represents the material cosmos, onto logically separate from the Lord, which Siva keeps in perpetual oscillating motion with his two hands holding the drum of emission and the fire of reabsorption.
Movement brought about through emanation is said to follow the “path of emission” {sr$timarga), while the converse movement follows the “path of reabsorption” (samharamarga). Movement or transformation (parindma) along these paths can be described by various terms. The path of emission denotes a movement from unity to differentiation, from one to many, from pervasiveness to increasing particularity. By contrast, the path of reabsorp tion reintegrates that which has become separated; it reinstates the unity lost through differentiation.
The notions of emission and reabsorption embody an ontological princi ple at the same time as they describe a cosmological process. The character or inherent nature (svabhdva) of a thing is in an important sense determined by its position within a path of emission. Within any domain, that which is more proximate to the emitting source enjoys an ontological priority over that which is further removed from it.
This principle has several important ramifications. Emission indicates a general movement from subtle (siiksma) and relatively intangible to gross (StMla) and relatively tangible; reabsorption the reverse. Emission moves from pure to impure, while reabsorption moves from impure to pure. Be
cause of their relative subtlety and purity, less differentiated objects are su perior to highly differentiated ones. Emission follows a path of diminishing rank, reabsorption the opposite.44 · Chapter Two
Emission and reabsoiption relate as well to the disposition of things in space. The path of emission is most often represented visually as a descend ing motion from high to low, or as a radiating movement proceeding out ward from a center toward peripheries. Reabsorption ascends or moves inward toward a center. The representation of emission as centrifugal move ment and reabsorption as centripetal is a common convention in Indian vis ual arts, and as we will see, it is an important spatial principle in Śaiva ritual. Since emission involves a movement from what is pervasive to what is particular, the center in such representations does not simply denote one element among many. As the emitting source, it encompasses or includes within it all peripheral elements; it represents the whole of which the periph eral elements are subsidiary parts.
The notions of emission and reabsorption, then, govern a bundle of con trastive terms, interconnected by two converse paths of movement:
unity differentiation
integration disintegration
subtle emission • gross
pure impure
superior inferior
high reabsorption low
center periphery
encompassing encompassed
The rhythm of the manifest universe is an oscillation back and forth between these opposite poles, under the direction of Siva, the ultimate instrumental cause of all transformation.
The linked movements of emission and reabsorption are fundamental processes of the cosmos, and we may observe them in many domains. Most important, the emission and reabsorption of the tattvas (the “such-nesses” or constituent units of manifest being) from and into their source-substances maya and mahdmayd are the basic cosmological processes creating the man
ifest worlds in which we live. For Śaiva cosmology, maya is the material cause of our world. It is real and substantive (vastuta), not illusory, and it is ontologically separate from Siva. (In this respect, Śaivas accept a Samkhya-Iike dualism and reject the monism of schools like Advaita Vedanta and Kashmiri Saivism.) At the outset of each creation, maya is undifferentiated and pervasive. Siva then agitates maya with his appointed powers and causes it to emit, in orderly sequence, the differentiated thirty one tattvas of the impure cosmos. (See Figure 1 for a mapping of the tattvas’ evolution.) While maya is subde, its derivative tattvas become in
creasingly tangible until we reach the five material elements (bhuta), among which Earth is the most highly differentiated and gross of all tattvas. These differentiated tattvas enter into multiple combinations with one another, to-
Pure Domain
fsuddhadhvan) mahamaya (bindu)
siva-lattva
, I
maya
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe · 45 Impure Domain
purusa kala niyati
sakti-tattva sadasiva
Tsvara
I
suddhavidya
prakrti raga vidya
buddhi
Ego: wholesome
aspect
Mind
Ear
Eye
Tongue
Nose
active aspect
inert
aspect
Mouth
Penis
Sound
Touch
Odor
Water
Earth
Fig. 1. Emission and reabsorption of the tattvas
gether constituting what we recognize as our ever-fluctuating world of samsara. At the time of reabsorption (pralaya), each tattva remerges into its source, until all are reintegrated into maya. Quiescent, unitary maya then awaits another emission.2
Such an emission and reabsorption of constituents take place as well for
46 · Chapter Two
each individual soul, in life after life. Human creation occurs when a con catenation of substances forms itself into a human body and a soul enters into that material substratum. The soul, which is the core of that human person, inhabits the body—which itself undergoes a continuing fluctuation of substance over time—until the moment of death. After that, the constitu ents of the body return to their sources through a ceremonial cremation. The soulless body becomes, in ritual, a “Great Oblation” offered into the sacrifi cial fire Agni, identified by the Śaivas as a form of Siva’s destructive en ergy, and ceases to exist as an identifiable form.
The agamas result from a parallel process of emission. From undifferenti ated sound (nada), they are first transformed into audible sound (sabda) and then passed down from Siva in his highest form through a number of hier archically inferior, more differentiated forms of Siva and other deities, until they are finally transmitted to a human audience. In the process, the unitary sivajfiana is diversified into twenty-eight basic agamas, which further gen erate a host of subsidiary agamas and other ancillary works. Even the alpha bet that encodes the agamas derives from a process of emission, whereby the differentiated letters emanate from undifferentiated nada?
The movements of emission and reabsorption are relevant to still other parts of the world. One example important to ritual performance is the dis tinction between bubhuksu (“one who desires worldly enjoyments”) and mumuksu (“one who desires liberation”). According to the agamas, humans have two basic goals: worldly enjoyment (Jbhoga) and liberation (moksa). The texts go on to divide members of the Śaiva religious community into two broad categories, according to the goal each hopes to achieve in this lifetime through observance of rituals and proper conduct. The householder (grhastha) pursues various worldly benefits, such as wealth, offspring, and good crops, and so is described as bubhuksu. Although the householder may also desire liberation, this goal, for him, is remote and secondary. The as
cetic or renouncer has repudiated what the householder desires and instead strives to achieve liberation as soon as possible. He is therefore called mumuksu.
The agamas frequently direct these two types of Saivites to follow diverg ing practices within ritual. The texts may require them, for instance, to place mantras on parts of their body in a differing order, to face in different directions when seated, or to cut their topknots to unequal lengths. Signifi cantly, the bubhuksu is consistently directed to follow a procedure that repre sents the path of emission, while the mumuksu must always follow the path of reabsorption. Why should this be the case? Although the texts do not explicitly tell us, it is not difficult to postulate a satisfying explanation. The householder seeks worldly benefits, things that come about through the dif ferentiation of the cosmos. The renouncer pursues liberation through a pu rification of himself, a decreasing involvement with the material aspects of
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe * 47
his being, and a reunification of his soul as similar to Siva. Thus the house holder and the renouncer mirror, by their own actions and the purposes with which they undertake them, Siva’s activities of emission and reabsorption, respectively. So too in ritual their actions recapitulate these fundamental
principles of the cosmos in accord with their own purposes. The movements of emission and reabsorption appear throughout daily worship, and all Śaiva ritual, as basic organizing principles. They order ele ments and actions within the ritual, and in so doing they bring this ritual order into accord with the fundamental order of the cosmos. As Siva causes the constituents of the manifest world to be emitted and reabsorbed, the worshiper himself, acting as a Siva, causes the elements of the ritual domain to follow the same pattern of emission and reabsorption. Let us examine how he does so.
METAMORPHOSIS OF THE HANDS
Near the beginning of daily worship, at the commencement of self-purifica tion (dtmasuddhi), the worshiper is directed to “impose mantras on his hands” (karany&sa). This simple rite is an important preparation for the acts that follow, many of which require use of the hands for their performance. “Ritual actions such as imposing mantras are done with the hands,” explains Mrgendragama, “so the hands must be impregnated with mantras before hand” (MrA kriya 3.2). By imposing mantras on them, the ritualist “trans forms the hands into a Siva” (sivlkarana) or “permeates the entire hand with Sakti.” Karanyasa, then, is a rite of metamorphosis, by which the wor shiper temporarily transforms his hands from their normal state to a divine one, a condition in which they are capable of performing all subsequent rites.
To metamorphose his hands, the worshiper must do two things: first purify them, and then impose onto them a series of powerful mantras. He purifies his hands by rubbing each hand and reciting the ASTRA (“weapon”) mantra, which (Nirmalamani tells us) with its fiery form burns off all impuri ties up to the wrists (KKDP p. 25). He next inundates them with the SAKTI mantra. Once this purification is completed, the worshiper may begin to reconstruct his hands as Siva-like instruments by imposing mantras.
“Imposition” (nyasa) of mantras is one of the most basic and frequent ritual actions in the Śaiva system. One imposes a mantra onto some object simply by touching that object and reciting the mantra. In some cases, the texts also direct the worshiper to visualize (bhavana) the form of the deity referred to by the mantra as he imposes it. The power of the mantra and of the deity with which it is identical infuses the object, and the object is thereby transformed.4
In transforming his hands, as in many other ritual operations, the wor-
48 · Chapter Two
shiper imposes two primary groups of mantras, the five brahmamantras and the six aAgamantras. Because these two sets, along with the MOLA mantra, are the most frequently employed and efficacious of all Śaiva mantras, it is necessary to consider briefly just what they are.
When Siva performs the five fundamental activities, he employs the five brahmamantras. In simplest form they are:
Orp hom, I bow to Hana.
Oip hem, I bow to Tatpura$a.
Om huin, I bow to Aghora.
Om hiiji, I bow to Vama.
Om ham, I bow to Sadyojata.
Each mantra effects a particular action: KANA grants grace, TATPURUSA veils, AGHORA reabsorbs, VAMA stabilizes, and SADYOJATA emits. Since these mantras are, in effect, the instruments with which Siva acts in the world, they are said to constitute his “body.” “Siva’s body, beginning with the head, is composed of the five mantras that are appropriate for the five activ
ities: KANA1 TATPURUSA, AGHORA, VAMA, and SADYOJATA” (MrA vidya 3.8- 9). In a similar fashion, the five mantras make up the five faces of SadaSiva, the most complete manifest form of the divinity. ΚΑΝΑ, in this case, is the upraised face of Sadagiva, TATPURUSA the eastern face, and so on in a gener ally circumambulatory order.
brahmamantra activity face of SadaSiva
KANA grace upraised
TATPURUSA veiling east
AGHORA reabsorption south
ΝAMA maintenance north
SADYOJATA emission west
In Śaiva ritual, the performer most often imposes the five mantras as a hier archical set onto some entity to give that entity the powers of Siva, to enable it to act as a Siva.5
In his cosmic activities, Siva employs still other mantras, most important of which are the six aAgamantras (“limb-mantras”). “Just as fire and the sun are powerful because of their rays,” Kamikagama tells us, “Siva is likewise invincible and all-performing because of his limbs (aAga), which arise from
his inherent nature” (KA 4.362-63). Siva’s six limb-mantras are NETRA (eye), HRD (heart), SIRAS (head), SIKHA (topknot), KAVACA (armor), and ASTRA (weapon).6 The worshiper often uses these mantras individually to effect particular ritual transformations: KAVACA, for instance, is particularly suitable for protecting things, while HRD is the mantra appropriate for fill
ing or pouring something into something else. The aAgamantras may also be imposed as a set, granting still more of Siva’s own mantra powers to the
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe · 49
brahmamantras angamantras Astra
Tatpurusa
Aghora
Netra
Sadyojata
Fig. 2. Imposition of mantras onto the hand (karanyasa)
Kavaca
Sikha
/
Siras
Hrd
recipient.7 So by imposing the brahmamantras and angamantras onto his hands, the worshiper literally makes them similar to Siva. The texts specify the fingers on which the brahmamantras are to be im posed. ISANA is to be on the thumbs, TATPURUSA on the index fingers, AGHORA on the middle fingers, VAMA on the ring fingers, and SADYOJATA on the little fingers. Similarly, the worshiper imposes the angamantras onto spe cific places, NETRA is placed on the palms, ASTRA on the thumbs, KAVACA on the index fingers, SKHA on the middle fingers, SIRAS on the ring fingers, and HRD on the little fingers. (See Figure 2 and also the photograph sequence of karanyasa, Plate 2.) Once the connection between particular mantras and fingers is established, it is maintained throughout the ritual. Whenever the brahmamantras are imposed later in the ritual, the appropriate fingers are to be used (AA 20.81-84).
The locations of the mantras on the fingers do not vary. However, de pending on whether one is a householder or a renouncer, the order in which they are to be placed does. The Kamikagama spells this out clearly:
The householder should impose mantras on his hands according to the path of emission. For forest-dwellers and ascetics [i.e., mumuksus], imposition according to the path of reabsorption is recommended. Imposing the brahmamantras ISANA through SADYOJATA on the five fingers beginning with the thumb and ending with the litde finger, respectively, is termed imposition according to emission. Plac ing SADYOJATA to ISANA on the fingers beginning with the little finger and ending with the thumb is called imposition according to reabsorption. (KA 4.43-43)
The text then adds, as if to make sure we observe the connection: “The order here is the same as the order of emission and reabsorption of the world.”
50 · Chapter Two
Similarly, the angamantras are placed beginning with the thumbs in the case of householders, and beginning with die little fingers for renouncers. NETRA, the sixth aAgamantra, is placed on the palms. The hands of the ritual ist, now infused with mantras, can be diagrammed as follows:
finger brahma anga
thumb ISANA ASTRA i
order index TATPURUSA KAVACA order
of middle AGHORA SIKHA of
emission , , ring VAMA SLRAS reabsorption (bubhuksus) little SADYOJATA HRD (mumuksus)
Having establish a connection between the householder and the path of emission, and between the renouncer and the path of reabsorption, one must now ask why each is connected with parallel yet opposing sequences of fin gers and mantras. The logic to the choice of these two sequences can be uncovered with a closer look.
No intrinsic connection links the various fingers and the mantras placed on them. Nothing about the index finger in itself, that is, makes it an appro priate location for TATPURUSA.8 We must attend instead to a series of associ ations between the two sets of mantras employed in this rite and other reali ties. As shown already, the five brahmamantras are connected with diva’s
five fundamental activities and with the five faces of SadaSiva. But the Śaiva texts do not stop there. Rather, they establish a whole series of associative connections linking the brahmamantras to the five kalas, the five elements, the thirty-six tattvas, the parts of the body, the worlds, and so on: in short, to all basic constituents of the cosmos. In addition, the five brahmamantras are related to the five angamantras used in this rite. This connection corre
sponds to the way they are placed together on the fingers here. ISANA is associated with ASTRA and both are imposed on the thumb, TATPURUSA and KAVACA are on the index finger, and so on.
The order of placement may become clearer by looking at two sets of associated realities, the five material elements and five bodily parts, as they are related to the brahmamantras and angamantras.
brahma anga element body part
ISANA ASTRA Ether head
TATPURUSA KAVACA Wind face
AGHORA SIKHA Fire heart
VAMA SIRAS Water genitals
SADYOJATA HRD Earth feet
The set of material elements certainly follows the path of emission as we read the chart downwards—Ether is more subtle and pure than Wind, Wind than Fire, and so on. Similarly, the parts of the body descend according to the path of emission. And so too the two sets of mantras are arranged in an
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe 51
order of ontological priority, with ISANA considered more subtle than TATPURUSA, and so on.
In no case are the elements of the sets directly linked in a chain of emis sion. Ether does not emit Wind, and the head does not emit the feet; nor does KANA emit TATPURUSA. Rather, the elements of each set are positioned toward one another according to criteria (purity, subtlety, etc.) that are comprehended by the concepts of emission and reabsorption. Ether is to Wind as KANA is to TATPURUSA—higher on the scale of emission. Thus, a common principle—that of cosmic movement—relates multiple sets to one another.
This ranking of the five brahmamantras, identical with SadaSiva’s faces, is further supported by their association with the five activities. The ISana face of SadaSiva undertakes the activity of grace, the highest of the five, while the Sadyojata face performs emission, the lowest. In the view of Kamikagama, it was the Isana face that emanated the saivagamas, while the other faces produced inferior systems of knowledge. Similarly, in any cir cumambulation of a linga, ISana is honored first, then Tatpurusa, Aghora, Vama, and Sadyojata, following their order of rank.
We are now in a position to summarize the logic of die two converse sequences of imposing mantras onto the hands. In transforming the hands so that they are suitable for subsequent rites, the ritualist is directed to follow one or another order of placement, according to whether he is a householder or a renouncer. The order of placement corresponds to either the path of emission or the path of reabsorption.
The connection between SadaSiva’s five faces and the parts of the body reminds us that the logic of emission and reabsorption extends to the body as well. The higher portions of the body correspond to the higher elements, the superior faces of Sadasiva, and thus to the more subtle, pure, unified range of things. The lower body portions similarly coincide with the less subtle, more differentiated. Such a vaulation of the upright human body, in which the head is superior and pure while the feet are inferior and impure, will be familiar to all students of Indian culture; the $aivas have simply adapted it to their own cosmological premises. As the Kamikagama summa rizes: “Beginning with the head is called the order of emission; beginning with the feet would be the order of reabsorption” (KA 4.48). This correspon dence between movements within the body and the paths of cosmic move
ment is crucial to the rite of self-purification.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE BODY
The body of the worshiper is one of the two material focal points of daily worship. (The IiAga is the other.) Accordingly, procedures relating to the worshiper’s body within the ritual are quite complex, worthy of a separate study in themselves. Like Siva, the god who encompasses apparent contra-
52 · Chapter Two
dictions, the body must serve seemingly contrary purposes during worship. The body is both actor and acted upon; it performs the myriad ritual actions and is also the object of many of these actions. The disposition of the body within the ritual space must always be taken into account, and yet the body itself becomes a ritual terrain in “internal worship.” The worshiper trans forms his body into a Siva-like form, invokes Siva into several locations in his body, worships those manifestations of Siva within himself, and then uses his Siva-body to perform services for a Siva apart from himself.
The most important ritual process involving the worshiper’s body is the rite of self-purification (atmaiuddhi). Self-purification is one of the “five purifications” {pancaSuddhi) necessary to transform the entire ritual domain into a suitably pure condition: purification of self, of the place (sthana), of the mantras, of the linga, and of the substances (dravya) to be offered. The worshiper performs atmasuddhi early in puja in order to render his body fit for subsequent parts of the ritual.
“Only a Siva can worship Siva,” say the texts. Yet in his normal condi tion the worshiper is unlike Siva in two fundamental respects: he is im mersed in impurities, and he lacks Siva’s powers. Before he may worship Siva, he must deal with both these deficiencies. First, with a set of purifica tory actions he empties his body of its impure material constituents; then he superimposes mantras invoking Siva’s powers onto all parts of his body. In this way his body is made over into an unfettered “divine body,” a pure body composed of mantra powers. As Siva acts through mantras that consti tute his body, so the worshiper is now able to act in ritual with his body reconstituted as a mantra-body.
The relevance of emission and reabsorption to this rite may be stated very briefly. Upward movements on or within the body follow the path of reab sorption, while descending movements follow the path of emission. Ritual actions aimed at removing things from the body follow an ascending course, and actions that impose or add things onto the body move downward. The movement that the ritualist follows in transforming his body is therefore cyclic: first ascending as he reabsorbs all bodily impurities, then descending as he imposes mantras on it. In the process, he fundamentally alters the constituents of his body, replacing impurities with the powers of mantras.
Purification
The worshiper removes the impurities from his body in two steps. He first reabsorbs all the tattvas of his subtle body (sukfmaiarira), and then he col lapses and burns the elements of his gross body (sthHlasarira). These pro cesses result in a profound emptying out of the body, leaving it a kind of tabula rasa to be filled subsequently with mantras. Although the texts offer
a variety of methods for achieving this aim, I will focus here on the two most common techniques, as described by AghoraSiva.
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe * S3
The purification of the subtle body is an explicit application of the notion of reabsorption. The subtle body, for the Śaivas, is made up of the thirty-six differentiated tattvas, dispersed throughout the body. In their differentiated state, these tattvas are inherently impure. The Śaivas do not view impurity as a “pollution” that infects normally pure matter. There is no attempt here to distinguish pure from impure tattvas, or to identify and counteract partic ular sources of impurity in the subtle body. Rather, everything in a state of differentiation is impure. Accordingly, the entire constitution of the subtle body—all the tattvas that form the manifest cosmos—must be reabsorbed into the two undifferentiated source-substances, maya and mah&m&ya. Pu rity exists only in the state of integration, where all material constituents are unified within their sources.
The method of purification, therefore, follows the order of reabsorption. Says AghoraSiva: “In order to purify the subtle body, the worshiper should cause the tattvas to be dissolved (Iaya), each into its own source (karana), in an inverse order [to that of their emission] ending with mahamaya” (KKD p. 57). His commentator, Nirmalamani, glosses Iaya as “reabsorption” and explains that each tattva “goes within” the source-substance that gave birth to it. The worshiper carries out this reabsorption through internal visualiza tion. “Accordingly, he should visualize Earth reabsorbed into Odor, Water into Taste, Fire into Form, Wind into Touch, Ether into Sound, and these perceptible qualities (tanmatra) into the inert aspect of the ego (tama sahamkara)” (KKD p. 57). And so on, reversing the order of emission, until the thirty-one tattvas of the impure domain (aiuddhadhvan) are unified in maya and the five tattvas of the pure domain reintegrated within mahamaya. (See Figure 1, reading the chart upward.) In this integral state, maya and mahamaya are completely without impurity.
By absorbing all the tattvas of the subtle body into their two sources, the worshiper is able to remove a large part of the impurities that distinguish his body from that of Siva. Yet other impurities still bind the worshiper’s soul. There are also impurities of the gross body, identified with the five material elements (bhiitas), Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Ether.
To purify the body of these elements, the worshiper must imagine each of them as a “domain” (mandala). Then from each domain he expels all its attri butes or inherent perceptible qualities (tanmatra) with an expulsion of breath and imagines each element to have assumed the form of its opposing element. Once these elements have been collapsed into one another, the worshiper uses an imagined fire to consume finally all impurities arising from his body.
I will consider two features of this rite in greater detail: the visualiza tion of the domains for each element, and the procedure for expelling the attributes.
Each material element has a domain, which the worshiper is required to represent visually to himself. The texts describe the features of each domain54 · Chapter Two
Element
Wind
Location Sadasiva above mouth Isana throat to mouth Tatpurusa
navel to throat Aghora
Water knees to navel Vama
— Earth feet to knees Sadyojata
Fig. 3. Locations of domains (version 1)
succinctly, as an aid to visualization. Aghorasiva, for instance, lists the color, character, form, insignia, governor (adhisthatr), seed-syllable, Kara neSvara, and kala of each domain.
He should visualize the Earth mandala as yellow, firm, square, and decorated with a thunderbolt; it is presided over by its governor Sadyojata; it is connected with the seed-syllable of Earth, HLAM, and with Brahman as its Karanesvara, and it has the form of nivrttikala; it extends from the feet up to the head. (KKD pp. 57-58)
And so on, with each ascending domain.9
Each domain is situated in a particular part of the body. Kamikagama reports two differing traditions, one relating the domains to the parts of the body, the other to the five “subtle centers” (granthi). Both locate the do mains in an ascending order of reabsorption. Each also relates them to dei ties that form a part of the visualization. Version one, illustrated in Figure 3, relates the regions to the five faces of Sadasiva, as described in the pre ceding section. Version two relates them to the locations of the subtle cen ters, presided over by the Karanesvaras.
The KaraneSvaras are important because they govern the body’s breath channels, and these channels are crucial in the many ritual acts involving the breath. The Śaivas, as do other yogic schools of Hinduism, envision the human organism as having a “subtle anatomy” of breath channels in addi-
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe · 55
tion to its more evident, “gross” physique. The subtle anatomy is called into play whenever controlled yogic breathing (pr&nay&ma) is employed in ritual, for it describes the inner conduits along which the breath flows. (This “sub tle anatomy” is not directly related to the “subtle body” of the thirty-six tattvas discussed above.)
Aghorasiva describes it this way:
The worshiper should then visualize the sufumna: it is a hollow tube, double from the two big toes up as far as the abdomen, and single above that up to the brah marandhra, connected at the heart, throat, and other subtle centers with the ida and pingala, and fastened [at each center] with upside-down lotus buds. (KKD p. 56)
The body contains three tubes or subtle channels (nadi) through which the breath flows—the ida, pingala, and su^umna. These tubes are connected at five subtle centers (granthis, literally “joint”), located at the heart, throat, pal ate, eyebrows, and brahmarandhra (the “divine aperture” at the top of the head). The granthis are visualized as lotus buds that bind the tubes, often restricting the breath’s passage through them. Each granthi has a “lord”
whose duty it is to preside over it. These lords are the KaraneSvaras: Brah man presides over the heart, Vi§nu the throat, Rudra the palate, Kvara the eyebrows, and SadaSiva the brahmarandhra. As with the five parts of Sadasiva, they are hierarchically ordered in the body, with Brahman the
lowest and SadaSiva the highest. (See Figure 4.)
Above the brahmarandhra the Śaivas envision one more center still: the dvadasanta, twelve thumb-widths above the worshiper’s head. It is here, outside the body and yet close by it, that Siva resides in his highest, form less aspect, as ParamaSiva (KKD p. 5). And because this is the ritual “loca tion” of ParamaSiva (who, as we will see, is pervasive and limitless), the dvadasanta acts as an important target for many ritual operations.
Each domain has a number of attributes, corresponding to the number of perceptible qualities present in each material element. The element Earth contains all five sensory qualities—Sound, Touch, Form, Taste, and Odor. Water has four qualities (omitting Odor), Fire has three, and so on. Accord ingly the worshiper must expel all five attributes from the visualized Earth domain, four attributes from Water, and so on for each domain. Each attri
bute must be expelled by an individual “expulsion” (udghata).
Beginning with an inhalation, he sets his breath in motion along the sufumna up to dvadasanta, reciting: Om hlam hlam hlam hlam hlam, to nivrttikala, hah hum phat" He returns his breath, and exhales it through the right channel. When he has thus evicted the perceptible qualities Odor, Taste, Form, Touch, and Sound with five such expulsions he should visualize the element Earth subdued by its own opponent, Wind, and resembling it (KKD pp. 57-58)
dvadasanta
brahmara
evehrows
palate
throat
heart nadis
susumna
pirigala
Fig. 4. Subtle anatomy and domains
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe - 57
(The mysterious nivrttikala appearing in the mantra here will be explained in the next chapter.)
The ejection that expels each attribute is a breath that ascends in the wor shiper’s body, flowing along the susumna, the central channel, all the way to the dvddaianta. (See photographs of udghata, Plate 4.) Several other ritual procedures require that the breath be directed along the susumna in the same way. For example, in order to protect the soul from the annihilating fire
used in self-purification, the worshiper transports it along the susumna to the dvadasanta, where it merges with Siva. He first uses a mantra to force open the granthis; then,
he casts his breath upward while giving the mudra of reabsorption (samha ramud.ro) and reciting, “Om hum ham ham ham hum, I bow to the soul,” and with one ejection discharging the KaraQeSvaras in order beginning with Brahman, he joins his soul with Siva in the dvadaianta. (KKD p. 57)
After he has purified the body, the worshiper leads the soul back into it with an inhalation, “descending according to the order of emission” (KKD p. 59). Similarly, the PRASADA mantra, used in purifying the mantras and in the invocation of Siva, is directed along the susumna until it merges with ParamaSiva in the dvadatenta, as I will describe in Chapter 4.
In all these cases, one uses ascending movements of breath along the su$umna to remove things from the body. They either expel impurities from the body or transport more subtle things (such as the soul or mantras) to a more pure location outside the body. The yoga-controlled breath follows the path of reabsorption upward.
When the worshiper has expelled the attributes of each elemental mandala using the upward ejection of breath, he visualizes that each element has taken on the form of, and been neutralized by, its contrary element. The element Mnd subdues Earth, and is in turn subdued by it. Water conquers and is conquered by Fire. Ether takes on the form of Highest Ether (pa
ramdkdsa). Mth the obstructive forces of the elements thus curbed, the worshiper is now able to annihilate them fully. “Then, with the fire arising from his right big toe, and with the ASTRA mantra, he burns the impurities of the elements located in the body, which is the product of karmcm whose consequences have begun (prarabdha), and then inundates it” (KKD p. 58). The imagined fire, following the path of reabsorption upward from his toe, purifies his gross body, as the visualized reabsorption of tattvas into their source-substances purified his subtle body. And so, with both aspects of his material form suitably cleansed of all impurities, the worshiper pictures it to himself as a pure, empty frame.
Imagining it completely emptied of all that has the form of a fetter, the worshiper should bathe his entire body, inside and out, with streams of nectar flowing from
58 · Chapter Two
the upside-down lotus at the top of his crown, penetrating the openings of every capillary, using MOLA ending in VAUSAT. (KKD p. 59)
All impurities that normally distinguish the worshiper’s body from that of Siva have now been ritually extirpated.10
Reconstruction
The purifications completely empty the worshiper’s body of impurities. The subsequent rite, which imposes mantras onto the body, reconstructs the body. Since mantras replace the impure constituents that were removed through purification, the worshiper’s rebuilt body exists at a higher state of being than before. The texts refer to it as a “divine body” and as a “body of mantras,” a Siva-like instrument that enables the transformed worshiper to perform all the ritual operations of nityapuja to follow. (The body of man tras the worshiper imposes onto himself is exactly parallel to the divine body he later imposes onto the linga, into which Siva is invoked.) And, as purification follows the path of reabsorption, this reconstruction, which adds powers to the body, follows the path of emission.
A minimal reconstruction of the body requires only that the worshiper impose five ahgamantras (omitting NETRA) onto suitable parts of the body. AghoraSiva prescribes this method for worship on one’s own behalf. The worshiper begins by imposing the HRD (“heart”) mantra, appropriately, onto his heart, using his thumb and little finger, onto which HRD has previously been imposed during karanydsa. Next he imposes SDRAS (“head”) onto the crown, using thumb and ring finger, and so on.
angamantra body placement fingers
HRD heart thumb & little
SIRAS crown thumb & ring
SKHA topknot thumb & middle
KAVACA throat & chest two index fingers
ASTRA palms two ring fingers
While the order of placement here does not follow a clearly descending bod ily course, indicating the path of emission, it might be better characterized as a movement from the center outward: beginning with the heart, the inner most bodily constituent, where the soul is sometimes localized, and ending
with the external adjuncts of armor covering throat and chest and weapons held in the hands. Emission, too, follows this route.
The Kamikagama prescribes a much more elaborate method of recon struction for a priest performing puja on behalf of others. Not only must the priest impose the angamantras onto his body; he should also impose the brahmamantras, the thirty-eight kalas, the mantras of the fifty-one letters of
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe * 39
the alphabet, the “limbs” of the alphabet, nine unspecified tattvas, and the VYOMAVYAPIN (“space-pervading”) mantra. Of these seven sets, five follow a clearly descending bodily arrangement. The remaining two, the angaman tras and the alphabet angamantras, follow a course that moves from inside out. Thus all, in this sense, are imposed onto the body according to the order of emission.
The priest begins his mantra impositions by placing the five brahmaman tras on five segments of the body, starting with ISANA on the head and con tinuing with TATPURUSA on the mouth, AGHORA on the heart, VAMA on the genitals, and SADYOJATA on the feet. (See photograph sequence on brahma mantranyasa, Plate 3.) As with the placement of the angamantras, the wor shiper here uses for each imposition the finger onto which the corresponding mantra has already been placed: the thumb, already impregnated with KANA, imposes ISANA onto the head, and so on. The five brahmamantras constitute the active body of Sadasiva, sometimes visualized as SadaSiva’s five faces. As an alternative, Kamikagama tells us, the worshiper may pre fer to impose the five brahmamantras onto his own five “faces”: ISANA on his upraised face (i.e., the top of his head), TATPURUSA on his easterly face (his actual face, since he is facing east), and so on around his head in cir cumambulatory order. In either case, it is clear, the priest is invoking onto his own body the most fundamental powers of Siva himself; he is recon structing his body as a SadaSiva.
If the five faces of SadaSiva represent Siva’s active power differentiated into five fundamental activities, the thirty-eight kalas represent a further particularization of Siva’s power. The term kala in general usage denotes a portion of some larger unity, such as the sixteen “digits” of the moon or the interest accruing on the principal of a loan. Śaivas use the term to refer to several different partitioned wholes, as we will see in succeeding chapters. Here, the thirty-eight kolas are saktis, portions of the unitaiy energy whereby Sadasiva acts in the world, and they are grouped in sets pertaining to each of his five faces.11 Thus, ISANA has five related kalas (SaSinT, AA gada, I§ta, Marici, and Jvalini), TATPURU$A has four, AGHORA eight, and so on. After imposing the five brahmamantras, the worshiper may place the thirty-eight kalamantras on appropriate parts of his body, again following the order of emission. He begins with the five kalamantras of the ISANA group, imposing them onto his five faces: SASINI on his upraised face, ANGADA on his easterly face, and continuing in circumambulatory fashion. The four kalamantras of TAIPURU$A are to be placed, again, on the four mouths, omitting the upraised one; the eight kalas of AGHORA are imposed onto the middle of the body, from neck to abdomen, where AGHORA has already been placed; and so on to complete the full set. Each group of kalamantras further empowers the portion of the worshiper’s body where the corresponding brahmamantra is located.
60 · Chapter Two
After several more sets of mantras, Kdmikagama tells us, the worshiper should complete the construction of his divine body with the VYOMAVYAPIN mantra: “Then he should impose VYOMAVYAPIN on his body from the head to the toes” (Κά 4.176). This is the final mantra imposition in the process of reconstruction. For the MataAgaparameivaragama, VYOMAVYAPIN is the womb of all mantras (MPA kriya 1.60), a Sakti who is the veritable body of Siva (MPAV vidya 7.31), a goddess of eighty-one words. In its eighty-one parts are contained, according to this account, the five brahmamantras, the angamantras, the eight mantras of the VidyeSvaras1 GAYATRI, SAVITRI, man tras pertaining to Can<Ja, the eight World Guardians, and others still. In other words, it is a comprehensive mantra, a mantra that contains condensed forms of a great many other mantras. In fact, according to ViSvanatha, the mantra evokes the entire world of Siva.12 As with other sets of mantras, VYOMAVYAPIN is reversible: one may recite it either according to the order of emission or to that of reabsorption. Here, employing the mantra to help empower his body for ritual, the worshiper imposes VYOMAVYAPIN accord ing to the order of emission and places its eighty-one portions from his head down to his toes.
So, covering his body repeatedly with groups of mantras, following the path of emission for each group, the worshiper builds his divine body. After a purificatory reabsorption of all worldly constituents, he imposes onto every part of his frame mantras that instantiate the very powers with which Siva acts, until he attains a “state of mantra” (mantratva). When the meta
morphosis is complete, the worshiper has emitted for himself a body similar to that of Siva, a divine body saturated with mantra powers. With this divine body he also may act as a Siva within the sphere of ritual.
CONSTRUCTION OF RITUAL SPACES
Daily worship performed on behalf of others takes place in a temple. The temple itself has been constructed in accord with agama prescription and has been ritually constituted through a series of rites beginning with the ini tial plowing of the earth and ending with the final establishment (pratitfha) of the central linga. The temple has its own geography, its own disposition of structures, and its own organization of images. The priest performing puja must move within and through this preexisting structure. Moreover, during the course of temple worship, he is called upon to construct new ritual spaces within the temple.
Temple space, like the worshiper’s body, is organized in Śaiva ritual ac cording to cosmological principles. The primary organizing logic of each of these structures—permanent temple and temporary ritual constructs—is that of emission and reabsorption.
In the preceding section, the primary visual point of reference was the human body as a vertical axis. Actions following the path of emission took
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe * 61
a descending course, and those following reabsorption an ascending one. In considering ritual spaces, however, the most apt visual image is a two dimensional horizontal diagram with a distinct center. The diagram may be a circle, a lotus design, a square, or a rectangle. What is important is that it have a center and outer elements constituting its peripheries, arranged as concentric “circuits” of locations. Objects and deities are located within these spaces according to their relation to the emitting center of the space. Movements within such spaces must participate in the same logic: move
ment from the center outward follows the path of emission, while move ment from the peripheries inward toward the center follows the path of re absorption.
Topography of the Temple
The temple where one performs piija is, first of all, a place on earth where a divinity may dwell. In this sense, it is homologous with human homes; both are termed vastu, “dwelling sites.” A Śaiva temple is a dwelling for Siva. Siva resides there in the linga, the lord (Jsvara) of the manor. But Siva is not the only divinity to live there.
As Lord of the Cosmos (visveivara) and Ruler over all other gods (de vadevesa), Siva is typically surrounded by hosts of gods and assorted other spirits who act as his attendants, guardians, devotees, and agents. Śaiva texts often envision the Himalayan mountains, where Siva sits in state, as the scene in which the various agamas were first taught.
That most excellent mountain, the pleasing, sweet-caverned Mandara was fre quented by all the eighteen groups of beings: by gods, titans, celestial musicians, demons, and troops of divine women, by Yak$as, fiends, snake-lords, spirits, ghosts, and ghouls, by Mothers and dwarves, by sprites and eagles, by Vidya dharas as well as by centaurs and sages It was filled with various herds of animals, such as rutting elephants, lions, bears, deer, and monkeys, all free of hostility. And there the moon-crested lord Siva, husband of Uma and lord of all the gods, sat on his divine throne made up of the four throne-powers beginning with Dhanna. Brahman, Indra, Kubera, Suiya, Candra, Varuna, Yama, and Vayu, the Vasus, the Adityas, and the Rudras—all the gods were honoring him. Visnu approached him respectfully, and asked the Teacher of the World a question. (AA 1.1-10)
The discourse with which Siva answers Visnu’s inquiry is the first revelation of the teaching handed down to us as the Ajitagama.
In such assemblies of Siva’s court, deities who appear in the teachings of other schools as independent high gods are incorporated and hierarchized. They observe the etiquette of the subjugated: they bow, they wait with folded hands, and they sing the praises of their superior. In Śaiva agamas, they are classified most generally as adhikdrins, “agents” whom Siva em-
62 · Chapter Two
ploys to carry out his various lordly activities. Ten of them (including many of those listed as auditors on Mandara Mountain) act, under Siva’s order, as “World Guardians” (Iokapala) protecting the world in all eight cardinal and intermediate directions as well as above and below. In this way, these other divinities participate in Siva’s sovereignty, but in a subordinate and dutiful fashion. Siva alone is autonomous; all other gods, lords of encompassed domains, are dependent upon his command.
As in these mountain scenes, gods throng the ritually constructed dwell ings of Siva, which are themselves often compared to Mandara, Kailasa, and other preeminent mountains. From the very first, they live in the vastu mandala, a diagram employed as a ground plan when constructing the tem ple.13 They cover the outer walls of the temple. They inhabit their own subsidiary shrines arrayed in the courtyards surrounding the main shrine and its sivalinga. A Śaiva temple complex is permeated not just by the pres ence of Siva, but by all the beings who accompany him and share in his sovereignty.
The gods do not dispose themselves randomly around the temple, like the “wild mob” Western visitors to Indian temples have sometimes seen.14 In the world of Siva, location is too important to leave to chance. The temple complex forms a structure of hierarchically ordered spaces, and Śaiva texts carefully prescribe which divinities should occupy which positions. As in the court of a human king, subordinates must arrange themselves around their overlord in a definite and determinate order, expressive of their politi
cal relations of respective inferiority and superiority. For this reason the Śaiva temple, viewed as a community of divinities, acts as a topography of Siva’s cosmic lordship.15
At the emanating center of the temple complex is the linga, Siva’s “mark” (,IiAga), a smooth, cylindrical shaft set in a pedestal (pitha) identified with Sakti. This is the primary icon of the temple, for Siva in his highest form inhabits it. Significantly, the linga is nonpartite, undifferentiated (niskala) in form, in contrast to anthropomorphic images, which are differentiated (,sakala). Not only does this icon occupy the geographical center of the cen tral shrine, but it is also considered to be, in some sense, the generative source of the entire temple complex. As the Ajitagama puts it, “During re
absorption, all beings are reabsorbed (Iaya) into it, and [during emission] they emanate out from it—for that reason it is called liii-ga. AVhen that linga is worshiped, all the gods are worshiped” (AA kriya 3.17-18).
The linga in its pedestal resides in the “womb-room” (garbhagrha), which in turn is the innermost chamber of the “root-temple” (mHlaprasada), the primary structure of the complex. This central shrine serves, in the architec tural prescriptions of the agamas and related texts, as the reference point for all else. Other structures are located prescribed distances from this center and are sized in proportion to it.
From the central icon, the structure extends in the four directions and
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe - 63
upward as well, creating the familiar pyramidal form of the Hindu temple. On the outer walls of the shrine, manifest gods appear, as if emerging from the walls in every direction. Here the worshiper may see Siva in his more anthropomorphic aspects and other important divinities who are part of his court.
At each level of the temple, [the temple architect] should place divinities in the cardinal directions, in due order. One should locate the two door-guardians Nan din and Mahakala to the east, Daksinamiirti [Siva as teacher] to the south, Visnu or else the Lingodbhava form to the west, and Brahman to the north [on the first level] One should place Indra or Skanda in the east, Vlirabhadra [an angry emanation of Siva] would be in the south, the Man-lion incarnation of Visnu to the west, and Brahman the creator or Kubera the giver of wealth on the second level. On the third level is the host of Maruts. At every level one should place addi
tional gods, siddhas, celestial musicians, and preeminent sages, such that there be sixteen manifest images (pratima) at each. (MM 19.39-46)
Mayamata’s prescriptions for locating deities here correspond particularly to the Cola-period Śaiva temples of the late tenth and eleventh centuries. One or as many as five courtyards and protecting walls (prakara) sur round and enclose the central shrine. The term prakara designates the wall, and also by extension the interior space defined by that wall. According to Mayamata, these outer courtyards and walls serve three functions: they pro tect the main temple, embellish it, and serve as dwelling places for Siva’s attendant divinities (parivaradevata) (MM 23.1). Throughout the court yards small shrines, mirroring the central one but on a diminished scale, face the primary temple. And in them, occupying partite images, reside the attendant deities who form Siva’s outside entourages (bahyavarana) Or these minions may be placed in the cloister against the prakara walls, so as to face the main shrine.
The number of attendants may vary according to the grandeur of the com plex. For Mayamata, “those who are knowledgeable in the Mstras say that there should be eight attendants, or twelve, or sixteen, or even thirty-two attendants” (MM 23.36-37), and the text goes on to state that one wall and eight attendants only are recommended for modest temples. For larger structures, Ajitagama specifies that the entourages increase in number as they proceed outward: eight attendants in the “inner circle” (antarmandala), sixteen in the “inner garland” (antarhara) or second enclosure, and thirty two in the “middle garland” (madhyahara), the third surround (AA 39.1-3). As the groups become more differentiated, they decrease in stature. Among Siva’s inner circle of attendants are his family members (GaneSa, Skanda), his most devoted followers (Nandin, Canda), and divinities who have their own substantial followings (Brahman, Visnu, DurgS). In the second entou rage, the eight World Guardians—the once-powerful Vedic deities now em ployed to watch over the directions—are joined by a mixed group of eight64 · Chapter Two
more attendants, including human sages, the consorts of Brahman and Vi§nu, and others. The third courtyard contains four groups of eight divinities: the eight Vasus, the eight Maruts, the eight Mahanagas, and the eight Pra mathas. While Ajitagama does give these lesser gods individual names, it must be admitted that they are rather insignificant members of Siva’s assembly.16
The topography of divinity established in the Śaiva temple complex sug gests radiating projection, outward from a central undifferentiated unity, gradually becoming more and more particularized as it extends toward the periphery. From the nonpartite linga, anthropomorphic or partite images in increasing numbers and decreasing importance seem to proceed. Yet despite the appearance of emanation from a central point, it is important to remem ber, these attendant deities are not portrayed in Śaiva siddhanta theology merely as projections of Siva’s being. Siva is not the material cause of these other divinities, as monist schools might contend. Rather, they are distinct beings who recognize Siva’s overlordship and participate in his sovereignty by acting as his agents. What emanates through the temple, in the siddhanta view, is Siva’s lordship (aiivarya); what brings these other deities to be present in the Śaiva temple is their shared, hierarchized participation in his rule.
Bathing Pots and diva’s Entourages
Daily worship does not call for an elaborate reconstitution of the temple, as it calls for the worshiper to reconstruct his own body. The priest does offer a brief vastupUja (“worship of the site”) upon entering the temple, which recapitulates in abbreviated form the much more elaborate vdstupuja per formed during the establishment of the temple. He must also purify the place of worship (sthanaiuddhi) as one of the five purifications, but this too is a relatively simple procedure aimed primarily at protecting the ritual ter
rain from intruders. For the most part, the priest takes the temple as a given, a structure within which he moves and acts.
Yet there are other ritual spaces that the worshiper must create anew dur ing nityapiija. When he sets up pots of water for anointing the image (iabhifeka) later, he carefully prepares a large flat surface, draws a diagram on it, fills the diagram with water-pots in a specified order, and then invokes a deity into each container. The resulting array of divinely infused pottery is a temporary ritual construct, created and used by the worshiper in his bathing of the deity. Similarly, when offering services to Siva, he builds another temporary ritual structure, using visualization (bhavana) rather than material substances. The worshiper visualizes five “entourages” (avarana) or circles of deities around Siva and offers worship to each one. Siva is imag
ined as the divine lord surrounded by a royal court of lesser divinities in attendance on him
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe · 65
The Kamikagama describes the consecration of pots in considerable de tail.17 In an auspicious part of the pillared hall, the priest clears a space, smearing it with cow dung and other purifying substances and imposing mantras onto the space. He then constructs a diagram, beginning with the central square. The text relates methods of construction for diagrams con taining 5, 9, 25, 49, 108, 208, 508, and 1,008 spaces. The larger diagrams are more appropriate for the more elaborate, occasional rituals; for daily worship, 25 pots should be used, or as many as 108 pots if the temple is offering the “highest among high” type of worship. The resulting diagrams always appear as symmetrical projections from a center, expanding outward in every direction. (See Figure 5.)18
5
4 1 2
3
7 8 9
6 1 2
5 4 3
15 23 16 24 17
22 7 8 9 25
14 6 1 2 10
21 5 4 3 18
13 20 12 19 11
31 39 47 32 40 48 33 46 15 23 16 24 17 41 38 22 7 8 9 25 49 30 14 6 1 2 10 26 45 21 5 4 3 18 34 37 13 20 12 19 11 42 29 44 36 28 43 35 27
A. Five-Pot Bath
-
Siva and Sakti
-
Tatpurusa
-
Aghora
-
Vama
-
Sadyojata
B. Nine-PotBath
- Siva and Sakti
2-9. VidyeSvaras: Ananta, Suksma, Siva, Eka netra, Ekarudra, TKmurti, Srikantha, Sikhandin
C. Twenty-five-Pot Bath
- Siva and Sakti
2-9. VidyeSvaras (as above)
10—17. MurtTsvaras: Bhava, Sarva, Kana, PaSupati, Ugra, Rudra, Bhlma, Mahadeva 18-25. Eight Rudras (not named)
D. Forty-nine-Pot Bath
- Siva and Sakti
2-9. Vidyesvaras
10.-17. MurtTsvaras
18-25. EightRudras
26-33. GaneSvaras: Nandin, Mahakala, GaneSa, Vr§a, Bhmgin, Skanda, Ambika, Canda 34—41. Angustha and seven unnamed deities 42-49. Krodha, Canda, Samvartaka, Jyotih, PiAgalaSuraga, Paficantaka, Ekavlra, Sikheda
Fig. 5. Diagrams for establishing pots
66 · Chapter TVo
The worshiper then places water-pots in the spaces of the diagram and begins to fill them. First he fills the “Siva-pot” (Sivakumbha) in the central square, using from four to forty quarts of water. He next fills the “Sakti-pot” (vardhant) with half the amount used in the Siva-pot and places it in the central square to the left of the Siva-pot. Then he proceeds outward, follow
ing a circumambulatory order within each concentric circuit of squares, fill ing the remaining pots with one to four quarts of water. The priest must also place a variety of substances in the pots, including jewels in the two central ones, and properly dress the pots of Siva and Sakti.19
When the pots have been prepared, he invokes deities into them. He be gins with the central Siva-pot and performs in condensed form the rite of invocation that he will later use to bring Siva into the linga. He does the same with the Sakti-pot, and then, proceeding outward again, he invokes deities into all the peripheral pots.20
The pots of Siva and Sakti must always be placed in the central space, as the Siva linga and Sakti pedestal always occupy the conceptual center of the temple. And as the surrounding deities of the temple, here too the other deities are “agents” (adhikarin) of Siva, appointed by him to exercise all his activities within some specific domain. Consequently, the lesser deities are placed in the outer circuits surrounding Siva, their specific location indica
tive of their inferior degree of competence and power. However, the identi ties of these lords are not entirely parallel to those of the divinities of the temple.
In the innermost circuit are placed most often the eight Vidyesvaras, pure beings who are assigned by Siva to reign over the entire impure domain. They are the first and most direct agents delegated to carry out Siva’s com mands. In the next circuit are invoked groups of eight MurtTsvaras and eight Rudras, manifest forms that Siva assumes from time to time to accomplish particular purposes. Other groups, including Siva’s family group (the Gane Svaras), occupy more peripheral positions. Proceeding outward from the center, the deities become less pure, more limited in their dominion, and lower in the order of emission. The resulting ritual structure again looks like a map of Siva’s dominion: an encompassing Siva in the center, and an in creasingly differentiated group of his agents near the periphery. This map ping differs from the topography of the temple in the identities of the lords, but not in the principle by which they are arranged.
As the worshiper invokes these deities into the pots, he enacts the emis sion of Siva’s sovereignty. At every stage of the process—tracing the dia gram, placing the pots, filling them, and invoking deities into them—he moves from the center outward. He treats the pots in accord with their status, filling the central pots with the most water and the finest substances. When he later uses these pots to bathe the linga, he follows the same order, beginning with the pots of Siva and Sakti and continuing through each sue-
Center: LMga
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe * 67
3 LINGA
IN
Third Entourage (17-24): GaneSvaras
First Entourage (1-8): brahmamantras and anganumtras
Second Entourage (9-16): VidyeSvaras Fig. 6. Siva’s entourages
Fourth Entourage (25-32): World Guardians
Fifth Entourage (33-40): Weapons of the World Guardians
ceeding circuit of pots (RA 1 p. 96). He thereby inundates the linga with the whole extent of Siva’s sovereignty, embodied in the bathing pots. Similarly in the rite of the entourages, the worshiper follows the pattern ing of temple topography. Here the worshiper must imagine 6iva seated at the center of a royal court made up of one, three, or five groups of deities in attendance. He visualizes each deity according to an appropriate medita tion verse, invokes the deity into this mentally constructed form, and then worships it with all the proper offerings. If the deities in subsidiary shrines outside the sanctum constitute diva’s “exterior entourages,” the envisioned divinities here make up his “interior entourages” (antaravarana), the court within. In both, the attending divinities are located in a series of concentric circles facing the central linga.
Once again, the entourages are located in an order of priority with respect to the center. (See Figure 6.) In the innermost circle, termed the garbha vararia (“womb-entourage”), the worshiper visualizes the brahmamantras and the angamantras, direct emanations of Siva’s own body. The divinities of this interior entourage, the Kamikagama tells us, “are to be drawn out
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(finetavya) from Siva, [the brahmamantras] from his chest etc., and [the angamantras] from his heart etc.” (KA 4.456). The worshiper places the VidyeSvaras in the second entourage. In the third are found the Ganesvaras, “Lords of the Troops,” a group of divinities best described as forming Siva’s household: his wife, Ambika; his sons, GapeSa and Skanda; his mount, Vrsa; his favored devotees, Canda, Bhmgin, and Nandin; and his primary guardian, Mahakala. Next he places the World Guardians (Iokapdlas) in the fourth entourage: Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirrti, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, and ISana. Assigned to the protection of the ten directions of this world, the World Guardians are lower in rank than the VidyeSvaras, whose domain extends over all the impure worlds. Finally, the outermost entourage contains the weapons (ayudha) that the World Guardians bear: Indra’s thunderbolt stands in the east, Agni’s spear in the southeast, and so on. As in a human royal court, those whose duty it is to protect the atten dants of the court are stationed at its outer perimeter.
As the worshiper moves out from the center, following the path of emis sion, the deities that he visualizes become more particularized, more indi viduated. Kamikagama gives a single description for visualizing all the brahmamantras: they are “five-faced, ten-armed, wearing crowns adorned with the moon, and carrying excellent weapons” (KA 4.450-51). Similarly, a single composite description serves for all the angamantras, and another for the VidyeSvaras. But in the third entourage, the worshiper must visual ize each of the GarteSvaras as an individual, distinctive deity. The World Guardians and their weapons are also differentiated, each from the other, and the worshiper visualizes each one distinctively. The deities also become less like Siva away from the center. Brahmamantras and angamantras all have five faces and ten arms as SadaSiva has. The VidyeSvaras have “ten arms like Siva” but just four faces, and in the outer entourages deities tend to have just one face and two arms. The GaneSvaras are distinguished from the World Guardians by their third eyes; only ISvara (i.e., Siva) among the World Guardians shares this Siva-like trait.
After they have been invoked in this way, the entourages of Siva’s court must be treated with due hospitality. During the services of worship, the worshiper feeds and makes other offerings to each of these deities, in proper hierarchical order beginning with Siva at the center and proceeding out ward. And then, at the close of worship, the divine attendants must be dis
missed. The worshiper, says K&mikagama, “makes the gods surrounding the linga get up with ASTRA and the mudra of reabsorption, and joins them such that they are united in the embodied form, using the MORTI mantra” (KA 4.518-19). The entourages are once again reabsorbed into the central figure of Siva.
The rites of the bathing pots and of the entourages create spaces that are geometrically distinct but conceptually parallel. In both, the worshiper con-
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe · 69
structs ritual diagrams consisting of an array of deities located in concentric order around Siva. They are arranged in an order of priority, with those who are most like Siva (in purity, in domain of rule, in visible form, and so on) placed closest to the center. The worshiper successively invokes the deities, following the path of emission. The deities are, in fact, emissaries of the encompassing lord Siva—subordinate sharers in his sovereignty and atten
dants at his divine court. They are “drawn out” from Siva, and after enjoy ing a brief period of independent embodiment, they are rejoined into Siva. The organization of the temple and its divinities serves as the paradigm for these other, ritually created structures of divinity. Yet the priest during puja does not simply re-create the map of Siva’s lordship substantiated in the stone and metal images of the temple complex. Rather, he creates new topographies that involve the participation of other powers and divinities as well. While the agents in each case differ, the logic of their placement does not. Temple, bathing pots, and visualized court all portray Siva’s sover eignty as an emanation outward from the center, creating a concentric hier archy of spaces that other sharers in Siva’s lordship inhabit in accord with their status and dominion.
Ritual Movements in Space
A priest must move physically within the temple during the course of wor ship, and the central deity in a sense does also. Their movements are in formed by the same logic of emission and reabsorption that governs the more static dispositions of divinities stationed within the temple complex.
The temple, as we have seen, is an emanated structure, unfolding from its center, and space within the temple is organized as a concentric hierarchy, with the most exalted areas located at or nearest the center. To approach the preeminent deity in the linga, the worshiper necessarily begins outside the temple walls and gradually approaches the inner sanctum, moving from the periphery to the center of the ritual space. Hence he follows the order of reabsorption. His movement within the temple goes contrary to the move ment by which the temple has been emitted, returning as it were to its source.
Not everyone can accomplish this approach. Only those persons who are qualified, within the Śaiva hierarchy of spiritual attainment, may enter the most sacred precincts of the temple. The agamas make specific provisions concerning who may and may not perform temple worship on behalf of others. “Worship on behalf of others must always be done by a Śaiva brahmana. A pious adiiaiva, best among the brahmans, does worship regu
larly, but if others should perform worship other than for their own behalf alone, the worshipers will be destroyed” (KA 4.6-7). One criterion is that of birth: a priest must be born as a brahman, and moreover in one of the five
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HdiŚaiva (“primary Śaiva”) or Śaiva-brahmana clans.21 Other brahmans are disqualified.
Those who are born from Brahman’s mouth but without diva’s emission [i.e., brahmans not of the five adiiaiva clans] are common brahmans. They are not competent to offer worship for others. If by some mistake they do, king and country will be destroyed. If those common brahmans worship Siva for hire, they will be ruined within six months. Therefore one should avoid them. (KA 4.7-9)
Not only must a priest be born in the proper brahmanic clan, but he must also be qualified ritually. Only a member of the Śaiva community who has undergone both liberating initiation (nirvanadiksa) and a priestly anointment (dcaryabhi§eka) may act suitably as temple priest, worshiping on behalf of the community. “No stain attaches to worship undertaken for others’ benefit that is offered by an intelligent Śaiva-brahmana who has received initiation and anointment, since he will be obedient to the order of Siva” (KA 4.10). The two rituals necessary to priestly competence, as I describe in the next chapter, transform the condition of the initiate’s soul so that it is similar to Siva, and then imbue him with the lordly powers of Siva. In other words, only one who has been made into a virtual Siva himself may approach Siva in his highest form, embodied in the linga, to offer worship on behalf of others.
Other texts, such as the Suprabhedagama and Ramakantha’s Jatinirnaya purvakalayapraveiavidhi, suggest a more far-reaching relationship of tem ple space to human access. A series of gradations of purity within the tem ple as an emanated space correspond to gradations of capacity to approach
the center among various categories of Śaiva worshipers.
Śaiva-brahmana priests worship in the garbhagrha. Initiated non-adiiaiva brah mans worship in the entry-passage (antamla). Common brahmans reciting the Vedas worship in the fore-pavilion (ardhamandapa). Sacrificers, ascetics, and re nounces worship in the main pavilion (mukhamandapa). Kings [i.e., k$atriyas] and vaiiya& worship in the door pavilion (dvaramandapa). Siidras who have received liberating initiation worship in the outer pavilion. Siidras who have received common initiation worship in the dance pavilion. And initiates of other castes should worship at the door of the entry-tower (gopura).22
And these limits on entry are not to be transgressed, Samakantha tells us, for there are stiff consequences.
The one who, out of perversity, leaves his own place and goes [too far into the temple], although he has been told not to, will certainly go to hell, tossed there by Siva. And even if one goes too far out of ignorance, there will nevertheless be some disturbance in the kingdom.23
Earlier I showed that the mumuksu, the seeker of liberation, characteristi cally follows the path of reabsorption in his guiding aim and in his ritual
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe 71
action, while the bubhuksu treads the path of emission in ritual and in every day aspiration. Here the distances that different Śaivas have traversed on the spiritual path of reabsorption reappear, indexed topographically by the ex tent to which they are judged suitable to approach the central icon of the shrine, along the temple path of reabsorption.
Corresponding to these hierarchies of spaces and persons, Ramakantha points out, is a hierarchy of texts. The worship performed in the sanctum by adiiaiva brahmans employs the Śaiva agamas and their distinctive Śaiva mantras as primary text. Common brahmans reciting the Vedas and their Vedic mantras are stationed farther out from the center, in the fore-pavilion. And good siidras are authorized to recite the Tamil hymns (dravidastotra), the devotional praise poems composed by the Tamil nayanmar saints, in the great pavilion, still farther from the center that is Siva himself (JNP 29-35).
Priestly qualifications alone are not sufficient to allow a worshiper to pen etrate into the central sanctum. As the priest moves from outside the temple toward the central linga, he must also transform his own state of being. Be fore entering the temple, the worshiper first reaches a state of personal pu rity through performing his daily ablutions and bath. Such bathing, Mrgen dragama tells us, engenders the capacity to undertake auspicious rituals like
pUja (MrA kriya 2.1). He then enters into its outer precincts, offering wor ship to the various deities who inhabit the door frame and protecting the temple against “intruders” (yighna). Next he must transform himself with a more thoroughgoing purification and the construction of a divine body, as we have seen. Only then may the priest enter the central abode of the linga, again worshiping the deities of the sanctum’s door frame and protecting it against intruders as he enters.
The worshiper thus reaches the linga and also transforms his body into one similar to Siva. But worship cannot take place until Siva is induced into approaching and entering the linga. For Siva, this requires a descent into form, from the unmanifest into manifestation. The worshiper visualizes an elaborate throne for Siva and then prepares for him an “embodied form” (miirti) to reside in. Finally he invokes Siva into this form, and the services of worship may commence. (This procedure will be described in detail in Chapter 4.)
Two approaches from different directions meet in the act of worship. The worshiper follows the path of reabsorption toward the center of the temple, congruent with the transformation of his body. Siva follows the path of emission by descending from his absolute state into the visualized form that the worshiper has constructed for him. The temple is the ritual terrain upon which both these approaches may occur, and the sanctum the place in which they may meet.
Even though only properly consecrated Śaiva priests are eligible to enter the sanctum in temple worship, others do gain access to Siva at one point during worship. Extending his descent into form, Siva regularly ventures
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forth from the garbhagrha to tour the temple domain of which he is lord. Siva makes such a “procession” (yatra) daily as part of a “daily festival” (nityotsava), and much more dramatically during the occasional “great festi vals” (mahotsava) celebrated at prescribed times during the year. He does so, says the Karanagama, to benefit all beings: “for those rogues, birds, and
animals who are not initiated, as well as for initiates and devotees.“24 To make his daily tour, Siva enters a special mobile image placed on an ornamented palanquin. Temple attendants take the litter on their heads and proceed out from the center. Siva takes along the accoutrements of his lord ship, such as canopy, parasol, and chowrey-fans, and he is accompanied on his rounds by a processional throng of musicians, singers, dancers, priests, and devotees. In larger processions, other deities of Siva’s court might also accompany him, each embodied in its own image and carried on its own palanquin. Siva and his retinue typically make three circumambulations: the first circling the main shrine, the second visiting each of the subordinate deities of the exterior entourages, and the third going still farther afield to circle the outer walls of the temple or even parade through the town. Then they return from the peripheries to the sanctum, and Siva resumes his cus tomary position, where he is once again worshiped by the priest. According to the Karanagama definition, the festival (utsava) of Siva’s procession is an “emission outward” (udbhutasrfti).25 Siva’s movement here follows the path of emission in several senses. In space he proceeds from the center to the outer precincts of the ritual terrain. In form he transfers his presence, most often, from the immobile, undifferentiated “root” linga to a portable, differentiated image (pratima) representing Siva in manifest as pect. And, most important, as he visits those subordinate deities with whom he shares lordship, he also emanates his lordship, extending his grace out ward to the larger community, for whom, due to birth or insufficient ritual preparation, entry into the central shrine is proscribed.
THE RITUAL WORLD AND THE “REAL” WORLD
The Śaiva cosmogonic vision of an oscillating universe finds itself reflected in the patterned actions of ritual. The paired dynamics of emission and reab sorption govern everything, it would seem, from the disposition of divini ties in the temple complex to the order in which a worshiper should impose mantras onto his fingers. The worshiper’s hands, his body, his movements in the temple, and even Siva’s movements all follow a common logic, which Śaivas would claim is the basic organizing logic of the manifest cos mos itself.
All this certainly evokes the notion, familiar to all historians of religion, of interrelated macrocosmos and microcosmos. The Śaiva worshiper’s repe tition of certain cosmological principles, graphing them onto diverse por-
Oscillation in the Ritual Universe * 73
tions of a ritual domain set apart from eveiyday life, suggests that Śaiva ritual is an attempt to construct a microcosm reflecting a particular macro cosmic conception of the way things are.
While the use of such a model as a convenient shorthand to comprehend Śaiva ritual is not erroneous as such, it does suggest a misconception, at least insofar as the Śaiva self-understanding goes. It implies that the world constructed and acted upon within ritual is a representation of a larger and distinct world, and that the ritual world, as a symbolic construct or a reflec
tion, exists at a lower order of ontological reality. To suppose that Śaiva ritual “mirrors” microcosmically a real world that exists apart from it, how ever, would seriously misconstrue the Śaivas’ basically realistic and integral sense of what they are doing. Other metaphors of mimesis implying a sepa ration of real and ritual domains, such as “play,” “theater,” and the like, are equally misleading. To put it as directly as possible: Śaiva daily worship is understood to be real action, employing real forces, directed at real recipi ents, and accomplishing real effects. Ritual is not a metaphor for Śaiva cos mology, for it participates in that same world.
Since Siva is all-pervading, it should not be surprising that the universe revealed through Śaiva knowledge and acted within during ritual appears multiply embedded within itself, rather like the computer images generated by fractal geometrists. Siva’s determining activities of emission and reab sorption, as we have seen, reproduce themselves at various scales, so that the worshiper’s hand, his body, a pot diagram, a temple layout, and much more all appear to be projections of the same universal dynamic.
If anything, the ritual world holds a privileged ontological status for the Śaivas, in much the same way that the knowledge revealed in Śaiva texts promotes itself as a privileged episteme. As we have seen, Śaiva knowledge claims to reveal a normally hidden, and more fundamental, order of things existing within the world, underlying and determining the phenomenal world ordinarily accessible to our powers of knowing. These two types of knowledge—Śaiva knowledge and ordinary knowledge—are not directed at distinct domains, but rather are two levels of apprehension of a single com plex world, the first more penetrating and encompassing than the other. Śaiva ritual bears an analogous relation to ordinary, worldly action: it is efficacious action based on the underlying principles of organization of the world, the axiomatic forces revealed by Śaiva philosophical texts.
For this reason, too, ritual discloses knowledge through action, in a con densed, reiterative, and compelling way. The ritual world is a synecdoche by which one may be able to perceive more immediately, with less interfer ence, the fuller state of things. (So too, although Siva is all-pervasive, the agamas assert that he becomes “specially present” in the ritual terrain dur ing daily worship.) The worshiper is called upon to focus, over and over, day after day, on the primary principles of the Śaiva world as he acts with74 · Chapter Two
and through them in ritual. What he sees, directly, as they animate his own actions, are the multiple projections—theoretically infinite, since perva sive—of the cosmological and theological foundations of the single world, Siva’s world.
Plate 1. Natar ja (Rajaraja Museum, Thanjavur)
Plate 2. Imposition of brahmamantras onto the hands (karanydsa), following order of emission a. Purification of the hands
b. ISANA imposed onto thumbs
c. TATPURUSA imposed onto index fingers d. AGHORA imposed onto middle fingers
e. VAMA imposed onto ring fingers
f. SADYOJATA imposed onto little fingers
Plate 3. Imposition of brahmamantras onto the worshiper, following order of emission a. ASANA and MCRTI imposed onto heart
b. IiANA imposed onto crown
c. TATPURUSA imposed onto face
d. AGHORA imposed onto heart
e. VAMA imposed onto genitals
f. SADYOJATA imposed onto feet
Plates 4a and b. Ejection of the attributes, following the order of reabsorption
Plate 5. Imposition of brahmamantras onto the linga
a. Imposition of ISANA
b. Imposition of SADYOJATA
Plate 6. Ascending pronunciation (uccarana) and invocation 6a-c. Ascending pronunciation of MOLA
6d. Siva descends into the liftga